Big Bike Thread

oomis

oomis

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I thought I'd start a thread for those of us that have bigger bikes, because it feels a bit like we don't have a home. I've owned 2 V-stroms, a 650 and a 1000 and am currently 65,000 kms into a R1200GSW. Mostly, I've treated these bikes like touring bikes, but with the GS, I've started to do more in the dirt. I did the Dempster in 2014, spent some time in the Wayne National Forest last year and took Clinton Smout's 2-day BMW off-road course. Loved it all. Looking for more.

Anybody else out there? Big ADV bikes are all over the place, there must be...


 
You need to verify exactly what you call a big bike. At one time in history it was 500cc up and 1000cc was a thing of awe. In modern terms it's 1200cc up. I've seen 800cc bikes described as small, only good for a single rider. It strikes me as patently absurd when you consider 600cc will do absolutely everything you will ever need a bike to do, even with two-up. But alas, I'm guilty because my bike is 1340cc.
 
Roadghost said:
You need to verify exactly what you call a big bike. At one time in history it was 500cc up and 1000cc was a thing of awe. In modern terms it's 1200cc up. I've seen 800cc bikes described as small, only good for a single rider. It strikes me as patently absurd when you consider 600cc will do absolutely everything you will ever need a bike to do, even with two-up. But alas, I'm guilty because my bike is 1340cc.
Click to expand...
In the dirt riding world, anything over 320 lbs would be considered a big bike.

I ride my CB500X pretty frequently off the pavement. I have gone through Creemore unmaintained roads, Ganny and SCORRA singletrack.

Most of the big adventure bike crowd are on ADVRider.
 
There are a lot of ADV followers connected via Dual Sport Plus in Brantford.The trials group i ride with had an ADV class in a DSP sponsored competition last fall.I was quite surprised to see so many big bikes show up.
 
Like Supernam, I ride my versys 650 in everything. Asphalt, gravel and light trails. It handles it all decently with tkc80's.
I'm also a member of SCAR (simcoe county adventure riders), great group that does alot of big bike routes.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
Are you talking about big bikes in general or big ADV bikes?
I ride a Dyna Superglide. It's the smallest of the Big Twin HD's. I don't consider it a 'big' bike when I'm out with my Tour Glide friends.
 
I hear what everyone is saying about defining what a big bike is, but I don't have a good answer. I also don't really want to be exclusionary, though I know how easy it is to fall into that hole. My R1200GS is a big bike. Is a DL650 a big bike? Yeah, I'd probably say so. What a KLR 650? Why not? A DRZ-400? I dunno. I suppose I was thinking of adventure bikes, however you choose to define them.

Re: Kruzuki, since this is in the dirt/dual sport/supermoto forum, if your Harley finds itself in the dirt then why not...

All I know is that I don't have the good fortune to own a dirt bike right now, or to live close to trails. I have an adventure bike that I have been use like a sport-tourer, and I'm looking to add gravel and dirt to my repertoire. I've had difficulty finding trails and people to talk to and ride with because they seem to fall into the camp of pavement only or they ride dirt on dirt bikes.

And if I have to be honest, when I have talked to dirt riders, they seem to cast a lot of shade on adventure bikes - like they don't really belong. It's been a bit frustrating, and perhaps I've just been unlucky, but I was hoping that perhaps there were folks out there in a similar situation that I could connect with.

Perhaps I was mistaken. I've been on ADV rider for years, but I was looking for something a bit more local, I suppose.
 
Sorry, just saw 'big bike' thread!
I have no problem riding gravel/unpaved roads on my Dyna. She's kept clean, but she's no trailer queen!

I've had a couple of DR650's. My friends referred to them as 'giant dirt bikes'. Compared to other singles, they were big.
 
Big bike here - KTM950 Super Enduro
 
I'm intrigued at the notion of freedome that a big ADV can bring but unfortunately only have space for one bike and these 800cc+ ADV bikes are of limited use for me.

Big is a relative term and is situational to boot. You know if the bike is a bit of handful for you.

I'm 150 lbs and crashing and picking up my 690 on singletrack the tens of times on my first ever trail ride on this bike was trying to tell me that it was too much to handle for my skills at the time. On a 300lb bike, it's less of a problem but in tight singletrack, extra weight equals less fun regardless of what craziness the back wheel is unleashing.

If I can't solo extract the bike from a bad spot while slightly injured (ie. post crash scenario), then it's probably not the bike for me. It's a freedom machine until it becomes your ball and chain
 
I do a fair amount of 'light dirt' riding (and sometimes I get into more than I should) with a big bike... okay, big as in weight and size, but small in cc's compared to yours (it's a dl650).

I likely do a lot of riding that you'd be interested in (fire roads, hydro cuts, non maintained roads, etc)... but I don't often post rides anymore as it's less hassle just to get on the bike and go -- as opposed to meet at a coffee shop somewhere at sometime, stand around chatting for 20 minutes waiting for everyone to arrive, etc etc...

What do you all use for communication, if anything?

A couple times last year I met up with Chase while not wasting anytime at all... turned on Glympse on the cellphone so I could share my location, and had my Sena pre-paired with his, and we met up on the road... i.e. he pulled in behind me on the highway and buzzed the Sena to let me know he was there. That worked well for me... meeting on the fly, no time wasted, part ways on the fly too.
 
Supernam said:
In the dirt riding world, anything over 320 lbs would be considered a big bike.
Click to expand...
According to that definition my G650GS would also be a 'big' bike LOL
Iceman said:
Like Supernam, I ride my versys 650 in everything. Asphalt, gravel and light trails. It handles it all decently with tkc80's. I'm also a member of SCAR (simcoe county adventure riders), great group that does alot of big bike routes.
Click to expand...
Same for me :)
 
I82l8 said:
According to that definition my G650GS would also be a 'big' bike LOLSame for me :)
Click to expand...

This is sort of making my point - as in any grouping, there are sub-groupings upon subgroupings that are hard to cross over. I'm not necessarily looking to clog up single track with my 1200, but I've ridden singletrack on it competently and quickly enough. I've got enough smarts not to get myself into situations I can't get myself out of, so I hear the comment about ball and chain. It's all fun and games until someone makes a mistake and gets hurt.
 
Motorcycle Mike said:
I do a fair amount of 'light dirt' riding (and sometimes I get into more than I should) with a big bike... okay, big as in weight and size, but small in cc's compared to yours (it's a dl650).

I likely do a lot of riding that you'd be interested in (fire roads, hydro cuts, non maintained roads, etc)... but I don't often post rides anymore as it's less hassle just to get on the bike and go -- as opposed to meet at a coffee shop somewhere at sometime, stand around chatting for 20 minutes waiting for everyone to arrive, etc etc...
Click to expand...

I'd love to compare notes. I'm in the middle of the city and often my riding time is limited. It's tough to figure out where riding like that is...
 
Most of what I know is north and east.... Like in the muskokas to Bancroft and east to calabogie. I know some areas in Pennsylvania too.

Creemore area has a lot of not maintained stretches, and of course all around the ganny there are non maintained back roads, but that area is way too sandy for my liking. I don't mind sand on the drz, but hate it on the vstrom.

For this coming year I've had a bunch of tracks given to me for state forest tracks in Pennsylvania that I want to explore, from pics I've seen they are big bike friendly. That would involve over night or even two nights though, considering the distance.... Most of the tracks are past State College. For that I'm planning to get to know my camping hammock and find some cheap or free camping areas.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk
 
alon said:
Big bike here - KTM950 Super Enduro
Click to expand...


Alon is my hero! He got me interested and involved in all this dirt riding. I would suggest you pm/harass him about rides this upcoming summer and you'll meet a great group of guys.
 
I broke my ankle and tore a ligament on November 04 (on my big bike) and had surgery two weeks later and gained a few grams of precious stainless steel and titanium in my ankle. As it stood, I was supposed to be stuck in a cast and crutches with zero weight on my left leg until mid to end of March with a second surgery in May or June but I had a round of X-rays and ultrasound done yesterday and my surgeon said that I'm incredibly lucky and my ankle is healed. I began bearing weight on it yesterday and I'm already using a cane instead of the crutches so I'm totally pumped about this coming riding season and I'll be hosting many small bike and big bike rides - everything from day rides in trails and singletrack to multi-day excursions around Ontario and into the US (like Pennsylvania as Mike mentioned). I can't wait...now the question in my mind is whether or not I can be in good enough shape to ride the Baja 1000 at the end of April as I had planned prior to my crash...
 
Glad to hear you're doing well - sounds like you were super lucky! I'm thinking we may have met already - I was floating around the idea of an ADV-focussed retail shop some time ago...was that you and your buddies I had a drink with up at the Shops at Don Mills?
 
Hey there, was wondering what happened and if anything ever came of your idea. Yes, I'm very lucky that my injuries weren't worse and that I've healed so well - not too shabby for an old guy:)

you interested in doing some big bike rides this coming season?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom