Funny how things change over the years.

[TrailBeast]

I have been riding and building bikes (motorcycles) of all kinds over the course of my life, and not long ago I realized how much has changed regarding the kind of people I ride with.
Used to be (when in school and awhile after) I rode dirtbikes with the (outlaws) of the groups with motorcycles.
You know, the crazy bastards that were always in trouble of some kind, and were fearless on motorcycles.

Now here it is 50 years or so later and my dirt riding buddies consist of an entirely different group of people (sort of)
We have a computer tech (me), a local PD officer, a Sherriff, an Attorney, a Chiropractor, and still one crazy fears nothing Heating and Air business owner.
We all seem to get the same satisfaction out of dirt riding in the wide open forests and deserts in AZ.
Personally I LOVE the tight navigation of the narrow forests trails (called singletrack) and also the expansive riverbeds that go on for sometimes 50 miles or more.
(Especially if there is water in them on a hot day)
Some of the riverbeds here traverse multiple counties, and most every type of terrain you could imagine.

I ride a 500cc four stroke four valve, air cooled Honda that I upgraded with disc brakes and newer gas suspension that will do 80mph across the desert and get right at 45 mpg.
It has a 2.5 gallon tank and if you use that 2.5 gallons out in the Arizona wild you are a sore puppy by the time you get back to the trucks.
We will average about 6-8 hours and 60-80 miles on a normal riding day.

Any bike riding adventures of your own to share?

 

[DNasty777]

I'm just wicked jealous of all that area to ride. I've always wanted a dirt bike but its never been feasible here. There is literally no public land around me that they allow anything other than snowmobiles in the winter. I get my two-wheeled kicks on the street, I ride a Yammy FZ1.

 

[diymirage]

im down to a KDX 200 and a KDX 220
im not as crazy on them as i was (funny how broken bones in your leg affect the way your brain works)

and with the kids i just dont have much time to ride anymore
the 200 is street legal and when the duster is not up and running ill ride that just about anywhere i need to go

but when i go out and hit the trails i think for about every hour i ride i need 2 days to recover

 

[TrailBeast]

I'm just wicked jealous of all that area to ride. I've always wanted a dirt bike but its never been feasible here. There is literally no public land around me that they allow anything other than snowmobiles in the winter. I get my two-wheeled kicks on the street, I ride a Yammy FZ1.

A lot of people mention that they don't have room to ride anywhere, and I think that just sucks.
I have a friend in Vienna Austria that says pretty much the same thing.

Here is a couple of pics from when a few of us went out in the Prescott National Forest.
In the first pic you get an idea of the area we have here to ride.

The fourth pic is one of my buddy's brand new KTM300 that he got pissed at and left it laying there because he couldn't get up there where my Honda is after 4-5 tries.
The pic doesn't do it justice because that is about 20 vertical feet as well as 20 horizontal feet from his bike to mine.

That's the KTM in the fifth pic at a place we call the water tree.
It's about 25 miles out from the beginning of the trail, and fresh cold spring water comes up through the sand.
You can dig a hole with your hand and in less than a minute it's full and clean so we fill up any water packs there if needed.

 

[TrailBeast]

im down to a KDX 200 and a KDX 220
im not as crazy on them as i was (funny how broken bones in your leg affect the way your brain works)

and with the kids i just dont have much time to ride anymore
the 200 is street legal and when the duster is not up and running ill ride that just about anywhere i need to go

but when i go out and hit the trails i think for about every hour i ride i need 2 days to recover

I guess I'm pretty lucky because I have been riding on and off road for a good 45 years and never broke anything.
Came close to getting stiches once though, due to going over backwards at about 45 on a dirt road and scraped up my elbow.
I had the kid issue also, so I got bikes for them and started taking them with me when it was reasonable for them.
I always felt better after a good hard ride (a little sore, but better)
In fact if I don't ride by back starts bugging me.

 

[diymirage]

ive broken 3 bones riding bikes (though only one off road)

I once rode a dirtbike to work and got hit by a VW eurovan
(which is as close to dying as ive ever come)

it snapped my femur in half and I broke my skull in 3 different places
(and that was WITH a helmet on)


a little over 2 years ago I broke my ankle dirtriding
my foot slipped off of the footpeg and before I could get it back on the toe of my boot got caught on a tree root and twisted backwards
ripped the head right off of my tibia

so I limped her back to the parking lot and when I made it back to the hotel I told the wifey we better get this looked at

being a guy I walked myself into the E.R.
they took one look at us, rolled up a wheelchair and put my wife in it

I had to explain to them we weren't there because she was 8 3/4 months pregnant but because daddy was out having a little too much fun :banghead:


here is the video if you care to watch it, though its pretty lame
(I think it snaps at about the 48 second mark)

[ame]https://youtu.be/mDS1GpuYLa0[/ame]

 

[TrailBeast]

ive broken 3 bones riding bikes (though only one off road)

I once rode a dirtbike to work and got hit by a VW eurovan
(which is as close to dying as ive ever come)

it snapped my femur in half and I broke my skull in 3 different places
(and that was WITH a helmet on)


a little over 2 years ago I broke my ankle dirtriding
my foot slipped off of the footpeg and before I could get it back on the toe of my boot got caught on a tree root and twisted backwards
ripped the head right off of my tibia

so I limped her back to the parking lot and when I made it back to the hotel I told the wifey we better get this looked at

being a guy I walked myself into the E.R.
they took one look at us, rolled up a wheelchair and put my wife in it

I had to explain to them we weren't there because she was 8 3/4 months pregnant but because daddy was out having a little too much fun :banghead:


here is the video if you care to watch it, though its pretty lame
(I think it snaps at about the 48 second mark)
]

Ah, so you were one of those video riders.
That's one of my favorite types of terrain in the video, but boy oh boy one slip and BAM!
right into a tree.
One of the guys I ride with glanced off one tree and it threw him off balance just enough to direct him right into another one. (he broke his knee)

One of my buddy's asked if I wanted to go on a night ride from Lake Pleasant to Crown King, (look it up on Google maps if you want) and it was about a 5 hr ride during the daytime.
On the way back he hit a washed out section of the trail from the monsoons that day and broke both his wrists, as well as a huge crossbar bruise from the handlebars across his chest.
Then he rode the rest of the way to his truck (about 4 miles) loaded up his bike and drove back to Sedona by himself. (Hard head)
He called me the next day and said his wrists hurt really bad, but the prescription came in a childproof bottle and he couldn't open it.

 

[diymirage]

my kinda guy

the surgeon who operated on my ankle said he loves having dirtbikers as patients
said they are great repeat customers :banghead:


I don't always take the cam with me but that was the first (and last) time I rode that particular trail
it is pretty typical of the trails I ride, tight woods

I did a nightride once or twice
both my bikes have headlights on them so I figured I would be safe enough
didn't recon that on a 2 stroke dirtbike you need to be making some revs for the stator to put out enough wattage to properly supply the headlight
(translation, when you get ready to turn and you need it the most the light dims)


still great fun though

 

[RustyRatRod]

That's great thanks for sharing. Ain't it funny how the blue collar guy is always the nuttiest fruitcake?

 

[68GTconvert]

I have been riding with the same guys for 25 years. Same areas. I have broken both legs only one on a dirt bike though. Your riding spot looks good. I just picked up a Husky 250 b/c it was almost brand new and I couldn't pass it up. My main bike is a 2006 YZ250 Big Bored to a 300 with a Rekluse clutch.

 

[bighammer]

TB, nice post! I'm a dirt bike rider myself. Here in the Northwest, riding areas are plentiful as well. I started riding at about age 8. Dad bought me a CT 90 which I rode for about two years. And I rode the crap out of that bike til dad saw I needed a Honda SL 100 when I was about 10.

When I was a kid I was more than amazed at my dad and his buddy's with their dirt bikes. This was before "dirt bikes" were invented, at least as far as I know. Production bikes were all street legal; lights, turn signals, etc. Dad would "strip down" all the unnecessary stuff to lighten them up. Including those giant, heavy mufflers, head and tail lights, speedo, anything not needed was gone. I remember he and his buddy's used to get out the hack saw and 'bob' the front and rear fenders. Straight pipes made those bikes really rumble!

Eventually, the aftermarket came out with off road accessories. "Udder Mudder" Lol, plastic fenders, unbreakable clutch and brake levers, and light weight "spark arresters" so that we could ride in the woods during the fire season.

One of the first bikes of my dads that I can remember, was a Honda "Dream". It was a 305 CC bike, known back then as a "scrambler" (what they called the first generation of 'dual sport' bikes). By the time he got done stripping it down for dirt riding, it was truly one menacing bike for its time. BTW, I'm in search of a similar bike, a 305 Honda Dream, so I can restore it. I love those old machines.

I gave up dirt bikes when we started raising kids, for a while anyway, but when they were old enough to ride, I bought 5 bikes off of craigslist, one for each of us. For my wife a trail 90 my son, 13, an XR100, my other son, 10, an X-R 80, and for my daughter, 8, a Z50. I went back to what was familiar to me, an old school Yamaha TT 500. I loved those thumpers!

Riding dirt bikes as a kid with my dad, and then later with my own kids, leaves me with many many fond memories of good times, great rides, beautiful views, and memories of dad (RIP Dad). Thanks for posting this thread Trailbeast! I think now I know where your screen name comes from! Here is a picture of the bike I am in search of; NOT for off roading!

 

[TrailBeast]

TB, nice post! I'm a dirt bike rider myself. Here in the Northwest, riding areas are plentiful as well. I started riding at about age 8. Dad bought me a CT 90 which I rode for about two years. And I rode the crap out of that bike til dad saw I needed a Honda SL 100 when I was about 10.

When I was a kid I was more than amazed at my dad and his buddy's with their dirt bikes. This was before "dirt bikes" were invented, at least as far as I know. Production bikes were all street legal; lights, turn signals, etc. Dad would "strip down" all the unnecessary stuff to lighten them up. Including those giant, heavy mufflers, head and tail lights, speedo, anything not needed was gone. I remember he and his buddy's used to get out the hack saw and 'bob' the front and rear fenders. Straight pipes made those bikes really rumble!

Eventually, the aftermarket came out with off road accessories. "Udder Mudder" Lol, plastic fenders, unbreakable clutch and brake levers, and light weight "spark arresters" so that we could ride in the woods during the fire season.

One of the first bikes of my dads that I can remember, was a Honda "Dream". It was a 305 CC bike, known back then as a "scrambler" (what they called the first generation of 'dual sport' bikes). By the time he got done stripping it down for dirt riding, it was truly one menacing bike for its time. BTW, I'm in search of a similar bike, a 305 Honda Dream, so I can restore it. I love those old machines.

I gave up dirt bikes when we started raising kids, for a while anyway, but when they were old enough to ride, I bought 5 bikes off of craigslist, one for each of us. For my wife a trail 90 my son, 13, an XR100, my other son, 10, an X-R 80, and for my daughter, 8, a Z50. I went back to what was familiar to me, an old school Yamaha TT 500. I loved those thumpers!

Riding dirt bikes as a kid with my dad, and then later with my own kids, leaves me with many many fond memories of good times, great rides, beautiful views, and memories of dad (RIP Dad). Thanks for posting this thread Trailbeast! I think now I know where your screen name comes from! Here is a picture of the bike I am in search of; NOT for off roading!

Oh my God it sounds like I wrote your post.
Dad had the 305 Dream (blue and silver) and I had a 160 at the time. (black and silver)
When I was around 12-13 I used to sneak out with his 305 while he was at work.
My first real bike at 10 was a Yamaha 80cc two stroke scrambler.
I did thousands of miles with my Dad when he was alive on street bikes, but stated out riding dirt with him.
My youngest Daughter had the bike below that my Brother and I built for her (Honda XR200 in a 125 CR frame) years before the CRF came out.
Youngest son rode an XR80 and his slightly older Brother rode a CR125.
Grand Daughter in the last pic with her bike in the background (the local Honda dealer has that picture framed and hanging in his office.
We had three generations out on dirtbikes that day. (that doesn't happen very often)
I grew up in Susanville and went through almost all of my school years there, so the National forest was one huge dirtbike playground.