Off roading in France

[Kwacky]

A few photos.

I'll have to do a full review when I've got time,

This is the house they use for B&B, off road and road tours.



The bikes - Yam 250s. I managed to break mine.



We got our guide into the Tankslap ethos



The roads were a mix of farm tracks, hedges, gravel lanes and anything else the bikes would go over. Having looked at what other off road companies offer our day looks quite taxing. Some of the lanes were just wide enough for the bikes and at times we were doing the salom between trees.





Our guide had the same bike,, which makes it easier in your head to accept that you do can what he's doing.



Mine's the muddy one. I managed to find some puddles

[Kwacky]

This is unedited footage so it's a bit rough around the edges, but you get the idea.

The camera was mounted on Cookie's bike, on the front plastic guard over the headlights, hence the wobble.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zdOz5t ... e=youtu.be[/video]

[R34PER]

What did you think of the 250's? Do you think enough bike for travelling to places to go greenlaning or would you think something slightly larger for for travelling about to places? I was thinking of something with some off road capability for my next bike but I wasn't sure if a 250 would be a bit too small for me capacity wise for getting about to places. I was thinking of looking for something for next summer as i'm a bit skint this year.

[C00kiemonster]

What did you think of the 250's? Do you think enough bike for travelling to places to go greenlaning or would you think something slightly larger for for travelling about to places? I was thinking of something with some off road capability for my next bike but I wasn't sure if a 250 would be a bit too small for me capacity wise for getting about to places. I was thinking of looking for something for next summer as i'm a bit skint this year.

They were good enough for going between areas. We were doing 90 kmh (60 mph) fairly easily and they had a little more in them so were good for 70 mph.

They were more than enough for the off road, especially for our level of skill. The guide reckons two strokes were better for maintenance etc, hence I want to understand off roaders and the 'scene' a little more.

I couldn't understand what people said about how off-roading can improve your on road bike understanding, but now after a day of sliding the back, the front and falling off because of it at times, it does show you how far a bike can go and give you more feel.

I now know how to use the back brake properly

[duke63]

Weight is the key with off road bikes, the lighter the better. No point in buying a bike that is great at getting to green lanes and then too unwieldy when you get there.

I want to try one of the off road days in Wales in October/November to see how i get on. Probably from my perspective its better to do a few of those first before deciding whether i want my own bike in the garage. I get precious little enough time off work to ride what i already have.

[C00kiemonster]

The guide sent me these tracks on email. I want the kml files really but it does show a little of our routes and distances..

[R34PER]

I had a cheapo Chinese 250 off roader before (my profile picture) while it was great fun it was lacking in quality and if it could break it did. It was very underpowered though and struggled to get much above 50mph on the roads and rattled like it was going to fall apart when you got above 40 so I was thinking along the lines of a Yamaha WR450, a Honda CRF450, KTM 690 Enduro or a Kawasaki KLX450 but I would be thinking about testing them next year as my only experience is that old Chinese hack.

[Kwacky]

The big Jap companies seem to have good rep for these type of bikes. I'm sure you'll be fine with a big brand name.

[Jack]

my lad has a ktm 690 enduro , its a very capable bit of kit - lots of torque as you would expect from a big single and you can easily ride it to somewhere to go off-road

[Perkles]

looks like you had great fun and also learnt some bike riding skills ,nice one

[C00kiemonster]

my lad has a ktm 690 enduro , its a very capable bit of kit - lots of torque as you would expect from a big single and you can easily ride it to somewhere to go off-road

I'd quite fancy something like that with two sets of wheels, one for road and one for knobblies.

Depends if it can take a bashing off-road as it might be my only bike then.

[R34PER]

my lad has a ktm 690 enduro , its a very capable bit of kit - lots of torque as you would expect from a big single and you can easily ride it to somewhere to go off-road

I'd quite fancy something like that with two sets of wheels, one for road and one for knobblies.

Depends if it can take a bashing off-road as it might be my only bike then.

exactly along the same lines as I was thinking. I have looked occasionally and bikes do quite often come up with the two sets of wheels setup but of varying brands.

[Rossgo]

Great pics you got there and glad u got a video looks like you guys had great fun.
I'd love to have a go off roaring but sadly I'm too short to sit on them!!

[C00kiemonster]

Biggest thing I took out of the day was that technique and practice is everything.

Everything is exaggerated and speeded up on the bike in terms of reactions and how you ride certain terrains. The bike does most of the work if you let it, but it's difficult to trust it as your used to pulling the bike around on the road.

As a beginner I held on too much and tensed up too much on difficult sections, my hand grip still isn't back to full strength as you hold on for dear life in some sections, where really you don't need to. Also standing up on the pegs on some sections is an art in itself.

I can see why TT racers do a lot of off-road and spend a lot of their time lifting their weight off the seat to allow the bike to move underneath them.

I need to go out on my road bike next week and get a feel for how my feel has changed as I'm sure it has.

[duke63]

The biggest thing I learnt is that bikes are far more stable than we think and sometimes fighting movement is more likely to make you crash. The bike moving around on road doesn't phase me quite as much as it used to now.

[Jack]

he says its very capable off road - he has 2 sets of wheels too , although he has a "hybrid" tyre on atm which he's using for both , but he doesn't think it'll be any good off road if it gets too muddy

[ridelimousin]

Glad you guys enjoyed the day, hopefully see you again another time! In case anyone is interested, here is the link:
[url]http://www.ridelimousin%20.com[/url]

Cheers.

[Kwacky]

I'll be up for doing it again next year. I really enjoyed it.

[Kwacky]

Cookie, we doing this again this year?

[C00kiemonster]

Could do yes. My arms will just about have recovered

I'll drop them a line.