Off roading - on the cheap.

[Ol]

Firstly, i've always has "sports" style bikes, ZZR's, GSXR's, ZX6R etc - with the exception of an old TS50x i had when i was 15 that never ran properly i've never had an off-road bike and I've always fancied having a go at off roading or green laning.

I've had a few close calls lately nearly getting caught speeding and speeds that i know really shouldn't be done on the roads so thought it was about time to try something different. I've been keeping an eye on e-ghey and gumtree for a cheap off road bike to have a play about on, i set myself a £250 limit (ish) to get something to play with so that if i didn't like it or binned it on the first outing i wouldnt really care too much.

I had been bidding on various bikes for about a month or so, always getting outbid in the last minute or would win the auction but the bike wouldn't have met a reserve etc and wasn't having much luck. One of the bikes i bid on but then got outbid was a Cagiva Elefant 125 - i had no idea Cagiva even used to make crossers. After i had lost the auction, the seller emailed me and said the winning bidder had (0) feedback and was travelling 400 miles to get the bike and asked if i wanted it for £200 - so a deal was done and i went to pick it up.

Now i'd known from the listing the bike was a runner but needed bump starting as the kickstart was knackered, and the bike was far from immaculate, but it runs and it's local enough and it's within my price range so it was a go-eer!

The plan was to get it home, give it a bit of a clean and paint it gunmetal gray (i had a load left over from painting the Ninja) and ride until it dies.

Picking the bike up:
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7801.jpg

As she was when i got her home:
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7805.jpg
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7804.jpg

Stripped, primered and painted:
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7809.jpg
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7811.jpg

Ordered a new lid and gloves, my current carbon lid cost twice what this bike has cost me, and expecting to get faceplant the gravel i thought i'd get a cheapy motorcross lid:
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7888.jpg

Then i was good to go, so yesterday i took the bike up to a local place i had seen other people off roading - it's literally a bit of waste land round the back of an industrial estate, it was an ideal place to prat about on, no body else around (incase i fell off) and big enough to have a bit of fun on, few ramps and tricky bits of terrain to explore... it was a great starting point i thought.

https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7940.jpg
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7942.jpg

Then that was it.... the moment of truth... time to actually ride offroad. I was a bit nervous for a few reasons - when i'm on the ZX6R i'm constantly trying to feel the bike slipping and sliding, i think one of the best aspects of my riding is that i keep the bike very smooth through corners etc, and i know that riding a bike off road is probably the exact opposite of this.

Anyway, got the bike unloaded and went out... and it was quite honestly the most fun i've had on a 2 wheels in a long time. the bike doesn't have a speedo, so i've no idea what sort of speeds it was doing on the straighter parts of the track, the bike's claimed to have 22hp from new, and it was revving out in 3rd at the end of the straights so at a guess i'd say maybe 40mph ish but it didn't seem to matter about the speed... i didn't know so much fun could be had doing relatively low speeds on a bike. i'm addicted, and cant wait to get back again!

awesome fun

https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_0729.jpg
https://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/Oliver7978/IMG_7955.jpg
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Previous: Cub50, NRG50, TS50, YB100, CB125, NSR125, ZZR600, CBF1000, SV650s, ZX6R B1H, XT250, Mito Powered Crosser, WRF450, , FZ600, VN800, GSXR600 - Currently CB1000R

[mysterious_rider]

Offroad is great. I have a 'fightered zzr600 that i regularly take offroad.
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KAWASAKIIIII

[ian505050]

Looks like fun, i got bit by the off roading bug this time last year.

I started as i was red up with having a sports bike that i could not use over winter so i bought a dirt bike for winter and kept the sport bike for summer.

Few snaps from last time i was out.

https://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii302/ian505050/ian505050%202/15_zps4fe3fffe.jpg

https://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii302/ian505050/ian505050%202/2-1_zps300ea7bb.jpg

https://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii302/ian505050/ian505050%202/5_zps1b4e0bb0.jpg

giving the bike too much power on take off lifts the front end a bit much ,lol

https://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii302/ian505050/ian505050%202/4-1_zps9dc4b42d.jpg

[ian505050]

ohhhh... i found that offroading is not that cheap as everything seems to wear out so much faster on dirt bikes than sports bikes.

I have done 3k miles and been through

chain and sprocket twice

front brake pads 3 times

3 rear tyres

2 front tyres

new clutch

many break and clutch levers

several oil changes

far more servicing than any road bike i have owned

ps. Just spent £99.99 on a shock rebuild yesterday.