Off roading help my on road skills?

[Tungtvann]

I'm quite a new rider, to the road anyway, I rode more bikes off road as a kid than I ever did on the road. I'm thinking about picking myself up a cheap off road bike, perhaps a 250 or something (any suggestions?), at least something light that I can throw about and learn how to deal with losing traction etc.

My question really is, would tear assing it about off road develop my on road balance and reacting to losing traction? Or is it a completely different bucket of chips? I'm still shit scared of slippy roads and I'd probably stack it if I ever slid out a bit.

[Hetzer]

You don't "lose traction" on the road, dude.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Tungtvann]

Errr, okay? What's that thing where you hit something slippery and one of your wheels goes sideways?

[Hetzer]

[Kradmelder]

Dont you mean the opposite? you need help with off road skills??? to learn to deal with losing traction?

The 2 basics are avoid brakes when you have no traction and a bit of throttle.

weight distribution will depend on sand or mud.

always keep the bike upright and dont lean like road riding, the weight must be over the road. genrally weight forward.

lost traction is normal off roading. that is why all that traction control stuff is for raod bikes. abit of rear wheel spin is necessary
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2011 KTM 990 Dakar
2009 BMW 1200 GS

[Tungtvann]

I'm not the most confident (or competent) of road riders yet, I'm just asking if I also get an off road motorbike, would learning to throw that about and also not be so afraid of dropping it, help me as an all ride biker?

[Hetzer]

[Kradmelder]

[Kradmelder]

WTF? I think vann is trollling this thread.
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2011 KTM 990 Dakar
2009 BMW 1200 GS

[Tungtvann]

Now why would you think that?

Is it because I have the wisdom and knowledge of a seasoned biker and you can't actually believe I've been riding less than a year? Must be...

[G]

Doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

You do need to be aware that off-road you can lose traction in a much more controllable manner - one of my best dirt moments was racing another rider who was on a KTM125 when I was on a KTM200 (which actually only has 2hp over the 125, so pretty similar) in an enduro - I was on the outside and managed a perfect controlled slide around the corner, progressing into a low wheelie as I accelerated out.

Having done a variety of off-roading certainly helped with some of the snow we've had - see that ubiquitous 'GSXR1000 snow shopping' video .

[Tungtvann]

Of course the next stage for me would be this...
https://img.fotocommunity.com/Motorradsport/Supermoto/Supermoto-Drift-a18546591.jpg

[Fizzer Thou]

Out of all of my bikes,the XR400 has a dual use,either in enduro or Supermoto mode.

https://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv23/WiNot_Rhencullen/Honda%20750/My%20bikes/Picture315-1.jpg
https://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv23/WiNot_Rhencullen/Dirt%20bikes/MyXR400020.jpg

The wide handlebars make the occasional sideways movement easy to compensate for.
If I had to sell the bikes and keep just the one,I would keep the XR.The most fun for my money
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Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'

[Kradmelder]

If you read the HURT report on bike accidents, one of the conclusions is that people who learnt to ride off road have far fewer accidents. They don't say why but maybe they are used to losing traction, spin, and the bike moving under them so don't panic and grab brakes?

I certainly find off road far more technical and you learn to use the friction zone on your clutch more and to avoid brakes. Track would be a totally different skill focused on cornering and using the gears to stay in the peak power zone, less reliance on torque to grunt you through poor traction areas. Aslo cornering is not a skill you use much off road as you don't lean but try to keep the bike as uprigt as possible

Road riding doesn't need much technical sikill, just being alert and aware of cages pedestrians etc personally I don't find road riding much fun at all and only do it to get somewhere, like commute, work trips, day to day etc. But even long distance work trips I will slip in some gravel stretches so as not to get bored. I'm sure others feel the same as I find road riders switching to dual sport and off roading, but rarely the other way around. Many off roaders I know were formerly sports bikers and they never go back to it..except to race track. Few come from cruisers. Most, like me, started with scramblers, off road and road for basic transport.

Off roading is stillf a minority of bikers. Bmw in SA admit that over 90 pct of the GSes they sell never see dirt, and it is by far the largest selling DS bike. Many KTMs also look like they have never seen dirt, and have so few kms on them they are barely ridden except to a sunday brekkie run. Why people buy a DS bike to use solely on tar I don't know. But you see around with panniers and full matching twat suits. I don't get it. Seems like a huge waste of money to me to buy a R160k bike and 50k of kit just for brekkie once a month. Easy to find 3-5 year old ktms with 10000 km or less on them.
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2011 KTM 990 Dakar
2009 BMW 1200 GS