I rode the fleet yesterday. I have been mostly riding the Harley around town and the other bikes were feeling a bit neglected so I took them all for a rip.
I took each to the field near my house where I have been practicing off road. I spent most of the time standing and I found riding while standing to be a good leg and core workout. I also found some of the workout due to my tension. I found that when I focused on relaxing and getting my head up out of the bike and on to the field, it became less physically taxing.
I did not go through the mud bog since I did not want to clean the bikes. I spent most of the time on the relatively firm grass areas. I was working on figure eights and circles going faster and pushing the traction limits more. The KLX with it's 50/50 dual sport tires had great traction.
The DRZ with its 80/20 street oriented dual sports would slide a bit more.
The Versys was interesting. I have only putted around off road on the Versys. It has Pilot Road 4s and I have not been confident with the traction. I was surprised at how much traction it had. I also took it through a rutted area. I thought it might have been a mistake. I was standing and as I was bouncing around, I found it difficult to hold a steady throttle. A bounce and throttle jolt propelled me much faster for a minute than I was comfortable with. But the bike performed very well. Although I thought I was going to eat it for a minute.
Standing on the KLX, DRZ and Versys, you could really notice the difference in the weight. It seems that you can notice the weight more dramatically when standing than when sitting.
I would like to find a gravel road where go on an extended ride with more speed and get more comfortable. It think I will start with the KLX and work my way up.
There is a school, but it does not seem very active. They do not return phone calls.
I found a guy who did private lessons. I scheduled a lesson for my son and myself. But ran into scheduling conflicts. It was a bit expensive anyway for a private lesson. I would rather take a class. It would be more fun with other people.
Although, I have found that you can often get more bang for your buck in private lessons since people in a group tend to be limited by the slowest learner.
Yes, it's pricey, but considering the time involved and what is delivered, it is probably worthwhile. I know a few people who have gone and they've been extremely impressed with the program and completely happy with the value received. Of course, it is not exactly in your back yard.
Honda has a campus in Alpharetta, Georgia. If it is like the campus in Southern California, they will have a basic off-road class on-site. They'll supply the bikes too.
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