I’m Mike. I live my life on two wheels and choose the road less traveled. I always want to press on to see what is around the next bend in the trail.
For over 30 years I’ve hiked, biked and motorcycled many of the paths and backroads along the Eastern USA. This RU-vid channel archives my trips, catalogs tips, and shares my excitement of traveling the countryside. I'll review some equipment, share my favorite routes, try out new trails, introduce new riders, and anything else that seems fun in the moment. I promise to camp in questionable places, take some ill-advised options, and bring you along on some shenanigans that we might both regret later. You game?
It's a good route for big bikes. I would ride my 1200gs. I might skip the expert section but other than that you should have very little problems on a big bike.
Can you?…probably yes for 90% on a small bike unless it’s wet.However, I think you’d have a much easier time throwing at least some 70/30 style tire with a bit of a tread. I personally would not do it on a pure road tire.
Help! My 2022drz400sm was stolen they took the ignition out. And all they did was use a paper clip to start it. I had it sitting for awhile until I finally got interest to fix it up. I tried there method orange and red put a paper clip in it and it starts the bike The wires sparked were the paper clip was in at what happen?
Those are much easier to kickstart when you have it in neutral, I mean you can kickstart them like that if you don't mind the bike lurching forward. BTW I owned the original CT125 a 1970 CT90 with a Powroll rebuilt performance stroker engine. It probably made about 14 hp.
Yes. It is definitely doable in two days as long as you don’t plan on much sightseeing. I think it was about 9 hours on section 1 and 2 and then about 7 hours for section 3. I didn’t stop except for a quick lunch and a couple of small breaks either day.
I had a 1000R2 1984 same green, the last year, i dont think it was so many manufactured. Bougth it from a closed down MC- educaitotion for "peanuts" in Sweden in1989. It had 12 miles on the meter, just testdrived at the schoolyard after simulated issues. I drove it for over 70 000 km and it was a wounderful bike, both on road and trackdays. Did some mods like 4 to 1 (not Kerker), Elr oilcooler,backward footpegs teflon and steel brakehoses, and so on. Sold it to a Finnish undertaker, and he was so happy i keept all the original parts, most happy for the original rubberbrakehoses, who was important for his registration in Finland
nice review of the BDR-X Chattahoochee... too do it over again, would you ride your GS or stay with your CRF300l? I have the Honda Africa Twin, and this loop looks like a blast on the smaller CRF300l... thx again for sharing your ride!
I am having a blast riding a small bike on these trips. I’ve been on either the CRF300l or DRZ400 the last several off road trips. For me there are a couple reasons. I can take more chances, explore more and pick “fun” lines. The light bike takes less effort to manage so I can put in a longer day riding. When I’m solo it can be picked up easier. The downside is more limited carrying capacity, less comfort, and slower on pavement than a big bike. I do love a GS and other big bikes as they are incredibly capable machines. Your Africa Twin will easily handle the route no sweat. If I go again tomorrow I’d grab the little 300L.
Hey friend. Native Georgian here, I just thought I'd drop you a quick note about where you started the trip. Here, we pronounce Ellijay as EL A Jay. We understand different parts of the country use different pronunciations for the same names, but here, it is El A Jay. Thanks for the show!
@RonKris haha, ok. It's just not really important. Every native Georgian pronounces Houston wrong. They say "howston," but I don't make a fuss because people can pronounce things how they like.
@@klxcountryif it’s not important to you, the. Why have you replied multiple times here? The same one word. Importance of pronunciation is debatable but one of you is lying.
don't use a Dremel, just wiggle it back and forth if it doesn't fit. oops two years old, they make one that fits without cutting anything or any wires, I timed myself, it was plug and play, took 16 minutes start to finish
I enjoyed the BDR video showcasing the Chattahoochee BDR-X but it's great to get the user perspective, which is more of an honest user review rather than a promo video. I'm trying to convince my buddy with a stock CRF300L Rally to ride the Chattahoocheee BDR-X with me in 2-4 weeks. We'd probably make it a five day trip, with a day riding down and a day riding back. We'd be dispersed camping. Looks great!
Thanks for the great videos. I have written a Smoky mountain 500 looking forward to trying the bdrx. I see you use the quad lock also. Can you tell me how you have that mounted above your GPS mount or send pictures
I have a OneAdventure Rally Tower installed. It has its own points for attachment that won’t match a standard bike. You can give it a search on instagram. He does good work building the towers and they are solid.
A very pure and very enjoyable video about Ride naturally, without music and silly production nonsense...👏🏻🥇 just nature explored with simplicity and beauty... Thank you for this simple work that expresses the true meaning of exploration Awesome Episode, thanks have a Safe and happy times 🛵👌🏻🌴🇸🇦
I just wanted to sneak over here and see what you had to say about the SM500. You'll have to do it again on the new bike... see if 20 years and better everything makes a difference on the trail.
Thanks for the videos and candid review! I was part of the BDR-X riding crew. I agree that the route difficulty is really dependent on rain/wetness. We had intermittent downpours when we filmed the Tallulah river crossing, so people should expect decreased visibility with higher churning water if rainy. Also, Kirk included some great gravel/dirt roads that were freshly paved over right before filming. We didn’t find out until we rode there. Smooth black tar is nice and all but we wanted to ride the fun gravel! I blame the south 😂
Bah Humbug! North GA improving there roads…who do they think they are? Seriously, grateful to the folks willing to put in time to publish routes for the ADV community. And yes it has been very dry in the south the last month or so…and wet would totally change the route. I’m thinking I’ll hit it again in the spring.
It must be relatively dry down there. I remember that river crossing being a lot more of a challenge when I did it a couple of year ago. Thanks for posting the ride. I plan to do this ride in Mid-Oct. After doing the SM500 multiple times, I really enjoy the Northern GA sections much more so this works out great.
Yeah it was pretty dry. I’ve crossed there several times and it was definitely the lowest I’ve ever crossed it. It keeps the fun from the SM500 …but I really enjoyed some of the ‘new to me’ trails on the route.
Thanks for sharing. Looks great for those with short time off and not far away. I’m about 600 miles South, it would be a great long week end trip for me. If it works might try to ride it last weekend in Oct.
So how would you compare the Hoochee BDRx vs the SM500? I’m planning on doing the Hoochee next month on my Tuareg that is setup up for off road use. It seems like the Hoochee is short compared to the SM500. I have a week to complete the route. Should I do the SM500 instead? Thanks!
Oh boy...I've gotten so many emails about which one to do. I'll have a video on it tomorrow because the answer is ...it depends. While they share some roads the riding experience is different between the two. In your situation with a full week you could do BOTH plus add in a trip over to the Tail of the Dragon. I might start with the SM500 as it is a bit longer ride...and plan for an extra day down in N. GA picking up the extra tracks from the BDR-x. Some of the BDR-x trails are really very nice finds.
I appreciate the work ya put into this vlog. I’m interested in attempting this BDR-X, but I currently ride a 1250 GS with street tires. Not gonna happen till I get at least a 50/50 set. Thanks again.
I just rode some gravel roads like this on my 1190 adv with pilot road 6 tires. It did fine. Body position is critical. I often ride on Georgia clay hill climbs and mud around Atlanta too with same tires. B
We rode day 1 also. We started at 0900 and was at Suches by 1300 on big bikes. We almost didn’t go on the road closed portion. We thought it’s only .8 easy enough to turn around if needed. Definitely glad we didn’t bypass it.
It’s a worthy section to ride. I hope word gets around so folks don’t skip it. And yes it seemed to me that first section rode very fast. I wondered if it was cause I was on the CRF and not my GS…appears it’s just fast.
There was a large group headed the clockwise direction on my final day so I imagine there will be several riders with ride reports by the end of the weekend.
Always interesting how the BDR movie differs from the experience of the actual ride. I doubt I’ll ride this BDRx due to location (2000 miles away) but it’s good to see nonetheless.
Thanks for bringing us along (wishing I was there). I think it will take me longer to get there and back from the NE than to do the route 🤣. Do you have intentions of doing the expert section? I'd really like to see what it's like and I was disappointed that they skipped it.
@@Mark11704 working on getting the section 3 video out tonight. I show my take on it during the ride. However, I’ll give you a quick take…it’s probably expert if it’s very wet only. It has some deep ruts but I was able to pick a good line fairly easy. I don’t envy the BDR folks having to rate things when there are so many factors..like experience level, bike, and weather conditions.
@@BestoftheBackroads Thanks, Dido on the ratings, it's tough, expert on the Pa routes are easy on the NEBDR. I've trained in GA clay and it's a world of difference wet to dry.
That sign saying road closed was there when BDR team filmed. Road it as well the day after they hit it fun on the 1250 gs. Good job and enjoy it’s a great route.
@@richjones859 it was a great route. So so far on road closed signs…I’ve ‘investigated’ over a dozen with only one actually being a closure. The NEBDR had all kinds of erroneous signs.
I met you guys at the bear lodge , grey beard with a WR ,I agree that these smaller bikes are the best for the BDR 's. light weight and easy to handle although I did a tip over in the deep sand track just west of Alcova
