@@v0idlike The Ruckus has been around longer and has a huge enthusiast community. The Grom is a reboot of a classic, and is gaining a new community. Both are valid but I would give the nod to the Ruck just to be even more contrary to the rest of the pack, but it really comes back to which rizz you want to throw; the leanback or the nosefront? I'm so dumb I'd give it 100HP and ape hangers with front pegs to blast the sand on cruise control. Supercharge it!
That would actually be much easier. I'm not joking. Rides like this are a breeze on a tiny bike, you just need to add really good suspension, appropriate tires, and gear down 1 tooth on the front sprocket. I've ridden my Monkey on a few BDRs now and you can smoke just about every other bike on the trail.
"It looks like we're giving thumbs up, but our hands are just stuck that way" is the truest statement I've ever heard about long-distance motorcycle riding.
Yup.. about 45 years ago I competed in a midwinter enduro of about 115 miles. After I crossed the finish line and was riding towards my van I wondered why people were running towards me... I soon found out: Like many others on that ride, after the adrenaline of the ride was running out, the cold and exhaustion had "frozen" my hands to the grips and my feet to the pegs.. if the other riders hadn't caught me I would simply have toppled over with my feet still on the pegs!
I've done a few stupid long runs. The worst was a 18 hour, 3.5 tanks of fuel, slog fest in one single shot. I can' t remember my mileage, but my hands kept curling up like that for a week afterwards. I stayed in the same state, but made multiple laps of i15 from st george to Logan ut.
Funny how over time, the Brain can block out the trauma. We fondly look back at something we willingly did, that was undoubtedly miserable. Yet in the rearview mirror, as the aches and pains fade away, the thrills, chills, and comraderies end up being closer than they appeared, and hold endearments like our firstborn child. But as soon as we try it again, we remember why we said we're only having one child.
After decades of riding motorcycles, I've noticed that the memorable rides are the ones where nothing went right. Like the one where you forgot your phone on the seat and it yeeted itself into the curb, or the brief rain shorted your buddy's ignition system. The frost on my visor from riding through the fog at 33 degrees at 11000 feet was fun too.
Funny how that works right? My most memorable sxs riding weekend was the one where it caught on fire and burned to the ground and then all our tow vehicles broke down and cost us a million dollars to get home. Yep, definitely the most memorable weekend.
Yep! I still remember the ride fifty years ago when a truck got in the way. I don't remember the Truck itself, I was just told about it when I came to in hospital.
Or you think… it’s not raining that hard. No need to pull over and cover the tank bag, and then all your electronics get shorted out including the GPS, and now you have no idea where you are.
Scariest ride I ever did was on a 600cc BMW R69-S, from Eugene, Oregon to Portland, 111 miles on Interstate 5. How hard could that be, you ask? It wasn't just black ice all the way; it was black ice with water standing on it. At least once every half mile there was a car or truck in the ditch. Even so I was the fastest vehicle on the road, sometimes riding at an improbably reckless velocity of nearly 40 miles per hour. I passed a state trooper who had enough problems of his own that he pointedly ignored me. I stopped at a rest area to catch my breath, and the moment those two big gyroscopes stopped turning, the bike just slid out from under me, leaving me standing there. I couldn't get enough traction with my boots to lift it back up, they just slid backwards and the bike slid forwards as soon as I tried to lift. A friendly bystander helped, we slid the bike on its side until the wheels stopped against a curb and then the two of us were able to lift it upright. Once I got going above five miles per hour, it stabilized enough to continue the ride. Now *that* was a memorable ride that I remember well 60 years later.
offroad motorcycles are actually the best and most fun vehicle you can pilot like ever. Also the man who decided a scrambler is the bike for the job is clinically insane I love it!
8:03 this whooole section sounds exactly like snowboarding. Especially previously with the floating on clouds and terrain looking the same having different behaviours. Front digging in, having to squat for days, hills being the most fun, getting tired and lazy and making mistakes. But doing this atop a heavy machine..crazy Muscles you didn't know you had is so true though. Boarding you need to do a lot of lifting at the toes, which uses your biggest muscle (/s); your shin
as someone who has snowboarded exactly once (plan to go again this winter) i didn't really get tired on the toe edge in the whole day of mostly tumbling down the red slope, the heel edge however was much more difficult to keep balance on, especially for prolonged periods of time
@@GTAmaniac1 yeah whenever I go, which is at least for half a week at a time, I try to do lifting exercises in the month/s leading up by putting random weights on my toes and trying to pull them up without moving my heels There are no good ways to try to condition for going heel-side :(
@@GTAmaniac1 modulating the "bite" on the toe side (when the toe edge is the one digging into the snow) uses the calf muscles, modulating when the heel edge is digging in uses the shin muscles ("tibialis anterior")
I've ridden bikes all my life and have always done the 'stand up over the rough stuff' thing. I never understood the physics of why that worked until your 'decouples the mass from the bike' statement and explanation. Thank you for that.
Your legs basically become an additional set of springs, lowering the unsprung mass of the bike+rider combo significantly since the whole ensemble already doesn't weigh *that* much. It makes the bike a lot more nimble, which is nice off-road but not so much on-road where you'd want as much control as possible.
It puts your weight into the pegs, which are usually very low on the bike, which increases stability... Plus by putting your weight over the left or right, you can steer from the middle not the front tire
Great video. Having lived in Las Vegas before and rode those same roads and areas on a 701 enduro.. your lamentations on sand hells and especially the bit about type 1/2/3 fun really spoke to me. Perfect summary of what it’s like and why, despite that, you end up doing it again.
As someone who has well over 300k miles on motorcycles, i can wholeheartedly affirm that "type 3 fun" is definitely a thing, and definitely not fun. For about 6 years, while I did own a truck, I could not afford to drive said truck- so my primary mode of transportation (year round) was my 2012 Sportster. I loved every single ride I ever took on that bike- even the ones to work- but especially the miserable ones. I took a sort of pride in riding in conditions that had the DPS troopers questioning my sanity, Snow- yep. Thunderstorms-yep, Tornadoes- yep, Hail (ouch) yep, Sub zero temps- yep, Ice torms- yep, freezing rain-yep. I learned really quick that you could complain and be miserable, or "embrace the suck" and ride on (whilst still being miserable). God I miss riding, but an unfortunate incident with a scared dog and some inattention on my part has left me with a left index finger that is largely ceremonial and zero strength in my left hand. I tried like hell to modify it to where I felt safe riding it in traffic, but no matter how light the clutch was, I just couldn't pull it consistently (safely). So I ended up selling her. O always said that if I ever got to the point that I was a hazard to myself, or I had to question my ability, I'd hang up my helmet- and I regrettably had to do so. My other bikes? yeah it hurt to watch them go, but I am not too proud to say I cried as I watched my Sportster get loaded up on the truck to go to her new home.
As a rider in Oz, Hail is the only stuff I won't ride in by Choice. Hail is the worst! It hurts, and it fills up tread so you can't steer. But for the rest of that? Hell yeah, nothing makes me laugh more than the crazy weather that you've just got to go somewhere in.
I believe this is the exact same thing that happens when you decide to have another kid… enough time has passed that you forget what it’s like to sit up in the middle of the night with a crying baby wondering what a full night’s sleep feels like.
Hi Matt , I’m 67 and been riding most of all over the states and for the 17 years I lived in Europe . Road through all kinds of neat stuff , Rain , snow , tornadoes , hail , lightning , wicked cold . But the other night a simple 186 mile ride became type 3 fun as I left to late in the day and road straight into a cold front , even though I had what I thought was warm enough gear it wasn’t quite enough , for the first time just before my 11pm arrival at my friends house I caught myself thinking , I’ll never never do this MC ride at night in the winter again . Inspiration to finish my camper .
In the lat 90s I was stationed at Ft Irwin right outside Barstow,where we spent 2 weeks a month, 11 months a year driving around that desert in tanks. Lots of type 2 and 3 fun there. We would frequent Vegas on our time off, and cutting through the military reservation in 4x4s and hitting I15 outside of Baker shaved an hour off the drive. I hated that desert for many years, but watching this makes me miss it just a little.
The commentary about desert riding...you really nailed it! I started riding after moving to Vegas, so riding has only ever been sand and rocks and 113 degrees fahrenheit for me. But I do miss that lush forestry of Washington sometimes when I'm out there and craving a moment of shade. I used to always capture my "adventures" on video thinking I'd edit them for RU-vid, but as you mentioned, it's just endless sand sometimes. Doesn't make interesting content. I do appreciate that cell service travels really well through the desert! And I'm less likely to get lost.
I deeply love motorcycles as well, but this video is a perfect illustration of why I have always done my hundreds of miles of off-roading in a properly set up Jeep.
This year I retired and downsized and sent my bike to the scrapyard. But this video made me laugh out loud so many times with similar remembrances, and wish to relive such adventures again. Thanks for your skillful storytelling and most enjoyable sense of humor.
"It looks like we're giving thumbs up here but that's because our hands are stuck in that position." MATT. KUDOS. My thighs and muscles I didn't know I had, empathize with your experience. I ride a 2002 KLR and I've taken it on some rough trails. Exhausting is an understatement. Thanks for pushing through and then further reliving the experience in order to edit and share it with us. INSANE.
In the early '70's i ran an endure on a Kawasaki 900, Z1. Crazy? ABSOLUTLY. But it sure was fun, and since I was a relatively accomplished rider, I finished the enduro on the Z1, and it wasn't even too badly scratched up. I also had a Suzuki 250 Savage that I had previously run this enduro several times. Ahhh the memories of youth and stupidity. Thanks for sharing..
Like the shot of the jetski abandoned in the desert. I doesn't look like it would work that well on dry land, but he got pretty far before the dirt clogged the impeller for good.
I did SFO to Vegas via highway a few times on my BMW 650 single, probably wouldn't do much better than the Triumph but man that ride through the desert looks like fun. Never even thought about trying that.
Type 3 fun - I rode an XL500 on my own up Cape Weipa and back at the end of the wet season when the road was closed. My front tyre got caught in a washout down to a stream and I came off. Loads of blood from my knee. I got on and road to Cohen without looking at it because there was nothing that else to do. A great memory because I didn't actually die on a road in the middle of nowhere.
You went by yourself to Cape York when the road was closed? On a bike? Sorta close to muddy season? I assume you mean you went to Weipa, not to the tip, which is a bit easier but still 'interesting'. You're much braver than me, I went in a 4WD while half of the population of Australia was there too.
What a great video - this is such a mirror into my experience doing LA B2V on a KLR650 and then riding all the way back home to LA like you guys. And then doing it again a few years later ...
Matt, Another definition I’ve heard for Type 3 fun is the stuff that is fun for you when the stuff’s happening to someone else. So me watching you on Day 2 was type 3 fun! Love your work. Cheers Tim
Nothing has ever resonated so soundly with me than "When someone says I ride motorcycles. What they are saying is: I am not very smart. I like pain. I like challenges and I don't have a lot of foresight." When my last car finally died, and it wasn't cost effective to fix again. I said, "Well I have a motorcycle. I'll just ride that." That was 3 years ago... Man do I miss heat and AC. Still no real plans to get another vehicle tho.
Love the eclectic mix of projects, engineering explanations that go way over my head, humour and random videos that comprises this channel. I am long since subscribed; all hail SuperfastMatt.
Also, build yourself a standing off road scooter like mine... then just ride that for a few weeks before and you'll have the core and throttle control of the gods. I can stand riding off road for 3-5 hrs in TX at 50 yrs old. You can learn some interesting techniques for motorcycles too. Also the off road scooter loves the sand with 25kw and 175 lbs with most of it below your ankles. Easy mode on any sand. It just needs 8 more batteries and it would be ready for the trip 😂
*TYPE 3 FUN IS THE BEST FUN* its the fun that is only actually fun 3 years later but its what made it worthwhile. When I was lost in a massive rain storm at 5.30pm on a Friday near the Nurburgring trying to find my way back to the American car parts store to pick up the alternator for the Lincon Towncar Limo I was driving to Bulgaria in, Id run about 8 miles to the ATM cos he only accepted cash and was on holiday from 6.00pm - then magically the guy was in a bar and called out to me >>> Bought me a beer and fixed my car before he went on holiday.
Take it from an old ADV guy, doing stupid shit when your young is a right of passage. Also provides endless laughter when you get a few more laps around the sun. Enjoyed the comment of car drivers taking their half from the middle .Brilliant commentary by the way. Cheers from Ontario
I'm convinced you and the voice in my head are related, possibly closely related, maybe twins, identical twins. All those remarks hit so damn near home...
I know about riding motorcycles in the desert all too well. Being from Los Angeles, the desert is the most available and accessible open space that wa have to legally ride offroad. Growing up starting around age 6 my family would go to the desert with another family whose father was one of the original offroad racers in the Baja 500 and 1000, and all the other desert races. We'd camp out, well actually we had full size campers on the back of pickup trucks and trailers behind with mini bikes and motorcycles and the Baja Bug used for the race. Plus in my early teens 13 - 18 my best friend's parents had a house in Palm Springs and we would go out there almost every weekend and ride our dirtbikes in the desert. Also spent time at El Mirage dry lake bed riding dirtbikes and I had a TT bike for flat dirt oval racing. All those scenes in this video is what every rider goes through when in the desert. It is brutal, it is kicking your ass, rocks and bushes jump out at you from nowhere, either swiping your legs or throwing you off your bike, or both. Don't forget you are in some of the hottest places in the world while doing this. 110- 120 degrees, wearing a helmet and riding gear. Plenty of times i've just worn tshirt and shorts with boots and a helmet. This was back in the 1970s and '80s before cell phones, before gps. If you broke down or crashed or got lost you were screwed. Each of those have happened to me and my friends a couple times. Not fun pushing your bike through 5 or 6 miles of desert sand in the hot sun. Or making repairs like trying to straighten out a kink in the chain using a large rock to bash it onto the rear sprocket enough to keep the chain from falling off every 20 feet. Or being lost with no gas and it is getting dark but you see a house with lights and people but it's just far enough off the road to wear if someone is looking for you they won't see you and you don't know if the people who live in the house are going to help by giving you gas or if they will have you for dinner and not as a guest. That's a tough situation. Obviously, I'm writing this now so I made it okay. Aaahhhh, riding in the desert. Such fond memories.
Great episode! I have done a LOT of sandy terrain on my XR400. I wouldn't hesitate to choose that for this type of terrain. Its fairly ligth and with a Mikuni pumper carb and sligthly open exhaust, it makes plenty of power for riders below 200lbs. PS well done to Chris!
LA-B2V, is a blast! Have done it several times. Haven't been able to do it for about 10 years, due to family obligations. Planning on doing it in '24. Hitting the gym, and getting in shape now. (Feb) I will be turning 68 this year, can't wait.
That was great. It brings back memories. I did a 4-day enduro in Romania about 20 years ago. There were 3 of us in our team. It was grueling. About 10 hours riding each day. No sand, but mud, mountains, and water. At the end of each day we could hardly keep our eyes open for the meal and after one beer we would all fall asleep. We ended up all getting diarrhoea from the constant shaking of our bowels on the event. It wasn't the Romanian food. My little fingers on both hands were numb for months after, due to the number of falls. We ached all over. Now I want to do it again, because like Matt, I mainly remember the types 1 and 2 fun.
I think I've made the right decision every year and chosen to do this route without the event. I've done it differently each time, but 2 of the times I went from LA to El Mirage to Barstow to Lovel Canyon Nevada in one day. I suspect the extra traffic makes this ride a lot harder than it should be.
That was awesome. 👍 It reminded me of when I did the Baja peninsula back in the early 1970s, it was mostly type 3 fun. To this day I still hate sand.☹️ Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Thank you for putting into media all my feelings about LAB2V I was wearing a Sena on my helmet for LAB2V this year. In the middle of day 2, I texted my wife from within my helmet that I was retiring from desert riding after the event. I’m 35 years old. And I already want to go do it again, 3 weeks later
I knew I loved this channel. And then you brought out bikes and sand. As a fan of bikes and with a shared opinion of sand, I endorse this content wholeheartedly.
Another enjoyable rendition of the SuperFastMatt experience, thank you. I know about the too-tired-to-enjoy-the-moment moments too. Brings back much fond memory.
Excellent video of a great ride. I rode it in 2011 on a 1200 GSA and destroyed both rims and a para lever piece. Did it again in 2015 on my 990 and it went much better/quicker. Don’t give up! Just keep at it once a month. Lots of great trails out there
I had a similar experience in my first year of riding. My up-tuned XR650L pig vs bunch of "street legal converted dirt bikes" with riders wearing fully body armour. Was on a dawn-dusk day long muddy terrain rough washed out abandoned rail line. Spent the day playing catch-up with them and carefully managing my time spent standing to avoid long term damage. Was a overall great experience covering quite the distance. The day after I could still walk...mostly. The others who stood most of the trip was immobilized for days :) Not doing that again...unless...
8:35 the best solution is an old Honda xr 250. Really reduced my rider fatigue because it’s a tall bike with a higher COG and the seat is made for sitting in those long stretches, reducing rider fatigue. You won’t need to stand up doing squats the whole time you ride just on the really rough stuff. This bike just kinda plows through whatever you throw at it.
Dude.. your dry and direct sense of humor plus your condescending monotone delivery would make for a damn good stand-up routine. Thanks for the videos. I really enjoy your videos and monologue.👍
I’ll like that Chris. My name is also Chridtian, they call me Chris and I also own a Triumph Street Scrambler (900) which is even worse than that 1200XC. Mine is round up 500ib while 1200xc is 460. My first off-roading with my bike was Pismo Beach, riding on the dunes and I learned a lot from that. My second off-roading was Santiago Peak, the top of the mountain. Was bumpy and some soft dirt, but I handle it, but had to go slow. And my thrid, recent off-roading is Johnson Velley while the Kings of hammers was going on last week. This was the most challege so far. That was really deep sand, I had to go fast unless my rear tire will sink. I lucky never droped while sand riding, but on my last their there, it rained and was mud everywhere. Was doing the same thing and since my front fender isn’t a high, a low fender, mud got stuck which completely stoped my front wheel and I flew over the bar. My bike had minor problem and I lucky only got a small skin scratch on my right leg. After fixing my bike with my friends, I rode it back to Irvine. Since triumph is the only heavy bike I have done off-roading, I can’t compare it, but it’s a really sustainable bike. All you need to do is balance it and the bike will keep going on. It always been fun challenging myself. I think my type of fun is mostly type 1 and 2. Sometimes 3, but I always try to be positive. Great video and if anyone see this, check my chennel as well! Ride safe 🫡
Should have done it in the S500. It's light, has a motor bike engine and all you'd need to is add appropriate tires and say: "Yes, this is an awesome looking sidecar."
I ride 8 mo exclusively in VT, and year round as much as possible. I've ridden PAST my Subaru when it was stuck in the driveway in 2' of snow, AND to get a new clutch for same subie in January. I've carried two bags of wood pellets on the back of a couple of different bikes, and rode to the ER after getting a finger broken at work. I kinda like bikes too...
Much respect for completing the trip. I know the feeling of being in over your head and it's rough when you just have to continue riding because your in the middle of nowhere. People don't understand how physically demanding off-road riding is. I dont like the crf250 rally or any adventure bike for that matter because they're a compromise in any environment they are riden. Riding is easier and more enjoyable sticking to 1 or the other, or having 1 bike for road use and 1 for offroad.
I'm a dual sporter too but mine is one of those KTM 500 cheater dirt bikes with a license plate. I love that bike so much, don't care if its not interesting. Today my buddy and I rode to Cerro Gordo mine in the Inyo mountains of Southern California. We took the hard road from Swansea and it was epic. The scenery from the top of the range with deep valleys 8000' and 5000' below on either side is impressive. You would like the salt tram tower relics at the top. I've ridden through the Mojave Desert Preserve before and you are right about the endless sand. Your buddy with the big bike was crazy to try it but at least it was interesting. Always great content on your channel.
I was too cheap to pay for campus parking my last semester at college (waste of time and money. Go into trades, drive truck, or do bookkeeping/accounting instead) and I made do with the motorcycle parking loophole. 60 miles there. 60 miles back. Usually over an hour one-way. It wasn't always dry. It wasn't always warm. I was too cheap to buy heated grips. Ski gloves, snowmobile jacket, base layers, and pride kept me going. Definitely a lot of type 3 fun there.
