Don't sweat it Bill. I agree will with some of what Hoop said. Dual Sports covers a large diversity of bikes. In your case and mine, I believe we're on the same page. 90% street and toss in the occasional dirt road. Don't agree with his viewpoint on riding long distance. My son and I rode 2900 miles last year in 9 days on the KLR's (gotta love the great Northwest). People who haven't ridden one would be surprised at how versatile the bikes are. A couple months ago we went on a charity street ride. Lots of cruisers and crotch rockets. The KLR's didn't have a problem hanging with a group of street bikes. Anyway, I avoid the sponsored dual sport rides. Knarly dirt is what my DRZ if for. To each his own. If Spock had been a motorcyclist, I believe he would have said "Ride long and prosper".

Thanks JR, I really didn't mean to be a source of irritation to anybody. My buddy bought a new KLR650. By the time he got off work and got to the dealership his wife was already there and started the paperwork. He has a good wife! Although he has ridden some he has never owned a bike. We are going out Saturday around the Marble Falls area near his house. I’ve got to give him a little time to get used to it before we go anyplace very far. There are a lot of really great roads out there so we should be pretty busy for a while.

Bill

Ya'll let Hoop go off once in awhile. Poor guy's wife only lets him ride once or twice a year. Lots of pent up anger. He is really a great guy and an excellent rider for someone who does so infrequently. Let him have his vicarious pleasures!

No problem Hoop. I appreciate anyone who has a passion for the same things I do. I didn’t expect to organize the whole group. I just thought if a couple of the local guys might want to get together that would be cool. I’m always looking to make new friends.

Bill, for a great ride on the south side of the lake, (from Marble Falls) head south on 281 just about a mile south of the MF city limit sign, take a left (head east) on 2147 and it will dead end at Burnet County Rd. 404. Take 404 thru Spicewood. Be sure and cruise thru the LCRA parks. Lot's of great dirt roads in this area. 404 eventually turns into Paleface Ranch Road at the Haynie Flat Road intersection. Paleface RR will eventually hit Hwy 71. Take 71 east and cross over the river. Take a left on RR 2322 with dead ends into Pace Bend Park. You can ask the guy at the gate to let you just take a "check out" tour of the park, usually without paying if you promise them you are not going to spend the day. Bring your swimsuit! Once you leave the park you can head back towards 71. Just past the entrance of Briar Cliff, make a left on Bee Creek Road. This road is tight and twisty and a helluva lot of fun on a motorcycle. Be careful at the end of the road where it spits you back onto 71. If this sounds good, let me know as I am just now learning about a "secret" nearby county dirt road that crosses several big ranches and low water crossings. I have not been on this one yet but will let you know as soon as I do. From what I hear, it's excellent offroading for dual sport bikes.
We used to have a great Hill Country backroads map that shows all of the minor roads, dirt roads and old forgotten routes thru our area. We used to spend weekends exploring the roads in this area and we still have not been down all of them. Drop me a line sometimes when you are gonna do this ride and you can stop by my place for a splash of fuel and a swim in the river.

Bill, I thought about this ride and figured that you could make an entire loop around Lake Travis out of it. From Bee Creek road, proceed east on 71 to RR620. Take 620 until you get to RR2222 and hang a left. 2222 turns into Lime Creek Road and will bring you back out to 1431. Lime Creek is probably the most fun on a street legal bike road that you can ride anywhere. SUPER tight and twisty. Lot's of sport bike guys (knee draggers!) know this road very well and on the weekends, you will see lots of them. Once you hit 1431, you can just hang another left to get back to Lago Vista.

Thanks for the info Husky. Sorry about the delay but I've been out of town putting out fires. I wanted to do some riding this weekend but other stuff came up....oh well. Maybe next weekend, I'll let you know. I ordered a Corbin saddle for my bike. They said it would take about 6 weeks to get it to me. I hope my butt can last that long!

Hoop...You make a very valid point ....Everyones view of Dual Sporting is different....My XR650R has a tall soft foam seat....but it also does some 300 mile dirt only day rides every chance it gets. It's street legal to get from here to there legally!

I hadn't thought about a CORBIN seat, I wonder how the stand up to much too fast get offs!

I think we need to start a rating system for Dual Sporters...How about 1 to 10 with 1 being all dirt and 10 being all pavement.

Put me down as a 1.

Ride on.

PS Check out the RideTexas mag these days.....Dual Sporting is part of their line up now.

Steve Smith

I sent my XT225 seat to Saddleman and had them put in the gel/foam seat under my stock seat cover. It's better than the 2x4 ride it had before, but still not perfect after about 4 hours (bony butt syndrome).