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Who says the XT can't play DIRTY?!

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ChiTownEngineer

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Joined
Nov 17, 2015
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36
Gents, don't let anyone tell you that the XT cant handle a little dirt, sand and rocks! The opportunity arose to take a trip to Terlingua TX and Big Bend National Park with a couple buddies to hit the primitive roads along the Rio Grande. So naturally, I said HELL YEAH! I ordered up a set of Conti TKC80s, unbolted the chin fairing and packed up the trailer. My buddies were on a BMW1200GS and a KTM 1190 Adventure. They were both a bit faster than me on the dirt and rocks (partly due to my lack of off road experience, partly due to my lack of suspension travel) but I wasn't too far behind. On the AWESOME paved twisties which are all over that area, the 'Ol Uly was killin it, even on the knobby TKC80 skins. My boy on the KTM was gone on the straights, but hit those corners and I was right back on him, LOL. Here's a couple pics. No cool action shots, those are on the GoPro video. Just some pics when we took breaks. Enjoy.

A couple Pre-dirt glamour shots:

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At the Hot springs:

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After an hour on some great paved twisties, then 30 miles on the dirt and sand. Another 30 to go, then back on the twisties and on to the Starlight Theatre for some suds:

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The Crew (Minus the guy holding the camera)

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Ive been saying that for a while! Well I have an X but still. Notice how much smaller the front of your Buell is compared to the others. I find this extremely helpful in difficult terrain as you can see closer to your front tire they on other bikes. My buddy has a Vstrom and I cant imagine doing difficult terrain with the 4 feet of dash he has in front of him! Heres my Uly on some pretty street oriented tires. I have some knobbies coming

 
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It’s awesome to see folks getting their bikes dirty off-slab, no matter what they’re riding.

ChiTownEngineer said:
Gents, don't let anyone tell you that the XT cant handle a little dirt, sand and rocks!
Click to expand...
Anything is capable of handling a little dirt, it’s just a question of how much you want to wrestle with the bike. For me there’s several design specs of the Uly that keep it from being a serious off-road machine:
- The 17” front wheel
- The limited suspension travel (as you mention)
- The limited ground-clearance of the under-slung silencer
- The large turning radius
- The relatively tall 1st gear, coupled with the rough low-rpm throttle
- The fuel-in-frame, ZTL brake, belt drive, & brittle cast subframe are all more susceptible to the kinds of damage that off-road bikes often receive
- The air-cooled motor creates a lot of uncomfortable heat at low off-road speeds & causes the fans to run most of the time

Nonetheless, it’s commendable that you kept up with that GS & KTM; congrats!
 
Sweet Pic CJ! That's the type of terrain I love to see. I hear what you're sayin about the smaller front end. My buddy was following me on his GS and ended up eating some dirt on the slow technical stuff that I thought was pretty easy (and he's got tons more off road experience than me). I'm a taller guy so the Uly doesn't feel like a big bike to me and thus the slow tricky stuff was actually my favorite part. Plus, the on-demand low end torque made it real easy to scoot out of any sand without having to worry about downshifting. Though, I must say, the 17 inch front wheel made for a couple dicey moments on the washouts. Too much fun overall though. I'm thinking I'm going to make it an annual pilgrimage.
 
go cytocis said:
It’s awesome to see folks getting their bikes dirty off-slab, no matter what they’re riding.

Anything is capable of handling a little dirt, it’s just a question of how much you want to wrestle with the bike. For me there’s several design specs of the Uly that keep it from being a serious off-road machine:
- The 17” front wheel
- The limited suspension travel (as you mention)
- The limited ground-clearance of the under-slung silencer
- The large turning radius
- The relatively tall 1st gear, coupled with the rough low-rpm throttle
- The fuel-in-frame, ZTL brake, belt drive, & brittle cast subframe are all more susceptible to the kinds of damage that off-road bikes often receive
- The air-cooled motor creates a lot of uncomfortable heat at low off-road speeds & causes the fans to run most of the time

Nonetheless, it’s commendable that you kept up with that GS & KTM; congrats!
Click to expand...

I'm right on board with you with the limitations, especially the under hung exhaust. The Uly is definately not as capable as other bikes, but it is still capable. I think a lot of guys write it off, especially the XT, because its not as off road savvy as today's super adventure bikes. But that just makes me want to take it out and get it dirty even more! (I considered putting the knobbies on my 1125R and hitting the trails just to see how far I could make it. Then I remembered how expensive the parts are :cool: )
 
Heck ya! Use them ULY's!

Who says only dirt bikes go off road....?
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I changed my XT mudguard to the X and I am going to do some suspension mods later to get ride hight closer to X's.

My buddies want me to get a GS, but the reason I bought the Uly, was because I didn't want the stuff everybody else rides.

The Uly struggles on rocky roads, but keeps up with them.
The bigger from wheel and longer suspension travel on the "proper" bikes makes a huge difference!

But I love my Uly. :)
 
wally said:
My buddies want me to get a GS, but the reason I bought the Uly, was because I didn't want the stuff everybody else rides.
Click to expand...

The GS is pretty nice. Smooth and refined, very comfortable. But it lacks the gritty character of the Uly. Love me some unrefined fun!
 
Ha, yea, I saw that 'Terra Corsa' floating around the internets a couple of years ago. I recall there's a video of it too that I'm sure a quick Google search would turn-up. My concern with taking ANY Ducati off-road (including their purpose-built Multistradas & Hypermotards) would be that once you get deep off-road out of the range of cell-phones & tow-trucks, you simply can't afford the risk of a Ducati's poor reliability...
 
ChlTown i have always wanted a Uly, i like the look of them but mate yours with those tyres fitted take it to another level, i love it!! :up:
 
go cytocis said:
Ha, yea, I saw that 'Terra Corsa' floating around the internets a couple of years ago. I recall there's a video of it too that I'm sure a quick Google search would turn-up. My concern with taking ANY Ducati off-road (including their purpose-built Multistradas & Hypermotards) would be that once you get deep off-road out of the range of cell-phones & tow-trucks, you simply can't afford the risk of a Ducati's poor reliability...
Click to expand...

You can take a Ducati off road. Just need a friend with one of these to follow you....

image.jpg
 

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