FJR on gravel and fire roads

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kmkirlin

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West Des Moines, IA
I ride a Honda GL1100 and am awaiting an August 2006 FJR. I live in Iowa, so have to travel a ways to find interesting riding in Wisconsin, Arkansas or mountain states. When I look at the road map of Colorado, Wyoming, N. Mexico, I see lots of roads that turn into broken dashes, meaning gravel or fire roads. I have NO interest in offroad riding with the FJR, but would like to ride some of these gravel and fire roads. I also expect to find more sand and gravel on paved roads in the mountain states. Am I nuts to try to ride the FJR on gravel or fire roads? Is there a tire for the FJR that would give me good street performance, but would handle gravel or fire roads reasonably well? Am I better off riding a V-strom or some other bike for a mix of pavement and gravel? I have lots of gravel driving experience in cars and used to ride a BMW R60/6 short distances on gravel in Iowa in the 1970s. Advice from more experienced riders is greatly appreciated.

 
Yo Mike, what about that detour you took us through up near Bandera? :lol:

 
Lets see... 600lbs. two wheel tank, and gravel roads......Just be sure you have your insurance paid up. :D Smitty

 
I have some experience here. I travel > 5 miles / day on what's called a 'secondary improved road'. Hah! The FJR does fine as long as the road surface is packed down. It tends to skate a bit in the soft stuff, the fluff, and/or in true pea-sized gravel. But it will do it! I routinely do 45+ mph on the dirt road, slow down for the corners a bit. So far no problem, and yes, you can power slide a FJR.. :D

 
I was on some hardpack clay in rural Minnesota, when I turned onto a freshly graveled road. Nightmare, top speed 5mph with both feet out for 1/4 mile before I could turn off it. Couldn't even risk doing a turn around to go back the way I had come, it was that bad. Hardpack is fine, but if it changes, you're SOL.

 
As has been stated, the FJR does fine on good hard packed roads. Like the kind you find all over Iowa. I grew uo near Elkhorn so I know what you're talking about. Fire roads out west are very incosistant, often starting out good and quickly turning to s**t to the point where you can hardly turn around. Personally, I wouldn't plan on touring any unpaved roads on an FJR.

It's a geology thing. Iowa has a very consistent substrata under the roads. In the mountain states the substrata changes constantly and the roads do too.

 
I'm with Rad on this. IMO, the FJR handles (at least with aftermarket suspension) exceptionally well for such a big and heavy bike on paved roads. But . . . on any kind of loose gravel or sandy or loose soil road surface, its top heaviness becomes apparent and it's a friggin' squirrel. That isn't to say that it won't negotiate those roads, but it's a long way from a dual sport or even a smaller, lighter or less top heavy bike.

 
Yo Mike, what about that detour you took us through up near Bandera? :lol:
Did it look anything like this?

DirtRoad.jpg


 
Thats freeway sweet compared to the shit I found myself in that day. I've run fire roads and logging roads on all sorts of bikes in my life-nothing prepared me for that vermiculite I ran into.

 
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I have ridden many miles on gravel and dirt fireroads, many by chance not choice, and the FJR is pretty good in the dry. My favorite and scaryest (it was all uphill and downhill) was the Rowdy Creek-Low Divide Rd in Smith River National Forest. But I admit I cannot ride my FJR in the deepish sand!

17023826-L.jpg


14448010-L.jpg


 
Hey Henchmen, my wife is from Harlan and I have stopped in Elk Horn for RAGBRAI.

Daniel - still thinking about what a great time we had on that gravel road SW of Bandera?

It added a touch of local culture to the trip.

Sheeeeeesh, what a bunch of pavement weenies...

 
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On my cross-country trip in May I ran into a 17 mile stretch of gravel, dirt, mud and washboarding on New Mexico state highway 456. It was sheer torture. The bike bucked and swayed and felt very top-heavy. It took an hour to cover the distance and it was the longest hour of my entire trip without a doubt. I couldn't encourage you more to do all you can to avoid gravel roads out West.

 
Forget it, dude. My gravel driveway makes me nervous. My old GL1200 is more stable on the loose stuff. The feej just hunts crap to unsettle herself in the gravel.

 
Come on guys....there's nothing better for the pucker factor than a fully loaded FJR....can you say excitement.... :blink:

 
When I go to my farm I have 1 1/2 miles of gravel to put up with. It's not a problem but I stay in the tire tracks which of course is pretty hard packed. In the tracks you can go at a reasonable speed but get into where the gravel is piled up outside of the tracks and it is more exciting. I also have a ZX-9R Ninja and it is pure hell on the gravel roads. The FJR is far preferrable to the Ninja. I have a KLR 650 that needless to say can negoitiate the gravel roads pretty well.

Bottom line, avoid if possible but gravel can be negotiated. If it turns to mud, don't even think about it unless you can carry 640 lbs.

Chester

 
The typical gravel road out west is not maintained to any degree and would be difficult for any road bike. You will spend all of your time going slow and looking at the road ahead and not much else until you stop for a break or fall over whichever comes first. I would suggest that if you are taking the FJR do not plan on taking any non-paved road. If you have your heart set on those roads take a different bike, an enduro would be the appropiate choice. I don't believe that a V-Strom would be a good choice either. It is still too heavy to handle rough roads. The pictures in this thread so far are not representative of what you will find in Colorado from my experience. I can't speak for the other areas mentioned.

 
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