Ceres to Citrusdal - Middleburg Pass

[Sedate]

Spent New Year on a farm near Citrusdal off the R303. Took the GS for it's second foray on dirt (and my third ever) along the way.

Nice views and some good road surface........ at least until the corrugations! Still learning, never been on any off road course and I found it pretty tough going. Everytime I would stand up I felt way better but I now know I definitely need raisers and bigger pegs....... and to get way fitter than I currently am if I intend doing this regularly.

I found the corrugated road extremely difficult to ride on at about 40km/h with the back wheel slowing me down when it lost purchase with the ground and the handlebars attempting to being torn from my grip making me snatch quite often on the throttle further compounding the discomfort.

What's the correct manner of handling the corrugated roads? I didn't speed up too much to test if that improved matters because of my lack of experience but I noticed a few bakkies flying past me seemed to cope better with the rattling than I did.

I have attached a few pics of my journey on dirt.

 

[growweblaar]

Vinniger oor die sinkplaat!

 

[the_BOBNOB]

I found the corrugated road extremely difficult to ride on at about 40km/h with the back wheel slowing me down when it lost purchase with the ground and the handlebars attempting to being torn from my grip making me snatch quite often on the throttle further compounding the discomfort.

ja nee 40km/h is standing still

the faster you go the smoother the road becomes - now don't go and kill yourself but at a 100km/h you wont feel any corrugation in the road  :ricky:

 

[the_BOBNOB]

stand + dont have a death grip on the handle bars - let the handlebars move freely + give it gas =  :ricky:

 

[CaptainWobble]

Corrugated roads are NOT fun. But I have found a few tricks that helped.

First relax the grip on the bike. It knows what to do.
Go a bit faster. try 60 to 80km/h to find a sweetspot.
Think of rinding on gravel more like water/snow ski.
That is why you must look where you want go so you can plan to get there. You cannot control the bike like you do on tar.

Again relax the grip.
Also attend some training. After that you will always plan your routes for as much gravel as possible.

 

[LeonDude]

Although riding faster will probably help, remember that riding solo means you don't have backup if you go down, so always ride on the side of caution. But you do have to relax.

 

[Dustdevil]

At the bottom of the rear shock you will find an adjuster marked H - for high and L - for low. What this mean only BMW can tell you. But all shocks work around the same principle and the same applies here, the adjuster will regulate the rate of dampening and in this case the rebound dampening. (the standard shock fitted to the R1200GS does not have an adjuster for compression dampening)

Rebound dampening regulate the rate with witch the shock recover and extended after being compressed by a bump or pothole. Now you would ask me what the f%#@#&k does this have to do with making the ride more comfy on corrugated roads?
A lot I tell you, much more that what compression dampening would do.

What happens is that the shock is compressed a small way when you hit the first corrugation and before it can recover fully it will be compressed a small way once more. After repeatedly doing this to the shock it will compress fully and will become a little like riding a hard-tail Harley.

What you need to do is find a setting that will allow the shock to recover fast enough so that the shock does not get "stacked".
In BMW terms this might mean H - For High-speed or on most other makes of suspension - for less dampening, but what it really should say is fast or slow and not + or - or H or L.
There is a simple test you can do, run the adjuster all the way to the maximum setting and stand behind the bike while balancing it on its wheels. Push down hard on the sub frame to compress the the rear shock as far as you can and then let go of the pressure still holding on to the bike so it won't fall over. Take note of how rapidly the tail end come back up. Do it a few times to get a good feeling for it.
Now wind the adjuster all the way to the other end and repeat the process. You will see a huge difference. To ride corrugations or rough surfaces with small movement of the shock the rebound must set be fast. (High Speed) or - (- meaning less dampening hence the shock will extend faster.)
When you are back on the tar winding the bike through twisties you will find the back end to be all bouncy and feeling like it would like to wash out when you hit a bump on a high speed bend. In this case you want more rebound dampening.

Another indication that the rear shock is not doing its job well is when you excellerate hard when on corrugations you will find the back wheel losing grip and spinning out of control. You will notice this even more so when going up a steep incline.
You will also notice the bike seems to be slowing down slightly as if hitting a sheet of water almost holding it back as well as the sagging feeling as the shocks get compressed.
You will notice that the first 5 to 10 meters feel fine and then it suddenly turn bad.
Pay attention next time you ride over sheets of corrugations with smooth sections in between.

 

[Dustdevil]

What I forgot to mention is that you might have bought the wrong bike for the job.
Even though BMW have designed the GS to be a so called dual purpose bike it is still more of a road bike than off road.
It was designed for European road conditions and that is why it is such a fantastic bike on the open roads.

The suspension fitted to the KTM's are fully adjustable and were designed for off road use but the ultimate is this little BMW.
It does not matter what the speed is slow, fast of ultra fast you just do not know that there is any corrugations.

 

[Sedate]

Thanks for the tips guys. I kept telling myself as I was bouncing along "I must go for off road training... I must go ...." so I'm sure things will improve as I get more acquainted with the completely different feeling of riding a bike offroad and get both experience and confidence. I've been riding road bikes only for 20 years now and need to relax some of my 'panic' moments when the feeling is so foreign (front wheel washing out slightly every few metres.

Dustdevil - nice machine you have there - as for the H and L settings on my shock, I've sold my previous mistress and got myself into serious debt and bought a GS with ESA. I stopped every few hundred metres or so and changed the settings from hard to comfort to sport, then smooth terrain to hard terrain on all three settings and found the hard, rough terrain to be the setting least suicidal.

As for speeding up......... every so often when the road smoothed out a bit and was straight enough I'd open up a little and change up a gear or two - got up to fourth and over 80kms/h on a section but as soon as it got tricky I got pretty scared and slowed way down. I guess it comes with practice.

I also tried to be as inconsequential as possible on the bike itself - I know the machine is way more competant than I am and if I let it it will see me through but as for a relaxed grip on the handles.......... how do you do that when you're standing up and the only contact you have with the bike is your two feet on the pegs and your hands on the grips? Everytime I tried to relax my grips the throttle would close shifting all the weight forward and giving me another moment. On the corrugations it felt like the handles were trying to get torn from my grip unless I held a death grip on them.

 

[stevgh0]

1st times are always scary... it will get better... in no time you will find yourself doing standup wheelies on dirtroads @ 130kph  :ricky:

 

[Dustdevil]

I also noticed you are running very road bias tyres. It will make your bike feel a lot more controllable once you fit proper knobblies. TKC80's are the most common and possibly the best compromise between road and off road use. They do neither real good though!!!!
Real knobblies like the Metzler Karoo or Michelin Desert are unbelievable on the dirt but as good as they are on the dirt so dangerous can they be on the tar at high speeds. The Karoo come in two options, one is more hardcore like the Michelin Desert and the other version the Karoo T is intended for more recreational use. The tread pattern looks the same but having bigger blocks it will have more rubber in contact with the road making them saver on tar. The knobs are also slightly shorter reducing road noise and vibration when on the tar. I have never used these but I suspect they will perform similarly to the TKC80's.
The Deserts is my all time favourite, if you watch the Dakar you will know why these tyres are so popular for off road use. https://www.bfgoodrich.com/racing/EN/20060301135152/&idnews=19057
If you ride fast on tar I recommend you stay away from these as they can become very unstably at speeds over 130km/h besides the fact that the tread pattern have a very small contact area with the road giving you minimum grip around fast bends.

The Michelin Desert is not available in sizes to fit the 1200GS. The Karoo does however have tube less sizes available for the 19" GS front and wider rear tyre.

You must also make sure you are running lower tyre presures allowing better grip off-road and it will also significantly improve the comfort level on corriguted or very rough road surfaces.

 

[Malibu]

Dustdevil, this may sound daft, could you list the usual settings you use on your bike...

For example... Tar riding: rebound settings X% from softest, compression damping, X% from softest
Mud riding, sand riding, open dirt, corrugated dirt, slow techincal...

I know how good you are setting-up your bike and it would certainly help as a basis for others to start working from (like me!). 

 

[Rynet]

Nice trip report Sedate .

Thanks for the explanations Dust devil,  I understand it better now  , but do you give practical demonstrations too ? as I don't really understand the difference between shocks and suspension and dampers etc , or where they are on my bike ?  Someone changed the settings ( not sure which ones)  on my GS1200 before my solo trip to the Cederberg 2 weeks ago , and for the first time ever in my short off -road riding career my front end didn't rattle when I went over corrugated . Also hardly snaked in sand. Apparently my bike was previously set on "hard" for tar road racing.  I was ecstatic to feel the improvement in the bike 's performance on corrugated and sand , but am frustrated at my ignorance as to where or how to adjust all these weird and wonderful settings myself, and by how much relative to all the various conditions one can encounter  .

 

[Dustdevil]

Hi Malibu, I will still do a proper write up and start it as a new thread because most other riders might miss it on this one. Once done I will post the link here.
Rynet you are welcome to visit me at my workshop in Woodstock with your bike and I can show you how it's done and explain a bit more on how the shocks on your bike works. The forks on the 1200 is only sliders and have no effect on the suspension performance. You can get hold of me here https://www.gsworkshop.co.za/contact.htm and the info is free of charge.

 

[Rynet]

Thank you dustdevil !!

 

[CaptainWobble]

Dustdevil that is one sweet looking R80G/S.  :drif:

I had one, but sold it. Yes I know. I was an idiot.  :

Did you do the conversion? Why did you go with the smaller front wheel and not the normal 21"

I apologise for highjacking the thread.

 

[Hermanator]

It's nice when you first get off-road, but soon you realise there's things happening which aren't supposed to and you have no control over.

I took my 1150RT over that pass and the bike was surprisingly capable. I then bought a VStrom to do more off-road, but like you and being a road rider, I was slowing down when the bike started snaking in sandy patches and I hated the front wheel washing out feeling.

R790 is the cost of the beginner off-road course which is cheaper than the repairs to the bike - so I did the course, and then another and then another....

You'll learn very quickly about look up, standup, openup as well as things like weighting the outside peg, as opposed to road riding where you're weighting the inside peg. Dropping tyre pressures is a great way of increasing the footprint of the bike. You'll come to realise just how much you can actually do with those dual-sport tyres with an 80/20 road bias.

Anyway, nice to see the pics of Middleburg Pass again. Enjoy your journey of learning, as the pleasure that'll come with the confidence you develop is immense.

Cheers

Lawrence
p.s. next is to learn how to repair punctures in the field! 

 

[Dustdevil]

Did you do the conversion? Why did you go with the smaller front wheel and not the normal 21"

The font wheel is 21", I guess the black anodized rim and tall suspension might make the wheel look smaller.

I have built the bike myself, it is fitted with a 1043cc racing motor and the chassis was reinforced and modified by HPN in Germany, the same people that build the racing bikes for the BMW factory teams and many privateers for the Dakar and many other desert races.
The chassis have a completely different geometry to the original GS and together with the long travel WP suspension the handling is something else.

You can read more about it in this thread: - https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=23723.0

 

[Vaufi]

You must also make sure you are running lower tyre presures allowing better grip off-road and it will also significantly improve the comfort level on corriguted or very rough road surfaces.

Apart from adjusting the suspension I believe the tip regarding the tyre pressure is he most important aspect. After hitting the gravel for a few times I reduced the pressure to 24 psi in front and 26 for he rear tyre. This felt best for my old GS on corrugations and loose gravel/sand. On longer trips I always take a 12 volt air-compressor along.

Even with luggage the above pressure was sufficcient. Here a pic from Wupperthal/Cedarberge.

The big GS might need a wee bit higher pressure 

Hans