LeonDude
Bachelor Dog
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2007
- Messages
- 10,493
- Reaction score
- 532
- Location
- Gauteng - Centurion
- Bike
- Suzuki DR650
MX kit and dual sport riding
I’ve got this nagging suspicion that Dual Sport riders are being taken for a ride by the sellers of MX kit. I get to events like a bash or other get together, and the sheer amount of body bling I see is staggering.
Let’s for instance take boots. I can see how wearing high strong boots can be helpful if you are riding a plastic bike through tough terrain where branches is going to try to take the skin off your lower leg and your mate is trying to roost you just as hard as he can. But is that same piece of kit really needed for average gravel touring?
I mean, do I really need boots up almost to my knees to safeguard me when I am touring South Africa, going on gravel roads and the occasional tweespoor? What is there on those paths that my O’neall road boots cannot take care of? The height difference between the two sets of boots is exactly 7cm.
Next on my list is the now infamous Leat brace. Yes wear one if you are going to see how high you can jump over the obstacles on the red route. But once again, should this piece of kit really be included on a tour of gravel roads where you are not pushing the limits of yourself and your bike?
Are we just buying kit because we want to keep up with the Jones’s and the salesperson and Internet tells us we must have it?
Of course I am not saying that we should ride without ATGATT, but surely the same kit that I wear on my daily commute should be quite adequate for a gravel tour of the country?
I’ve got this nagging suspicion that Dual Sport riders are being taken for a ride by the sellers of MX kit. I get to events like a bash or other get together, and the sheer amount of body bling I see is staggering.
Let’s for instance take boots. I can see how wearing high strong boots can be helpful if you are riding a plastic bike through tough terrain where branches is going to try to take the skin off your lower leg and your mate is trying to roost you just as hard as he can. But is that same piece of kit really needed for average gravel touring?
I mean, do I really need boots up almost to my knees to safeguard me when I am touring South Africa, going on gravel roads and the occasional tweespoor? What is there on those paths that my O’neall road boots cannot take care of? The height difference between the two sets of boots is exactly 7cm.
Next on my list is the now infamous Leat brace. Yes wear one if you are going to see how high you can jump over the obstacles on the red route. But once again, should this piece of kit really be included on a tour of gravel roads where you are not pushing the limits of yourself and your bike?
Are we just buying kit because we want to keep up with the Jones’s and the salesperson and Internet tells us we must have it?
Of course I am not saying that we should ride without ATGATT, but surely the same kit that I wear on my daily commute should be quite adequate for a gravel tour of the country?
