I remember hearing somewhere that using a dirtbike for street use isn't good for it due to some sort of stress on the motor from a lack of a cush drive like roadbikes have... I see plenty of dual sports racking up tons of mileage but was still curious. Any truth to this? Also, does this work vis versa: i.e. the guy with the 1000rr and dirt tires; is that straining that bike? Thanks.

 

I've heard something similar too, but don't know if that's true.

All I know is that dirt tires on the street don't last long

 

link to 1000rr with dirt ties?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ngng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">link to 1000rr with dirt ties?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It was posted in here but I couldn't find the link for the life of me.

 

I don't know about shocks to the driveline... but I do know that the majority of dirt motors require heavy, frequent maintenace relative to their slick tired brethren.

 

Are you referring to the DRZ400SM? IIRC, the reason some dirtbikes aren't faring too well with street-riding is the elevated speeds and the resultant strain on the motor. Smaller engined-dirtbikes will need to be revved higher to maintain any sort of speed to keep off of cars' hoods.

A larger thumper makes a better street-bike than say, a 400 or 450.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1803767

 

My buddy rode the **** out of a xr250 on the freeway. He had it pinned from the Valley to East LA every morning and back every night. I forgot how many cylinder heads he went though. lost count. All under Honda warantee though... and no cush drive issues Like marm said, singles have low power so they have to be revved- Singles have about 4x as much piston mass per cubic centimeter so they aren't designed to rev the way a four is. And those smaller radial valve Honda heads did have unusual cracking problems not found in their other motors. Anyway, something bigger like a KLR650 or XR650L would do fine at ~80mph freeway flow.

Ed- I'm not sure which bikes do/dont have cush drive, but the tire ***** and spokes got to have some give?




Modified by mos at 9:48 AM 11/29/2006

 

A KLR will go allday on highway or freeway speeds. My neighbor has a 2002 with 72,000 miles that he uses as his DD.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladeboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you referring to the DRZ400SM? IIRC, the reason some dirtbikes aren't faring too well with street-riding is the elevated speeds and the resultant strain on the motor. Smaller engined-dirtbikes will need to be revved higher to maintain any sort of speed to keep off of cars' hoods.

A larger thumper makes a better street-bike than say, a 400 or 450.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was thinking more in terms of a streetbike on light dirt, lets say with a 90%on/10%off tire...

(there are tons of dirt sidepaths here which are wonderful in really heavy traffic)

 

I think a street bike on anytype of off road action would suck. Any pot holes or humps im sure you will run out of shock travel fast.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fenrir51 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think a street bike on anytype of off road action would suck. Any pot holes or humps im sure you will run out of shock travel fast.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It does suck but its amusing as hell. Had a 929rr once that doubled as a dirtbike. Was super fun aside from sliding around the place a ton.

 

For 90/10 something even bigger than a KLR650 would work. Something like a 900 Tiger, KTM 950 or one of those big Dakar Bimmers. But the KLR650 is a better balance between freeway and trail. Something like a 400 is maybe 25/75 and a 250 is like 10/90.

 

I have heard the same thing about the cush drive. That was my main concern when I put a deposit down on my soon to arrive supermoto bike but I was assured that it would be fine. Funny they didn't give my any reasoning though. lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For 90/10 something even bigger than a KLR650 would work. Something like a 900 Tiger, KTM 950 or one of those big Dakar Bimmers. But the KLR650 is a better balance between freeway and trail. Something like a 400 is maybe 25/75 and a 250 is like 10/90. </TD></TR></TABLE>

KTM 950 and desert bmw's are beasts. More like offroad cruisers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by evil vapor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

KTM 950 and desert bmw's are beasts. More like offroad cruisers. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I think the bmw's also double as awsome all around bikes, many have well over 50k on them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .Ash &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think the bmw's also double as awsome all around bikes, many have well over 50k on them. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Does that mean you are considering a BMW too?

BAN.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladeboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Does that mean you are considering a BMW too?

BAN. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No, it means I may have some insanity and mount dual sport tires for fun on a certain yellow piece I know of. Suspension and wheels are due for replacement anyways...

Unrelated, I took a little detour thru the dirt lot on a s2r and it was fun as hell. Nothing like a nice roost.