Quote Originally Posted by foxtrot View Post
Good post. All the 650+ dual sports frankly suck off road.... when comparing to a dirt bike. So if you are looking at a interstate qualified DS because you don't want to load/offload to ride offroad, it is a very bad fit. Not suggesting that is the mission, but a mistake many DS riders make when selecting their bikes.

Mine right now.. with everything I have done, weighs close to 550 lbs. Compared to dirt bikes under 200 - you have shit capability off road. Plenty of power, but it's hard to keep upright when doing overly technical desents/ascents with that much weight to sling around.

While most of my miles are street/interstate, I've done a tremendous amount off road in mine (Keeping D606 rear, TKC80 front) including technical hill climbs, rock descents, etc. Yeah... have dropped it more than a few times and had some close calls. The challenge in some ways is satisfying for me (keeping up with people and their fun toys) but on the other hand it REALLY wears on both you and the bike. Anymore I am down to only trail riding and I hate riding with ATV's. F'ers I know always going up into pure rock washes and stuff. Yeah, true rock crawling isn't in the DS capabilities. They also like to full-brake stop suddenly in gravel roads .
This pretty much sums up my experience. I Picked up a 2012 KLR 650 a couple years ago, but sold it after a season of riding. I think it's fair to say I bought it thinking it was something that it wasn't, as in, when I hit the trails with the KLR, it didn't hold a candle to the bikes I grew up with (no shit Sherlock). Looking back, I wish I would have kept it, as I rode it much more on road than I did off, and except for a couple times, the trails I took the bike on it did fine. I do want to take a few rides to the west coast eventually, so I'm looking real close at the V-Strom, a cruiser has also crossed my mind, but the few times I want to look at the fall colors or similar trips, I'll wish I had a DS.