Offroad Supermoto Vids...

[TYEster]

Originally Posted by jtemple

I always wondered how well a supermoto would handle on dirt. I want something I can ride on and off road, but I really don't like the dual sports available. I want something that won't handle like a big tank in the dirt, even if it means I'm on something that feels mushy and squirrely on the street.

The bottom line is I want more dirt bike than street bike, but I still want to be able to ride it on both surfaces.

I ride a converted CRF450. From what I can tell, it weighs similar to my friends' 450s I've ridden that are full dirt.

As far as traction, I'd rather have it on the asphalt than dirt. But when it comes to the converted supermoto, decent street tires will grip just fine when you've only got 400lbs of both rider AND bike on them.(vs 600+ for sportbikes) Dirt traction is limited to harder pack, and any MX track that has a soft loam prep will be pointless. Same goes for any kind of mud.

The idea behind tire choice is similar for the suspension. If you're going to ride asphalt mostly then just set the suspension for that. Whenever you have long travel, hitting jumps and bumps will still be fine under those settings. But if you set your bike to handle MX whoops and big doubles, you might loose some stability on when back on the asphalt.

Personally I couldn't be happier with this bike, other than wishing I had some MX wheels to swap out on it when getting serious in the dirt. But I just bought a separate bike for full MX duty anyway. It's crazy fun and the looks I get from hitting the jumps at the dirt track are hilarious.