KLR SWing in the forest...

OK, not.

You know this already, no doubt, but I found out today that the SWing can actually go down a dirt path in the forest without dumping its rider on his ear. I didn't go far, but that was my choice. The SWing did fine!

Here's a photo...

Dirt road,not a problem.Dirt ON road could be big problem.Nice looking country.

I went to Daytona Beach for bike week a few years ago.
Just for the fun of it I got one of those passes to drive on the beach.
The pass was good for one day.
I barely made it upright from one beach entrance to another.
About 4 minutes on the beach which would have taken me 45 seconds on pavement.
If you are a competition dirt-bike rider or stunt rider, maybe this is for you.
If not, make dirt roads your limits, and don't try X-treme beach ridng.
JMHO
Dan

Dan wholeheartedly I agree.I have a dirt alley entry to get in my garage in back of my home.I ride in and out a few day times a day.But I also live in Florida and I commend you for even trying to ride on the beach,I would not even think of trying to.
But now you've got me thinking,if I got stuck somewhere and had to ride in sand to get out[living in Fl.and all] perhaps I should some practice jest in case???

Roger,
Are you hooked up with the Space Coast Scooter Crew?
They have events regularly and head to Daytona Beach for
Bike Week and Biketoberfest.

Dan

Dan hear in St.Pete.we have a large club.We had 24 riders on 21 scooters[Well 1 H.D.& 1old GoldWing and 19 scooters]today.We went over 200mi.round trip.We meetup every Thur.and go for a short ride usually under 150mi.and try to plan a longer weekend ride.We are planing a 3 day rally in Nov. take a look at our web site if you would like. http://www.meetup.com/st-petersburg-scooter-club/ And if you ever are on this side of the state and want to ride,if you post it on our site someone will meet you and show you around hear.
Oh and finely to answer your question. Yes I have rode with some of the Space Coast Scooter Crew but I am not a member of the group.

Yeah...this was a little tongue-in-cheek...wouldn't try true dirt riding on the SWing...but it did fine on this little path.

This is the Tahoe National Forest east of Foresthill in the Sierra Nevadas not far from Sacramento...elevation is about 4500'. Another 3-4 miles east and 1500' higher, snow is still piled 4' high and the road to Robinson Flat remains closed as of today and probably the next few weeks. They're going to be skiing on the 4th of July here in the Tahoe area...shame about that global warming....

My favorite scooter off road story:

Back in the early 1970's my parents sent me with old family friends for a bit of European living. First stop was 2 weeks of living in a thatched roof hut on the beach in Italy. Mark, their son, was my guide. One day he finagled a ride to Rome. Boy, Roman pizza (various cheeses on flat bread) as the first real food in days! Anyway, Mark managed to rent two 50cc Vespa's and off we went heading back to the beach with our haul of cold pizza. At first I was scared, never having ridden more than a bicycle and heading into Roman traffic, but Mark's reassurance proved well founded. I just aimed between cars and gave it gas and holes would open in bumper to bumper traffic. Roman drivers may be crazy with other cars but they are wonderful to young bikers. The drive from Rome on the shoulder of a major highway was just plain fun. We got to the beach and wanted to ride some more, but Mark didn't know any good roads, so I suggest a ride along he beach.

We had to push our Vespas across the sand while we ran the motors but it got us to the packed damp sand that supported the Vespas nicely. So off we went along the beach trying to find that Easy Rider feeling but mostly balancing between loose sand and water logged mush. Then we came across a really long sandbar and after riding along it for a hundred feed figured the 10 ft wide channel at the head was the narrowest point between it and our shore and that it ran quite a long way. I suggested riding on the sand bar. Mark looked dubious and asked how are we going to get on that with the heavy underpowered scooters. I told him we could jump the water at the narrowest point. He told me to go ahead.

So I took off down the beach the way we had come. Coming back I had the scooter floored and going at it's maximum. At the right point I swerved towards the sand bar and at the last minute I jumped up and tried to tug the scooter into the air... Those scooters were solid sheet metal and my tug did not do much, but luckily, and part of my calculation, the bottom of the scooter footwell was totally flat. I recall spray coming off to the sides and suddenly I was on the sand bar high and dry. I admit I was quite surprised that the motor was still running. I rode down a distance and came back to encourage Mark to follow.

Mark looked at the water, and slowly drove his scooter froward. Of course the channel that was 6 inches deep at the wide parts further down the beach was considerably narrower here.... and deeper. As I watched Mark's scooter dipped forward and disappeared until only the handle bars were above water. And there it sat, in the middle of the channel.

It took both of us pushing hard to drag Mark's scooter out of the channel. When I surfed my scooter back to the main beach I did not bother jumping hard but it still surfed across. I sort of wished it had also drowned in sympathy, but it landed with only a little more steam coming out of it and still running fine. I drove it to the huts, ran back and helped Mark push his bike all the way back to the huts, then spent the evening handing him tools as he washed his bike with fresh water. Finally he declared it was time to let it sit and dry overnight but I was really pessimistic the thing would run.

Amazingly, the next day both scooter started right up. We did not take any detours but headed right to the rental shop and returned them. I still wonder if the shop noticed an accelerated rate of rusting and how those scooters faired.