Off-Road Adventure Riding: Expert Tips for Bikes, Gear, and Technique

What you should do, and what you shouldn’t do, from an expert-level rider

Over the past decade, adventure bikes have exploded onto the scene and with good reason. As people move into the concrete jungle, people of all age ranges are looking to reconnect with the natural world in new ways. Films like “The Long Way Round” have perpetuated this trend with both young and old catching the wanderlust bug. It’s no wonder sales in the adventure bike category have been increasing year after year.

The real game changers in adventure bikes came with the introduction of the BMW GS line and KTM Adventure series. These bikes had all the creature comforts of a street bike but with some dirt capability, with the KTM’s being the more dirt oriented of the two.

While these bikes are typically quite comfortable cruising for long distances on the highway, what makes them great in that capacity has downsides when taken off the pavement. That includes weight, which can easily approach 700 pounds with luggage and protection added, lackluster suspension particularly with all the added weight, street oriented tires, and less than ideal ergonomics when standing.

It didn’t take long for the aftermarket to notice the trend in adventure bike sales, and now there is a mind-boggling array of goodies. Clothing and gear that include waterproof and breathable materials with shock absorbing armor, abrasion-resistant fabric quickly came on the scene with Klim leading the charge.

Accessories Galore

The amount of bike accessories is also staggering. There are numerous companies offering crash bars to protect engine cases, skid-plates, panniers and gear bags galore, and endless other pieces waiting to make your prized ride unique to you, while draining your pockets of hard earned cash and adding even more mass to an already stuffed pig, in many cases.

But do you really need all that stuff to venture off the pavement?

Not necessarily. For instance, a few years ago, I bought a worn out ’97 Honda XR400 for a four-day excursion around Arizona on as much rugged single-track as possible. I did all of the repairs and maintenance myself, which included new tires and re-sprung suspension. I also picked up some soft bag panniers and a long-range tank for the journey. Total cost including the bike: $1300. The point here being that you don’t need a $20,000 bike with $5,000 worth of accessories to go off the pavement. A well-prepped bike with a few key items will be leaps and bounds better than a poorly set up, off-the-showroom-floor machine.

Suspension is Key

One of the most overlooked yet critical setup steps is to set the correct spring rate and “sag” for the rear suspension. This is particularly important on the smaller dual-sport bikes. Sag is basically how much the bike squats under its own weight and rider weight. Too little sag (i.e., the bike stays in the same position when taken off a stand) indicates that the spring rate is too soft for the rider weight and gear. This is the common scenario when bikes are heavily loaded or riders are more than jockey sized. Too much sag would indicate the spring rate is too stiff and a lighter spring should be installed. And one important thing to mention: cranking down the pre-load on the spring is not the same as installing a proper spring. If you really want to get your suspension setup for specific use, a re-valve is a final option for that perfect ride. Moto Lab Dirt Bikes (motolabdirtbikes.com) has a vast amount of experience with suspension rebuilds, custom valving, lowering kits, and other suspension services to get your bike properly fitted to you.

Tires, Armor & Such

Tire choice is another vital element to a well performing bike. This is also the step when you really need to think what you are going to use the bike for. Mostly riding pavement with occasional jaunts off-road? Stick with a mostly street oriented tire with some tread for traction when you do hit the dirt such as the Heidenau K60. Planning on a long-distance off-road trip or only using the bike on street to get from trail-to-trail? Go with a dirt oriented DOT approved tire. Some examples are the full knobby Kenda Parker or the Continental TKC 80, fully street capable and one of the most popular tires available.

Smaller but still important items to consider, depending on the bike, are a skid-plate and handguards to protect the two most vital componetnts: the bikes engine and your hands. Wider footpegs without the rubber insert are a relatively cheap but well worthwhile investment, if you plan to spend a decent chunk of time off-road. These provide more of a platform to pivot your feet and not slide off at inopportune times like the stock narrow pegs tend to do.

There are a plethora of pannier, side cases, and top boxes out there to carry your gear. Some bikes come with trick looking aerospace-inspired aluminum boxes. My personal favorite is the dry bag style for a few reasons. First, they don’t make your bike as wide as a bus. Second, when you wreck or fall off the bike, a soft bag is far less likely to catch your leg and injure you. And lastly, they’re size adjustable—use the whole bag, or just strap down the excess to keep it nice and compact.

You’ll also want a small toolkit, but don’t go overboard. I often see people riding down the highway with enough crap strapped to their bikes for multi-world traverses. Unless you are actually doing that, keep the spare tires at home. Build a good toolkit with essential and light tools if possible (titanium is nice if you can afford it). Do you need a whole Craftsman toolkit if you are doing short jaunts off the highway and still well within recovery distance? Not Likely. Plus, the extra weight is probably strapped up high on the bike raising your center of gravity. There are some excellent threads on online forums, such as advrider.com, that have essential toolkit items listed.

When it comes to personal protective gear, I use all the gear, all the time (ATGATT). A light carbon and Kevlar helmet has been one of the best purchases I’ve ever made for the lack of neck strain alone. Waterproof trials/dual-sport style boots with grippy soles are great for all-around use. For pants and jacket, the newer Cordura and smart armor-equipped gear that Klim and other brands offer are a good compromise between a full dirt bike setup and street bike leathers.

Riding Skills

Lastly, but most important to riding off-road, is bike handling skills. A skilled rider can take an off-the-showroom floor street bike down trails that someone with minimal skills would struggle on even if they were on the perfectly equipped dirt bike. There is a plethora of information available on different posture and riding tips on the internet, but one of the best ways is to attend a riding school where one-on-one instruction is provided.

Some key tips I like to tell people are to stay neutral and light on the bike when standing. If you feel like you are being tugged or pushed by the handlebars and are gripping for dear life, then your body positioning is wrong. Pretend the grips are egg-shells, or kittens, or whatever analogy you want to insert that tells you not to have a death-grip. This way your feet and core are doing the work.

Weight the outside peg and orient with your shoulders and head. When entering a corner, you can stab down on the inside peg to initiate a turn, but you want the bike to lean so the tires still have the most contact patch. This can be counter-intuitive to street riding techniques so it can take time. Use your shoulders to point in the direction you want to go. If you are trying to turn right, but your body is still pointing straight, you will continue going straight.

Look where you want to go and don’t fixate on objects. Big rock in the road? Acknowledge its existence, be one with it, then look elsewhere for where you really want to go.

Most of your braking will come from the front brake. Use it to slow down approaching a corner, let off when you start to enter the corner, and roll on the power smoothly as you exit. If you touch the front brake while cornering you’ll make the front end slide out. It’s better to enter a corner too slow and accelerate through it then having too much speed and sliding into the inevitable ditch on the outside.

Get Out and Ride

These are just some of the basics for getting into the adventure biking world. Remember you don’t need everything that Ewan and whatever the lisp-y sidekicks name was when going off-road (Which included about a dozen support vehicles from what I saw). You can have fun on a $1,500 beater, or a $25,000 top-of-the-line German engineered steed too. Pick your own adventure.