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Q: How high do my handlebars need to be? A: Half your height But how do I measure that? I rode with Alan recently and noticed his body position seemed a bit stooped and he wasn’t able to control his 1190 R as well as he might have been had he that extra few inches of bar height. I have been riding for roughly 4 years and even with 2” risers (Rox), Jimmy Lewis said I could use another inch of height. Now I’ve also lowered my pegs by about 20 mm, so I was looking for a way to do that, which I found with this new set of prototype risers from RRR Tool Solutions that has given me that extra inch (plus some cool extras like a dual usb, voltage meter and powered as well as two ram ball mounts). Riding big bikes off road means using your body more to help control and stabilize the bike as well as giving you better traction. It’s also a great way to see farther down the trail for any obstacles, as well as simply get some air flow and cool yourself off. Do this all day with bars that are too low and chances are you’ll have a sore back and be very tired. On center stand, measure vertical height (to the ground) of top of peg (16”) With front wheel perfectly straight ahead, measure vertical height of center of grip (54”) Subtract those two (38”) and take that as a percent of your height (76”; 50%) Alan’s was 34.5” (17” peg height; 51.5” grip height) but at 6’ tall, or 72” he’ll need a height of 36” or another 1.5” in height. How do I get additional height on my bike? Rotate your bars up (may want to rotate back down for highway) Get risers Get lowered pegs Get high bend bars (If you are 6'4" or taller most likely)

I hope this is the right area of the forum. My intent is to create a thread where like minded adventure and dual sport riders who enjoy riding in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest can plan and organize riding together or even sharing a camp. These forest offer 1.8 million acres of public land that include lakes, ponds, swamps, rivers, creeks and more. 1.02 million acres of that is undeveloped, granting us a lot to explore! Included in that is 3000 miles of forest roads. Win! If you haven't ridden there, it really is a beautiful place to ride, and I recommend giving it a shot. Many of the forest roads are graded pretty well and would be easy for a novice rider. I have explored and found a few roads that get rougher and are considered "jeep trails", but I navigated them on a fully loaded, street tire wearing R1200GS Adventure; so they're definitely "doable" on smaller machines. If you'd like to learn some more about the forest, check out the Forest Service's page at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/gwj So, maybe start it with an introduction, and folks can make some new riding buddies. A few things to include may be: 1) What you ride 2) Age/Location/Distance from GW & JNF entry 3) Camper or day rider Guess I'll start. I live in southern Maryland were the riding, in my opinion, isn't always ideal. I hardly ride to base because of how aggressive and fast folks drive up MD5/301. (I work at Andrews AFB ) There are very few areas to ride of pavement, so I often find myself heading south to cross in to Virginia and then riding west to enjoy the mountain air and less aggressive drivers! Because it's a 3 1/2-4 hour ride out there, I often camp at least one night. Last year I left work a few times Friday afternoon to ride out there and camp just inside the forest, ride all day Saturday exploring and return home that evening. They usually allowed me to log a solid day of 250-350 miles depending on my pace. I started building a new camping set-up this year that involves hammocks (all those hammock campers finally convinced me that I need to give it a shot). I ride a KTM 1190 Adventure R, but grew up riding on dirt so I'm pretty comfortable off road. Actually, I prefer the gravel to the tarmac when I ride. We're experiencing a freak snow storm now, so I can't tell exactly when I'll be riding next but I will post on here every time I plan on heading out there and anyone is welcome to join. Thanks and ride safe! Dave

Good morning Alain, I don't have any exact dates set yet, but as things warm up a bit, I will start planning some! I've been speaking with another fellow via XLadv who is interested in riding together as well. He's on a smaller bike, so him and I (because we live close) have discussed us actually trailering there, and setting camp up on the outside edge (near Harrisonburg, VA). To do that, I would have to get register for a camp site, but as far as riding in the GW & J NF, all of the fire and access roads are opened to plated and registered street vehicles. So if you have a plate and your bike is registered for street use, you are good to go! No more permits required. I've ridden and camped out there numerous times and have never had an issue. Normally I'll run into some hunters here and there, who almost always smile and wave. Locals who have always been really nice, and occasionally a few Jeeps or other off roaders playing around on the roads. All of them have been pretty good about letting bikes pass by and saying hi. As far as camping off the bike goes, I've learned to go a bit deeper into the woods just because local kids tend to wander out and about at night; kids being kids. I've never had an issue but you'll hear them sometimes hooting and hollering in the distance. My motto just has been, "out-of-site, out-of-mid" and I leave no traces of where I've been. I'm pretty adamant about taking out what I brought in and not trying to destroy or trash anything. Sort of the same goes for riding, I love riding off road and exploring. I twist the wrist when it needs to be or occasional for fun, but I try not to ride like a butt-head around other drivers/vehicles, hunters, or horse riders. I guess I have the mindset that we are all ambassadors for our sport. If you're nice and courteous, folks will see you in a better light as opposed to the guys tearing stuff up and making a bunch of noise. Unfortunately I have seen a bunch on groups trying to shut down road/trail use for motored vehicles so I try to convince anyone I don't know that most of us are good folks who care about conserving our forest as much as the next guy. But, that got long winded! Thanks for reading and responding! As soon as I have a good weekend I can get out and the weather looks as if it's going to play along, I will post it here and try to get some folks out there! With the limited responses and audience, I don't think we'll run into an issue of having "too many" people. If you have a date that you would like to come down, post it here as well and I'll see what I can do about making it happen on my end! Thanks Dakrider

So Why Not a Big Bike? It really is quite amusing to find discussions here and there across the Interwebs when it comes to "what bike should I buy?" You hear some good advice like questions as to what the rider wants to do, what their riding background is, etc.... You also hear some really strong opinions, declarations really, about the bike the rider is supposed or not supposed to buy. A more recent example is when I made a big deal about Noah Horak's statement of what a "true adventure actually is" and "if you cannot pick up your bike fully loaded in any situation, it's not an adventure bike." O-kay, Noah I mean, I get that many peoples' opinions are based on their own real world experiences or what's worked best for them, but it really is amusing to see some people succumb to paroxysms of bitterness and rage if the rider says they're leaning towards a big bike, whether that be a GS or a Super Tenere, Tiger, etc... I think Jim Downs gets it quite well: So much gets said in motorcycle riding circles about motorcycle size. Prominent naysayers hail the trend of larger adventure-style motorcycles coming to market with the fevered zeal of sandwich-board wearing religious zealots crying out about the end of the world from city street corners. But instead of demanding that we repent our sins to Jesus, they try to shame those of us who like to ride heavy motorcycles on the dirt, saying that our bikes are “too heavy” and that we’d be better off with something smaller. Disciples of this “moto-size,” religion are also want to plague social media feeds. Always quick to interrupt otherwise civil threads with some shrill vitriol about why we ride the wrong kind of motorcycle. Like the rapture nuts on street corners, I usually pay people like this little mind. But lately I’m finding their rants more difficult to leave unanswered. I see the bike you choose to ride simply as a tool you picked from a tool chest. Some tools are better suited for some tasks better and worse than other tools. I am completely bike-agnostic too. I used to own a KTM 500 EXC and it's a fantastic bike! I wish I could have kept it but with no truck/trailer, I wasn't riding it enough to justify parking that much cash idle in my garage. I know many of you also own small bikes, touring bike, choppers, etc... Is owning a big bike expensive? I don't really know... How much is a second vehicle (truck) or trailer, gas and time (limited to 55 mph w/trailer) worth? I can ride a few hours to a destination, camp off my bike, ride multiple days off road and then get back on the pavement and ride home. That seems like quite a value to me. But see, I'm the rich guy! That's what a guy who is retiring at 55, has paid of his mortgage, has a tricked out jeep, toy hauler and multiple bikes once told me. I really love my big bike! Yes, it's the first motorcycle I've ever owned (I did ride scooters in high school/college but that doesn't count). Yes, I hadn't nearly a clue about adventure enduro riding (vs. adventure touring) when I first got it. Yes, it did take me quite a while to figure out how to ride it. Yes, I may have found a smaller, less expensive bike easier to learn on. But I really have no regrets. I've seen many people also figure out that riding these bigger bikes off road is not as hard as it seems with a few pointers, feedback and some professional instruction. I have seen SO many great places, met SO many great people and have had a blast riding my big bike. Yes, it does take a different and more focused set of skills to ride a big bike off road but therein lies the fun! Ryan Frazier (GS Trophy Team USA '12) said something to the effect that he prefers a bigger bike off road because they require more input and finesse and that it's the challenge that makes it so much fun. Obviously falling and getting tired from lifting your bike isn't so much fun, but with time and a few friends around, the challenging parts become a lot more fun. I personally cannot stand Harleys but I realize they are popular and there's a lot of people who enjoy riding them. That's why I do not care to bash them here or there because I really don't care what another person's choice of ride is. It has no effect on me whatsoever. But that also means I do not care to share a forum, Facebook group or online community with Harley riders. We're just different, that's all. I really don't care to hear about how shiny and loud they are or how I'm "doing it wrong." And as much as I still love the smaller bikes, I really don't care to hear from someone who's never ridden a big bike off road how I'm supposedly ruining "their" trails; my bike is not practical to ride more than a simple fire road; I'm carrying too much; I should have started on a smaller bike, etc... Bigger bikes are just that polarizing I guess. That's why I think XLADV makes so much sense. We get it. There's no explanation or defense of our choices required.