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Show us your tool-bags and explain the what and why! Here, I'll start. This is for my G450X. OK... it's not really an XL bike :/ Gee! Here's how my pack looks like. This is the Wolfman Medium Rollie Bag with two Wolf Bottle Holsters. Let's start looking inside! Here's what fits in this baby: 1. Recovery bag 2. Flat tire bag 3. Misc items bag 4. Tools bag 5. Spare tubes for both front/rear 6. Zip ties (with several rubber bands) 7. Two MSR 30oz fuel bottles The recovery bag is just what I need for a z-pull/drag system. There are several sets out there but I wanted to make mine on my own. Did I mention I have mild OCD? It contains: 1. 52ft of accessory cord (6mm) 2. 2x oval non-locking carabiners 3. 2x Petzl pulleys 4. 2x Petzl Tibloc ascenders 5. The manual from the ascenders which will explain how to make a z-pull/drag system The flat tire bag, is a standard. However, here's what it has in detail: 1. Stop & go pump 2. Slime patch repair kit 3. 2x normal SHORT tire irons 4. Valve stem removal tool 5. Gloves The spare tubes, are in a ziplocl bag because try-to-put-them-in-the-bag-omg-they-wont-move-when-they-touch-the-wolfman-dry-material... Of course, a normal grocery bag would do as well. Just blame my OCD for the waste... My misc bag contains the following (I haven't included links for the obvious items): 1. Small mesh bag for the loose items (I got it from Michael's for like $1) 2. Eagle Creek bag (I'm mentioning it here since I'm using the same for everything) 3. Electrical tape 4. Electrical wire 5. Steel wire 6. Any kind of light 7. Quicksteel 8. Sandpaper 9. Emergency blanket (I remove the box after I took the pic) 10. Lighter 11. WD40 12. Camping tape I suggest this brand. This thing will hold anything! 13. Coffee filter (to pour water in the radiator) 14. Radiator Stop Leak 15. An extra sparkplug 16. Tweezers 17. Purifying water tablets Finally my tool bag. This took me the most time to gather. What I've been doing the last months, is using tools from my garage and every time I'm using something (for example a screwdriver or a 10mm hex socket), I'm taking a note and like that I assembled a list of all the tools I ever needed for my bike. In theory, I can bring the engine down with what I have in this bag. In theory. Of course, I don't know how... So for the G450X here's a list of the tools I used (no links of course) Hex sockets: 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 17mm, 22mm, 30mm Hex bits: 3mm, 4mm, 8mm, 12mm Wrenches: 11mm, 12mm Tools: Leatherman, flat screwdriver, philips screwdriver, ratchet, extensions, adapters And ALL of these items with fuel included, under 20lbs (12.5kgs for our Metric friends)! In addition to all of these, when I'm on my dirt-bike, I always carry: Water Snacks My poop-bag (laugh all you want, I want to see you taking a sh!t and wiping with leaves) Phone / InReach Very small 1st aid kit Let us see yours!

Some random observations on Instagram... Reposters Some chatter recently on a reposter, @bmwgsfans, not only posting photos without attribution, but deleting comments and banning people for pointing it out. This should earn them a one way ticket off Instagram, in my humble opinion. XLADV reposts a lot of photos too but about 18% of our recent content (I counted back about 150 posts) is original and we often seek to inform and will point back here to our forum as well as showcase a story and not just the photo. We've been successful at building relationships with riders around the world, helping out where we can, etc... It's about a dialogue. A lot of these reposters are just that and don't add a lot of value. I can't tell you how many times I'll see another account re-post photo after photo of things I just got done posting. Take a look at an account's ratio of followers/post. We are at 12.9. Hashtags We really appreciate it when you use our two favorite hashtags: xladv and sizematters. I've also seen xladvrider, which is awesome. Our only attempt is to call attention to how big adventure bikes differ and how they are special (more range, more capacity). It would be nice to be able to make a dime off this at some point but for just over a year and a half this has been simply our hobby (an expensive one). We are about people riding big adventure bikes and sharing those experiences. That's it! There's a sticker but no associated lifestyle apparel line While I harbor no ill will or enmity to BMW (on the contrary, I love their bikes and had a GSA for 5 years), I've been quite annoyed by some of their social marketing. Some of their well known and branded hashtags have been: unstoppable, madeforadventure, etc... Another new one that I'm perfectly fine with is spiritofGS. Great marketing. But here's what annoys me is their attempt to own "makelifearide" and "rideandshare." For one, people just aren't getting it. I find all kinds of people are using those hashtags who don't even ride a BMW. Rideandshare is a BMW thing how exactly? Cut it out! Any posts I share immediately have those two removed. Oh and now I see "joyintensified." Geez man! I also am annoyed by "rideandwander." It's a great tag but it happens to be someone's account! Maybe they're happy to have it co-opted but my advice is fine, have a generic category tag like advrider, xladv, dualsport, adventurerider, advofinstagram or whatever but for something more specific, be original. I'd use rideandwander if I were friends with them and wanted to give a shout out to what they (not I) are doing. Be judicious with your tags as well. It's annoying to see one line of text and then ten lines of tags. Some are putting tags in the first comment, but that may make it harder to find certain posts. When I search for something to repost I'm looking for #xladv. If it's in the first comment then it's not showing up in search. Simply using our hashtag is enough. Please don't tag us in the photo. It takes too long to go through all those and tells me you want me to repost your photo but we're not important enough to use our hashtag for others to see. We also don't feel special when we see 67 others tagged in the same photo. And no need to message me a photo, just use the hashtag. I swear at least 80% of these people sending me photos have private accounts that can't be shared (duh)! Have a story Please! I see so many posts that are just a photo. No story? No location? Boring. A few I've noticed are great with the stories are pikipiki_overland_blog, mytickettoride, feralcat2wheels and chickamotorunner. I can't wait to see what kind of story they have to tell each day! I'm guilty of not giving a good story too sometimes. What types of photos work Landscapes are great but unless you and your bike is in it, it's just a pretty landscape (and not moto-related). If you're in the photo, smile! Have your helmet off. Lighting is really important! The best light is in the morning and in the evening. I see tons of photos at mid-day that are just completely washed out; maybe 2% of them are any good. That means setting aside time in the morning and evening to work on your shots. And don't forget this is a motorcycle themed thing; any shot of your bike is usually a good shot. Look at huntca or rodeo.cowboy. They are the kings of the "butt shot" (back of the bike). Video Instagram upped their video lengths from :15 to 1:00. Give some thought to the "cover" image (in setup) for what you want seen because many are just a black screen (doesn't make me want to click on it). Keep in mind Instagram is policing copyrighted music now so leave that out. Chickamotorunner mentioned an app she uses but can't recall the name. Sponsored Gear No need to explicitly mention you are sponsored, just show the gear and mention their hashtag and that's usually great. Do justice to the photo so the reader can actually see it on your bike or being used. Be yourself & try showing your personality I really love to see someone make fun at their own expense, relate a troubling story of loss or loneliness, talk about a hardship overcome, or the joys of meeting new people and seeing new places. Some of these people are damn funny (GSA.007). Just be yourself and you'd be surprised how much people like seeing that. The quotes are okay sometimes but they can also seem cliche, pat advice, overdone. Some people seem to have a random quote generator and just add that to each post. Be real. Don't google it. If something inspires you then please share but there's no need to scrape for a quote. This is a community Try following someone! I absolutely detest some of these celebrity riders who have tens of thousands of followers yet follow less than 50 themselves! &%$#@! do you think you are? You are really missing the boat if you're not exploring and finding other riders doing AMAZING things. My newest rider I'm in love with (her journey; not her) is adventurism.life. Go find the person riding the Pamir highway or the Andes passes or camping on the Uyuuni flats or meeting tribes people of Botswana. They don't have to have written a book (yet) either.

Looks like we raised $3,313 for @MotorradAngels!

So like I mentioned here, the BAJA RALLY™ is now on the schedule for me to race! I've wanted to do it for nearly three years now but didn't have the budget. I'd missed a recent nav class and decided to let it go another year. But I spoke with Señor Scotty last night and he wants to make it happen. So I will still pit for @NavyNuke in our XLADV effort to tame Vegas to Reno and then our pit crew will also have the opportunity to crew for my efforts at the BAJA RALLY™. I was going to go to the Baja Rally anyways to cover it for XLADV. I figure why not race it if I can? So why not do both? Well budget mostly but also there's a decent chance I'd need significant repairs after V2R and would have to do that in time. Plus, I need to train for just one. I don't have the deep well of racing experience it would take to do both essentially back to back. So I have a lot of work to do. I need to register. I need to attend a nav class in Baja in July. Bike prep, etc... This year the rally is October 9-14 and typically goes five days from Ensenada south to Cataviña and back but the course always changes and this may not be the same way as in years past. It's rally raid meaning there's navigation, roll chart, etc... and none of the racers know the course. Our t shirts we're selling will have the BAJA RALLY™ added and those will be used to raise money for both these races. The pit crew shirts won't change.

So I have met this guy once or twice that lives down the street from me. I think he has a couple of Triumph Tigers, but it has been a few months since I last talked to him. Long story short, he pointed me to this site and told me it is where the cool kids hangout. A little about me, I am from Portland, Oregon, and ride a KTM 1290 SAR. I have a good amount of road riding/ racing under my belt, but am still pretty new to the ADV side of riding. In 2016 I decided that I really wanted to learn to ride ADV bikes so that I could eventually do a trip to South America, and maybe other parts of the world as well. I wasn't sure exactly which bike I wanted, but I was working for BMW and have always loved bmw bikes, so I bought an R1200GS to learn on. The learning curve was pretty steep. I threw some altrider crash bars on the bike and decided that anything that happened to the bike would be considered a part of the bike's destiny, and my learning experience. I took the bike to Browns Camp with the Anakee 3 tires and although it was a slippery mess, I was able to get around ok. I got a lot of funny looks riding that big bike through the single track trails in the Tillamook forest, but I really had a good time (even at 3mph all day long). The bike fell over a few times, but I figured out how to pick it back up, and I just kept on going. I repeated these trips to Browns Camp 3-4 times until I felt like I had a better grip of how to ride the iron giant through the woods. I also enlisted the help of Anakee Wild tires for subsequent trips, and felt the grip difference right away. During the summer of 2017, after a full year of sort of learning to ride the big GS through the dirt, I decided to tackle the WA and ID Backcountry Discovery Routes with my dad and two brothers. Three of the 4 of us were on big heavy GS's, while my younger brother took a Honda 650. The ride was challenging for four novices stumbling through the woods, but we worked together and had an incredible time. During the trip my bike took a couple of hard falls though, and when I finished, I decided I wanted to sell the bike and try something new. The GS sold within a week or so of listing, even with some light damage from tumbling down a couple of logging roads on the WABDR. With the bike sold, I was onto my next bike, the 2017 KTM 1090R. I chose the 1090R because it was a nice simple ADV bike with a lot of power, and slightly less weight than the Africa Twin or BMW R1200GS. The bike was a little tall for me, but I knew that I would eventually get used to it. I really enjoyed the KTM as it felt a bit more dirt oriented than the GS did as well. After months of planning, I decided to quit my job and ride to Argentina in October of 2017. The ride went well, but I only made it as far as Nicaragua before having an accident that would end my trip very prematurely. Last week I picked up a brand new 2017 KTM 1290 SAR for less than I paid for the 1090R new. I already put my parts from the 1090 on her, and even got in a nice ride on Monday! Eventually I will make another run at South America, but for now I need to just get local rides, camping trips, and money saving done I look forward to meeting you all! -Tanuki

Picked her up today at Honda!

Sure you might have a big adventure bike and you may have even bought yourself a Beyond Starbucks sticker to establish your dirt cred. But are you "Beyond Starbucks Gold Certified?" You might be saying to yourself "Whatever do you mean, Eric? Where I can I become Beyond Starbucks Gold Certified?" Easy there, Turbo. Imma bout to tell you... So for a long time I've been all about encouraging people to get out on their big adventure bikes and explore; to live their lives to the fullest; to use their bikes as they were intended. And I've talked before about some exciting events that might one day encourage that. So let's say you're a relatively new rider. You've bought your big adv bike and maybe you've even taken a training class (very good idea). You'd like to do a BDR one day but you may not have the time to devote to that or maybe you just want a good training run for that. Beyond Starbucks Gold is a big bike friendly desert loop of about 150-180 miles that a beginner rider (~6 months) could accomplish in a day. You start and finish at Starbucks in Adelanto, CA. The course is designed to be noob-friendly but conditions are known to change in the desert and it can be easier (wet from recent rain) or harder (dry and fluffy) depending on the season. There's enough of a challenge that more advanced riders will still find it enjoyable. You post your completed track displaying your overall time, average speed and/or average moving speed. You can do a screenshot from the REVER app if you like or even something from your own GPS. It's not a contest of speed. Safety is the #1 concern. The purpose of displaying average speed is to simply see what others' are doing it in to give you an idea of how long it might take you or a benchmark for your riding ability to later show progress when you do it again. Track is 171 miles and about 16 of that is paved. Here's a look: GPX file (tracks, waypoints): Beyond Starbucks GoldV1.GPX Full tracks from REVER 500 point tracks from REVER It's also quite scenic and I look forward to riders displaying their photos here and in social media with the hashtag #beyondstarbucksgold. Title sponsorship is also open and available.

Hi there! I've been quietly watching the forums and Instagram for a few months now. My name is Emily, and I live in the glorious glitter and shame that is Las Vegas. I've been riding since 2007. My first bike was an '06 Suzuki SV650s which became my only transportation for 5 of the 8 years I had her. I went bikeless for a few years (which obviously ruined my health and happiness), so I went out and bought a slightly-used '17 Triumph Tiger 800 XCA in late 2017. I had been looking at joining the ADV community for a while and specifically the Tiger, but I was gun-shy about about being hardcore enough. I also prefer having both feet on the ground, but I'm getting used to the good ol' Captain Morgan approach. So far any drops I've had have been the result of putting one of the wrong feet down, so I just generally try not to stop. I got lucky in that my tigger already had Barkbuster handguards and Triumph panniers. So far I've added or am waiting on the following: Continental TKC80s Rox Risers AltRider Crashbars AltRider Headlight Guard RAM Phone Mount (because how else will I find my way to Starbucks?) Stickers! (+5hp of course) So far I've only gone on 3 dirt rides and tooled around town (I let the stock Battle Wings hold me back after the first 2 dirt trails). I'm attending RawHyde's Level 1: Intro To Adventure Camp on the 23rd, so hopefully I'll have more confidence to adventure harder and more frequently!

Well I had a quick look and I see you have an open door Canadian policy. I live in Western BC and live to ride , I’m 43 years old , 40 of those years spent riding motorcycles or in some state of surgical recovery from riding motorcycles. I was bit by the adventure bug years ago, purchased one of the last available 2012 990R’s in Canada and I’ve been in love ever since. I still remember the day bringing it home to the garage and it just dwarfing all the other bikes in the room , and to this day it still does. Great Forum , thanks for doing it Eric and if you guys ever find yourself in BC and need a hand , pointed to some good routes , fix a bike , steal a part , change a tire or straight up need bike rescue PM me. Looking forward to lots of good reading.

Hi everyone, I’d like to say hello and introduce myself. I’m new around here, but have been riding big bikes for some time. I am a rider coach for an off-road riding school, but consider myself a perpetual student. I’m a paramedic by trade, which allows me to serve as medical sweep rider on backcountry ADV tours I had the pleasure of spending time with Eric H. today at the IMS show in Long Beach. He convinced me to join this large group of like-minded riders that have a lot of great info to share. I’m normally not too active on forums, but always appreciate sharing good info with cool riders, we all have something to learn, regardless of experience. Heres some pics! Sharif

You guys like sand? I can show you where it is in Mammoth... Or how 'bout rocks? Or flat out graded fire roads? Its all for the taking at this event. Not to mention all the raffle prizes and benefiting a great cause in Lost For Reason!

Hey everyone I'm Erick, I'm 25 and live in Northern New Jersey. Right now I'm smack dab in the middle of the greatest adventure Ive ever been on. But first let's rewind a bit. Consciously or not I've been building up to this trip for a very long time. Sometime around 2013-14 I watched long way round on Netflix and ever since then the gears inside my head have been turning. At the time I had no bike, no friends with bikes, and almost no street riding experience besides riding 2smokes on back roads in upstate NY. Truthfully I had very little practical knowledge about motorcycles, so I turned to the Internet! I found out I could take a class locally for $299 and leave a licensed motorcyclist, for which I immediately reserved a spot on the roster and had a great time doing it. Even though I could already ride a bike since I've owned quads and dirt bikes the class was still absolutely worth the investment because of the experience level of the instructors (both were motorcycle police instructors). Some of what I've learned there has already saved my life. I realized that I absolutely could not at the time afford the venerable R1200GSA as my first set of wheels and that a smaller more manageable bike may be better anyway, so I set to figuring out what bike was realistic for me. As it turned out the 2014 F700GS at my local dealer was the one. She fit right, she was priced right at the top of what I could afford and she rides like a champ. I picked her up on April 28, 2015. (I left on this journey exactly 1 year and 1 day after picking up my first and currently only bike) Put down 12 k miles and Farkled her out over the next year and here we are. Literally living a dream I once had after watching long way round for the 87th time and thinking I could never do an adventure like that. So having no experience, or bike, or living in an over populated area like NJ, or not having anyone to go is not an excuse. If you want it bad enough you can make it happen for yourself any way you can on any bike that you love with whatever gear works for you. To be honest I had never been so nervous in my life as the day before I left for the trip. Though I spent a week riding solo from my home to PEI Canada in late September and that was a great little 2k mile shakedown but this trip is over 4 times longer in duration and covers much harsher terrain and climates. Needless to say there was a lot of pre trip anxiety about what to bring, how to pack and what sort of things could go wrong. I had originally planned to leave on May 1st but some good Harley riding friends wanted to go camping together before I set out. Days 1-2 April 29th was the day I left home and me and 4 friends camped for 2 nights in the Delaware Water Gap forest. Going there my gps failed me and took us to a totally wrong destination in pouring rain at 10 o'clock we finally got to the site no thanks to me or my GPS. The whole time I was racked with nervousness about the trip especially because an enormous storm was headed across the Midwest, basically crushing my entire path with 30s-50s and hard rain which would continue to plague me each day into the 5th morning of the journey, significantly slowing my progress. Having my friends there with me on day 1 and 2 was awesome it helped me get over the anxiety of the trip and transition into it. So far the trip has gone something like this: May 1 day 3 My first solo day was a total bust. I broke down my campsite in the Delaware Water Gap under pouring freezing rain, said goodbye to my friends and set out working my way southwest hoping to get into Ohio. Within 100 miles my Klim suit, my schuberth c3pro, my Irish setter boots and Mechanix gloves (both probably not the best choices of equipment) were completely soaked through. It was 37 deg F and when I realized my hands could barely operate the clutch and brake lever and visibility was down to probably 10-20% makes for a dangerous mix I decided to get off the road and dry out. I pulled into a gas station/subway restaurant where I met 3 members and a prospect of a widely known and rather infamous MC who were making their way back to Ohio. Turned out they were really friendly guys and told me about the motel 6 down the road they stayed at the night before and recommended I try there first for a room. I got 2 subs and gassed up then took a quick shiver down the road to the motel 6. The guy who owned it was an incredibly nice man he gave me a double room for 40$ and offered to comp me a free night the next day if I decided to wait out the storm. He said he would never turn a motorcyclist away in a rain storm even if they had to camp out in the lobby. He even had me park the bike under the entrance awning and placed cones there to keep cars away from the Furiosa (my bike is named Furiosa) . Once I got into my room I realized it was only 10 am and I had time to clean and dry all my gear before heading out the next day. I washed all the gear in the tub and hung it all around the room and cranked up the heat. Worked like a charm. May 2 day 4 Much better day today only on and off rain and 55 up to 70 degrees at one point. I met a fellow adventure rider I'll call him Nicolas for anonymity sake. Nicolas has been an adventure rider for 25 years and him and brother both owned 1150gs and he currently has a ktm 950. Not too shabby at all! We talked for 20 or so minutes at a rest area about places he had been that I will be going to. About an hour after talking to Nicolas I realized I had been riding through the rain smiling and thinking about nothing at all just singing along with the music inside my helmet. Absolutely care free for probably the first time since I was old enough to understand English. Potholes and gas was all I had on my mind. I managed to sprain my ankle pretty seriously today by almost dumping the bike like an idiot and planting my left foot then running it over with the touratech pannier. Despite that little incident today was a great day. I've made camp for the night at buckeye lake KOA(37$) the entire tent section is deserted and I've got it all to myself. May 3 day 5 KOA's are awesome I woke up In a drizzle got a hot shower the use of an immaculate bathroom. I start out the day under lite mist at 8 sharp headed west for NE St Louis KOA. The ride was pretty uneventful some sporadic rain this morning but it passed by afternoon and was in the mid 60s and cloudy most of the ride. I met a lot of nice people interested in my bike because if all its luggage and they would ask where am I coming from, where am I going and how many cc the motor is. The friendliness and kindness people show to a person traveling by motorcycle is incredible! I guess because they perceive it as a more dangerous and more difficult task than it really is and because adventure bikes are rather rare in comparison to other categories. Whatever the reason may be; I have yet to meet one single unkind or rude person in 5 days. Remarkable. Tonight I'm making camp at the St Louis KOA as planned and it's a pretty sweet spot to pitch a tent. Water electric and wifi for 27 bucks all under a nice aluminum awning with a BBQ and a picnic table beside it. Can't really beat that. Tomorrow should be a big day into Kansas. Thanks for reading I will try to make nightly updates from here on! Instagram- @erickbhunter SPOT Tracker

March 19-23, 2018 I'm going to try to do this one. Four days. LOTS of dunes. BIG dunes. Woody's helping me out with a new 2.5" rear rim that should handle the mousse much better. With that size rear rim I may even do the Enduro ST (Motoz) rear. I'm going to need all the sand traction I can get. The Desert H/T was really good but I'll see what I can do here.

Hey, I thought I'll add my recent blog post from www.2wheeledAdventures.com here since there is no topic about the travel costs yet. Maybe we could all share something from our side and help those who are planning a trip sort out the expense part easier How much does a year-long motorcycle travel cost? Come join us for some calculations. We got curious about how much money we spent in 2017 while living "on the road". We figured it could also be interesting for you. Maybe because of the plans you are making for your upcoming trip, maybe because you, just like we all, like to take a peak into somebody else’s budget, or perhaps you are traveling too and want to compare your costs with ours. In any case – here are the numbers: FUEL: We burned 4505.71 liters of fuel, while traveling 59 000 kilometers. The BMW F650GS (Asta) used 2071.77 liters, or 3.51 ltr / 100 km. BMW F800GSA (Linas) - 2433.93 liters, or 4.13 ltr / 100 km. Total fuel cost was: € 3426.58 (average € 0.76 per liter) In South and Central America, an average liter of 95 octane gasoline would cost us € 0.97. On average, in the US and Canada we paid € 0.78 per liter. In Russia and Central Asia, a liter of something as close to 95 octane gasoline as we could find would cost us € 0.50 per liter. ACCOMODATION: We spent 81 night in our tent. 187 nights we spent for free. These times we were invited by someone, visited relatives and friends or wild-camped in the nature for free. Meanwhile 178 nights we had to pay for accommodation. During that time we spent a total of € 2781.03 or an average of € 15.62 per night. The cheapest accommodation for one night was € 2.5 (Kyrgyzstan), and the most expensive - € 48 (USA). FOOD: In total, we spent € 4579.05 per year for food. We cooked a lot of ourselves, ate in cheap roadside cafes or sometimes were invited by locals for a meal. In South and Central America, on average, food for two people cost us € 14.91 per day. In the US and Canada, we were mostly cooking our own meals or were invited by locals and therefore we did not feel the higher food prices there compared to the countries we visited before and all in all our daily meals averaged at € 14.00 per day. In Asia, the average price for food for two of us was € 8.73. In Africa, for three first weeks here, before the end of the year we both ate for € 9.34 a day. TRAVEL EXPENSES: In this category we have included all the expenses related to travel, but not related to motorcycle transportation: visas, taxi, buses, ferries or plane tickets. Russia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Iran were the only countries we needed to make visas (and obviously pay for them) in advance. In Central American countries, we had to pay for visas at the border. We paid for the Kenyan visa on arrival as well. All these visas in total have cost us € 848.92. In cases where it was necessary for us to travel somewhere by land, air or sea, we spent € 3003.28 - this amount does not include motorcycle transportation. OTHER EXPENSES: All the costs that do not fit into any of categories above (other than those related to the maintenance or motorcycle transportation) are included here. It can be anything from a local mobile SIM card, a ticket to a museum or a national park, to some clothes, souvenirs, tooth-paste or laundry service. The total cost of this stuff was € 3083.64. MOTORCYCLE SERVICE AND TRANSPORTATION: On service and spare parts for both motorcycles we have spent a total of € 3253.40. The BMW F800GSA is still covered by a manufacturer's warranty, so we trust it for the official BMW representatives every 10,000 kilometers to do the regular service, and the older F650GS is most often cared for by ourselves - it's taken to BMW dealership only when more serious inspections are required, such as valve adjustments. The most costly and least joyous activity is transporting our motorcycles between continents. We have spent a total of € 7546 for three transfers we have made this year. Between Colombia and Panama (or from South to North America), the cost of transporting two motorcycles in container ship has cost us € 743. This amount also includes € 180 which we spent in vain, for loading the motorcycles into a yacht in Cartagena which never sailed out and then unloading them in the same place two days later… So the actual cost of transportation was € 563. From Canada to South Korea by plane and from South Korea to Russia by ferry (from North America to Asia), we ended up paying as much as € 4725 for both motorcycles. The price was raised by the fact that Lithuanian registered vehicles cannot participate in South Korean traffic, due to certain unsigned international agreements, so we had to hire a truck that transported them from Seoul airport directly to the seaport in Donghae, on the East coast of South Korea. The total cost of shipping both bikes in a container ship from Iran to Kenya (from Asia to Africa) was € 2078. Another € 446.3 we spent on short ferry rides with motorcycles and motorcycle insurance in different countries. TOTALS: During the months when we did not need to transport and/or service our motorcycles, on average we spent € 1477 (that’s for fuel, food, accommodation, tickets, and more). On those months, when the time for the regular 10 000 kilometers motorcycle service would come, or we would get on with the mission of transporting our motorcycles to another continent, our costs would seriously jump up. All in all, we have spent € 28968.90 during the year 2017, visited 23 countries in 3 different continents, rode 59 000 kilometers and made many new friends and had unforgettable time! Here are some of our thoughts after reviewing these numbers: - Nowhere in the world is fuel more expensive than it is in Europe - We noticed that, while driving at a lower speeds, we save a significant amount of fuel, and, at the same time, money. For comparison, if we ride a 100 kilometers at speeds below 100 km/h versus speeds over 110 km/h, each motorcycle consumes half a liter less. In 2017 we traveled 59 000 kilometers and thus, saving up to 1 liter of fuel for each 100 km per both bikes creates a significant amount of money saved for us (especially in countries where fuel costs more). And while driving slower, we have more time to enjoy the views - We were preparing most of the food ourselves or chose non-touristy places where the locals eat. This way, we saved a lot on food costs. - We were very lucky to meet a lot of great people who not only took us in overnight, but also showed us beautiful places around their homes and eventually became our friends. - We have used all discounts and discount coupons offered by Airbnb, Booking.com and Uber platforms - this way we saved a few hundred euros for accommodation and taxi rides. - Thanks to friends, some wonderful people or our partners, we have sent some stuff home or received something from home several times without spending extra money, we also got a lot of spare parts for motorcycles and even a few sets of tires - thus we saved few thousand euros. - When it comes to taking care of our motorcycles, we do it responsibly and not always in the cheapest possible way, but in exchange for that, our bikes have never let us down with any kind of serious malfunction. - Motorcycle transportation accounted for a quarter of our total expenses. Here, if we had planned to travel through Russia, rather than the countries of Southeast Asia, much earlier and there would be no need to rush in order to outrun the early winter that was chasing us in Russia, we could have saved another thousand euros if we have not flown the bikes from Vancouver, but would have shipped them by sea instead (which would take more time, but much less money…).

I had some spare time on Christmas and went for a ride that last middle earth -ish picture was a lucky shot I love it and I think I’m going to frame it

He is off on the last day! Let's go Eric and hopefully no tire problems today.

Justin Coffey got this shot

Hi everyone! I've been reading these pages for a while (and enjoying the myriad of Instagram pictures) and thought it's high time I actually said hello and got involved. I live in Portland, Oregon, and ride a Ducati Multistrada Enduro. I'm fairly new to the dedicated adventure riding side of things - mostly on road for the last 22 years - and now that I've got the most ADV capable offering from Ducati, in my garage, I've been getting out and thoroughly enjoying this other side of two wheeled paradise. Attached, is a picture of my steed at High Rock at the Mt. Hood National Forest, about 5000' elevation. Cheers! Shahin

I take great pride in my Instagram. I hope the banner ad isn't too much.

Got my video put together!

Okay, I submitted my first photo to the wrong thread. Yeah I'm a newbie. Post photos of your XL dual-sports getting down and dirty... Woods ride last Sunday in Tennessee.

For anyone wondering, Dad is ok. Only a fracture at the base of the fibula, which he rode home on 300 miles before going to the doctor. Graham’s have been accused of being stubborn in the past...

Had a great time at High Sierra. I was lucky to be driven up and back and stay in a glamper for the weekend. Didn't take a lot of pictures, but got some video of Bob, Greg and Arwi. I would have gotten video of Tyler, but I just couldn't stay in front of him for long. Notice the smoke in background. So there is a small forest fire and Greg takes us on a route that had us exiting behind fire lines. I bet the Forest Ranger wondered how the hell we got behind him that day. Bob recorded that route so @Eric Hall you could add it to the routes for the 9th Annual High Sierra. The route is also on Greg's rever account. Its such a good route that when we got done Greg denied the whole trip was his idea! He was dehydrated and delirious. I don't think I broke my frame this ride, but not positive. I have not gone out to the garage to confirm this yet. I showed up with a 2018 KTM 1090R with only 200 miles on it. I have one thing to figure out. The traction control started to act up and wanted to turn on after starting the motor. It took turning the key on and off a few times and putting it in off road mode to get it to hold. I think I did the tough hill climb with TC on, even though it said off. I'm surprised I made it. Hopefully Arwi has video of it. Enjoy what images I have! 20190830_144217.mp4 20190831_113443.mp4 20190831_114031.mp4 20190831_114123.mp4

Update: good intro video on what this whole topic is about This is a great question that comes up time and time again. I think the first company I heard about avoiding was Camelbak due to their funding groups who want to shut down riding areas. I'm not an adv-fascist and you are certainly free to do whatever you want with your money. These companies are the problem, not you. I'm not going to try and shame anyone. This is simply for you to make an informed decision. On the one hand we have rabid OHV activists who are ever vigilant in protecting and preserving our off road areas and I applaud that. On the other are the die hard green environmentalists who pretty much want to shut down everything to access via anything that isn't "human-powered." In the middle you have those who say we have to work together to share outdoor spaces and support the outdoor industry. I'll let you decide where you are and leave it at that. I will try to keep this list up to date so follow along so as not to miss any updates. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 (most current) Source 5 Source 6 3Point5 4 Corners Riversports Adidas Outdoor ADS Ventures Adventure Bound RiverExpeditions AdventureCorps, Inc. Adventure Journal Adventure Photo & Film Adventure Travel Trade Association Ahnu footwear All About Rivers, LLC Aloft Group, Inc Alpert-Tebrich & Associates Alpine Sports Altrec.com American Alpine Club/Institute American Alpine Institute American RecreationProducts American Sports Group, Inc. Arc'teryx ARTA River Trips Asana Climbing ASK Associates Aspen Skiing Company Atlas Snow-shoe Babbitt's Backcountry Outfitters Backbone Media LLC Backcountry Gear Backpacker Magazine Backpacker's Pantry, Inc. Backwoods Retail Belinda Sanda Sales Bellwether, Inc. Ben Moon - Moonhouse Bergans USA, LLC Bergans of Norway Bernzott Capital Advisors Bidland.com Big Agnes Black Diamond Equipment Blackshrimp Blue Magazine Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine Bluesign Technologies Boco Gear Briggs & Riley Travelware Bronwen Jewelry Brook Hoopper Consulting Brooks Sports Broudy/Donohue Photography Bryce Valley KOAKampground Burlington Industries Burton Snowboards Burt's Bees CamelBak Products Cairn Campmor, Inc. Canada Goose Candian River Expeditions & Nahanni River Adventures Carmichael, Lynch, Spong Public Relations Cascade Designs Cascade Financial Strategies CGPR Public Relations Chaco Sandals Clear Water Outdoor, LLC Chalk Bag Specialist Christoph & Company Clif Bar Climbing Magazine Columbia Sportswear Co. Consoltex Inc. Creative Energies Dansco Darn Tough Vermont Deer Hill Expeditions Desert Bistro Desert Rock Sports Dick's Sporting Goods Dong-in Entech Dry Creek Enterprises Eagle Creek Travel Gear Eagles Nest Outfitters, Inc Eastern Mountain Sports Ecco Eco-Heaven LLC Eco-x Sports Inc Eddie Bauer Egan & Associates LLC Edgeworks Elemental Herbs Elevation Outdoors Magazine Equip Everest Textile, Ltd Excalibur Distribution/DMM Inc. Exped Far Bank Enterprises Far Out Expeditions Farm to Feet Fathom Expeditions Fendler Communications Filson Fishpond Inc. Flamand Sports Footloose Communications FootZone of Bend Free Heel and Wheel Frontier Group, Inc Garmont North America GoalZero GoLite GoPro Grabber Performance Group/Grabber Inc Graham Spencer Grand Union Trading Co., Ltd. Granite Gear Grassroots Outdoor Alliance Great Plains Mountain Stuff Greenspace Gregory Mountain Products GSI Outdoors GTHI GU Energy Labs Guyot Designs Headsweats Healthbarn USA High and Wild Highgear USA Hi-Tec Hipcamp Horny Toad Activewear HotWax Media HOWADesign HydroFlask Ibex Outdoor Clothing Icebreaker Idaho River Adventures Imlay Canyon Gear Indigitous Injinji, Inc Innate International MountainEquipment International Mountain Guides IPA Connect JAM Media Collective Jansport Jetboil, Incorporated Jimmy Chin Photography Johnson Camping/JWA Juniper Ridge, LLC Justin Bailey Photography Keen Kelty Pack, Inc. Kiitella, Inc Kennan Ward Photography Kirwin Communications Klean Kanteen Kling Mountain Guides Kokatat La Sportiva Leatherman Tool Group Logan Outdoor Products/Camp Chef Loki Outerwear Lotus Design Lowe Alpine Systems LowePro Camera Bags Malden Mills Industries, Inc. Mammoth MountaineeringSupply Mammut Sports Group Marmot Mountain, LLC MercuryCSC Merrell Midwest Mountaineering Montrail Moonstone Mountain Equipment Co-op Mountain Gear Mountain Hardwear Mountain Lake Marketing Mountain Safety Research (MSR) Mountain Tools Mountain Waters Rafting and Adventure Co. Nahanni River Adventures National Geographic Maps NAU Nemo Equipment Company Neptune Mountaineering Nester Hosiery, Inc New Balance Athletic Shoe New Belgium Brewing Company New Normal Consulting Nichols Expeditions Nike, Inc. Nikwax Waterproofing Nite Ize, Inc North Drinkware Northwest Rafting Co Noto Group Nuu Muu NRS Oboz Olukai Oceanmedix.com, LLC Onya Baby Open Sky WildernessTherapy Osprey Packs Outdoor Gear Exchange/Gearx.com Outdoor Industry Association Outdoor Retailer Outdoor Specialty Group, LLC Outdoor Research Outdoor Sports Marketing Outdoor Utah AdventureGuide Outdoorindustryjobs.com Outpac Designs, Inc Outside Adventure FilmSchool Outside Magazine Pachner & Associates Pack and Paddle Pack Rat Outdoor Center Pale Morning Media, Inc Patagonia, Inc. Peak Design/Sports Pearl Izumi Penguin Brands Perception, Inc. Performance Bikes Perpetual Motion NW Peter McBride Productions Petzl Foundation Phoenix Creative Picky Bars Pine NeedleMountaineering Pinnacle Outdoor Group Planet Outdoors Point6 Polartec prAna Press Forward PR PrimaLoft Quality Bicycle Products Quick Feat International Rabbit Mountain Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) Red Desert Adventures Rennie Publications, Inc. Revolution House Media Rising Tide Associates River Magazine River Runner Outdoor River Sports Outfitters Riverside Design RLP Wealth Advisors RLX Polo Sport Roots Rated Royal Robbins Ruff Wear Inc Runner Girl Races LLC Saloman Sanitas Sales Group Saucony SAXX Underwear Scarpa North America Schoeller Textil USA Sea to Summit Seaview Outfitters Self-Propelled Outdoorsman Shift Advantage Sierra Designs Sierra Nevada Brewing Slingfin SmartWool Corporation Smith Optics, Inc SNEWS SNOCRU SOAR Communications Sorel Sorensen's Resort Spiker Communications Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Stanley, a brand of PMI Stio STM Bags Stohlquist WaterWare Stonewear Designs Sullivan-Bishop Agency Superfeet Teva The Access Fund The Base Camp The Conservation Alliance The Family Outing The Forest Group The Mountain Lab The North Face The Timberland Company The Whiting Group Thompson Manufacturing Inc. Thor-Lo Sock Company Thule Timex Toad&Co Trails Illustrated Treasure Mountain Inn Tributary Whitewater Tours Trio Restaurant Group Ultralight AdventureEquipment Under Solen Media Unicorn Recreation Products Ursack Ute Mountaineer Vapur Vasque Velocio Apparel Venture Snowboards Verde PR and Consulting Veterans Expeditions Vibram USA Virasana Productions Vishnu Temple Press W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. Wasatch Touring Waypoint Outdoor White Horse ResidentialHomes Whitewater West Wild Iris Mountain Sports Wild Places, Inc Wilderness Press Wildland Trekking Co Wilson’s Eastside Sports With Gaia Design Woods Wheatcroft Photography Wyoming Woolens Yakima Yeti Coolers Yonder Young One Zappos Zephyr Adventures Zumiez, Inc

Event will be at Mohave National Preserve! Stay tuned! REGISTRATION LINK HERE Sponsors: SENA Signed up so far: @Jason R @greedyg Mike Thomas Steven Hernandez @Rogers Evan Brown Garret Ortiz Matt Norton Chris T Dave Elmer Christopher Moritz Monte Cottrell Ralph Wenger Troy Reeves Doug Stout 1 Doug Stout 2 Brandon Limb @WildTurkey @Kurt Asplindh Neil Reynolds Vlad Pavlov Brian C Robert Montero @Trinie Lara @Dennis Godwin @MotorradAngels Sandro Marino Robert Smith Stan Iordonov Rick Giroux Dennis G guest Gary Rebensdorf Evan B guest Randy Commans Peter Wallace

Who had a blast this weekend?! I know I did! Rolled in around 230pm on Friday. Unloaded, setup camp and took off on my Beta 500 and Matt Norton on his CRF250L around 4pm. We started off taking the intermediate 3 track in hopes to find some fun sand washes and we sure did! We ended up bypassing the southwestward turn to the rest of Int. 3 and headed toward the Mojave trail. On the way to the Mojave trail we came across a forest that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. What a cool area we thought so we decided to rip up the trail and see how high we could get. We ended up on a bluff that was overlooking rocks that were flipping us off. We then got to the Mojave trail and really opened the bikes up and came across the rock cabin. Matt recently did the entire Mojave trail and saw the cabin so only I went up to look at it. It was pretty cool...so cool I wish I lived there! ? After that we hit a two track trail southward. By this time it was about 545pm so we were trying to head back to catch the 6pm dinner. Well, 6pm came and went after hitting some sandy two track, that turned into a sandy single track and going a little farther south than we thought. At this point we were off GPS tracks so I was just leading us in the general direction of the camp. We got back to camp just in time to grub! It was DELICIOUS! Saturday morning we got up, geared up, topped off our bikes and headed out. We had a noob with us and wanted to see some of the scenic route so it was recommended to us that we do the easy adventure loop. It was a very scenic ride but too much highway for my liking. We stopped at a gold mine processing mill outside of Primm and found some amazing artwork. We were there a while and then headed back to camp via some two track. That's when things got interesting and I found myself in a full on drag race down a two track trail with @Bip Schkaboden on his GS. That was probably the most fun the entire day for both of us. We were hitting speeds around 70-75mph down the two track and we couldn't stop smiling after we got to the main road. We then headed back to camp. Sunday was great! Stephen Gregory offered to everyone some action shots out on the trail. It happened to only be me, Evan Brown and Matt Norton who took advantage of it. We had a great time and I think he was able to get some great shots. Overall the trip was a blast and I hope to do it again next year!

Hi guys, I want to sincerely apologize for the comment I made. It was really stupid and I am very sorry. This comment was my own and in no way represents the opinion of REV’IT! and has nothing to do with the company. The comment was taken out of context from a heated personal facebook discussion about automatic machinegun laws after the florida shooting. I should have never used those words in this discussion. I have been apologizing personally by e-mail and facebook to all the people I offended with this comment. I feel very bad about this. REV’IT! has a US headquarters, distribution center and many US employees. The gear is top notch and we work very hard to keep our customers well protected on their bike. Please don’t be angry at REV’IT! but please focus your anger on my private person. I am to blame not REV’IT! I visited the US last year and I loved it. I am a big fan of the US and would love to explore more of your country. All the people I met where very nice and they certainly did not deserve their country to be called retarded. Please accept my personal apology. regards, Roderik

Hello, from the north of Sweden. Im a amateur photographer and former MX-rider. These days I cruise the gravel roads of jämtland county in Sweden on my 1991 XRV 750 RD04. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pellelindh/

I'm not sure if my XRR fits the category, but she is my current Adventure bike. I use it mostly for single day outings and prefer to play race on fireroads, but it will also handle tight single track, though it is more work than my KTM 250. It is plated and I think it is the best big dual sport combination of light weight, good power, and reliability. It has mild engine mods and put down about 52HP at the rear wheel. I also have a Rekluse auto clutch and rear hand brake, which I think are some of the greatest accessories available. I also own a Suzuki SV1000 street bike, but am looking to trade for a large/midsize ADV bike. I am looking forward to seeing the new Honda 1000 twin and hoping Yamaha release a Tenere based on the FZ-07 engine. Nothing currently available really lights my fire?! Here is a pic of my XRR:

I've managed to make it back from the Arizona Back Country Discovery Route (AZBDR) and thought I'd share my experiences riding a new 2016 Stelvio. First off, the beginning of the AZBDR is about 840 miles from where I live, and I wanted a more aggressive tire setup, so tire choice was important. I went with the Shinko 804/805 combo and couldn't be happier. Day one I ended up in Gila Bend AZ about 610 miles from the house. Nothing but freeway and 70-80 mph the whole way. Day two saw me to the start of the AZBDR at the Coronado National Monument around noon. Figuring the first couple sections were going to be fairly easy I headed off. With the exception of one sand area it really was. I ended up in Benson AZ for the night after getting a lot of information on where to run the tire pressures and developing a feel for the bike loaded in the dirt. Day three is where it began to get a bit more interesting. Benson to Globe, then Globe to Young. The day started with graded dirt roads then slowly began to narrow with less and less maintenance. A number of water crossings, though nothing to write home about. After you get past Globe and head to Young you begin to climb up in to the forests heading for the Mogollon rim which marks the edge of the Colorado Plateau. The last 15 or so miles into Young is where it began to get entertaining. The road narrows, begins to ascend to the top of the plateau and is complete rocks. Starting with small manageable rocks to those the size of grapefruit and larger. This section alone took me nearly two hours. Plenty of remote camping opportunities around Young, so I called it a day after nearly 10 hours in the saddle. Day four, Young to Winona. The day started off well until I had to divert due to a controlled burn conducted by ADF. This shortened the off road portion of the ride but also in theory would shorten my day in the saddle. NOT!! After picking up the route by Clint's Well, I was in store for another round of "rock adventures". However after a few hours things started to develop into a pretty nice ride through the forests and into Winona. Day five would have me riding through the Navajo reservation and in and around the Vermilion cliffs before crossing the boarder into Utah for the end of the ride. You must have a permit to ride in the Navajo Reservation back county. You can obtain one at the Visitor Center in Cameron for $12, cash. I really enjoyed the ride through the "Nation". beautiful scenery and what people I met were friendly and helpful. The last portion of the ride was uneventful with lots of photo opportunities and spectacular scenery. I ended finishing the AZBDR the afternoon of the fifth day, or really four days of riding the route. So now the summary: When I left the house the bike had 1498 miles on it. It now has 3856. I figure that I spent about 710 miles off road to complete the AZBDR. I spent a fair amount of time going over fasteners and the like in preparation for the ride. Nothing more than I would do on any other bike I have taken. I carried between 60-65 lbs of gear (depending on how much water I had on-board) Remote camped 3 nights and camped in campgrounds 2. I did stay in a Motel on the ride home, I know, LOSER! I ran the Shinko 804/805 tires and at the conclusion of the ride I still have not hit the 50% wear bar. The tires I would highly recommend if this is the type of riding you are interested in. Good pavement life and off road performance is quite good. Of course I only seemed to ride in rocks... For the bike? I could not be happier. Not one single issue, none, reliable as an anvil. Yes she's a heavy girl, but she's light on her feet and does anything you ask. The bike was everything I hoped it would be after coming off a KTM 990 and 50,000 miles. Much better on the freeway, 80 mph all day long no worries. Noticeably lower center of gravity, which equates into easier manageability when herding around 600+ lbs out in the boonies. No cylinders sticking out to hook your ankles...well you get the idea. So there you have it. With almost 4,000 mile on the clock I figure I could write intelligently about the bike. They were right. Ride one 20 miles, you will never own one, ride one 200 miles and you will never sell it. Don't be afraid to take her out in the dirt. No, it's not a "dirt bike", it's Moto Guzzi's entry in to the "adventure bike" market. Ride it as an adventure bike, compare it to other adventure bikes and you'll see, it's a damn good mount that has no bad habits, a reasonable price point and the reliability of well, and anvil. I spent days looking for known issues with the NTX, worst I could find that was repeatable was the driving lights. I can't say as much for most of the other entries in the "adventure" market. Long post, hope you enjoy. Last thing. IDBDR in September, anybody want to go?

This guy @NavyNuke provided some amazing skills for which I'll be eternally grateful

Honda's decided that they'd prefer I had more experience with their Africa Twin so they're providing me a bike to test out for a while. I'm very honored by this and want to thank you the XLADV members for making this such a vibrant community for big adventure bike riders. Honda is also an amazing motorcycle manufacturer and even with their traditional conservative risk-avoidance culture went out on a limb to resurrect a bike for the adventure market that many of us have been clamoring for for years. Their sales seem to indicate the bike's been a hit and I'm sure is the reason why KTM brought their 1090R out as well as Yamaha's new T7 concept and KTM's "790" concept. No idea yet whether it will be DCT or standard transmission or even the color. My guess is that it's a fleet bike they've used for journalist demo's. They typically loan them out for about a month. I will bring this one to High Sierra. My only real preference is that it comes with knobbies! Obviously it will be fun to get a feel for this bike and be able to compare it with the two bikes I have the most experience with; the BMW GSA 1200 and the KTM 990. I will take care to be fair in comparing it with my relatively heavily modded 990 not to say anything like "well it's no 990." The DCT will be fun to explore should I get that model. I'm also going to want to experience for myself if there are any issues with the bike that we've heard about. Honda of course will say these are "isolated incidents" and things they've never had pop up in any of their demo bikes which may in fact be the case (they usually are unless you're BMW this year). I'm going to do some homework on the bike so that I can fully understand how it works and what it's designed to to really well. This is one review I thought stood out well on the AT done by Jimmy Lewis at dirtbiketest.com

XLADV is the big bike version of ThumperTalk and they have a store. I figure why shouldn't we? I'll be putting together some ideas and wanted to get your feedback for the store. We obviously have our XLADV stickers (2/$5) and Beyond Starbucks stickers ($5) and soon (Jul 17) we'll have the Team XLADV race t-shirts to sell but I have bigger plans. I'm talking with a friend with years of experience in the motorcycle apparel market and knows all the factories and the design process, etc... He's made a lot of stuff you would know. The jacket would be probably the most functional jacket out there but sort of an "Un-Jacket" in that it's not going to have shiny bright logos all over it. I think riders have grown tired of being rolling billboards for apparel makers and want something not just un-branded, but something they themselves can even customize with their own club (PNW Riders, GS Giants, SoCal DualSport, etc...) patches. Not a price point of $400+ but perhaps $250. Also talking with a make of soft panniers for something rugged, versatile and functional. And of course I'm sure we can drop-ship any number of tire makes we have a good history with already (Motoz, Shinko) that will give us good coverage for the 50/50, 60/40 and 70/30 segments. Also considering carrying a line of tents and sleeping bags. Thoughts?...

Let’s share femme-friendly techniques, tools and hacks for working on and around bikes, because she can do anything he can do, right? When it comes to know-how? Sure! What about the plain old brute force strength that occasionally seems to be required with moto-maintenance? Hmmm… I’m a fairly new rider - I’m celebrating the 4th anniversary of buying my first bike in about a week - but in these 4 years, I’ve put 70,000+ miles on my Transalp throughout North and South America. For me, understanding the mechanics of my bike and learning how to work on her has made me a better rider. I’m not sure if it’s because the more I learn, the better I understand how to manipulate my machine while I’m on her… Or maybe it’s just another component of building confidence around motorcycles… The knowledge that, if necessary, I’ll be able to self-rescue is HUGELY rewarding. I’ve been really fortunate that the men I ride/have ridden with have been really supportive of helping me to increase my technical know-how. Sometimes, this is relatively pain-free for them But sometimes, when I’m stuck on something and insist on not having any help, it can require a massive amount of patience (the above tire change, rear and front, took HOURS)… Advice is easy to find - post a photo like this on social media, and you’ll get dozens of “Try this!,” “You’re doing this wrong!” comments… many of which are useless if you’re 5’4” and under 120lbs. I understand it can be hard for someone who is a foot taller than me, has 50-75 pounds of muscle on me and has been working on bikes for YEARS to understand that methods that work for HIM might not work for me. So I wanted to start up a thread where we (both men and women) can share femme-friendly techniques, tools and hacks for working on and around bikes... Like the hack below... I’ve found that my GoGirl is actually much easier to use as an oil funnel than for it’s intended purpose I have a few other tidbits I’ve picked up along the way and made short videos of that I’ll share when I have better internet, but for now, please throw in your two cents and let’s help one another out!

Hey everybody, A little intro for starts. My name is Chad. I like motorcycles. The end..... Just Kidding The main reason for this post is to track the progress of my week long solo trip north on my KTM 950 adventure. I will be leaving May 12th from Woodstock, GA and will be going as far north as Upstate NY. Lots of rides planned while I'm up there including riding from Maryland to Bald eagle state park...all off road. Pics to follow as I get read to depart ?

So's I don't waste a bunch of space elsewhere here's Tiger up by Lake Quinault in the Olympic National Rain Forest. No action shots as I'm solo and parking my GoPro on a stump in the hopes of catching myself doing anything interesting would be weak sauce indeed.

Rich and I are headed up to PSR today in his Jeep with the bikes on the trailer. A bit nippy today as well as windy! Our friend Ken Mooty passed away last December just a month after he rode with us here. I want us to remember him and to appreciate what we do just a bit more given every day is a gift. Some photos so far... All loaded up Pic from PSR's website Pic of Chris Hunt's little mud adventure on his way down through Nevada And Randy is coming on his KLR Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is no way I'd enjoy an XL ADV pace on a 350/450/500EXC as a long time dirt bike guy. That would be like taking a Porsche GT3 to a twisty canyon and driving it like the GT car it's not. Boooooooring! Don't ride in a manner that you don't enjoy, so if these buds aren't into it, that's cool! You'll just need to find others that are. Or, pick up a 2nd bike so that you can mix it up. In the situation you described, I can see where it's frustrating for everyone.

Browsing through the site and noticing I haven't properly introduced myself. So the basics are this, I am a 26-year old rider from Belgium. I started riding when I was 16 with a Derbi Senda SDR 50cc and then when I passed for my motorcycle license on my 18th birthday I started riding with a Cagiva Raptor 650cc. Did my first travel and trackdays with this strong fella and then I switched to bigger sportsbikes, Suzuki GSXR, Yamaha ZX6R and an Aprilia RSV Mille in the end. When I met my husband at a French track in 2012 my goals took another horizon. He had an R1100GS that was so suited for travel, that after some offroadtrips (soft-gravel) I decided to trade in my GSX600R for a BMW F650GS Dakar. We did minor offroad at first, going to Norway with it etc. And from then on I got carried away on the "adventure" part of life. I got an R1100GS last year myself and that was one of the best decisions in my life. At the moment I am planning a bigger project that involves all the XL Adventure Bikes, trust me, it will be exciting but I will post more of that later. For the rest, look up my posts to see and read more about all my bike shizzle... Greetz Jessica

Playing around in Silver Canyon showing off for Steven's camera. Video courtesy of Cam I NEED A KONFLICT SUSPENSION REBUILD!

Eric thanks for the post. You mention some really good points, thanks. Before I ramble on: PikiPiki_Overland_Blog " Take a look at an account's ratio of followers/post. We are at 12.9 " " Try following someone! I absolutely detest some of these celebrity riders who have tens of thousands of followers yet follow less than 50 themselves! &%$#@! do you think you are? " This is one thing that is quite important to me and tells so much about people. Social media is exactly what it says, Social, and by that it means to me follow others and try and engage on their post and be social, be part of the community of people. Why else are they posting? It's to tell the world a bit about themselves. The prima donna posters who only has a hand full of people they follow I rather pass on them, surely it's not to much to spend a bit of time to follow others and comment on their post or at least just like it? Same goes for the celebs, I rather avoid them. There are a few people who get products to use and gather a huge following but does not follow others or engage and it just end up leaving me with a bit of spammy taste in the mouth. Then the brands who has thousands of followers but never engage with their customers, tells em a bit about their business attitude and mentality. There are so many normal people with cool pages I would rather follow than waste time on the me, myself and I Not everybody is as skilled with photography and video to make Steven Spielberg clips and have brand catalogue type photos to show, but it is still interesting to see what they are up to. And to go dig a bit and find the ones with the cool trips that does not have internet all day to post but their stories are really cool. Many of the cool people we have met so far travelling was due to social media. I see many people still don't really understand the etiquette behind sharing photos. They think by posting a photo the rights are given away and it's a free for all and businesses to use to make money from. Sharing a photo is just part of being courteous and showing respect to the person who took the photo. I don't think people want to make money from it but it's just the recognition. The copy and paste sites like DualSportDelinquents and the one you mentioned are either oblivious on what they do or they don't give a damn. Sites as WhyWeRide actually makes money of their movie. But then use normal people's photos to gain exposure so that they can make money and they never add credits to the people for it. Surely that's not fair?

2014 near Ouray, CO

I just received the Klim Krios Helmet I won at the XLADV high Sierra event. A beautiful piece of equipment and the absolute lightest helmet I have ever worn. Beautiful finish, carbon fiber. It came with both a clear and tinted screen with a pin lock antifog lens. I will begin wearing it and provide a review once I have a few hours on my head. For now a huge thanks to XLADV and KLIM.

Having a great ride in Baja with @adventuregirl7433 @dustin331 and@xladv

Talk about riding in style! Dennis Godwin shows up in this rolling palace. Probably has its own Starbucks inside [emoji23] And here we are in Big Pine But this is the sticker that makes us legit

Tyler Theobald posted this important PSA about those who make riding big adventure bikes a negative experience. This is why I started Beyond Starbucks and later this site, XLADV.