Do it all bike

[redbone]

I've been riding a 4-stroke for a while do to the ability to dualsport it. I came from a 300 2-stroke and I dearly miss it. Question I have is- do you all think a 300 will be a good do all bike? Usually the dualsport rides we do don't have a whole lot of black top but there is some. Say in a 100 mile loop maybe 20 road miles max. I know the 300 is a great enduro bike which I do a lot of, but the pavement scares me.

[GMP]

Sure, just carry oil, and on the road sections vary throttle and tap the kill button occasionally. I refuse to ride a big 450F just to accommodate some pavement, just don't see the compromise thing. 20 miles isn't bad for two stroke performance in the woods.

[AZRickD]

We have a guy who commonly dualsports a KTM 300 XCW with stock gearing. If he keeps it off the pipe he gets about 35 MPG. Couple that with his 2.9 gallon tank and he has all the gas he needs for our typical "Cruel Sport" rides (a good amount of single track with hardly any pavement -- usually).

His silencer packing gets really smokey after a good, long pavement run, though.

[GMP]

It depends on what you really enjoy about dual sports, and what dual sports you enjoy. If its just getting out then fine a big four stroke is more convenient. If its a serious trail ride, a race without checks, then ride a race bike. I only do two serious dual sports for that reason, like what Rick calls "Cruel Sports". I don't like cruising dirt roads and if its a lot of pavement why not just go for a street ride on a proper bike for the job then?

[gasser]

Rode one 150 mile day back in July 2010 in the Colorado high country. I was on my 300 gasser with 13/49 gearing and oversize tank. We did a lot of gravel roads, even more dirt and rock jeep trails, some single track, and at least 30 miles of pavement (22 miles in a single stretch). The bike cruised easily around 50-55mph and could top out above 80. I had a ball end even though I stood up a lot a better seat would have been real nice. The gearing was a compromise 13/50 would have been better for the trails (above 10,000 feet) and 13/48 would have been better for the road but for my 300 13/49 worked for both. The following summer I took my ec250 and did all trails. It was geared 13/50 and that was too high. This year I'll run 12/48 and switch to 13/48 if we do one of those sight seeing days with lots of roads.

[desertgasser300]

Originally Posted by GMP

Sure, just carry oil, and on the road sections vary throttle and tap the kill button occasionally. I refuse to ride a big 450F just to accommodate some pavement, just don't see the compromise thing. 20 miles isn't bad for two stroke performance in the woods.

What does tapping the kill button do on long road hauls?

[desertgasser300]

Originally Posted by gasser

Rode one 150 mile day back in July 2010 in the Colorado high country. I was on my 300 gasser with 13/49 gearing and oversize tank. We did a lot of gravel roads, even more dirt and rock jeep trails, some single track, and at least 30 miles of pavement (22 miles in a single stretch). The bike cruised easily around 50-55mph and could top out above 80. I had a ball end even though I stood up a lot a better seat would have been real nice. The gearing was a compromise 13/50 would have been better for the trails (above 10,000 feet) and 13/48 would have been better for the road but for my 300 13/49 worked for both. The following summer I took my ec250 and did all trails. It was geared 13/50 and that was too high. This year I'll run 12/48 and switch to 13/48 if we do one of those sight seeing days with lots of roads.

You'd better this year. We(wife and I) have plans already for August in the high country.

[Rick]

Loads up the topend with a little extra premix without the burn.
I did the same thing an on my WRA 250, that was dual sport.

[redbone]

Loads the carb up with gas.

[Jakobi]

Originally Posted by desertgasser300

What does tapping the kill button do on long road hauls?

Its refered to as cold fuelling. The kill button stops the spark which in turn allows the fuel charge to wash and cool the piston while delivering some added lubrication. Pretty common back in the day on bb air cooled bikes running desert races.

On the topic I run my 250 with 13/50 gearing everywhere on a days ride. It'll see some open fire trail, some black top, and as much single as I can fit in. The rest is just linking sections of trail. The gearing is too short to comfortably run down the hwy though. I can hold the 100km/hr speed limit but the engine is working around 7000rpm to do so and just feels a bit better backing down to 90km/hr.

My 300 with 13/48 cruised a bit better and at 80kms/hr would only just be coming onto the pipe, so at 100kms the bike was just buzzing nicely. Its still not something I ever found enjoyable though. It was a means to an end. Then again I don't enjoy riding the 450F down the hwy either. They're called dirt bikes for a reason