Wilsons Sandbox

Second post in as many days, I'm on a roll. Anyway Lister's my question to the group is can I mount and use appropriately made snow chains for off-roading on my bike? I'm in the Army and for years I've trained soldiers to drive off-road with snow-chains on the jeeps and even APC's, armored personnel carriers, (wheeled of course) when it's gets real muddy. Yes they can be used in summer as long as you take them off on the hard pack roads. In the winter the snow and wet / frozen ground cools the chains to keep them from over heating. In the summer as long as you're not doing donuts or excessive wheel spin they do hold up fine. I see snow chains on Quads in the goo regularly so why not a two wheeled bike. I have been planning to get a second set of rims with off-road tires but that can and does get expensive. My aim is to just drive to the off-road areas and mount the chains from a storage container (maybe a 3" PVC pipe). I don't want to haul the bike on a trailer with a second set of off-road wheels, tools etc.. I do allot of highway driving commuting to work, including some light errands. I average about 70 /80 km a day. If I installed a set of off-road tires 80% off road and 20% road driving the tires would wear out pretty quick, in my estimation. So does anyone see any reason I shouldn't use snow chains on a set of 50/50 tires when I want to have some off-road fun? I want to do this right and minimize the risk of jamming the wheels if the chains broke. Any guidance from the pros? I have thick skin so feel free to say that I'm a moron to do this or that I'm a genus to think it up? I'm pretty sure this is doable. Tom A20,Lime Ricky __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>Second post in as many days, I'm on a roll. >Anyway Lister's my question to the group is can >I mount and use appropriately made snow chains >for off-roading on my bike?... >So does anyone see any reason I shouldn't use >snow chains on a set of 50/50 tires when I want >to have some off-road fun? I want to do this >right and minimize the risk of jamming the >wheels if the chains broke. Any guidance from >the pros? I have thick skin so feel free to say >that I'm a moron to do this or that I'm a genus >to think it up?

To put it politely, I won't call you any names, but this has to be one of the most ridiculous proposed "upgrades" for a KLR that I've ever seen. Just mount a set of Dunlop 606s and be done with it. If your goal includes riding on ice, stud it. Mark

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, thomas cole wrote:

> > > Second post in as many days, I'm on a roll. Anyway Lister's my question to the group is

can I mount and use appropriately made snow chains for off-roading on my bike? I'm in the Army and for years I've trained soldiers to drive off-road with snow-chains on the jeeps and even APC's, armored personnel carriers, (wheeled of course) when it's gets real muddy. Yes they can be used in summer as long as you take them off on the hard pack roads. In the winter the snow and wet / frozen ground cools the chains to keep them from over heating. In the summer as long as you're not doing donuts or excessive wheel spin they do hold up fine. I see snow chains on Quads in the goo regularly so why not a two wheeled bike.

> > I have been planning to get a second set of rims with off-road tires but that can and

does get expensive. My aim is to just drive to the off-road areas and mount the chains from a storage container (maybe a 3" PVC pipe). I don't want to haul the bike on a trailer with a second set of off-road wheels, tools etc.. I do allot of highway driving commuting to work, including some light errands. I average about 70 /80 km a day. If I installed a set of off-road tires 80% off road and 20% road driving the tires would wear out pretty quick, in my estimation.

> > So does anyone see any reason I shouldn't use snow chains on a set of 50/50 tires when

I want to have some off-road fun? I want to do this right and minimize the risk of jamming the wheels if the chains broke. Any guidance from the pros? I have thick skin so feel free to say that I'm a moron to do this or that I'm a genus to think it up? I'm pretty sure this is doable.

>

At the Elephant Ride, I have seen a lot of bizarre strategies to get traction on snow and ice, from PVC rope wrapped around the tire and through the spokes to studded cordura spats. Somewhere in my memory are accounts of attempts to make motorcycle tire chains, but I cannot remember one that was successful. A guy could spend a lot of time detailing the shortcomings of each of them. But you just want to ride dirt. The short answer is what Mark said.

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:54:26 -0700 (PDT) thomas cole writes:

> > Second post in as many days, I'm on a roll. Anyway Lister's my > question to the group is can I mount and use appropriately made snow > chains for off-roading on my bike?

SNIP

> Tom > A20,Lime Ricky

<><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><> Tom, Just like the others have said... probably not a good idea. I think you'll tear up more than you'll find worth the effort. The Dunlop D606 is a pretty aggressive dirt tire that also works well on pavement. If you aren't spinning the tire much I bet you can get at least 4,000 smiles from one and probably more like 5,000. Maybe give that a try first and see what problems you still have. I'll be you don't have any problems a chain will solve. One of the problems you'll get with a motorcycle in the mud is it will get so deep the frame will be on the ground. Then it doesn't really matter what you have for tires as they won't be able to move the bike. I've been stuck twice in the last 18 days in mud that was from axle deep to the top of the front tire deep. I don't care what tire is available, it won't do you a bit of good when you're in that situation. I'm not sure a Rokon (two wheel drive motorcycle) would have been able to move out of my last sticky situation. My rear tire was only stuck to the axle but the skid plate was 3-4" deep and the front tire was to the top in mud. An appropriate use of a chain in this situation would have been to hook it to the bike and pull it out with an ATV or 4x4 vehicle. : ) Thanks for your service in the Army. I sure appreciate it. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT ____________________________________________________________ Enter for Your Chance to WIN* The TotalBeauty.com Summer Spa Sweepstakes! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/JKFkuJi7UfhflnPE5A7fHwFzegv92N9s4et2JFjjJJc0Vfe3vE92Ms/

In addition to my two KLR's, a DL1000 and two Triumph triples, I had an '07 KLX250S. Before even breaking it in, I traded it for a Versys, which I really like. But I still wanted something like the KLX. After looking at some alternates, I ended up with an '09 KLX250S. I really like this little bike also. I'm a somewhat aggressive, 61 years of age, 200# rider, and I find this little bike much improved over the previous version. It runs along very smartly staying under 5,000 RPM and has returned 77 & 76 MPG on the first two fillups. Even with only about 200 miles on it and I can honestly say than it has 6th gear roll-on. I've had it to about 65 MPH briefly and it feels solid at that speed. A great little all-a-rounder for $4900 retail. Dennis KD7CAC Scottsdale, AZ

On Jun 23, 2008, at 7:34 AM, Arden Kysely wrote: > The F800GSs at the South Africa press intro were mostly shod with > Bridgestone Battle Wings, and most of the riders thought they were > fine on the street and way to streety for the dirt. We aired down to > 20psi for the difficult dirt section and they did OK until we got to > the rutted hill covered with tall, wet grass. With other riders > stalled in front of us, the Tres Americanos had a tough time getting > going again. You can see how well the bike goes - until the ruts - > here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3uayuoheE&NR=1. At about 8 > minutes, the American contingent shows up the background. > > A few of the 800s had Anakees fitted. No word yet on what they'll > show up with here, the bikes aren't due till late August/September. > Finding tires might be tricky for awhile because the bike uses an > uncommon 150/70-R17 size on the rear. TKC-80s will probably be a > popular choice for anyone taking the roads less traveled. There's no > doubt that the bike is up to it. Slightly heavier than a KLR, it has > real suspension, real brakes, and real horsepower. > > If your son would consider a dual-sport for saving gas, have him look > a the 250s. The KLX is pretty cool, much easier to ride than a KLR > has decent power. Honda and Yamaha make very noob-friendly models. > > __Arden. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]