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 Post subject: Off roading a 1993 Funduro.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:17 pm 
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50 cc

Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:03 pm
Posts: 4
Location: Keighley, West Yorkshire
I finally managed to get my F650 out onto some of the local lanes this week, which was my first real test of it's off road capability. For something i'd consider a heavy tool for the job it works surprisingly well, although you can tell it wasn't designed with any serious mud plugging in mind...the shape of the tank makes comfortable operation of the back brake and gear shift a bit awkward when stood on the pegs and the choice of decent tyres was very limited because of the size of the front hoop. I eventually settled on TKC80 continentals which i had supplied and fit with new tubes for £180. Also the front mudguard is a little worrying when it comes to rocks, i had a fair few catch briefly on the underside of the mudguard between the tyre. In addition the main stand ran aground on my neighbour's stairs and literally cracked the flags in two. Oops....

Anyway it's limitations realised and put aside the bike is pretty good when you get it moving, fairly well planted on the mud and rocks and i found the suspension surprisingly good at hammering over steps and rocks. Initially i thought the gearing was a little high for serious trail use but having given it a 'proper' run it's adequate for most aspects of trail riding except for very steep grass banks etc... where it becomes a first gear job, which could be problematic in the very wet.

I encounted some 4 to 5" deep snow drifts still covering some paths which had frozen on top to create an unforgiving hardpack surface. For this i had to sit down (for shame) and keep my feet ready to go down because the bike was shaking and squirming like a crazed mule. To be fair most bikes would have found that surface less than tractionable.

Anyway this must be making boring reading for anyone who doesn't own a 'big' trailie (sorry but i don't class the 1200 gs's et al as traillies :P ) but it confirms that you can use something of the sort as a compromise. You can have the luggage'd up camping machine good for long days in the saddle and something capable of hitting the trails all in one machine. Compromise was always going to be compromising i suppose!

Here are the off road related mods:

TKC80 Continentals
Footpeg rubbers removed to reveal grippy metal off road pegs
Scottoiler to keep the chain nice and supple through the mud/sand abuse
Narrower top box to avoid smashing my wider camping one
Hand Guards.

Hopefully the pictures i took will work.

Image
Image
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_________________
1993 BMW F650 Funduro


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