A Sharp Axe in a World of Broken Chain Saws

[Bill Douglas]

And one more advantage of old school off road MCs is they don't have a very complicated electrical system.

I fell off/over on my XR400R riding through a river. The bike was fine. I wouldn't want that to happen to a modern adventure bike. And it was light enough for me to get it back upright with a river flowing over it LOL

[Jeff Higgins]

I've twice had multi day "adventure tours" cut short by broken radiators on riding partners' motorcycles. Both KTM, by the way. One was on the first of five days out on our Olympic Peninsula. We were high up in the mountains when a low speed tip over going through a rocky stretch busted open the right radiator. Fortunately, as I mentioned, we were high up in the mountains. Mostly able to coast it back out, then towed by my trusty Honda with a tow rope on the uphills. The other two of us left him and the bike at a hotel, rode home, and returned with a trailer the next day. Trip over for everyone. Took several weeks for his parts to come in, and that was "back in civilization". Not a KTM dealer to be found in the part of the state where this happened, of course.

The other time was in the Eastern Washington desert. Different guy, different KTM, this time a rather high speed departure from his bike that destroyed a radiator. There was no getting that one out from where this happened. He wound up riding out on the back of my Honda, where he could, and walking the rougher sections. Since no one else was going to get that bike out either, we just left it and went back home to get the trailer, returning the next day. We got the trailer as close as we could on a fire road, then pushed the damn thing several miles over rather difficult terrain. It took three of us all day, trading off. Once home, again, several weeks for the parts to come in.

So, yeah, the "fancy bikes" are fantastic for playing in the ORV "playgrounds". Trailer it there, trailer it home. Even then, recovery from the further reaches can be a problem. And yes, granted, even stone axe simple bikes like the big Honda can sometimes have their problems, absolutely. They just seem to be far less common, far more easily jury-rigged just to get you home, and far better parts availability once we do get them home.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by gregpark

Another advantage of old school off road MCs over modern is if you crash in the desert on a liquid cooled and lose your water you're **** out of luck

Both of ours are air cooled. Mine has scoops to pull air over the fins, but will run fine if they get ripped off.