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Jim, the Town of Eagle has been almost entirely wiped out by an Ice Slide earlier this year... as much as I wanted to see it initially, it did not feel right to me to go there and gawk at people's misery, while they are trying to recover or rebuilt what's left of their lives... so no, I did not go there.

Chisca, I have had my 11S on fire roads and even in dirt several times, but not for such a period of time as the Dempster or the Dalton would present. The issue is not whether the bike can do these roads, the issue is the condition of said roads at the time you are going to ride them...

The dirt roads in CA and AK change daily... weather is the deciding factor... a road that is dry, smooth and allows you to go 60 or 70mph one day, can turn into a sliding mudfest just hours later, if it rains, snows or hails down on you...

Up in the NWT, on the way to Inuvik, there is not one month in the calendar year, that hey have not seen snow...

Let's just say it this way... I would NOT do this ride on anything other than a dual-sport bike, just because I know better now. Sure, people do these trips on all kinds of bikes, but that does not make it the right choice.

I saw 40% BMW's (650 - 800 - 1200GS), 35% KLR's and the rest was made up from HD's, DRZ'z, V-Stroms and other popular bikes. I saw one Elephant, 2 Africa Twins, one Tenere, 2 Urals and then some other exotic bikes...

It was not as busy as I would have thought it to be, but busier than I would have liked it to be...