First off, anyone who's seen me on here knows I live down the worst dirt road possible for anything other than a dirt bike.. I live in the middle of the country so there is more sand out here than on a beach..

BUT... discovered that after a night of rain the damp sand is 1000 times easier to navigate down than dry sand.

So...maybe my 5th or 6th ride... I usually complain about the heat or sand but today was perfect.. I don't usually sit back and appreciate the long long straight roads out here running parallel to clean wide open farm fields.. no traffic.. just taking a moment today to love it and feel lucky to have such a good place to learn to ride with absolutely no one else on the road and tons of areas to get in practice. Makes me really glad I got this bike. Took her on a 30 mile round trip through 2 towns then back home. Cool morning, brand spankin new helmet, threw my regular nothing special jacket on and had an awesome time.

I cuss my driveway like a drunken sailor on most days but today was fun. only supposed to get up to 88 today so I'm sure I'll be back on the road in no time!

 

sounds like a great place to ride. i will be moving to Montana, from Tampa Florida in about 5 months and am lookin forward to riding on the open roads, once the snow clears.

 

its 7 miles to the nearest gas station. so my learning on a bike is pretty much cruising at highway speeds.... especially if anyone is behind me cause they just haul *** regardless.... so it forces me to have to haul *** lol.

 

I feel you completely dude. My driveway is stone and the road I live on is stone. When I ride down my road the back end dances from side to side slightly, and I've already laid the bike down twice in my driveway because of how loose the stone is.

The past day it's been raining a lot, and when I went out today on it it was nice and packed down. Felt so much better riding down then when it's dry and sliding around behind me. I hate it but what are you gonna do.

 

ugh man that blows.......mine is like 4 inch deep beach sand...200-300 yards of it.. have to oil my chain every single day....even then its just sand all over it. sand just ...embedded in the tires....scared to take sharp corners... i dont so much drive down it....i roll the throttle and pray lol. i almost drop the bike every single time...but when its wet its a smooth ride and i dont stress taking the bike out.

it sucks that you have to go thru the stone version of what i go through man :/ i hate it for anyone who has to deal with that kinda crap. makes me think twice about even going out on it just because of that.

 

Eh, I've gotten used to it. I'm a new rider like you, but I've been taking the bike out pretty much every single day for a month now. You'll get more confident with riding across it. Although these bikes aren't really designed for it, they can still go through it no problem.

What I've found to help is that I need to travel at a certain speed. Too slow and I have a very hard time correcting for the slides and usually end up having to put my feet down and hope they stick. Too fast and you start powersliding a bit. It would be fun if I had dirt tires on my F2, but street tires don't like to bite back lol. I found that if I travel at around 10-15 mph I have enough speed to keep the bouncing and sliding back and forth in check and it's not fast enough for me to start losing real traction and lowside.

Also, be VERY smooth with the front brakes. So so so easy to lock the fronts on sand/gravel, and it was the source of both of my falls lol. One of which I just slid that last 2 feet and it was enough to set me off balance. Put my foot down and it just didn't stick. Boo!

As for oiling my chain. I'm really really bad about that. :/

 

yeah same here...too slow and the sand steers me where it wants to go...too fast and well...im going into the tree line 3 feet to my right lol.

i dont even touch the front brakes on the sand...soon as i hit that path thru the woods dirt bike instincts kick in and ill just use the rear if need be... usually 1st gear and just letting off the throttle is plenty to slow you down in that thick of sand..

i really bitch about this sand lmao. it fully kills my enthusiasm to go for a ride.. just making it to the road is a challenge...then back to the house once the ride is over... but really once you make it to the road and survived...your confidence is so boosted that riding on pavement is cakewalk lol

 

haha, my driveway is a half mile of gravel to the street so i can understand where you are coming from. And i definitely feel you Sov about the right speed, so true. when i do get on pavement though i do start swerving at low speed to get rid of the dirt/gravel, its amazing how much comes off there are swervy lines coming out of my driveway in both directions. And sean i got more highway time then city when i first learned, its definitely easier to ride when your going fast

 

lol yessssss. at 35+ i look like a pro... when it comes to stopping and turning, i look like i need training wheels... just not used to the weight. used to something way lighter.