Green laning/ legal off roading

[carr01]

Was thinking of getting a dirt bike whilst the weather suits and doing a bit of off roading. Does anyone know any info/maps of green lanes in the Darbyshire/ Cheshire/ Manchester area?

[Julie]

Your very best bet is to join your local TRF

Thats what we all did....

http://www.trf.org.uk/

stay legal - look after the lanes.

[crust]

Damn that Julie's quick :(

And she's right TRF's the people.

[DrD]

There is aklso http://www.trailwise.org.uk/index.php
I have a 650 aircolled single Trailie (winter warrior) for winter now I dont want to rust the m900 again!

[Nickj]

TRFs a good idea as you'll find someone to ride with which is always a good idea

[neilo]

I was thinking the same thing just today! I'll be checking those links myself!

[DrD]

And is it not a shame that Ducati no longer do a modern 450 Scrambler equivalent.
Love to see them do a big single again!
I plumped for a very unfashionable over square air cooled Honda 650 - does all I want it to (and about £1000 cheaper than a Xt650)

[utopia]

And is it not a shame that Ducati no longer do a modern 450 Scrambler equivalent.
Love to see them do a big single again!
I plumped for a very unfashionable over square air cooled Honda 650 - does all I want it to (and about £1000 cheaper than a Xt650)


I'd love to see an aircooled one.

Snap.....I run a 650 Honda alongside the monster too.
The nearest it gets to offroad though is an occaisional trundle down a farm track. Its mostly a road bike really.
Basically its just far too heavy, as well as unneccessarily powerful, for most offroading.
Its years since I've done any, and then it was never a great deal, but it very quickly becomes plainly obvious that you need a lightweight bike. The effort of lugging a dead weight out of the quagmire, or just simply riding through it, is surprisingly and rapidly tiring.
So if you're looking to buy a bike, I would say that a 450 is more than adequate. Personally I'd go for a 250. The lighter the better. My old 150 (Honda TL) was not particularly undergunned.

Offroading is great for giving you a whole new insight into bike control.
I remember one particularly frosty morning when I would have definitely slid off my Z1 at the junction at the bottom of our road, despite only doing about 5mph. However, I'd been out on the 150 all weekend, in ice and packed snow, so I instinctively shifted my body weight and "ars.d" the rear wheel back in line.
The point being...it was instinctive.
Definitely recommended.
Your choice, but you could do worse than get a trials bike and maybe look up your local club ?
Or TRF, as above.

[DrD]

Oh i chug about with my feet underwater at times on it - yes it could do with a diet but my partner likes going down the crap strewn z-roads and lanes with me. Most of the time it is used in foul conditions when I dont want the kill the m900 (again) or waste petrol in the Alfa V6.
I am slowly getting to used to life in the slow lane (85mph max or vibration) and enjoying cold weather biking. When the snow comes I is going out to play on it!

[Starter Sprag]

I've just got myself a Royal Enfield 500 Trials bike (2007) and it's great fun

[DrD]

I had a 1953 350 RE Trials for a while - fun but cycle parts needed constant maintenance
I even learnt to ride it around the garden without my feet down!

[bluestoesonnose]

I use a 1950's BSA Goldie for green laning, it's a pain in the ass to keep on top of but a great bike, if I was going to get back into it I'd be after a Serrow

[Nottsbiker]

I've had plenty of trail bikes over the years and am a bit of a fan of two strokes including; MTX125, DT125R's, DT200WR and probably the best one for doing it all was a mk1 CRM250.