Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:03 pm
Dualsports are good at a lot of things but not really excellent at anything. However, nothing can fulfill the variety of missions a good dualsport can. Another advantage of dualsports is their suspensions are beefed for offroad. The tough suspensions and stronger frames deliver tight, stable control on the street IF fitted with proper tires. Modifying a dualsport more towards street provides us bigger folk with much more stable and precise handling than the flex-framed street bikes. For some displacement ranges, a modified dualsport is the ONLY way to come up with standard ergonomics. Here are a couple examples:
Back in the olden days I had a Honda SL100 frame with an XL125 stroker engine with a Yoshimura top end, CB450 carb, and a Basani pipe. I mounted street tires (2.75x19 and 3.25/3.50x17), lowered the front fender to a fork brace, and swapped a flat drag bar in place of the stock handlebar. The year was 1970--perhaps the world's first motard? The handling was much more stable and precise than Honda's CB and CL models that used the same engine. I rode that bike for years. Often when "bigger and better" crowded the shop, the little SL got the miles.
My second "street" bike was a Honda SL350, with rims for 5.10x16 and 4.00x18 street tires laced to the stock hubs. Again, a fork brace provided a convenient front fender mount, and a drag bar gave some preload against wind blast. Again, people who rode the bike often commented on how much better it handled and how much more comfortable it was than the CB/CL 350 twins.
Today bikes with offroad chassis and street wheels and tires are called motards. They are geared more for the street than offroad, and are capable of surprising the occasional sport bike on curvy roads. They are easy to handle around town, absorb potholes with nary a whimper, and the larger versions are quite capable of some touring.
The ranks of oldtimers trading down to or building motards these days are growing rapidly. The reason is simple: motards work in the real world.
Back in the olden days I had a Honda SL100 frame with an XL125 stroker engine with a Yoshimura top end, CB450 carb, and a Basani pipe. I mounted street tires (2.75x19 and 3.25/3.50x17), lowered the front fender to a fork brace, and swapped a flat drag bar in place of the stock handlebar. The year was 1970--perhaps the world's first motard? The handling was much more stable and precise than Honda's CB and CL models that used the same engine. I rode that bike for years. Often when "bigger and better" crowded the shop, the little SL got the miles.
My second "street" bike was a Honda SL350, with rims for 5.10x16 and 4.00x18 street tires laced to the stock hubs. Again, a fork brace provided a convenient front fender mount, and a drag bar gave some preload against wind blast. Again, people who rode the bike often commented on how much better it handled and how much more comfortable it was than the CB/CL 350 twins.
Today bikes with offroad chassis and street wheels and tires are called motards. They are geared more for the street than offroad, and are capable of surprising the occasional sport bike on curvy roads. They are easy to handle around town, absorb potholes with nary a whimper, and the larger versions are quite capable of some touring.
The ranks of oldtimers trading down to or building motards these days are growing rapidly. The reason is simple: motards work in the real world.
The transition won't be so bad though as you'll be proficient with your motorcycle skills by then.