ws6transam
Member
- Nov 17, 2005
- 309
- 0
A couple of weeks ago we were up north on Bois Blanc island, following a motorcycle single-track that winds partially on private property, and partially through Michigan forest. It was a blast, twisting round the fallen trees, and hopping over ruts and little hollows that used to be tree stumps; Riding between cedars and around eighty-foot tall maples. We were pretty far into the interior of the island, when the trail was blocked by a big, tall tree, about eighteen inches in diameter.
My buddy was on a '71 Suzuki TS185, and we shut our motors down. I looked at him and told him that I'd always wanted to try log hopping. I'd never done it before, and had always picked my way around the obstacles. I told him that it might be fun, and we ought to give it a go. Well, at least me, anyway. However, that tree looked mighty intimidating, laying there, and Ted answered with a simple "I guess..."
I told Ted that it was "no guts, no glory time" and that I might crash, but I was going for it. I started up the WR500, doubled back about thirty feet, put it in first gear and rode up to the log. Once I got to it, I was standing on the footpegs, and I gave the throttle a twist. The WR grunted, the front tyre went up and over (way over!) and when the rear tyre hit the log, it also went up into the air as the motor climbed the log. The front end came down, followed by the back tyre, and the suspension soaked up the bump, easy as you please, just as if it was a horse jumping a fence in a steeplechase.
It felt GREAT! In fact, I doubled around again, and jumped it two more times. Each time it was the same feeling, nice and controlled, and plenty fun. Later in the day we jumped over a ten-inch log, and Ted tried that one on the TS185, but he was going slow enough that he got stuck, and the rear tyre, (a Kenda Maxxis) just spun on the wet bark. Hey, I gotta give him kudos for trying!
...so from now on, I'm going to be looking for more logs to hop. They are really quite fun!
Here's a short GPS log of one of our truncated trips. (We ran out of time, then got cut off from home when two cedars fell across the road, blocking our path. No hopping over those ones, however.)
My buddy was on a '71 Suzuki TS185, and we shut our motors down. I looked at him and told him that I'd always wanted to try log hopping. I'd never done it before, and had always picked my way around the obstacles. I told him that it might be fun, and we ought to give it a go. Well, at least me, anyway. However, that tree looked mighty intimidating, laying there, and Ted answered with a simple "I guess..."
I told Ted that it was "no guts, no glory time" and that I might crash, but I was going for it. I started up the WR500, doubled back about thirty feet, put it in first gear and rode up to the log. Once I got to it, I was standing on the footpegs, and I gave the throttle a twist. The WR grunted, the front tyre went up and over (way over!) and when the rear tyre hit the log, it also went up into the air as the motor climbed the log. The front end came down, followed by the back tyre, and the suspension soaked up the bump, easy as you please, just as if it was a horse jumping a fence in a steeplechase.
It felt GREAT! In fact, I doubled around again, and jumped it two more times. Each time it was the same feeling, nice and controlled, and plenty fun. Later in the day we jumped over a ten-inch log, and Ted tried that one on the TS185, but he was going slow enough that he got stuck, and the rear tyre, (a Kenda Maxxis) just spun on the wet bark. Hey, I gotta give him kudos for trying!
...so from now on, I'm going to be looking for more logs to hop. They are really quite fun!
Here's a short GPS log of one of our truncated trips. (We ran out of time, then got cut off from home when two cedars fell across the road, blocking our path. No hopping over those ones, however.)