Take it from me - the Transalp is not good in mud. Even if you fitted more suitable tyres, you would have to do something
about the front mudguard - its fitted close to the wheel for good aerodynamics, but its a mud trap and once its clogged the
wheel will lock (greater friction here than with the ground) and you will fall off |
For local and playtime use where the Transalp was too big and quite frankly too heavy and unsuitable for use in mud, I used instead
something more suitable like this.This photo must have been taken at MOT (vehicle test) time as normally, the back was shod in something much more aggressive, and of dubious legality When on runs with my local TRF group, I have been known to avoid the mud ruts they were playing in and bulldoze the Transalp through the undergrowth, to avoid getting stuck in the mud |
But thats not to say that the Transalp can't be used off-road! Indeed, I think few people realise just how good it is. Its
big, heavy and the tyres and front mudguard means it can't be used in serious mud. You also need to be careful about dropping
it and breaking the fairing.
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You could try jumping it, but to be honest, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are prepared to replace things. On a
race machine, parts are replaced as a matter of course - engines rebuilt for every event for example. You can jump things,
(and I have) but landing tends to be a bit brutal as the bike is very heavy. Don't do it with panniers, they rip themselves
off after a while, and I replaced the rear shock at about 15,000 miles because of the beating it had taken.If you are going to try getting the wheels off the ground, learn the techniques on something smaller and easier to handle, and when you jump, keep it small or you will break things. There are some things you should be aware of, such as once you are in the air you have little control over direction as the bike is so heavy, its difficult to influence it. You should try and land fairly square with the clutch in and with front wheel hitting only very shortly after the back and never before. If you have jumped from a ramp then the bike will be sitting with the back wheel down and the front up, but if you have jumped say a bank, the ground will be going away in the other direction and if you hit the ground like this you will probably fall off the back of the bike You can control the attitude of the bike to a certain amount with the wheels. Your first instinct when taking off is to shut down the throttle (the engine will rev its head off otherwise), and this will tend to slow the back wheel. So what, you might well be wondering.... The rotation of your wheels contains energy and if you slow one down, the thing that is slowing it down will assume the same direction of energy - and that will be your bike in this case. If you have not followed that, its obvious if you sit down and think about it - try it with say the front wheel of your bike off the ground and spin it, put your hand on the tyre and brake it, your hand will be pulled in the direction of the rotation of the wheel. OK, so what? Well since you are still in mid air at this point, slowing down a wheel will rotate the bike forwards. However, I strongly advise you to avoid situations where this is necessary! |
Remember that I said your skills off road are very different to those on road. Off road your aim to maintain your balance
on top of the bike. Imagine yourself on a snowboard, your aim is to control direction and it doesn't really matter if you are
heading forwards or sideways. You should be maintaining a point of balance on top of the bike and so long as you are heading
where you want, don't worry if the back has drifted out to the side, or even if a rut has control of the front wheel. The mark of an off road beginner is that they try too hard to control the bike. With a death grip on the handlebars, they quickly fall off as soon as something like mud, rocks or a rut takes control of the front wheel and they overcompensate for the twitch. You need a strong grip with your hands, to avoid the bars being ripped out of your grip but the arms should be relaxed and act as dampers. Take a look at the photo on the right. I am relaxed and riding along a rut in mud, but look at the front wheel, something down in the water has caused the wheel to twist to the right. Now, a newcomer would have tried to fight this, and since every action has an equal and opposite reaction, pulling the bars to the left would have thrown weight to the right and it would have destabilised the bike. Did I consider all this at the time? No - its a matter of experience, instead I knew I was in a rut and unless the bike climbed out of it, it was only going forwards, regardless of what happened to the front wheel. So my weight is back (its why I'm sitting down) giving grip to the back wheel, and a gentle acceleration puts more weight on the back while gently pulling the bars and the front wheel back straight. |
If you look at the photos you will see that I am often standing on the pegs - this gives you better control and balance (when
did you last see a trials rider sitting down?). On easy sections sit in the saddle, but your feet should only leave the
pegs in a few situationsYou have stopped You need to push yourself along in mud You are putting more weight onto the front wheel OK, weight There are times you want the front wheel to control your direction - for example corners, and losing grip would be a problem! Its not just that you would not steer round - remember you won't really be leaning the bike over as much as you would on the road, but if you do lean it and it slips sideways, you are going to drop the bike. So, what can you do? Its quite easy, get your weight over the front of the bike - slide forward onto and over the tank and drop a leg down the fork leg so your foot is down by the wheel. But remember, you are still balancing on top of the bike, never let it control you. For the back, well its those times you want maximum grip from the back. For this about all you can do is to slide back on the seat, you should be able to sit back on the pillion seat. But this does remove a lot of your control of the balance. |
Detail work is a delight on this bike, if your balance is good enough (one of the advantages of a V twin rather than a
lumpy single). On flat ground you should be able to ride in
circles at full lock and be able to swop from lock to lock (you will find it much easier standing on the pegs, which should
tell you something) Take this ditch - I rode in and out, straight in, at an angle, in and along and back out again. I even stopped half way - in
and out, got off took pictures, got back on and rode it out. The bike handled it just fine.
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| Last update: 07 Apr 2002 | Contact: Contact me | |
