Is it just me or is sand the devil when confronted with our 250s bikes? Albeit this is my first bike I'm used to mountain biking through deep sand (in fact the same trails I'm riding the 250 on) and how it pitches you around etc. Man I've tried crawling through in first and sitting way back and running a high second and both resulted in the front end crossing over the center hump in the trail wit the rear sliding along it and coming around. I've saved it a few times with a quick step down but today while trying to go up a relatively steep sandy hill I did aight over the first steep section until the front tire went up the side of the path and the rear end kicked out and I'm facing the right side of hte trail, grab the clutch and some brakes and stop. I get going again but its so loose than within two feet the rear comes around the other way barely spinning mind you. So I try to take off a lil easier then get on it, and you guessed it stalled out. At this point I'm relatively frustrated so I fire it back up and dump the clutch and ride up the rest of the face letting the rear do whatever it wants, grab some more throttle and get a nice low wheelie up over the top at which point my grimmace turned into a dumbass grin.

After getting 140 miles on it I think the rear preload might be a bit on the stiff side even though I weigh in at 180 when sitting on the bike it seems like the rear is higher than the front, which wouldn't that lead to the front end wandering so much in the sand or do I have it backwards? I've eyeballed the droop/sag and it seems like its less than the recommended 3.9 inches when I'm sitting on it and the bike's sag under its own weight is also fairly little. For comparison's sake when I sit on the bike it drops just barely to the point of the sidestand touching the ground when I have the bike purely vertical if that helps any.


Also I've noticed that riding around the house practicing my circles, 8's, starting and stopping on hills (practicing for road test, still on my permit) seems to have been detrimental to my fuel economy. Roughly 3 miles back on the trail mentioned above the bike started bogging down on hardpack, downshifted and didnt get any better. Turns out at 76 miles I needed to flick to reserve. When I got home and told my dad his response was....[sm=laughat.gif]

 

Bryantjt, I'm not a sand expert, but have you tried dropping the tire pressure to 15psi. Check out THIS POST #3 for the sag. I'm poochin' at 200lb right now and just barley out of the sag spec. Like you said, it seems high in the back,totally opposite of my KLR. As for the mileage, I usually hit reserve around 80mi, abusing myself and the bike on the trails. Ride safe.

 

OF the little bit of sand I've ridden, tire pressure is the enemy. You need a bigger contact patch. The recommended 22psi won't work. You should try about 16psi... or get some rim locks and go down to 12psi or lower. You however don't want to ride over 50mph with less than 15psi in the tire. You'll build up too much heat in the tire.

 

I believe I'm running at 18 psi front and 16 rear, or 16 and 14. I checked it last week. I'm not going to mess with the pressure as our air compressor just died but once we get that replaced I'll give that a shot, or I just won't ride that trail.

 

I've had the same difficulties in the sand on my KLX. The front tire wants to float all over the place. I have a KTM 380(2 stroke)that does way better in the sand. The tires are a little bigger(and more aggressive) on the KTM, so that helps, but I think it's the power that keeps me on top of the sand better. The KTM also has a steering damper which may be helping it track better in the sand. As far as the rear suspension goes, when I first got mine I couldn't sit on the bike with both feet on the ground. After 1 & 1/2 months, I can. I haven't adjusted the suspension..and I've actually lost weight in that time(weigh about 195lbs)...so I guess the shock settled into it's sag. It now feels a little soft. Has anyone else noticed the rear supsension softening up/sagging over time?

 

I've found when the sand is really deep, I have to keep my butt off the seat. I try to hover over the seat and put all my weight on the foot pegs. It makes a huge difference. The bike moves forward vs. digging down.

 

We have a winner here!


I've ridden a lot of sand. The state of Florida is nothing but a sandbar between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. We have more than our fair share of the stuff here! When it gets dry, like it is now, the sand becomes what the locals term as "Sugar Sand". Just think of a sugar bowl and you take some out. It kind of rolls back in to immediately fill it back up again.

Getting off the seat and letting the bike ride through the sand without have to toss your butt around will let the bike respond much better. You effectively have a lower center of gravity by standing on the pegs and the bike works much better. Ever see a trials rider sitting down?

The other factor is the tires! I am leaning towards the Kenda 270's for replacement tires as they offer a 3.25 for a front tire. That makes all the difference in the world.

At a recent rally, we had a big sand area that a lot of the riders wanted to ride through and enjoy. Several of them found out how difficult it is to ride through there. One of the riders from Oklahoma has a KLR650 with an 18 inch tire on the front - a 130/90-18 rear tire on the front! A Dunlop 606. I asked if I could ride the bike and took it through some of the deep, deep sand. It rides right on top of the sand and is so much easier to ride in the stuff. Just think of it as a TW200 that is painted green!

Sand is not hard, just takes a bit of practice. Whenever y'all want to practice, I have some great spots to practice in!

 

Marty and Daz are right. I like to keep moving through the sugar, braking or letting off the throttle will put the front tire deeper. Get up on the pegs, small throttle changes and let the bike find it's groove.

 

Holy Smokes, what a difference! I tried the second gear stand up and man, riding in sand was actually..........I hate to say it..........kinda fun! I rained a few hours ago so it wasn't the loose dusty sand thats a bear to even walk in but had maybe a good half inch of nice pack to it before reaching the dry stuff. It was enough to builld my confidence thats for sure! I conquered the hill that tried to dump me last time. I gotta say, had it not been for this forum and all the help and suggestions you guys provide I may have not driven that trail anymore and probably avoided sand like the plague.

 

I like you're new Avitar