Exploring around Westport and Clatskanie Oregon

[DeadguyAle]

Took the ferry from Puget Island to Westport then did some exploring of small roads between hwy 30 and the Columbia River.
Mix of gravel, pot holed pavement with lots of dips and rises plus some good pavement. Really need to do something to improve the ride and squirrelly loose gravel handling. All in all though it did good, just kind of wears on you over time. My other motorcycle is a KTM 450 EXC-F six days with a Scotts steering damper and extensive suspension work, so a bit spoiled when it comes to riding less than perfect roads.

Not a lot of wigwam burners left standing, growing up every lumber mill around had one. Was quite a sight to see one burning full blast at night.

Lots of canal type waterways along the roads as you work your way towards the river.
RAM mounts for the Garmin Montana and the Inreach held solid through it all, one mirror loosened up on a long section of washboard and was the only problem I had.

Should have taken more pictures, will do better next outing.
74 miles round trip. Top speed 56 mph (momentary) average 20 mph
260 total miles on the bike now.

 

[Oldfatguy]

What tires are you running? Thinking of putting Shinko 244s on mine. Will never be as good off road as the TW 200 I foolishly sold but 244s should help.

OFG

 

[drjon533i]

Must admit, I had never heard of a wigwam burner. Had to look it up on Wikipedia. I'll bet it was quite a site to see at night!

To say that Shinko 244's "should help" is a bit of an understatement. Putting 3" 244's front & back on my Trail was the best upgrade I have done. Totally transformed how it handles off road.

 

[Oldfatguy]

Thinking to go 2.5” Shinko 244 front & 3.00” on rear. Do you see a big advantage to 3.00” vs 2.5” on front?

OFG

 

[drjon533i]

I haven't tried that combo, so can't say from experience, but the wider 3" on front should give better handling in sand and deeper gravel from the wider footprint. The downside is that they require installation of fender risers and modification of the horn mount.

 

[DeadguyAle]

What tires are you running? Thinking of putting Shinko 244s on mine. Will never be as good off road as the TW 200 I foolishly sold but 244s should help.

OFG

Still running the stock tires, I agree with you and @drjon533i that something with a bit more aggressive tread pattern and a little more width would help.
Thinking I will go with Shinko 241's 2.75" front 3" rear when the time comes for new tires.

 

[drjon533i]

As per the Revzilla web site concerning Shinko 241's: "Note: Not intended for extended highway use."
So if you plan on doing much riding on pavement, these might not be a good idea.

I chose the 244's because they are a "Dual purpose street and trail design." Even on pavement, they have excellent grip, far better than stock tires.

 

[Oldfatguy]

90% on pavement for me so 244s make sense.

OFG

 

[DeadguyAle]

As per the Revzilla web site concerning Shinko 241's: "Note: Not intended for extended highway use."
So if you plan on doing much riding on pavement, these might not be a good idea.

I chose the 244's because they are a "Dual purpose street and trail design." Even on pavement, they have excellent grip, far better than stock tires.

"Not intended for extended highway use" could apply to the the Trail in its entirety
I have easy access to miles and miles of logging roads so thinking the 241's will be a good fit for me.
Hope to see as much of an improvement as you have with the 244's
Thanks for the input!

 

[drjon533i]

"Not intended for extended highway use" could apply to the the Trail in its entirety

How true, ha, although I do take mine on the highway occasionally. Longest stretch is ~70 miles round trip to a nearby lake, and have done that twice now. Also lots of in-town miles. The 241's probably wouldn't like that. But for your purposes, they sound like a good option. Should have even better grip than the 244's, and I suspect you will be amazed at the difference from stock tires.

 

[dmonkey]

The Shinko SR241s are extremely soft and grippy. Extended pavement riding at speed wears them down real quick. If you do that you can expect the rear to be bald or at least squared off around 2k miles. The block pattern tread also tramlines bad, so they're a really squirmy tire if you need to ride on roads with rain grooves or over metal grated bridges. They're fantastic for unpaved back roads and trail riding though.