One of my favorite YouTube dudes is Dork in the Road. I discovered his channel last year when I was researching buying my 2022 KLR.
He was from the PNW, like me. He was a novice at adventure riding, like me. And, he was an articulate, intelligent, and overweight middle-aged guy, like me.
So, I really like his videos and perspective.
I was catching up on his recent videos and came across one that I actually disagreed with him regarding what constitutes "off-road" riding in regards to motorcycles.
His view is that gravel roads are to be considered "off-road" riding and that is the community standard.
A lot of ADV riders consider dirt and above to be "off-road" riding and that gravel is sort of a yuppie-level off-road ride.
Dork in the Road (Ben) apparently had a ton of negative comments on his channel saying that riding on a gravel road was not "off-road" riding, and that thinking it was, was a sure sign of being a newbie, poser rider.
So, he produced a video in which he was quite adamant regarding what he thought was true "off-road" riding...
I appreciated his points and considered them before concluding that gravel roads could not be considered "off-road" riding. Why? Because my personal standard was that any road that I could travel upon in my Harley Road King without difficulty or trepidation could not be considered "off-road" on my KLR.
I have a few friends that live on gravel roads and regularly commute to work on their street bikes on said gravel roads. If a guy on a Honda VTX 1300 can drive to work daily on a gravel road, should that be considered "off-road"?
I say no.
But, I am not that invested in it to raise a ruckus and argue the concept.
However, I thought it might be an interesting topic to discuss here.
What do you consider to be "off-road" travel on your motorcycle?
He was from the PNW, like me. He was a novice at adventure riding, like me. And, he was an articulate, intelligent, and overweight middle-aged guy, like me.
So, I really like his videos and perspective.
I was catching up on his recent videos and came across one that I actually disagreed with him regarding what constitutes "off-road" riding in regards to motorcycles.
His view is that gravel roads are to be considered "off-road" riding and that is the community standard.
A lot of ADV riders consider dirt and above to be "off-road" riding and that gravel is sort of a yuppie-level off-road ride.
Dork in the Road (Ben) apparently had a ton of negative comments on his channel saying that riding on a gravel road was not "off-road" riding, and that thinking it was, was a sure sign of being a newbie, poser rider.
So, he produced a video in which he was quite adamant regarding what he thought was true "off-road" riding...
I appreciated his points and considered them before concluding that gravel roads could not be considered "off-road" riding. Why? Because my personal standard was that any road that I could travel upon in my Harley Road King without difficulty or trepidation could not be considered "off-road" on my KLR.
I have a few friends that live on gravel roads and regularly commute to work on their street bikes on said gravel roads. If a guy on a Honda VTX 1300 can drive to work daily on a gravel road, should that be considered "off-road"?
I say no.
But, I am not that invested in it to raise a ruckus and argue the concept.
However, I thought it might be an interesting topic to discuss here.
What do you consider to be "off-road" travel on your motorcycle?