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650 Hill climb question

8K views 50 replies 23 participants last post by  NVDucati 
#1 ·
Hello all. i am a new rider, I got my license in 2018 and I just bought a used 2017 Vstrom 650 this past July. I'm loving the bike so far.

I have a very steep, gravel driveway down into my garage. I measure 16 degrees (29% on my Ford pick-up dash). I would love to be able to park the bike inside for the winter but I am afraid to try riding down into the garage because i may not be able to ride it back out and up the hill. Four wheel drive is needed to back any vehicle out up this hill.

The bike is lowered 1" and has crash bars. I'm 5'-7" with 31" inseam so I can flatfoot the bike with no preload.

If I do try how should I set the traction control? 0,1 or 2?
 
#3 ·
uphill is a piece of cake.

Downhill is the tricky bit.. you need to feather your rear brake just a bit and use the engine braking.

Depends a lot on the gravel and don't be afraid to paddle :D
 
#4 ·
can you turn the bike around in the garage? If the slope is smoothish I would ride the bike down and turn around and ride it up for the return trip. I have years of experience in riding dirt bikes. If you don;t have much experience maybe you could ask an experienced friend to show you how to do it. Is there a gentler slope nearby that you could practice on? If so go for it.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Most of us have ridden up and down far worse without a second thought. But none of us have met you, ridden with you, or seen your driveway.


Yep, uphill will be much easier.

Downhill you'll need some technique. You'll need to stand up a bit and scoot back to get your weight rearward, idle down in first gear, and keep a very delicate touch on the brakes. It works exactly the same as riding a mountain bike down a loose surface; if you have some bicycle skills it'll help.


I'd say.... poke around for some Youtube videos on adventure bike off-road riding techniques and see if that sort of thing looks like the sort of thing that's the sort of thing you might be comfortable doing. Maybe look for videos featuring similar bikes, like the Super Tenere or BMW GS. There are lots of videos of folks riding large bikes in inappropriate places and explaining how to do it.

This one, for example, looks pretty good:



This one has a lot more detail specific to downhills.
 
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#6 ·
That should be doable. The limiting factor is the looseness of the surface.
To get the bike out empty any vehicle out of the garage first and use the length of the garage to get up momentum to help your ascent. Momentum is the key. Maximum traction control, but with momentum it should be irrelevant.
Perhaps you should practice going up and down a similar slope first to understand how best to do it.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
For the run down into the garage, you might want to consider pulling the abs fuse if your gravel is loose to disable the abs system. That way you can skid the rear wheel if necessary as you descend to maintain your speed if your skills are up for it.

If you pull the fuse, you will not have abs on the front either. Don’t grab a handful of front brake on gravel or you may be finding out how difficult it is to pick up your bike on a slope.
 
#31 ·
Good advise. You can get the same braking behavior by just turning the key off.
Sometimes when dirt riding if I come up on a extra steep down hill section, I'll flip the kill switch with my right thump. Knocks out the ABS but obviously not the brakes. Flip it back on just before the bottom and the bike restarts. Problem solved.
 
#8 ·
If you dont want to ride it, walk it.

Going down the hill backwards with the engine off and in 1 st gear. Use the clutch to control speed going down. You can assit with the front brake.

Going up just walk it up with the Bike in 1st and feather the clutch to slowly go up the incline. Maybe someone can assist in keeping the bike in balance.

But easiest is to just ride it both ways. As others suggest practice on a similar incline.
 
#9 ·
I'd be nervous as well without more offroad capable tires on the bike. And on how much runoff there is at the bottom. As noted uphill is relatively easy, you have a lot more power than you need, grip is the only issue. DL's are superb on hill climbs, power, throttle response and weight all work in your favor there.

The thing I've found really problematic is getting downhill and being blocked by something (locked gates a specialty ;) ), it's really had to get off the bike and really hard to turn around when you are nose down on a steep slope. Provided there's enough room to pull up and to get off the bike and turn it, shouldn't be a problem.

Personally I prefer to leave the ABS enabled but that's a personal issue. You can use a lot more front brake then and that's more effective at slowing you down.

I'd also suggest that the first time you do this, do it when conditions are good. Dry surface etc. Then turn around, ride up, go back down. Do that enough times that you are confident. Ride down, park the bike and come back three weeks later and try to ride back up and it could be fun - well fun to watch :)
 
#10 ·
Key is what kind of gravel? A hard packed gravel that has been compacted into the dirt would offer excellent traction, while deep loose gravel is a whole other ball game. The larger the gravel stones the harder it will be to navigate, with 'marbles' the absolute worst.

If you have been riding the bike and loving it, where have you been parking the bike? Might it be easier to build a temp shelter until next year? I would think simply riding it and practicing hills will give you the needed confidence. If you can find a hill with good traction, and you can practice for a couple of hours I would think that might be all you need. The next step would be to find a hill with similar gravel/traction that your driveway offers and practice that hill.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the pointers. I will try to post some photos tomorrow.

Yes, the gravel is loose and marbly. I can run into the garage on the downhill, manually turn the bike around and start from the back of the garage on the way up.

I was more worried about spinning out or stalling on the way up but downhill may be tricky because of the speed. I was imagining skidding down backwards with the front brake on - Good point about using first gear to back down, if I do stall out. I could try backing down with the engine braking.

I have ridden up and down other dirt roads but none are nearly as steep or as much loose gravel. I live 1.5 km from the paved roads.

I have been parking up top and I could build a shelter up there or buy a bike cover for winter.
 
#15 ·
I definitely think that you should find similar tracks nearby and practice so that you know how your bike copes in similar conditions.
As for going downhill, start as slow as possible and avoid locking wheels. Your bike has ABS AND traction control so with a little practice and experience it will become far less intimidating.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I've managed horrific downhills with ABS on. Provided there's room to slow down at the bottom you should be fine. Balance is the key, generally you can't let speed build too much and with ABS you can use the brakes without an instant washout.

As above, practice somewhere mellower but unless there's a hairpin part way down it should be doable. Tires with decent tread make gravel a lot less frightening.

Another hint, because the only time I have crashed on a downhill I didn't do this, walk it first and clear anything problematic. Flatten out any deep gravel washes, remove rocks, fill in deep ruts. In my case, it was a head sized rock in exactly the wrong place - on the entrance to a corner with a BIG drop on the outside, went inside of that and my bars brushed the cliff face and oops :). if I'd walked down and moved that first I would have been fine.
 
#18 ·
My first bike was a Suzuki GS750T which is a standard street bike. At the time (I was 18) we lived in the country and had a mile long driveway that was dirt with the occasional gravel that would wash away when it rained! Our drive traversed a valley so it was a steep downhill followed by a winding, less steep uphill. So yes I went uphill both ways lol!

My first few trips were very scary and slow, with my feet in full outrigger position. Lots of sliding around on street tires.

It didn't take long to learn that going just a little faster was much, MUCH easier! Basically a motorcyle can operate two ways when going slow. Feet out and paddling, or go around 5 to 10 mph and actually have some control. When you get to the point where it's too fast to put your feet down but too slow to actually ride is the scariest part. The bike is wanting to fall over so it wanders back and forth, along with getting bounced around by the terrain.

You'll get to a point where you won't even think about it. You'll just hit that hill like it wasn't even there!
 
#19 ·
The front brake is just as important going down a steep hill as on flat ground. Tire tread will make a difference too. My driveway is similar(between 26 and 28 degrees) and mostly packed gravel and it is not a problem. Like RLBranson said, it's about momentum going up, but coming down it's first gear dragging both brakes with more pressure on the front brake lever. I don't turn off my ABS for my driveway, but anything in the 30% will kick it on and it's no fun. I found that dragging the rear tire on a really steep loose slope on a big bike does not work as the rear end will swap with the front end which is why front braking is still important.

Unless you have done some off pavement riding on various hills, I really think you should take a big bike off road class, or start riding with someone experienced and hitting some easy to moderate trails.
 
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