Sorry mate but you forgot the biggest tip. I think a lot of guys watching your channel are riders like me who have a +200kg bike and we find ourselves on new trails all the time. These muddy conditions may only be a few hundred meters then all is fine again so we can forget about lamenting our choice of tyres. Its only a few hundred meters after all. What I found works best: Find a line that follows a rut with nice high sides. This is so you can put both feet down. Sit down Pick a higher gear, as you rightly say. And do 'the paddle walk' as you keep momentum with the clutch. Do all you can not to stop and dig in, keep momentum, even if its a miserably slow crawl. Your feet will get wet, its part of the adventure And that's it. Not elegant at all, and quite frankly its not really very technical either, but it works. Be gentle with corners right afterwards, especially if it comes out onto pavement, because the tires are packed with mud. It will quickly clear with a bit of speed. Dropping a bike in mud is pretty bad, especially alone. If the tires are not getting traction, neither will your boots as you try to pick you bike up. Wish you would have mentioned this even though its kind of regressive. And that's it. Otherwise love your vids and keep up the great work mate.
Disagree. Honestly I'd rather take my chance rather than paddling though. Yes you might come off and get muddy, but that's also part of the adventure. Let's hope you don't get stuck, but that's also an adventure. If you do make it through those 100 m it's an epic feeling.
Best reciept for dropping the bike in he mud, and then struggle to pick it up like a penguin on ice. High sides of the rut will get your wheel slip in no time, and as your arse is in the seat your centre of gravity is high, so wen bike starts going it's going down... and if its 200 kg and you feets are dragging on slippery mud you wont hold it. Plus it's look lame AF 😀
I ride in mud quite a lot on my Super Tenere here on the east coast of the states. My 2 cents....having good balance is most critical on mud and in slippery conditions. People are fighting here in the comments whether to stand, or sit and paddle. The thing that helps me the most is being able to keep a foot on a peg at all times, standing and being able to paddle with one leg at a time at very low speeds. Plus I feel like focusing on the feet makes it easier to stay relaxed on the bars and you can let the bike slither around a bit when it needs to.
I love that this video starts with very helpful, if not somewhat abstract, ideas and techniques, and ends with “embrace the suck”. Brilliant! And all 100% true.
i ride my scrambler bike on a mountain road just after the rain came and its really slippery mud on some parts.. and really after second slip on my tire nearly falldown i manage to smile on what i am doing there, getting on that road to reach my new job assignment on a school situated on small village a remote area in Philippines. there is another way thou which you will cross lahar desert and some small river but unfortunately that passage on that time the river is hightide and not possible for vehicles to pass the rivers. so mountain trail as it is.. i find it fun though for some reason. :)
Love how you describe the soft touch.. so many times you see riders lose all traction and unweight the bike and sling a 20ft rooster of mud.. why people unweight their bikes and race the throttle dump the clutch violently when trying to gain traction is just so wrong and counterproductive.. in low speed, low traction scenarios I also like to ride the brakes.. aka trail brake a little as I believe it smooths that transition when you go from applying power, to easing it off slightly and deliberately which helps also with gentler loading and unloading the suspension if that makes sense.. I learned this technique on a an Africa Twin DCT as about the only effective way to do any low speed technical riding on that bike.. throttle plus brake is so useful. it’s a more advanced technique but I use it about 100of the time in those situations now.. thanks for the great tips
For over 10 yrs I didn't like mud. Then 2 yrs ago I was route medic for a 3-day adventure/enduro event on my 990 that had several preceding days of showers and a cloudburst the night before the start. The organisers had to modify the initial routes just to get all the big bikes (1200's etc) out for Day 1 on the snotty clay surfaces. Those 3 days cured me of my aversion to mud. I don't go looking for it when it starts raining but, it doesn't spoil my day anymore, just as long as I'm dressed warmly and I have my rain jacket on.
Yeah the last advice is spot on! Embrace the mud. Enjoy it. When you do this "mind shift", it immediately stops being an obstacle and sucking your "fun". and when you enjoy every milimetr of it, you also learn it the fastest and become much better rider in the mud. Fear is a mind killer (movie Dune). I used to fear mud so much. Then it slowly shifted to laughter when I almost crashed at higher speed on it. Now I just enjoy it and sometimes even go looking for it. Recently managed to climb a muddy uphill single track with leafs and branches on the ground on 200+kg heavy bike. The tail was waving (also front) but I kept my speed, low revs and went through. Even managed to get stuck and restart - just got of the bike and it restarted quite easily. The weight (yours) on the back wheel can sometimes be a problem and this solves the "digging in" problem.
I fitted the same tyres as my buddy because he hammers his bike along the muddy trails and corners like he is on rails, and very rarely falls off. I ride really gently and slide sideways along the straight bits and fall off very often 😁
The first three Enduro races I ever competed in were mudders. It was a very educational experience. It takes good balance, keeping weight on the pegs and momentum. It sometimes helps to give a tad more throttle too.
Imo similar technique to riding soft sand works well, which is mainly to try keep front light. And best to ride at constant speed, avoid accelerations in any direction
I was recently on a muddy 6 day ride, and switched my front tire on the 3rd day. I was impressed with the difference it made. I guess it wasn't just rider error every time. I went from an Anakee Wild to a Pirelli Scorpion Rally.
Good work, even if i know all this stuff, and practically using those tips for years, its always good to have them listed and named, so its easier to be more concious when your do it.
Tall gear is a great tip and applies not just to mud. Often hear people complain "1st gear isn't low enough for off road" but I will almost always be in 2nd or higher and use the clutch to feed the power out at the right times. Just because you use the clutch doesn't mean you will burn it out if done right!
After going in a few times, i don't have a problem with wet conditions, it is fun really. I only have one rule, never go through clay and stuff that sticks to my tires. It ia insane how difficult it is to get out without help and then clean the bike.
All my riding places close to home have clay. They are good when dry. Clay requires you to learn to read the texture, colour and darkness of it. If it is polished (4wd), darkish (wet) red then it is like ice. In deep winter I ride in sand because I am sick of sliding down a clay road/track bouncing off saplings...
Been checking out a lot of your videos lately. Really good stuff. Thanks! I put a Rallz on the back of my 300L thinking it's almost a paddle design. (mt21 front) While it will push me forward out of about anything, the large face of each lug seems to make it very prone to sliding sideways on firm slick surfaces. The first time I found mud with it, I firgot to air down from road pressures of 33f/30r (I was testing going up from about 25). It was terrible. An hour to go 200 yards. Went back running 16f/14r and hooked up 1000% better.
Embrace the mud really means embrace the crash. It is an occupational hazard in hilly slippery conditions that cannot be avoided. If you are riding something that you don't want to crash then it will problem happen sooner. New bike, second ride in slippery conditions equals 6th gear high side with fractured helmet.
I was running Mitas E07s on really slippery mud a couple of weeks ago. Useless. Knobblies all the way if you can and even then you’re going to slip and slide all over the place.
I found a patch of mud in a gravel section this weekend on E07+. The front washed out instantly and I crashed on the side of the road. I did cut the gas which added load but I wonder if the tires were a factor.
I learned early on when I started ADV riding that you have to be so incredibly smooth and gentle in the mud. I tried to power through some mud and the bike went down so quickly it twisted my foot so it was facing the opposite way when I was still facing forward. I had Awake Wilds on. Now, I have an even bigger bike (GSA) and last weekend I was on the factory Awake Adventure (80/20) and was able to tackle some mud stretches and when the bike would lose traction, it happened so slowly the bike would go down and leave me standing. My busted ankle had me laid up for 8 weeks and I was scared to go back to mud until I started apply that careful input. Not a great way to learn.
@Mozzer I don’t know why anyone would ride a bike on a motorway. I’ve not had any slippage in the wet on the Anakee Adventures when pushing it. Not had any issues with my K1600 either and that’s much heavier. Maybe you’re just not smooth in the wet. That’ll cause slippage. Just about to put some 60/40 knobbies so we’ll see.
its ok saying about getting the right tyres but for us peasants that can't afford a second bike for the trails need to get there so a bit stuck for choice,found my tkc 80's pretty good all round though
I'm not suggesting buying a second bike, just a chunkier tyre for your Adventure if you're riding a lot of mud and you wanna make it easier. Through the winter I'm using Karoo Extremes and sacrificing road riding at any speed. Its a choice but it's one I enjoy.
Sending these large, heavy, tall, expensive bikes down these muddy lanes is just idiotic. Just buy a cheap lightweight 250cc, like an XR250, with good offroad tyres; will piss all over these ADVs.
Gasgas ec does job for me mate, totaly agree with you. People ride these huge bikes and unless you slap another 10K on these bikes like completely change the suspension, handlebars, and more they won't be suitable for that kind of ride.
Some will enjoy the challenge of doing it all on a big adv bike and nothing wrong with that. Though I've gone the small route at the expense of covering any real road distance
Sorry mate but you forgot the biggest tip.
I think a lot of guys watching your channel are riders like me who have a +200kg bike and we find ourselves on new trails all the time. These muddy conditions may only be a few hundred meters then all is fine again so we can forget about lamenting our choice of tyres. Its only a few hundred meters after all.
What I found works best:
Find a line that follows a rut with nice high sides. This is so you can put both feet down.
Sit down
Pick a higher gear, as you rightly say.
And do 'the paddle walk' as you keep momentum with the clutch.
Do all you can not to stop and dig in, keep momentum, even if its a miserably slow crawl.
Your feet will get wet, its part of the adventure
And that's it.
Not elegant at all, and quite frankly its not really very technical either, but it works.
Be gentle with corners right afterwards, especially if it comes out onto pavement, because the tires are packed with mud. It will quickly clear with a bit of speed.
Dropping a bike in mud is pretty bad, especially alone.
If the tires are not getting traction, neither will your boots as you try to pick you bike up.
Wish you would have mentioned this even though its kind of regressive.
And that's it.
Otherwise love your vids and keep up the great work mate.
That's why the comments are here. Pinned good sir!
🤘🏻 Thanks mate!
Disagree. Honestly I'd rather take my chance rather than paddling though. Yes you might come off and get muddy, but that's also part of the adventure. Let's hope you don't get stuck, but that's also an adventure. If you do make it through those 100 m it's an epic feeling.
Best reciept for dropping the bike in he mud, and then struggle to pick it up like a penguin on ice. High sides of the rut will get your wheel slip in no time, and as your arse is in the seat your centre of gravity is high, so wen bike starts going it's going down... and if its 200 kg and you feets are dragging on slippery mud you wont hold it. Plus it's look lame AF 😀
Great tips, sir. I learned some of them the hard way when I had to pick up my GSA out of slippery clay😂
The greatest tip ever - "change your point of view". Well done!
I ride in mud quite a lot on my Super Tenere here on the east coast of the states. My 2 cents....having good balance is most critical on mud and in slippery conditions. People are fighting here in the comments whether to stand, or sit and paddle. The thing that helps me the most is being able to keep a foot on a peg at all times, standing and being able to paddle with one leg at a time at very low speeds. Plus I feel like focusing on the feet makes it easier to stay relaxed on the bars and you can let the bike slither around a bit when it needs to.
Agreed. 😁
Best tip was embrace the mud and have fun always works for me
I love that this video starts with very helpful, if not somewhat abstract, ideas and techniques, and ends with “embrace the suck”. Brilliant! And all 100% true.
Cheers Curtis 🤣
Embrace the suck! Do it! 🤣🤣🤣
Best thing about mini tip Monday’s in the US is that I get them on Sunday! Great info, thanks!
Thanks for watching!
i ride my scrambler bike on a mountain road just after the rain came and its really slippery mud on some parts.. and really after second slip on my tire nearly falldown i manage to smile on what i am doing there, getting on that road to reach my new job assignment on a school situated on small village a remote area in Philippines. there is another way thou which you will cross lahar desert and some small river but unfortunately that passage on that time the river is hightide and not possible for vehicles to pass the rivers. so mountain trail as it is.. i find it fun though for some reason. :)
Love how you describe the soft touch.. so many times you see riders lose all traction and unweight the bike and sling a 20ft rooster of mud.. why people unweight their bikes and race the throttle dump the clutch violently when trying to gain traction is just so wrong and counterproductive.. in low speed, low traction scenarios I also like to ride the brakes.. aka trail brake a little as I believe it smooths that transition when you go from applying power, to easing it off slightly and deliberately which helps also with gentler loading and unloading the suspension if that makes sense.. I learned this technique on a an Africa Twin DCT as about the only effective way to do any low speed technical riding on that bike.. throttle plus brake is so useful. it’s a more advanced technique but I use it about 100of the time in those situations now.. thanks for the great tips
For over 10 yrs I didn't like mud. Then 2 yrs ago I was route medic for a 3-day adventure/enduro event on my 990 that had several preceding days of showers and a cloudburst the night before the start. The organisers had to modify the initial routes just to get all the big bikes (1200's etc) out for Day 1 on the snotty clay surfaces. Those 3 days cured me of my aversion to mud. I don't go looking for it when it starts raining but, it doesn't spoil my day anymore, just as long as I'm dressed warmly and I have my rain jacket on.
Yeah the last advice is spot on! Embrace the mud. Enjoy it. When you do this "mind shift", it immediately stops being an obstacle and sucking your "fun". and when you enjoy every milimetr of it, you also learn it the fastest and become much better rider in the mud. Fear is a mind killer (movie Dune). I used to fear mud so much. Then it slowly shifted to laughter when I almost crashed at higher speed on it. Now I just enjoy it and sometimes even go looking for it. Recently managed to climb a muddy uphill single track with leafs and branches on the ground on 200+kg heavy bike. The tail was waving (also front) but I kept my speed, low revs and went through. Even managed to get stuck and restart - just got of the bike and it restarted quite easily. The weight (yours) on the back wheel can sometimes be a problem and this solves the "digging in" problem.
I fitted the same tyres as my buddy because he hammers his bike along the muddy trails and corners like he is on rails, and very rarely falls off. I ride really gently and slide sideways along the straight bits and fall off very often 😁
The first three Enduro races I ever competed in were mudders. It was a very educational experience. It takes good balance, keeping weight on the pegs and momentum. It sometimes helps to give a tad more throttle too.
Imo similar technique to riding soft sand works well, which is mainly to try keep front light. And best to ride at constant speed, avoid accelerations in any direction
“And remember life is better when you’re riding.” That’s a key statement that you cleverly saved for last.
Amen
I was recently on a muddy 6 day ride, and switched my front tire on the 3rd day. I was impressed with the difference it made. I guess it wasn't just rider error every time. I went from an Anakee Wild to a Pirelli Scorpion Rally.
That will change your view of the world for sure 🤣
Good work, even if i know all this stuff, and practically using those tips for years, its always good to have them listed and named, so its easier to be more concious when your do it.
Glad it was helpful
Got a good chance to practice this at the Sturgis rally this year; the rainiest on record.
Tall gear is a great tip and applies not just to mud. Often hear people complain "1st gear isn't low enough for off road" but I will almost always be in 2nd or higher and use the clutch to feed the power out at the right times. Just because you use the clutch doesn't mean you will burn it out if done right!
Great point!
Since the implentation of the "wet clutch"....burning out the clutch is not so much of a thing anymore.
After going in a few times, i don't have a problem with wet conditions, it is fun really. I only have one rule, never go through clay and stuff that sticks to my tires. It ia insane how difficult it is to get out without help and then clean the bike.
Yup, it's super tricky to ride too. You have to move way faster than anyone wants to keep them clean 😅
All my riding places close to home have clay. They are good when dry. Clay requires you to learn to read the texture, colour and darkness of it. If it is polished (4wd), darkish (wet) red then it is like ice. In deep winter I ride in sand because I am sick of sliding down a clay road/track bouncing off saplings...
Best channel out there! Thank you guys! Do one on tyre pressures with/without luggage? Cheers 😊
Chris Birch just did a great vid in Panama! Red clay and deep
I'll check it out!
Yes! I must learn to LOVE mud!
Thank you for the mini tips👍 as always super helpful
Glad you enjoyed!
Been checking out a lot of your videos lately. Really good stuff. Thanks!
I put a Rallz on the back of my 300L thinking it's almost a paddle design. (mt21 front) While it will push me forward out of about anything, the large face of each lug seems to make it very prone to sliding sideways on firm slick surfaces. The first time I found mud with it, I firgot to air down from road pressures of 33f/30r (I was testing going up from about 25). It was terrible. An hour to go 200 yards. Went back running 16f/14r and hooked up 1000% better.
Just came home from whole day of riding muddy fields on Karoos 4. Great tyres!
Agreed!
Cracking vid. Come down to Devon and Cornwall for a blast - some honking ruts and mud down here :)
That kit is blue! I like it
Yes it is 🤣🤣
Moved to real knobbies some time ago. Never going back!
Great tips👍
Not too slippery on the twisties?
@@Ben-nj3lv Twisties are boring. Offroad is where the real fun is😉
@@Gwiedert 100% agree with you, i have to ride the twisties to get out to the trails where i am though, that's why I asked the question
Embrace the mud really means embrace the crash. It is an occupational hazard in hilly slippery conditions that cannot be avoided. If you are riding something that you don't want to crash then it will problem happen sooner. New bike, second ride in slippery conditions equals 6th gear high side with fractured helmet.
Great bike!
Helpful tips, as always! 👍
Wouldn't it be worth mentioning a bit about position and leg work?
Do we sit through mud or stand?
Good to see the Husky 901 here!
Hopefully there will be more of it!
nice bike, got one just like it!
That looks like you chose the worst/hardest section of the Ox Drove for that test. I’ve been in most of those hedges 😂
Great advice mate
Greetings from Belgium, fellow rut rider. 🌧😆
Greetings!
Nice video. Looking forward to some more Norden content. What are the plans ?
None. It went back after this. Fingers crossed Husqvarna let us near another one. I liked it a lot.
Absolutely agree. Keep the smile and laugh about the situation (or yourself being dumb enough to ride there)
Where’d you get those cool looking lizard skin gloves?
Leatt 4.5 Lite 👌
I was running Mitas E07s on really slippery mud a couple of weeks ago. Useless. Knobblies all the way if you can and even then you’re going to slip and slide all over the place.
I found a patch of mud in a gravel section this weekend on E07+. The front washed out instantly and I crashed on the side of the road. I did cut the gas which added load but I wonder if the tires were a factor.
04:52 great nugget of info!
Thanks!
What about rain mode?
Rain mode is for the street. Typically not great off road
I used to like the mud, it's a damn sight softer when you fall off!
Sure is 🤣
Great video with some really good tips. Only comment would be its still Sunday?
It is still Sunday. Just an experiment really. Might have to become Supertip Sunday 🤣
Agree.......get out of the house and ride in all conditions, rather than sitting in front of the heater all day. Cheers
Amen
I learned early on when I started ADV riding that you have to be so incredibly smooth and gentle in the mud. I tried to power through some mud and the bike went down so quickly it twisted my foot so it was facing the opposite way when I was still facing forward. I had Awake Wilds on. Now, I have an even bigger bike (GSA) and last weekend I was on the factory Awake Adventure (80/20) and was able to tackle some mud stretches and when the bike would lose traction, it happened so slowly the bike would go down and leave me standing. My busted ankle had me laid up for 8 weeks and I was scared to go back to mud until I started apply that careful input. Not a great way to learn.
Tough way to learn for sure. Glad you're figuring it out Ryan! One day it might become fun!
@@BrakeMagazine Oh it’s fun. Love getting everything dirty.
@Mozzer I don’t know why anyone would ride a bike on a motorway. I’ve not had any slippage in the wet on the Anakee Adventures when pushing it. Not had any issues with my K1600 either and that’s much heavier. Maybe you’re just not smooth in the wet. That’ll cause slippage. Just about to put some 60/40 knobbies so we’ll see.
@Mozzer Peak torque ain’t at the top genius. So basically you’re a squid. I have a dedicated track bike for that.
Do you stand or do you sit ?
Depends on your comfort, the situation and the bike. It's not a straightforward answer sorry.
Worst thing is you can't see what's uber the water to throw you off.
Mmmmmm red Colombian clay mud!
That's the slipperiest clay on earth man
Best tip, stay on the nice smooth tarmac
🤣🤣🤣 Better in the nice warm house 😏
Can't embrace the mud when your tires refuse to do the same LOL. *SLIP* and the bike is horizontal before you even know what is going on
So true, embrace the MUD literally !
Yes!
its ok saying about getting the right tyres but for us peasants that can't afford a second bike for the trails need to get there so a bit stuck for choice,found my tkc 80's pretty good all round though
I'm not suggesting buying a second bike, just a chunkier tyre for your Adventure if you're riding a lot of mud and you wanna make it easier.
Through the winter I'm using Karoo Extremes and sacrificing road riding at any speed. Its a choice but it's one I enjoy.
I call bullshit, no matter where you are, having the right tyres is key
Embrace the suck and it becomes fun
When in black soil, give it a miss when wet. No amount of technique will save you. You are stuffed.
Sending these large, heavy, tall, expensive bikes down these muddy lanes is just idiotic. Just buy a cheap lightweight 250cc, like an XR250, with good offroad tyres; will piss all over these ADVs.
Gasgas ec does job for me mate, totaly agree with you. People ride these huge bikes and unless you slap another 10K on these bikes like completely change the suspension, handlebars, and more they won't be suitable for that kind of ride.
And even then they suck.
Some will enjoy the challenge of doing it all on a big adv bike and nothing wrong with that. Though I've gone the small route at the expense of covering any real road distance