A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

I was invited on a North Devon trail ride today. First time in North Devon for many months and it was a real culture shock. The lanes are so different to my local East Devon lanes and there were some really tricky slippery slate and rock climbs.

Most of the lanes we ride in Devon are UCRs (Unclassified County Roads) that were missed by the tarmac gangs in the first half of the twentieth century - thank goodness! Often called "green lanes".

This is an example of the sort of lanes we tackled today. You can see on the left of the picture that this old road actually had a coat of tarmac at some stage but has since been washed out and the base of the wide rut is now some 2-3 feet below the original road level and quite "technical" to ride.
 

From left to right my riding companions today were Jim (run leader) - WR450F, Dale - DRZ400E and Roger - WR450F. I was riding my trusty TTR325. This was stop for a fag break after a particularly gnarly and overgrown section of lane.
 

I chose to use my rear wheel with a MITAS CO2 tyre for the run and it was the wrong choice. I should have used the MT43 trails tyre as I had a real 'mare trying to find grip on some of the steep rocky stuff. Helps keep me fit though 

The ride went at an "enthusiastic" pace and, once again, I didn't get to take many pics.

The pic below is of a legal lane across the headland near Ilfracombe. I had stopped to close a gate and my 3 travelling companions are already well ahead and may be just visible toward the centre top of the pic.
 
It was quite a long day and these next pics were taken at about 4.30pm as the wind had got up and a chill was in the air! Still on the headland near Ilfracombe looking out to sea.

The TTR325 operformed faultlessly all day and had no problem keeping up with the bigger bikes. The rider didn't perform quite so well and clearly needs to get out more and get more riding practice 

Stats for the ride - 90 miles, 6 1/2 hours, 42 lanes ridden.

Brian