riding on dirt

[chunkygoat]

Here in good ole' pennsyltucky, penndot (pa department of transportation) likes to keep our roads in top notch condition. Just figured I'd share a video of some clips of the rides I go for, which usually end up on dirt at some point in time.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody else have similar experiences where you guys live? Or are my assumptions right in thinking that PA has some of the most terrible roads?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQMrf03iVFg]YouTube - Fz600 on dirt[/ame]

 

[Doorag]

You rolled the stop sign. Naughty, naughty. :spank:

 

[Doorag]

I rode mine to an enduro race in the UK over about two miles of loose gravel road. I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[chunkygoat]

:spank:

With only 4 houses on that street, I am willing to assume the risk - I still looked, just didn't drop my foot.

Thats besides the point haha, the dirt roads are the focus!

 

[Doorag]

:spank:

With only 4 houses on that street, I am willing to assume the risk - I still looked, just didn't drop my foot.

I'm sure the cops would see it that way too - NOT! Not where I'm from anyway.

Don't worry, I'm just kidding you a bit.

 

[chaskell27]

I don't know. Up here in Maine we have some pretty pathetic roads. They are the definition of awful in the springtime when they start to thaw out. There are quite a few "paved" roads up here that I'm pretty sure would be in better shape if they were gravel.

 

[alanrim]

In UK we have green lanes which are ancient roadways, and can still be legally driven/ridden, not my video

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlKX4SAA1c4]YouTube - Barber Booth green lane Derbyshire CRM KDX Motorcycles[/ame]

 

[Doorag]

In UK we have green lanes which are ancient roadways, and can still be legally driven/ridden, not my video

That's the M25 isn't it?

 

[jerdman89]

gotta love penndot, they don't pave roads in my area either they just tar and chip them when they get to bad unless it's a main road. They have properly fixed or repaved quiet a few since they passed the budget. Pa still got a D- on it's road assessment or whatever it was called.

 

[Humperdinkel]

You dont let her warm up :spank: :spank:........ Dirt roads are crap though :thumbup:

 

[chunkygoat]

You dont let her warm up :spank: :spank:........ Dirt roads are crap though :thumbup:

It was 92 degree's today, almost half way warm

 

[Kriswithak]

Should come here to Aus, our good roads are shockingly bad, often even the brand new ones!
I've been on alot of under construction roads on the way to the grandparents which is normally the hardpack covered in a light loose gravel. That or the tar with gravel thrown over it for cars to pack to make their work easier. Both are pretty dangerous although at least with the hard pack areas you see them coming, nothing worse than finding the loose gravel on a newly finished road halfway through a corner!

Never fails to astonish me that when you slow down on a bike for something dangerous you normally get some idiot in a car overtaking you, often illegally and then speeding off. I've actually seen people spin out but luckily at a distance and no one was hurt.

 

[alanrim]

That's the M25 isn't it?

You Southern wusses don't know what roads are

 

[jrevans]

Here in good ole' pennsyltucky, penndot (pa department of transportation) likes to keep our roads in top notch condition. Just figured I'd share a video of some clips of the rides I go for, which usually end up on dirt at some point in time.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody else have similar experiences where you guys live? Or are my assumptions right in thinking that PA has some of the most terrible roads?

YouTube - Fz600 on dirt

Hey, you can't blame PennDOT for all of the crappy roads, as a lot of the back roads are maintained by local townships and such.

Being a fellow Pennsylvanian, I can have sympathy for you about roads turning to dirt. A good friend of mine that I used to ride with used to always make fun of me as I'd lead on a ride on some back roads, and inevitably, somewhere along the trip, at least one of the roads would turn to dirt or gravel on me....

As for quality of roads, our Commonwealth is one of the lower members on the list, but we also have one of the highest amounts of roads.

I love the fact that we have many fun curvy roads, but I hate that most of the time there is very poor visibility, combined with enough agriculture to place slow moving tractors on the roads in the worst places possible....

But, to put it into perspective, we at least are one of the few states where only State Police can use radar, and they have to be stationary. Laser is illegal and local cops need to use VASCAR and other similar timing based speed detection methods. Every time I visit other states like NJ and Ohio, I am very thankful for the way that PA has police speed detection regulated.

 

[Twitch]

hey chunky goat, wat part of PA u from ? Im from Johnstown (Cambria County) but im down in Bedford alot cause i have a cabin down there. Ill be home in July from Iraq and we should go ridin !

 

[chunkygoat]

I'm in Nazareth - just outside the allentown, bethlehem, easton area. I'm always up for a ride, shoot me a message.

 

[WereGrouch]

I was going to say, you're obviously farther east than me. Your roads are relatively strait and level. The Pittsburgh area is mostly paved, sort of, if you count tar-and-chip, and don't mind the potholes, but most roads are between 2 and 6% grade.

 

[jrevans]

I was going to say, you're obviously farther east than me. Your roads are relatively strait and level. The Pittsburgh area is mostly paved, sort of, if you count tar-and-chip, and don't mind the potholes, but most roads are between 2 and 6% grade.

Hey Grouch,
I grew up in Washington, PA (30 miles SW of the 'Burgh) and now live in Eastern PA (South of Allentown). Guess what, it's not flat out here either.

The area around Erie is flat, and some of central PA is flat, but we still have hills and mountains all over the place around the Allentown area. Chunky lives up near the Poconos which has plenty of hilly, windy roads too.

I also discovered that there really doesn't seem to be much difference in road maintenance in different areas of the state either, as they pretty much all suck. I used to joke with my friends from out of state saying that PA is the "Land of unfinished highways"....

 

[WereGrouch]

I was just in the Erie area yesterday. Wow, that is flat. And the roads absolutely suck. I spent an hour tooling around trying to find a road- only to discover, once I found actual people that were willing to talk to me- that the signs had been missing for at least a few years, and the road I wanted was "back that-away, mind you don't fall in the sinkhole, turn left onto the dirt road going down the hill." I survived the trip, my bike is OK, but I don't want to treat my poor Fazer like a dirtbike ever again.

 

[Twitch]

bahahaha unfinished highways !!!!! I think that everytime i take route 219 to go somewhere,...... it just ends. like right into a woodline lol