The common feedback is that the stock Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres are great road tyres but aren’t all that great off the road because, in reality, these are more like 70/30 tyres.
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2500 Kms Update | A bit of touring & some off-roading
Although we are technically in prime spring season here right now, it’s far from the usual weather one would expect. It has been a lot more rainy and cloudy than expected, which also makes trail riding a bit difficult as they are still too boggy (which can be challenging with my current skill levels). Nonetheless, it is certainly a lot warmer now, and there have been sunny days making for some excellent riding days. I am still limited to day trips only as a) I haven’t yet figured out luggage options & b) It’s still a big ask from a family PoV.
A couple of the short rides done so far –
- Early April – 220 Kms to Château Gaillard – Nothing spectacular to report here, I tried staying off highways as much as possible for this ride. But while there was no rain, it was just a constant cloud cover that made even regular sights look pretty plain. Managed to bump into a group of young bikers, some of them with shiny new Yamaha Ténéré’s, as I chit-chatted with them, they mentioned that this was the first time they were actually seeing a Tuareg. LoL! That’s how “well” the Aprilia sells, its nearest competitor’s potential audience hasn’t even seen the bike, let alone considered it as a viable option. I saw some windmills and tried getting as close as possible to them, landing me with getting a bit of offroad riding started on the Tuareg. And for the first time ever, I switched to the Off-Road riding mode.
- Mid-April – 420 Kms to the Champagne Region – This was quite an interesting ride, I took some of the fast highway sections to reach the hilly forest region south of the city of Reims. I had marked out in advance a couple of places that I wanted to check out so I don’t waste time figuring out where to go next. This was also the first time I had the first taste of riding the bike off-road for a slightly extended time. While I’ve done a bit of off-road riding while in India on my Pulsar 220, but its been nothing extensive beyond the Ladakh region (in the condition it was back in 2009) and bits of simple trails here and there. While the Tuareg is certainly a very capable machine, it’s my skills that need to advance to be able to ride this bike with a lot more ease off-road. Also, the common feedback is that the stock Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres are great road tyres but aren’t all that great off the road because, in reality, these are more like 70/30 tyres. That became quite evident when I hit some marshy sections during the offroad sting on this ride. There were two clear outcomes, 1) I need to get real 50/50 tyres for the next change at around 8-10K Kms and 2) I need to sign up for some off-road riding classes to be able to better manage myself.
- Mid-May – 465 Kms to Dieppe and then Section #5 of the Trans Euro Trail in France – It had been a while since my last ride and also in between had a few family trips that kept me away from riding. It looked like the northern part of France around the coast hadn’t been too rainy over the last few weeks, so I could “attempt” the TET (TransEuroTrail). The TET is designed keeping in mind lighter-weight enduro bikes that are more oriented towards off-road riding. The Tuareg though pretty light is still considered a heavy bike when looking at technical trail riding. Also, when attempting the TET it is usually recommended not to do it solo. But since I don’t yet have any riding buddies, and I had the itch to scratch of finally riding the bike in “real” off-road conditions I decided to attempt the TET anyway. I know that I would be in a pickle if the route got too boggy or if I landed up in Up or downhill situations which are complicated. The ride to Dieppe was super quick, for the first time I decided to use completely the tolled highways to reach quickly. Speeds are limited to 130 Kmph on these but are still a lot quicker than all other options. It took around 2 hours to get to the quiet coastal town of Dieppe which is around 190 Km from where I live. I took a short break here for lunch before starting on the TET. Post lunch I tanked up for fuel because I wasn’t sure how remote I ended up going on the trail. I managed to cover only around 60-70 Kms out of the 200 Kms of Section 5 of the TET as I started around 12:45 from the fuel station and could ride until 4:30 PM until I finally decided to stop. Overall, It went well, I did have a couple of Oh! Sh!t! moments where I got stuck in a rut going uphill with no way to turn around and one where I thought it would be a good idea to change from one side of the track to the other, the rear just loses traction in these cases, luckily the seat is lower and so is the weight, if it was a Ténéré, I would have certainly not been able to keep it upright. There were two sections which I could not attempt, one was a grassy & boggy downhill slope going deep into a forest which I decided not to risk attempting all by myself. Another one where the track merged into a very tight single track going uphill, the risk was there would have not been any way to turn back and if I slid off the track, it would have been impossible to light a 200 Kgs bike back onto the track. But I did get progressively better and more confident as the day progressed. It was super fun to take the bike off the tarmac and cannot wait to explore more bits of the TET.
Next Accessories – No changes here yet, need to get some luggage, a better bash plate, and 50/50 tyres. Until then, I’m enjoying the bike in its current avatar.
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