I finally got a chance to test the 1190R off road. Went for a nice ride after work and I am pleasantly surprised with the bike. I had my doubts as to whether it would work as well as the 990 and whether the electronics would be a pain in the ass. I am happy to say for the riding I do it works as well as the 990 and maybe even a little bit better? I started on this trail near Rolling Hills subdivision on Nemo road.
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login I had the bike in my pavement setting (sport/TC off) and it worked fairly well. As the trails got a little rockier and I had to slow down I found the throttle response was a little twitchy and I had to clutch it a bit due to the tall gearing (I tried a 16t front but found it too low to take advantage of the beautiful torque curve on the pavement so went back to stock). I stopped and switched to the Offroad mode and while I was at it I put the ABS in offroad and turned the TC back on to see how it worked. Wow!! I don’t know how it works, but it works well!! The power is so smooth off idle you can all but let it idle in first gear. I was going to go up a few teeth in the rear but now I may leave the gearing stock.
I continued past Dalton lake to Vanocker canyon on some gravel and discovered the Offroad setting allows enough wheel spin to slide around corners in my best flat track impression (not very impressive). I then took the Galena cut across and found the creek crossing to be over about 3’ deep. The bike handled it fine, but it filled my boots so the rest of the ride I had soggy feet.
I headed up butcher gulch and took the trail over to the white walls(or Hercules walls?) it’s about as rough as I get on the adventure. The 1190 handled it as well as the 990 did last fall:
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loginI went back down and followed camp 5 road out to boulder canyon. Happy, happy, happy all the way home!! I think she is going to be a keeper and my off road worries are gone. She looks nice in her natural habitat too:
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loginAll in all I think it is as good as the 990 for the off roading I do with it. Perhaps if you were doing really technical stuff the 990 (geared really low) would work better. But, that’s what I have the 300 for. I think the 1190’s off road ability coupled with the on road performance, not to mention fuel range, make it about a perfect adventure bike.