riding the fine sand

[kdx200]

Hi folks. newbie here!
I have a question and was hoping someone could help out.
I finally got out to the trails after a long five months of wrenching. haven't rode dirt bike before. just street. i went to orr lake yesterday and hit the fine sand and wow. my front end was wonky. i know the kdx is a trail bike but what can i do to overcome this fear of flipping in the sand. i tried standing and felt a little more comfortable sitting. hmm. Any tips. thx for any responses. looking forward to more rides ... great forum
Cheers

[obeeb]

Welcome

I am by no means an expert but couple things I find help.

Make sure you are standing this gets your center of gravity low,

Dont hold the bars tight, they will wobble around in the sand, dont fight it to much,

Go faster/acelerate. This makes the front end lighter, and gets you on top of the sand instead of ploughing through it. Its not the easiest thing to do when the sand is making you nervous and I often get the "you gotta be kidding look" when I tell my wife to go faster in the sand but it makes it all easier.

And finally pratice, ride in the sand and get the feel for it.

Enjoy

[MikeF]

Stand up, lean back (more weight over the back wheel), and stay on the throttle. Use peg weighting- more pressure on the left or right peg- to steer. Do not turn the bars to steer. No front brake ever.

I'm no expert, but once you've done it a bunch of times, you'll get some confidence. I was riding in Baxter last weekend and the sand is killer there. The only time I really felt uncomfortable is doing corners at speed in soft/deep sand. That is something I still need help with.

[PurpleBeast]

It's counter intuitive, but wick the throttle, weight back and hang on!

[kdx200]

Thanks guys. went to arbour this am. tried the technics forementioned...felt confident instantly.
I do admit the corners were tricky. almost over shot em a few times. guess i was so focused on my weighting the corner came up fast. did alright for my second trail ride though. gonna try Strechin next. ~~~~What a blast!~~~~
Safe riding!
Cheers

[ditton]

Hi there.....good to see another KDX rider out there.
All notes mentioned above are great for sand. One of the downfalls of the KDX is its front end suspension. WAAYYY to soft with only the compression adjustment.....I have a KDX220 and swapped out the front end with a KX250 and had it set for my weight.....totally different bike.
There is a web site dedicated just to KDX bikes and with some great info on how to wake that sucker up some more...great stock bike but can be opened up so much more.
www.kdxrider.net

Enjoy
Ditton

[llcwalsh]

I like Brads comment about low center of gravity

[razie]

you should see mine... it is usually even lower...