Motourama Part 19: From Slovakia To Hungary or Top Tips For Riding A Motorcycle Off Road

Hello family, friends and followers! On today’s menu: Talè to Budapest. Bon appétit!

Unbeknown to us, the route we selected that morning took us on a bit of an adventure. We had to take a shortcut via a gravel road and Denise had to get used to a loose surface on the Honda NX250.

Not totally off road, but a start, at least no pavement in sight.

The road continued like this for 30 km.

Now, how to tackle a bumpy road without being exhausted after 5 minutes.

Actually it is quite easy, if you follow these tips:

1. Tuck yourself onto the bike with your LEGS, keep them together, nice and tightly snuggled around your seat and tank, like on a horse. Sit as far forwards on the seat as possible, to give the front wheel more purchase.

2. Relax your upper buddy and loosen your grip at the handlebars, let the wheel find its way. When you hold it too tight, your left arm is working against your right arm, which is really tiring and not taking you anywhere. Esben has often heard the lyrics of “Let It Go” from Denise over the intercom, while tackling loose surfaces.

3. Speed is your friend. This does not mean you should race through the gravel roads, but a certain speed helps stabilising your bike and a constant pull on the chain gives you more control over your back wheel.

4. Always look into the direction you want to go, and as far ahead on the track as possible. If you see a rock you don’t want to hit, DON’T look at it! Look where you want to go. That saved Denise from nearly running down a cliff once, it was really hard to look the other way, but you have to do it!

5. Trust your motorbike. It can do it without a problem (in case it’s build for it), it’s the rider that’s holding it back.

6. Stand up. The lower the weight is balanced on the motorbike, the easier it will be to handle. As your body weight is going to be on the foot pegs instead of the seat it will help lower the centre of gravity. When you stand, you should balance with your feet on the pegs and the knees at the tank, so that your upper body remains relaxed, and the arms are loose. If the road feels like you could smoke a pipe while riding, you are ”allowed” to sit down.

Please be aware, that we are no professionals, we only made one off road course and some reading as well as some practise on the way. There are a lot of other people that can give you better advise than us. Listen to them!

Why does it smell like hot oil wherever I am? Damn, because it’s me…well Phoenix.

In the morning, as we had set off, Denise noticed a weird smell. We thought it was the truck in front of us, but as we stopped to resupply, the smell of hot oil stayed, which made Denise inspect Phoenix’ engine. There was a lot of oil there. As we weren’t sure if it was still from the repairs, Denise just wiped it away and we continued. The outcome: we found the same amount of oil on the engine later again.

We went to extremes, got our wrench out and tightened the bolts from where the oil seemed to leak. The result: everything was nice and tight and the oil stayed in the engine from then on. Phew, lucky us.

The rest of the day we enjoyed the perfectly paved roads, as well as some good weather and fantastic scenery. See for yourself:

Mmmm… The fresh smell of nature and a curvy road through the forest.

More curves!

And if you look to your left, you will see the magnificent boobie mountains of the region.

A typical Slovakian town.

Horny… Not the worst name for a village.

Hilly hills!

As the photos show, we had an easy day of riding all the way to Budapest. We went to Esben’s bonus sister, Victoria and her boyfriend Mathias’ apartment, where we could crash for the night. What we did in Budapest will be the content of the next Travel Story.

A quick stop before entering Budapest.

Riding into Budapest.

Until next time, slay those dirt tracks!