BMW R-bikes on unimproved roads

BC1100S said:

Loosen your grip on the bars and understand that a little movement isn't a prelude to landing on your head. What you might do is find a buddy who has a dirt bike and practice on that for awhile. It all translates over to the bigger bike.

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My first bike was a so-called dirt bike, a nearly new 175cc Honda. But that was over 40 years ago. My last stint on a dirt bike was probably 34 years ago. It was borrowed from a friend and ridden on a well maintained off road track near my home. Fun, and not particularly dangerous.

My contention is that the same torque that we can feel when we blip the throttle at a stand still is what causes the bike to feel squirrelly on soft roads. I don't want to put knobby tires on my highway bikes. That might help with practice, but I think I'd rather just stay off of gravel.

I do not feel comfortable riding deep gravel on my R1100RT. This is not the case with my K100RT. I can only speculate that the taller and thinner front tire might be the difference in my confidence level when riding the two bikes on gravel roads.

MG McAnick said:

My contention is that the same torque that we can feel when we blip the throttle at a stand still is what causes the bike to feel squirrelly on soft roads.

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As I believe has been mentioned, those who ride GS's don't feel this "squirellyness" so I think that is not likely the issue. I've been on the dirt with my "S" and, while I didn't particularly enjoy it, I didn't feel the bike behaving badly.

BMW R-bikes on unimproved roads

I was just doing a head-north-and-get-yourself-lost ride up into CT. yesterday on my Ural. At any particular moment if I saw an interesting road I'd stop, turnaround and take it. Ended up finding some pretty interesting trails and forgotten abandoned dwellings. One old mine road deteriorated to miles of gravel, lot's of fun. It wouldn't have been on the rt. Tires (PR3's) not designed for this abuse and the whole bike is just too top heavy and poorly designed for this type of riding. And turning it around... it's a big pig.
I'd take my rt on a dirt road for a short distance if I had to get someplace like a camp site. But it's a road bike. Basically why folks don't take their Prius's on Mustang's to ride at Moab. Why would you?