Looking for riders and trails in Western Washington State

DanTheDIYGuy

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Jun 21, 2016
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I'm new to this hobby, but I've got the bug and would love to meet some more experienced riders. I also am trying to find some good trails to ride either with a buddy, or alone. Not sure if trails for dirt bikes would be too difficult for the motorbike, and wondering if motorbikes are even allowed on mountain biking trails. Any replies would be appreciated!

I live in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and am willing to drive to meet up with any other riders.
 
Wow, that's cool: I am from Washington too (Buckley-Bonney Lake area). I do a little mountain biking aside from MBs and from what I have seen, we can't drive our motorized on hiking or biking trails. Here is a page from the Washington State Legislature's website addressing moped laws (MBs usually are legally classified as mopeds): http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.04.304. I also do a fair amount of wilderness exploring on forest service roads and camping sites and I have seen several signs referencing a specific state statue requiring all off road vehicles to be street legal and licensed must only be operated on established roads. Motorized bikers in our state are kind of in a "catch 22" situation. We need to get the bikes licensed and tagged in order to drive on public roads but we can't register them primarily because they are something we constructed them selves. Here is a thread about a guy from Bellevue who built a really professional looking bike that meet all the legal requirements, yet still couldn't get it registered because he built it himself: http://motoredbikes.com/threads/getting-rather-not-getting-a-license-in-wa.14561/#post-151230

That being said, I believe these laws are not strictly enforced. I really hate riding them on roads, but I have seen many people drive around with these kits on public roads (I only started to notice after I built mine). I even see a guy use one as his daily driver every day when he passes my work. I am lucky enough to live out in the country where I have access to a few secluded dirt trails and farm roads where cops are scarce. I also bend the rules a little bit with those forest roads too. I think if you wear a helmet and act safe you should be fine.

If you are "willing to drive" a reasonable distance, I know of two off-roading dirtbike trail sites. I see that you are from Federal Way, so the closest one is"Evans Creek", located past a town called Carbonado. It is accessible off of a road called "Mowich Section Rd. (state route 165). I went to school in that little town and it is wayyy out in the sticks. Evans Creek is specifically designated for ORVs and you can legally ride to your bike any where to your heart's content. The best thing to do is look it up on google earth, but here is a webpage about the place http://www.riderplanet-usa.com/atv/trails/info/washington_03706/ride_06a3.htm. I also know of a similar place called "Little Naches campgrounds", located off of Hwy. 410 in eastern Washington. It is the same deal there. I really doubt you need the ORV registered, but if you do, no one there would care if your's is not.

As for a stock 2-stroke kit's off-roading abilities; they are greatly increased with bigger rear sprocket or better yet a jack shaft. I started out with the 44t stock sprocket and it climbed moderate hills OKayy, but soon switched to a 66t (the largest one available). I was using some other "low-end torque" mods at the time, but after installing that sprocket, the bike could pretty much scale up any hill I could throw at it. I recently installed a Sick Bike Parts Jack-shaft and geared it down twice as much (44t sprocket gear ratio = 18:1 , 66t = 27:1 and on my lowest gear on my "mega range" freewheel it has a ratio of 54:1). With that much torque, the rear wheel wants to flip the front of the bike up and over like a tractor before the engine even begins to stall.

Hope I answered most of your questions ;)
 
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Thanks a lot panmines! That information helps me out quite a lot. As for road use, I have been driving my mb throughout cop infested Federal Way (a lot of shootings recently) for about 2 weeks now. I pass cops all the time, and they don't even look at me. That makes me feel much safer on the road that they just won't pull me over because I'm on a bike. They have higher priorities right now, so I guess they ignore low income tickets. :p

I used to hunt over in the Little Naches and Manastash area. You're right, there are a lot of forest service roads. I should try that sometime!
 
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