Adventures of the Africa Twins: Exploring the Forest on a Pair of Honda Africa Twin Adventure Bikes

We're here with McLovin Moto. The Africa Twins are in the woods Africa twinning. We're good Samaritans. It's heavier than I thought. Ride through. Let's see how deep it is first. What I've learned is you just keep going. Okay I'm gonna go ahead and not hit that. There's this whole oven kind of thing. It's a tailgate. First drop of my bike I'm not even riding it. Good morning everyone. Welcome back to the dork side. I'm the dork in the road and today we're going riding with a new, a new channel guest star and he's got an Africa Twin too. That's right we're going out on our very first Africa Twins ride today. I am the dork in the road and I want to be your internet riding buddy. So please consider subscribing and don't forget to turn on those notifications so that you know when I post awesome new dual sport and adventure content just like this. We are going to head out on our Africa Twins today. Should be a good day of forest exploration on Africa Twins. Check out McLovin Moto's channel if you haven't. So he's going to post his version of the same ride so you can see both perspectives. That's kind of a neat thing that I haven't been able to do before. So check out his video too. I'll make sure and link his channel in the description. Thanks for coming along. Hope you enjoy the ride. All right here we are everyone. We're here with McLovin Moto. Make sure you follow his channel if you haven't. We're on the Africa Twins. We are Africa Twins. We are headed out towards Sweet Home. We got about, I don't know, an hour ride ahead of us. It's a green light so I'm gonna go. Then we're gonna head up into the woods and see what we can see. See what we can find. So pretty exciting. This is my first adventure bike group ride ever. So that's pretty neat. I got McLovin on the headset so I'll repeat anything awesome that he says. Pretty excited. Enjoy the into the woods. Probably gonna pull over and turn off all of our nanny devices before we hit the gravel I would assume. It's funny because I used to think I kind of wanted at least ABS but I don't because when I try to go downhill and hit the brake and I don't get to stop that sucks. And traction control sucks when you're trying to go uphill and you can't. So I'm not a fan. There is quite a few people riding side by sides up here is my guess. Riding? Driving? You don't ride side by side. All right we're heading up into the woods. There's a couch. I caught a glimpse of it. There's a road that gets back. I've never seen that road before. I've never been up this high I guess. Like this bike's taller than the other one. This is only the second time up here. It's the third time I've had the twin off road on logging roads. We're in the woods. We're on the gravel. On the logging roads. The Africa twins are in the woods. Africa twinning. There's lots of potential hashtags here I think. Gotta really lean into that but it's really nice. So I've never ridden adventure bikes with anyone else in the woods before so it's nice to know that I have somebody to help me when I drop it. And really just to get to see what these bikes are capable of and have a chance to kind of try out new stuff and just see how somebody else rides the thing so I can see what's possible. Here's our favorite hill. Always. Always good. That's the hill where I discovered I don't like having ABS coming down because I couldn't stop or I couldn't even slow down. I was like okay well that's not good. I rode it up there to do the reveal video and so it was like my first time really. This is the blindest sketchiest corner because if someone's coming you have two options and neither one of them is good. I think I'd rather hit a car. Gotta get used to leaning this thing under me too. Getting better at doing it consciously on the dual sport but it feels wrong on a bike this big. I gotta trust the size of my tires. It's so nice to ride behind you because I'll know that it is possible I'm not pushing beyond the limit. I'm just pushing beyond my comfort zone. Not that I feel like that's what's nice about this bike and watching videos of what's capable is like I'll never approach the limit of this thing. Yeah it's always going to be better than I will ever be. There it is. Here's your waterfall. We're here at the infamous waterfall. Oh it is raging right now. It's melting like crazy up there. Yeah that's good. In the winter it looks it's stupid so it's barely a waterfall but oh I just hit the biggest rock ever. Target fixation. Yeah that's how my kid hit the curb the first time she tried to turn around in the street. But it was good because then I got to explain what she did and what target fixation is and why she should not do that in the woods because if it's a cliff you're looking at that's a problem. Yeah they've been grading it. Oh your exhaust sounds so good. Wow that's crazy. Should we stop and move it? I'm gonna move it. I just feel bad like somebody coming up here in a car and there's two actually. Plus it makes us look good when we do nice things in the video. We're good samaritans. Oh damn you gotta warn me when you're doing that. It's heavier than I thought. I can't pick it up. Get out of here. Get this one too. Well I don't want you to have to get off if I'm already off. Yeah at some point you can we can swap bikes if you want to give them a shot. You could try out my risers too. Yeah we're gonna see some friends up here today. Have a good one. Yeah it went right down to the edge and then it started to get undermined pretty bad and so they bulldozed this path around the side. Not that it's so overgrown and it hasn't even been a year. Yeah and this is always super flow we should get shots of riding through this. Well we should stop and set our cameras up but ride through let's see how deep it is first. Oh well maybe I'm not gonna do that. You know I'm gonna go around the outside. I got good footage of you though. That was like up to your ankles at least. Oh I like it when you go first. That's why I made a big deal about how much better of a rider you are so that see what I did was I put a I built up in your head and then yeah dude you got it bro. Yeah dude that's where we're headed. Um not not since I've been up here but maybe since you were. It's also nice I can see your splashes so I know where the puddles are. So we're riding this is uh this is you probably saw this in the last video with Duckfan and I but this is a little bit more technical abandoning stuff. There's some muddy spots and some branches and trees to ride over so this will be probably the most off-roady dual sporty I've done on the twin yet so it'll be fun. This is the spot that when I rode up here I was like I'm impressed that McLovin got his big bike up here and then two weeks later here I am doing it. Well yeah low bridge. No this is fun. Yeah get the good stuff. All right we're getting muddy it's happening it's a good thing. Again that's the other thing I like about this bike is that it's oh was I getting the cocky there? Yep it's geared low enough that if I'm in second and I get going really slow I can still get enough power to get out. Wow the traction there impressed me because I hit it standing up going way faster than I wanted to. What is this? Oh there's a gate right here I've never noticed that before. Whoa yeah this is some technical good. The suspension eats it up pretty well I'm impressed. This was the section I was worried about. How's it look? Well you're doing all right. I need to go a little faster probably than I am. Oh I killed it because I'm stupid. Second gear. All right I'm doing that thing. I'm not throttling out I'm unthrottling. These tires are good dude I just don't trust them. I didn't spin at all they're good like I need to just believe in them. Especially on this thing the momentum is going to be key. Now at least I don't worry about riding over this stuff. It's so heavy it's not gonna not gonna stop. Being able to stand up is nice yep oh yeah I should stop talking about the name because it's not gonna make I want this footage I don't want to ruin it. So I'm sure it's not showing up well but oh yeah this is pretty technical um rutted yeah man I've never had a bike that could do that before. So this is fun this is the most technical stuff I've had the twin on. It's amazing what amazes me is that at speed with momentum it doesn't feel different than my DualSport. In fact it feels almost better. It's just so well made so it doesn't feel like a bike as huge as it is and once I learn to trust that I'll do a lot better I think. I just gotta get experience. A good point McGlovin saying that heavier bike is sometimes nice because you get more traction as a result. You just have to keep going you have to trust it like right in the section stay on the throttle okay that was close but throttling out fixed it I need to do that more yeah I discovered the limit a minute ago I'm better than I think I am if I can do it if I can do it anyone can oh that's that's newish this is gorgeous we're gonna have to stop up here here's another view for you guys now I know you saw this one recently but you didn't see it from an Africa Twin that's for sure wow that's so it's oh I wish that the GoPros have no depth so you just can't get a sense of what we're looking at right now but this is amazing oh getting it this will be the biggest log I've ridden over it's got a light in the front end yeah this thing once you just relax and stop thinking about it it does pretty well but that's where I'll get cocky and screw up well this hill climb will be a good test it's not too technical thankfully but it's pretty steep it's you wouldn't want to stop on it I wouldn't want to have to turn around on it that's what keeps me from doing a lot of the sketchy back roads is the fact that I might come across a tree across the road on a super steep hill and have to turn this thing around this is a left right here but this road connects over if we go straight that way at least it when I looked on the Google Maps okay always damn dude need to get left although that goes off to a cool landing on Google Maps but it's also technically private property there's a sign there I'm gonna let you get a little ahead I'm sure you'll make it but I don't like to yeah me too I don't like to have to stop on the hill just to know you've made it all the way before I'm too committed yeah this isn't too bad I mean I wouldn't have wanted to do it a couple years ago but what I've learned is you just keep going because the alternative is a real pain in the ass and if you keep going you might make it isn't it amazing this is one of the best views I've ever seen yeah I told you the camera the picture just didn't do it justice it's like it's like a painting this is it right here so if you're like man should I buy an adventure bike yeah because of this Africa twins on top of the world this is cool too and this cliff we need to get the drone out because this rock face extends all the way over here we're standing on it yeah thanks well thanks for showing me the way okay oh turn my head off I don't want abs on this hill and do not want it yeah I don't remember it about halfway down just be riding it out I guess because I can't slow down yeah well you can even slide that's the problem and I'm trying to get used to it I need that two-tiered brake lever that's another thing I'd like to have on the rear that would be handy nice to have options that wasn't too bad it's not steep steep as it looks yeah get it got that sound I love that sound but I'm reasonably certain it connects to that other road system we're just gonna have to make decisions as we go and hope and eventually we'll hit a road that I recognize yeah this is cool lots of down uh someone's been sawing up here which is nice this is always a questionable time of year because of all the down from the winter but if you stick to the mainish road someone's almost always come through with a chainsaw and cleared it neat there's some snow oh I know exactly where we are well okay I know what road we're on I think this is the one I would be curious to see how far up the snow is if this is the road I think it is can always pull the maps out if we get confused straight yeah you're good okay okay no I'm sorry okay I think I know where we are it's a big think what I think so the snow is much higher than it was last time I was up here because I did not get up this far but there's a really cool radio tower overlook too um up here whoa yeah I'm not used to having this much power low bridge no it's just in the shade that's good okay well maybe I don't recognize this as much as I thought this might be a side road instead of the main I don't know we'll see oh well always makes me feel super badass when I'm riding my motorcycle in a car and there's a sedan go right yeah it does I'm just hoping we're on the road I think we're on this might be it this might be it I think that's right four digits always the main so well is this it oh it's all the way across damn and it's too big to move well that's all right we can hit some of them side roads oh it is so nice to see you doing a three-point always I always feel like I suck when I don't do it all in one fell swoop ah I maybe just screwed myself bad yep it's happening it's africa twin power I don't need to get off yeah it's fine yeah I didn't three-point it they're gonna give people the wrong impression they see me riding like this they'll be like he's been sandbagging this whole time no riding through puddles is easy okay this okay so this is the spot we're going on we're going on a little nostalgia tour down here is where on the super snowy day ride where I went down and found that clearing that's where that gate is I took the picture in front of and then that one I've never actually taken I mean it can't go too far because we're going down into the valley I mean let's go see it doesn't connect all the way over I'm guessing but I got many pictures right here of in a foot of snow on my 250 up well this is for service row because it's got a number so but the grab is a little sketch you want to go I'll follow you since you're in front this isn't too bad do you watch backcountry adventure motorsports did you see this video of how to pick up your bike in the intro he jumps his twin it's the same year and color as this one I swear five feet he put he jumps over the camera it's amazing yeah I'm just like god I'll never be as good as you guy yeah this isn't bad hopefully it goes somewhere cool probably not though maybe though maybe it'll cut over see what you can get peek around the corner and then all right well good scouting you look like you look like a stormtrooper on a speeder bike right now yeah that's pretty awesome that helmet helps a lot yeah this is getting more abandoned cool that makes us look badass yeah that's the whole point that's why I make videos so far I failed a lot now oh it looks cool off the side we're not very high up but this is pretty it's too bad that wouldn't show up on the camera it's the end oh no it's not the road turns cool we may end up back on that road nice well again clear cuts don't like them but damn I do oh this is not nothing get it on the cam okay I'm gonna go ahead and not hit that let's go down and get some pictures unless you think we can't get back up this is pretty well graveled so you were saying that we may end up this will be fun to climb back up what have I done to myself all right cool well this is a good shot of you this is this is a great shot wow this is yeah I've never been down here that's right so this we definitely saw this from up there so we were up there and then this is that big open area you're good this little ditch is right here is fun I'm ready tell you what though this bike is heavy enough that body positioning is a lot less important getting work you don't have to worry about getting weight on the tire like you do with the lighter bikes that's that traction thing you're saying this part isn't too bad and honestly get a little run at the top it's pretty straight shot yeah yep different kind of throttle control I went through the loosest gravel this is cool yeah this is a better view okay make it look cool go fast yeah I got to do that more to get used to it so I can start doing it on purpose that sounds good though ah it just roars it's one of the best sounding engines adventure Honda why did you make the perfect motorcycle I'm honestly annoyed there weren't more smaller trees for us to ride over maybe we'll find someone a way out I'm it's a campsite yeah let's check it let's look at it huh hunting access oh it's like a whole like a stove yeah someone's hunt camp yeah that's neat what the hell is it for though why do you need a what it's like a kiln or something why do you need an oven it's all over the ground it's a rug there's a rug here check out this camp we found someone's building the bushcraft you lean to over there there's this whole oven kind of thing it's interesting get you a good shot from over here maybe yeah that's fun that's cool find okay there's a trailhead down here we can stop and check out if you want to see it so the survival um video is was down this road to the left right there and I'm sure we can't get down there right now but that's where that end or that hunt camp was it's right down that oh this is it this is our trailhead sorry I don't know how close behind me you are yeah yeah I'm I bailed out on that corner I definitely could have done it to get that on the camera so there's two trails here but I forget what the name of it is there's a sign down below almost looks rideable there's a cool there's another campsite I can show you off to the left it's a little steep hill but nothing not worse than what we've done it's all this is it right here I think yeah yeah this is hard to see from the other way it's a little slick in the middle gravel's not too bad oh what the hell is this it's a tailgate find the craziest in the woods yeah people have definitely been up here there's a trailer do you need a trailer oh this is like an old like a motorhome whoa I stepped on that metal thing that was slippery some of this stuff isn't even in bad shape look like that truck box is probably salvageable if you put on Facebook for free cooler people I half wonder if they're coming back I don't know I still got the license plate on it too that's the thing of course they probably stole it in the first place oh I'm on the tailgate side it probably shouldn't be I got around it before though there's a tailgate yep on your right these ruts are fun there's a decent little bridge right down this road do you want to get like a one more shot over a view some viewage uh 417 yeah I think you're gonna take this one all the way over yeah not bad right oh this is pretty it's worth a side trip don't trip over here I don't think there's enough water there this might even be that same stream that then comes down under the other waterfall you want to um ride down to the bottom on them if you feel like you are comfortable with me riding oh yeah these okay you have stock grips that's an immediate noticeable difference I don't think I like those big ones why your bike feels like lower or smaller or something why they're exactly the same weird might be because those might be my bars are so huge I think you're just roosting me awesome with my own bike that's illegal that's illegal that's against the Geneva Convention I think your bars are farther back that's it mine are rolled way up and so it makes me feel a lot interesting okay yeah I agree I feel like I'm bending over a little more on your bike interesting it's amazing what a difference that makes oh okay well I'll get yours muddy too then straight and then there is one turn I want to take I'll show you this other landing spot that's pretty good and it's almost all the way to the bottom we're going to go up to the spot where I silk you through those trees in that one video um in the five reasons why everyone should start well I still get through one tree and then hit another one immediately and had to turn around but yeah that's it take the left hopefully there's nothing across it yeah I'm just having some trouble adjusting mine so yeah it's clear I cleared one of them we came back later and I cleared the rest of it with a chainsaw so all this off to the side yeah this is a good like if you had a camp trailer even spot but it's obviously well known so you're gonna have some competition well I am so used to my shift lever it's like my foot keeps sliding off yours it's so short another bad little spot it's it's a lot cleaner than it was the last time I was here like there was a hole someone had uh burned up a bed out of an rv and stuff well we got about three miles of decent gravel road and then we can pop off and swap at the bottom if you want to get we'll get a bit more of a feel I was having to reach like whoa you okay oh yeah first bite first drop of my bike I'm not even riding it you got some pucker there or oh yeah you scared me I got my I'm a little I'm a little puckered that he's just roaming this isn't the one I want to go the dog's trick look out he's trailing you yeah not a bad way to end or start your day or both man that bike you're on looks awesome your gear doesn't match it though so that's my load up spot right there where I'm always loading and unloading in videos right there well I hope you enjoyed our Africa twins adventure and you know what actually I don't care because I had so much fun riding even if the video is boring as hell still worth it so I hope you enjoyed it make sure that you go check out McLovin moto's channel check out his version of the same video we're going to try to put them up on the same day so it should be up right now but really great riding with you man looking forward to riding with you again it's great to get out and check out the woods and I appreciate you kind of helping me see what this baby's capable of so that's really nice and thanks for letting me ride your bike on the way down but for now and as always everyone you know what I'm not going to say it is there anything you want to say to the people thanks for having come along dork I really appreciate it this is uh it's awesome to see somebody else ride the same bike as you have and uh we had an awesome time yeah is there anything you want to say is like a farewell to the people well I think there's one thing I should say what should you say don't forget to be excellent to each other I thank you I thank you excellent and we're going let's get this let's blow some of this dirt off it's too bad it's not raining oh I got my bars feel so far out now