EMBRACING SAND Guest: Zak Parrish who rides an Africa Twin 1100 DCT.Episode Summary:Join us on this exciting episode of "Around the Wheel" as we explore the world of adventure motorcycles with our guest, Zak Parrish. Zach shares his journey from riding a 1977 Yamaha 125 Enduro to piloting an Africa Twin 1100 with Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). His bike is nicknamed the "Lawn Dart" after a learning experience where his bike became planted in sand. Bret and Zak dive into the challenges, techniques and skills needed to ride in deep sand on a heavy adventure bike. Spend an hour listening to the stories and techniques that will help you master riding in loose surfaces as well as some ideas for practicing your skills near home. Full Transcript:0:00:15 - Bret TkacsWelcome back to Around the Wheel with Bret Tkacs. Today I have Patreon supporter Zak Parrish. Patreon supporter Zak Parrish. Zak Parrish pilots an Africa Twin 1100, Africa Sports and his bike is a DCT model we are going to be diving into not to make a funny out of this, but diving into sand and gravel and really loose surfaces. Zak, what makes Zak so special today is Zak is just like most of you that are listening today. Zak, why don't you give us a little background on how we ended up in today's conversation?0:00:50 - Zak ParrishSomehow I knew you were going to talk about the whole diving into sand thing, but that's a whole other thing. So I started off riding a 1977 Yamaha 125 Enduro that I bought off my next door neighbor for like 50 bucks and rode it until it fell apart and that bike was like the Terminator. It was amazing. As I got older, I eventually decided to get a real motorcycle that I could take on the street and get a license for, and my first one was a Suzuki SV650S a 2005. That thing was fun. Oh my God. It was so good. It was like it's like an F16. It's so nimble and it'll just go wherever you want it to go.But I rode that for seven years and wanted to get something different, but I was still into street bikes. So I got drawn to the Harley Davidson V-Rod. So I had a 2012 big black thing that makes you feel like Batman or Judge Dredd, and I rode that for seven years and then wanted something different yet again and this was about this time last year. And I rode that for seven years and then wanted something different yet again, and this was about this time last year, and I discovered that adventure motorcycles actually existed. I didn't know about them. I'd only been looking at low slung or really fast and powerful things, and I saw the Africa Twin. They had just announced that there was a new one coming with a whole bunch of really cool hot features, so I pre-ordered one of those. I took delivery in April and now here we are.0:02:07 - Bret TkacsWhen we get into talking about sand, there will be things about clutch versus not clutch, and you went with the DCT, which is going to make this a very special conversation. Why did you go for the DCT? You're an experienced rider, so obviously the clutch is not something you're afraid of.0:02:21 - Zak ParrishNo, not at all. In fact I get a lot of satisfaction from, you know, handling the clutch and shifting gears. I started off really just morbid curiosity. I went to the Honda dealership and I just talked to me like hey, I've heard about the Africa Twin and I had only just read about DCT and there's a lot of really mixed opinions on that. So I test rode one and about halfway through my like I don't know 30, 45 minute test ride I was like you know what? This is a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. I totally get why folks eschew them and just want to focus on they want to do all that shifting themselves. That makes perfect sense to me. But there is something to be said for when you just want to get out and you just want to ride around and look at the scenery, not really having to think about that.0:03:05 - Bret TkacsYeah, I don't want to make this just a talk about the DCT specifically, because we could probably have a conversation about that. I love understanding why you wanted to go that way. One of the things I've heard people say about the DCT that I think is so far off the mark is that the DCT is for novice riders or for beginner guys or guys who struggle with the clutch, and that, to me, is the absolute biggest fallacy about that motorcycle and that particular technology out there.0:03:34 - Zak ParrishNow that I own one, I agree with you. I think I went into it thinking that might actually be a thing and that I was handicapping myself. But you come to realize very quickly that it's really just a different way to ride. In fact it has its own very unique challenges, particularly when you get off the pavement and you have to really pay close attention to your throttle inputs, because you don't have that clutch bailout and you can get yourself into a lot of trouble very quickly with just a simple bump in the road that you weren't ready for.0:04:02 - Bret TkacsWhiskey ...
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Jan 21 202132 m