NEBDR Section 4 on a KTM 690R Part 1

North East Backcountry Discovery Route solo moto camping dual-sport off road motorcycle adventure taking on some class 4 roads on section 4 in Vermont on my KTM 690 Enduro R. This video will give you an idea of what to expect on section 4 of the NEBDR and get you hyped up for your next dual-sport trip.
Back Country Discovery Routes or BDRs are mostly dirt and gravel roads and trails strung together by the BDR team as free downloadable GPX files. This non-profit organization has created 10 different routes including the NEBDR, CSBDR, MABDR, NVBDR, NMBDR, IDBDR, AZBDR, COBDR, UTBDR, and WABDR. Be sure to check them out and get out there and ride them yourself!
Life doesn't get any better than hopping on my bike and exploring new dual sport off road action, finding jumps and gnarly hill climbs, then jumping right on the highway for some long distance camping trips. I hope you like the video and join me on the rest of my adventures!
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[@abyields7831]

Rocky roads, awesome footage, thanks for sharing!

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!

[@SteelHorseman]

Awesome

[@abyields7831]

9:44 geez. 😮 lots of baby head rocks, awesome!

[@D.E.X]

When the leaves just start to turn, get up into Vermont's Mountains, where the seasons come earlier, for an explosion of Autumn Color. Nothing hard, all gravel roads or improved. Scenic, outside all drone warning zones. Throw a SkyDio2 circling you and ride this route. Start at 7 Central St., Randolph, VT (Cumberland Farms) Gas and Coffee. West on 12A. 0.9 mile. Right on Braintree Road. 5.0 miles. Straight on Thresher Road. 1.4 miles Left hand haipin and look at that Vermont valley! Follow Thresher Road (2.3 miles) down to 12A, take a left on 12A. 0.1 mile. Right on Braintree Mountain Road 3.8 miles Left on North Hollow Road. 0.7 miles Right on Butz Road. 1.8 mile Left on Maston Hill Road 0.6 miles Left on Vermont Route 100 0.4 miles Right on Kennedy Road. 1.5 mile Right on National Forest Route 101 Left on Town Hwy 15 3.7 mile Left to stay on Town Hwy 15/Texas Falls Road 1 mile. ---Route Done--- If you are going south after this, I very much recommend going East on 125 to VT 100, which you can take south. Less frames per second and less active shots in the dusk. Beautiful ride.

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

Thank you for the info! Definitely hopeful to get up there again soon.

[@gregorycotter6461]

How is your phone held onto the motorcycle?

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

I use the quad lock but there’s a bunch of alternatives. Search for handlebar phone mount and a bunch will come up. Rockform, Quad Lock, and Ram mounts are the go to brands for us dual sport riders. They are known to ruin the stabilizer on the iPhone cameras. Quad lock sells a vibration dampener attachment that hopefully fixes the issue. It did break the camera on mine without the dampener.

[@david68277]

I don’t know how you resisted bending down and taking a giant swig of that crystal clear water!

[@jeffconklin7279]

How do like your 690 for BDR? Happy with it on and off of the technical stuff?

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

It’s amazing. Very happy with it off and on road. I honestly think it’s the closest thing to a unicorn bike available today. It is a bit heavy on very technical stuff but as long as you have the skill and the right tires you can ride it almost anywhere. I am a little more forgiving for the on road comfort of the bike since I’ve never really owned a nice comfortable ADV bike or cruiser. It’s never bothered me on the road riding 6+ hours though. Yeah, you get a bit buffeted by the wind without a windshield at highway speeds and the seat can get pretty uncomfortable but overall considering the trade offs I think it’s a great bike on the road as well. Only thing I really don’t like about it is you need to replace the stock clutch slave cylinder or it’s a failure and trip ender waiting to happen. KTM really should have fixed this issue a very long time ago and issued a recall. Other than that I’d say the bike is reliable overall once that is taken care of.

[@evanheffley1625]

I have the smcr but am thinking of getting a set of 18/21 rims with dual sport tires do do the MABDR. I know it won't be an EnduroR, but should be good enough for the light offroad of the BDR I'm hoping.

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

I think if you just put some more aggressive tires on there you’d be fine. The MABDR isn’t very challenging off road wise so the 18/21 isn’t as important as the tread pattern for more gravel road type riding. The 18/21 rims would be more helpful if you’re gonna be rolling over big obstacles like rocks and logs but yeah I don’t think there’s much of that on the MABDR. Sounds awesome either way though you’ll have blast!

[@ridewithhollywood8487]

Hi WT, what is your luggage set up?

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

I have the GIVI GRT708. No pannier rack or anything. I did get a giant loop heat guard on the exhaust but I still burnt a hole in one of the bags the way I had it positioned at first. That stock pipe gets increddddddibly hot with that catalytic converters! I touched it with my arm for 1 second on accident and got a second degree burn. Hoping to upgrade to the wings pipe soon to help with that.

[@evanheffley1625]

Are you using a phone for GPS, and if yes, what app for the bdr tracks?

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

Yep just a phone is all you need. It can mess up your camera from the vibrations so it might be worth it to use an old or cheaper phone. Doesn’t need a service plan or anything the GPS will still work. Or you can get a vibration dampener if you go with the quad lock and hope for the best which is what I do. For apps I recommend getting both Gaia and Osmand. Gaia is good because it breaks everything up in different colors really nicely. Osmand is awesome because you can download all of North America for 5 dollars. You can download on Gaia too but it’s a yearly subscription.

[@Lumsca77]

Can tell you were having fun on that ride... Whats the best time of year to do this?

[@wanderingturtleadventures8619]

Thanks, yeah I was! September is considered the best time. Not too warm, not too hot, not too wet, not too buggy and fall foliage beginning to change. I went in October and it was a bit cold at night, even snowed a bit, but it was pretty perfect conditions otherwise.