Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • WES SILER: We're here at Angeles National Forest riding

  • a KTM 990 Adventure and a Yamaha Super Tenere.

  • We're about an hour outside of Los Angeles proper, and we're

  • going to go ride some dirt.

  • Welcome to "Ride Apart."

  • GRANT RAY: Right now we're running at about 36 pounds of

  • pressure on the tires.

  • 20 to 22 is good for multi-use for all the gravel on the road

  • to keep the tubes from popping and pinching.

  • There we go.

  • Just trying to get some grip off-road, get those tires

  • squishing down.

  • WES SILER: We're out here trying to focus on the goal.

  • Getting a beer at the end of the day with all my arms on.

  • I did this in one piece, a nice normal, straight arm.

  • GRANT RAY: You don't have a normal straight arm.

  • You got rid of that a while ago.

  • WES SILER: Straight as my arm can be.

  • GRANT RAY: Wanna race?

  • WES SILER: No.

  • GRANT RAY: Come on.

  • WES SILER: No.

  • GRANT RAY: Come on.

  • WES SILER: And don't go burning out in front of me, it

  • gets [BLEEP]

  • pebbles in my eyes.

  • GRANT RAY: Neener, neener, neener, neener.

  • WES SILER: Just go.

  • I've just started learning how to ride dirt bikes and this

  • [BLEEP]

  • thing weighs like 550 pounds.

  • Normal dirt bikes weigh like 250.

  • So this is just scary and terrifying, and it slides, and

  • the front end does things.

  • And the whole time, I'm just like, death grip on the bars,

  • like close my eyes, keep the throttle on and

  • hope for the best.

  • So nobody should stand in any direction where I might be

  • headed, because I'm not looking.

  • GRANT RAY: No, he's looking, because you can see the whites

  • of his eyes when he's coming.

  • WES SILER: So right now I'm wearing Sean's Aerostitch

  • Roadcrafter.

  • He's hurt, so I'm borrowing his suit

  • because it's really nice.

  • This is as safe as I could be as a motorcyclist.

  • I'm protected from the weather, I'm protected from

  • impacts, I'm protected from abrasion.

  • I have really good armor on all my joints, my

  • back, and in my chest.

  • But unlike every other suit on the market, there's other safe

  • suits, none is this convenient.

  • This is literally just put all that on, chest projector.

  • Then here's the trick.

  • And there you go.

  • If I had an office, I'd be ready to work in it.

  • But instead, I'm at my office right now riding bikes.

  • GRANT RAY: Aw.

  • That's pretty special, buddy.

  • Unlike Mr. Fancy Pants over there wearing Sean's suit,

  • mine is not nearly as fast but it is really awesome.

  • This is the Long Range from Alpinestars.

  • It's a two-piece, it's super dry, it's also very modular.

  • I used to wear something called The Suit by Rocket.

  • It was leather, but I think I maybe found better with this.

  • One of the good things about what this suit can do, even

  • though it doesn't zip on and off fast, is it's

  • extraordinarily capable in terms of what you need at any

  • given temperature.

  • So if I get hot, I can really just peel it off and use the

  • underjacket for the rest of the day so that I don't have

  • to carry multiple jackets or anything like that.

  • This guy's done, and then I've got a down jacket that I can

  • wear from now on.

  • And then when you get out here to go camping, they can do

  • double-duty.

  • WES SILER: I can carry a nice, big, fancy tent like this.

  • Key is how much space they can give you for the weight.

  • So you can see this one's really tall.

  • I can sit up in it, I can change clothes in it, I can be

  • inside where it's warm and not too windy.

  • GRANT RAY: Is that done yet?

  • WES SILER: Yeah, yeah.

  • GRANT RAY: There's actually a considerable difference

  • between his.

  • He's running the Poler two-man with poles.

  • WES SILER: one-man.

  • GRANT RAY: one-man?

  • Oh, it looks like a two-man.

  • WES SILER: Yeah, it's big.

  • GRANT RAY: Fatty.

  • WES SILER: I know.

  • GRANT RAY: So I'm running a tent from NEMO.

  • This is the NEMO Moto which is a one-person.

  • And I really love certain things about this, one of

  • which is that there's no poles.

  • There's a little bladder that connects to the inside, and

  • the main beam will actually inflate.

  • And then I just take it down, and I'm done.

  • From here, you've got tons of room on the inside to be able

  • to move around and sit up and do, whatnot.

  • WES SILER: If you think you hear an animal, you can call

  • me and I'll get out and I'll look around and

  • I'll keep you safe.

  • GRANT RAY: No you won't, you'll just sit there and cry.

  • WES SILER: Once time in the Adirondacks, Grant and I got

  • into a fight with a bear.

  • So now we're just scared [BLEEP]

  • of bears in the outdoors.

  • GRANT RAY: We did not get into a fight with a

  • bear, you big liar.

  • WES SILER: Well, we ran away from one.

  • GRANT RAY: There, that's a little bit

  • more like the truth.

  • WES SILER: So now we carry-- we don't have it with us

  • today, but now we carry a flare pistol to shoot at bears

  • in case one scares us again.

  • Because we're [BLEEP]

  • girls.

  • GRANT RAY: It sits basically here, like this.

  • Is that what I'm supposed to do?

  • But it must have done this, come under, and then I just

  • grabbed it and [INAUDIBLE].

  • KTM has one of the best tool kits when they [INAUDIBLE].

  • But this one's just a little bit touch over and it

  • literally has everything you possibly need to work on a

  • motorcycle right now.

  • Well, basically we're just keeping the lines off the

  • [INAUDIBLE] so that if I need to stop there's brakes.

  • We're just taking off some of the plastics.

  • This guy was still on, and that is a really good recipe

  • for a puncture as well.

  • So we're just taking off everything and kind of

  • cleaning it up and getting it back up to par as much as we

  • can so we can keep going.

  • You can stand back just a little bit.

  • WES SILER: Ugh.

  • GRANT RAY: All right, open up the other side.

  • WES SILER: [INAUDIBLE].

  • He does a jump as he's [BLEEP]

  • passing me.

  • He's just a [BLEEP].

  • And then we get down there, he's like I hope I

  • didn't scare you.

  • GRANT RAY: I'm getting comfortable on it.

  • WES SILER: Good.

  • The suspension's great, especially if we don't land

  • anything, especially when we take some bumps.

  • But I'm scared anyways, because I'm scared off-road on

  • a big bike like this.

  • And to have the stand going like that, I'm going to back

  • off a little bit.

  • GRANT RAY: How's the compression on the rear?

  • WES SILER: It's good.

  • I've got the pre-road run weight way up.

  • This thing has great suspension.

  • Unlike most motorcycles, it was actually has something

  • called damping, not just springs.

  • GRANT RAY: So, you didn't die.

  • WES SILER: I didn't die, which I feel very fortunate about.

  • Last-- what was it, June, Sean?

  • It was June, I fell off--

  • SEAN SMITH: That was July.

  • WES SILER: OK, last July, I fell off a

  • sidecar up by Big Bear.

  • And you can probably see my arm is still

  • crooked as a result.

  • And that was off-road.

  • I've been a little timid on the whole

  • dirt thing ever since.

  • And it's fine on a 250 or whatever dirt bike.

  • That thing outside weighs 550 pounds.

  • SEAN SMITH: It weighs 636 pounds.

  • WES SILER: It weighs 636 pounds,