I have often follow project stories in various magazines. It's interesting to see what people choose to do with their machines. Here's my project and story.

Organized by the Northern Virginia Trail Riders Association, the Shenandoah 500 was a dual-sport rally that ran on the 2nd and 3rd of Oct., 1999. Since my BMW F650 is a dual-sport bike several of us said, "what the heck, we'll try it." I had taken my F650 off road before and had allot fun.

Well, it didn't take long to see that to most people dual-sport means a hardcore dirt-bike with some pieces of what once may have been street legal accoutrements. The bikes running in this event were supposed to be street legal but heck these guys were serious off-road enthusiasts. Let's just say we were the only BMW's there and created quite a stir.

The course ran over two days. Saturday was 130 miles and Sunday around 150. We agreed on Friday night that we would ride to the lunch stop on the trails and then ride paved roads the rest of the day.

The trails on Saturday were beautiful! These were trails through the very heart of the George Washington National Forest, which is in both Virginia and West Virginia. Many of the trails are open only for this event and they crisscross back and forth across the mountains in and out of West Virginia. The scenery and views down in the valleys were spectacular. I really felt privileged to be riding on them. As we crept along carefully balancing our nearly 500-pound motorcycles the rest of the two hundred entries went flying by. Damn they looked like they were having fun.

Sunday was another beautiful day! Perfect riding weather, about 55-65 degrees and bright sunshine. We headed out to the lunch stop, which was in West Virginia, taking side routes that wound through farm fields and valleys then picked up route 33 into West Virginia. Wow! What a ride, about six miles of climbing to find an equally challenging six mile descent with spectacular views. We arrived at lunch and I looked over the assortment of bikes present. I met a fellow that had an older Honda XR250L and he raved about it. Lunch was a great chicken BBQ. Afterwards, we strolled back down to our campsite stopping to take pictures of lush valley farmlands with the Shenandoah mountains as a backdrop. It was a day meant for motorcycling. You can do a dual-sport event on a BMW F650 but it sure looks like more fun on a dirt-bike.

I got back to Richmond Virginia late Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I got up and hit the convenience store for the local trader. I found an ad for a 1986 Honda XR250R. Well, Wednesday evening with $807 in my pocket I went to look at the bike. It had been advertised for $1000 but after careful negotiation (crying, begging, looking sad, groveling) I loaded the bike in the back of my pickup truck.

I added another $900 into the XR250R to an make it basically an "L". I would say for a 13-year old bike it's in very good condition. The previous owner installed a new carburetor and had the shock rebuilt. Everything the bike came with originally is still on it and works.

I've had the bike out for one ride in wooded trails on a friend's farm. I dropped it about four times, had it in a 3' mud hole, and hit a tree once. Every time it started right back up and kept going. A 250 pound Honda XR250R/L is much easier to handle compared to my BMW F650!

Credits: Article written by a guest of Honda XR.com and edited by 4Strokes.com.