[wildbill]

when I purchased this 018 plated used euro 4 c5 it came with Dunlop 180 off road style tyres. yesterday I had the chance to run a c5 along a dirt road for roughly 15 miles on those tyres and overall it was a pretty good experience. in fact it was by far the longest stretch of dirt to date i'd been on any bike.
so now that I have broken the ice I plan to do it more often and take the c5 out on a few more adventures into the aussie bush or dirt road outback.

[Bilgemaster]

That shouldn't be such a surprise that your Bullet can handle itself well enough in the dirt, Wildbill. Your UCE is not a far cry from an Iron Belly by intention, and the Iron Belly made its bones back in the day in the mixed surface torture test that was the ISDT (International Six Day Trials...what we now call Enduro), where it excelled, dominating the Winner's Circle for more than a decade. That's why the Indians chose it for their military. It may not have the 21st Century chops of a Himi, but it's still got dust and ruts in its marrow.

[GlennF]

This is a modified C5 ...



UCE engines are used in quite a few offroad/scrambler mods:










As far as dirt goes, you really do not need a dirt bike for gravel roads. I actually spent many years back in the 80s/90s running an XJ900 Yamaha on Aussie dirt tracks. Even managed to collect a roo at 100 kmh at one point. It had Fournales gas sealed rear shocks and a spotlight but no other mods. It handled the dirt well and was very stable, the shaft drive was a bonus when crossing flooded creeks but being a road bike there was a lot of stuff to shake loose from vibration.  If you take a road trim C5 on dirt a lot keep an eye out for a few more things than normal vibrating loose, or falling off.

[Beardo]

I'll be spooning on trials tires onto my IB after riding around the dirt roads and off road where I live. No, it's not a Himi, but it adapts itself very well off the macadam.

[HeadyRockSteady]

Ive mine setup for offroad. Once I figure out how to post some pics of it I will. There is a video floating around of my epic fail in a mini snow hill climb with it.  They cross the Himalayas on these...they can take the abuse.

With that being said...Im thinking about building a chopper...I have problems.

[Bert Remington]

wildbill -- when you get a chance, would you confirm your K180 tire sizes as 100/90-19 front and 120/90-18 rear.

I looked for rider reviews at AdvRider.  NZ rider motu had them on a BMW R65 "Trying to wear out my last K180 on the rear. My dream tyre was a big disappointment - They have serious grip on seal, great in the wet, but they are hopeless on gravel. Made for going sideways, but stuff all drive or braking traction. The K70 is a better tyre for my purposes. Still experimenting."  He also said K70s much more expensive and K180's "soft compound melts away like butter."  motu appeared to be an excellent rider so the deficiencies he noted wouldn't occur in my riding.  He apparently commutes on gravel (https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-scrambler-ization-of-an-r80rt-monolever.1025469/#post-25571598).  Nobody else had such detailed reviews.

I really like the look of the K180s.  Reminds me of the Goodyear Grasshoppers on my Matchless G80.

[wildbill]

I will check it out for you. given the choice I would have bought k70  but these tyres were on the bike when I got it. they do put the bike a few mm higher up to sit on but also make the bike much easier to place on the centre stand too.
so hard to win both ways.

[wildbill]

100x90 x19   front
130x80 x 18  rear

[Bert Remington]

Thanks.  Yeah, 130/80-18 rear would be a big tall.