If you had spent $3K on a Bergara B-14 HMR or Browning X-Bolt Hell's Canyon Long Range to shoot tin cans off fence posts at 30 yards, then you'd have wasted your money.
If you had spent $273K on an AMG Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen (with 536-hp) to enable you to mount kerbs and find a better parking spot each day on the school run, then you'd have wasted your money.
If you had spent $750K on a Bertram 630 Flybridge Cruiser to go crabbing in the Peel-Harvey inlet, then you'd have wasted your money.
Fortunately, MOST people (not all) are sensible enough to buy the right tool for the job. Having said that though, the right tool for the job may be capable of so much more in the right hands with the right person that has the right training.
For instance, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Norman Hathcock can probably split a Spanish Gnats cracker at 500 yards with a Browning X-Bolt Hell Canon. But you never will unless you try, fail and try again. Then maybe take some lessons, and then try again, a few more times.
Based on that rationale, if you were to spend $17K on a CFMoto 800MT Explore, or $17.5K on a Honda Africa Twin or (north of) $20K for a Ducati 1200 Multistrada and never take it off road because you were too scared to crash it, then you'd have wasted your money. And that would be a shame, because going off road is what these bikes are designed to do - it is in their pedigree.
Sadly, though, so few of these bikes ever see the dirt because it is hard for their owners to reconcile the notion of throwing as near as makes no difference to $20k on the ground. Especially when that $20K weighs 175Kg and you have to pick it up again.
The fear of failure on the dirt is the fundamental reason a lot of these bikes never leave the black top. But it doesn't have to be that way.
If you are an ADV owner and you are struggling to drag your stead into the scrub, then maybe you need to jump onto an ADV training course.
And a great place to start is with Enduro Bikes WA and Trials and Enduro Skills.
Jason Bale has teamed up with Neil Price to bring you a cracker of a weekend where you will be able to bond with your bike off the bitumen both Saturday and Sunday (14th and 15th December).
The ride will start in Karragullen - out back of the Perth Hills.
After a few hours of skills work on the trails, the group will head over to the EBWA training property in Bullsbrook where riders can see the sunset over the top of a frothy, before tucking themselves into their swag next to their stead where they'll drift off dreaming of the terrain to be tackled the next day.
Sunday will comprise more skills on some of the incredible slopes and obstacles that the Bullsbrook property has to offer. Follow this link to book your spot for one or both days.
This weekend is designed specifically to enable people to get the most out of their bikes and to give riders the confidence to tackle more challenging trails - those that go beyond the boring gravel roads.
If you are new to ADVs, training may not seem that important to you now.
But mark my words - when you make it to Wiluna from Willare, with a thousand kilometers of desert and dunes under your tyre tread, you'll be glad you did it and you will never look at your ADV the same way again.
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