PS scary AF when the road is partially obstructed by ice. Good campsites on the Gothic side.

Oh awesome! I'm not sure how well the video relays it, but I'm very happy with the combination. My first few miles with them (all road) were pretty upsetting as it felt like I had given up a lot of the road performance. They started feeling so much better after the first couple hundred miles and between their break-in and me getting used to them - They are now feeling great on the street (and truly great offroad!) - I haven't aired them down yet but still really haven't even found the need to. I hope you enjoy your tires as much as I've been enjoying mine! Also, congratulations on the 800de. That bike seems excellent

I actually live pretty close to this trail and have driven by it so many times - Glad I got to sharpen my skills a bit before giving it a go! It's so much steeper, chunkier and loose than the video can show. Great to see you catching one of my videos trails! I'll pin your comment so anyone interested in more Aprilia Tuareg 660 trail riding (abuse, lol) can look through your catalog of options!!

@@TROVids Action cam footages never show the real challenge

Mine has already 8000 miles with no problem.

I had a rear break master cylinder issue right off of the lot (would get an error light and message to service the bike every time I pressed the rear brake). It was stuck in the shop for a few weeks since there was a wait for the part to come in. I was regretting my purchase pretty heavily at the time since the season passes so quickly out here (Colorado's northern front range) - but the bike's performance (and reliability since) has made up for that. I gain more appreciation for and understanding of how capable this bike is every single ride. Right now it's sitting just over 4000 miles (all ADV - Canyons to dirt roads to trails) and outside of two spots on the engine case that appear to be having minor amounts of oil seep through, this bike is holding up very well. It's regularly ridden (what I consider to be) very hard and it has taken some seriously harsh drops. My only other complaint that isn't really a reliability issue is the bar stems bending out of place when the bike is dropped. This just puts the bars slightly out of alignment with the fork. I've since learned that I can bend them back on the spot, but other adv bikes don't seem to have this issue after drops. I know a handful of folks have had some catastrophic failures, but they seem to be far and few between without an actual pattern (outside of the engine seal leaks which seem to be pretty common for the 22-23 model year bikes)

This is Greer road in northern Colorado. It's about 40-60 minutes outside of Fort Collins. The Canyon and unpaved roads out to the trailhead are beautiful and fun (this time of year, lol)

I didn't realize how much of the "trail" would be dense and loose rock. There were so few videos that provided a good glimpse of the pass in its entirety. I was so focused on (and nervous for) the punchbowl descent that I forgot to be concerned for the other areas on this trail. It felt like swimming through rocks on a 500 pound motorcycle, but the heightened state provided by this ride had me feeling next to nothing as the Tuareg plowed through! I wish I had more time on this ride to stop and actually enjoy the scenery. When I watch the video back, I think about how stunningly beautiful everything is and fantasize about going out there someday - because I saw next to none of the views in person since I was purely focused on the trail and obstacles in front of me lol

Heck yeah! The majority of my riding experience now takes place after that Schofield trip. I've practiced so much and done a handful of routes that were more challenging than the Schofield ride, but I still look back at that trip as one of the best days of my adult life. Remembering it just excites me like nothing else I've done on the bike. The unpreparedness, excitement and risk of it all make it feel so special. I'm now a better (and much more prepared) rider, but in a way, I think had I waited until now to do that ride (or later this year when it's actually possible, lol) - It wouldn't be as exciting as it was. I'm slowly but surely figuring out this video thing. I really loved having a handful of folks show excitement and happiness on the schofield video and I want to figure out how to harness my small ability to excite some folks and eventually inspire some people to get out and do a ride or trip of their own. I know there are already many people on KZfaq doing exactly that - But I want to contribute to that since for me (and I'm assuming many others), adventure riding just sparks some foreign happiness that other hobbies I've had did not. I grew up exploring cities on a bicycle from a very young age and adventure riding feels like doing that on such a larger scale. The stakes are so much higher, but so is the satisfaction. The happiness and fulfilment that comes from exploring (what feels like) uncharted territory is so addicting and I know there have to be so many other people who enjoy it (or will enjoy it) as much as I do! Yes, I'm currently living in the northern front range of Colorado. It's quite ideal for balancing life and adventure (which I wish were the same thing), though the season is quite short. I always get excited to hear of fellow Tuareg riders. It seems that there's so much love for the bike from folks who have ridden or who own/have owned a Tuareg but the machine has been having a hard time winning over folks who can't bring themselves to adventure on an Aprilia - I understand it, but people are missing out on a phenomenal machine!! Congratulations on an awesome bike and what sounds like an awesome trip!! I would absolutely love to explore further from home but doubt I will even reach the southern part of the state this year (since it's always so much more practical to prioritize closer locations and there are plenty up here). Adventure riding has shown me that not only am I not in the financial position I'd like to be in, but I'm also far from being in the time position I want to be in!! I now spend so much thought trying to sort out how I can earn more freedom of time in my life which has been an interesting rabbit hole. I didn't expect getting into adventure riding to push me to reshape my entire life, but here I am lol. This is quite inline with your camping experience, but I keep learning the same lesson on my rides (and especially in my trips).. They always have so much challenge and create so much doubt, but they still redeem themselves with all of the positives - but the really odd thing, is when you look back on the challenges of a particular trip, they end up being the pieces of the experience that I (and maybe you) are most grateful for. I've had so many rides and trips that made me question what I'm doing to myself and the bike, telling myself I'm in over my head and this must not be for me, and by the time I hit the pavement to ride home - I'm already wanting to have a similar experience again. I really think so much of the "adventure" comes from overcoming the doubt that builds over all the unknowns. It's a pretty cool experience and it is difficult to describe exactly what's going on mentally, but I think it's good for us!! Thank you for your comment and kind words - knowing that I'm able to reach somebody like you on one of (let alone multiple of) my videos makes making another one worth it!!

@@TROVids Wow, I just had to chime in again after this giant tome of excitement up here. So obvious a breakout riding the TA has been and is for you, fantastic. Your huge stream of thought is gushing, lol. Funny for some of us or all of us this motor and these wheels roll us through thoughts and sights and feelings of such hilarious magnitude (what a mouthful). I enjoyed where your thoughts go in the both the videos and this reply of yours, it's just such a healthy experience for us. Really nice that you share yours, thanks so much again.

Oh my, that's wild! The Tuareg felt like a lot to handle on all of that loose rock and I felt kind of silly for having it out there due to how inappropriate the size felt. I've seen some folks ride this route on some larger bikes, but I hadn't known of anyone crushing it on something like a 1290!! Congratulations to an awesome ride (and likely many other awesome rides elsewhere). I'm still quite new to adventure riding and have gained lots of respect for people who regularly put their bikes (and their selves) in positions like this. I will say I was absolutely obsessed with this route and riding through it. I had seen it some years back and promised myself that I would ride it if I ever had a vehicle capable of doing so - So even though the Tuareg wasn't where I wanted it to be for this (tires, protection etc..), and I had less protection than I wanted to have (body gear, tools, recovery equipment etc..) - I had to do this. I watched every video I could find and planned/memorized/visualized my line for the punchbowl descent prior to this. I have a very strong enduro mountain biking background which may give me a little too much confidence taking a heavy machine down descents like that. I do certainly feel extremely lucky that the kickstand failed towards the end and not while I was bouncing around at the higher portion. I was lucky in so many ways on this ride, and I'm grateful for that. I do have to give huge credit to the Tuareg though - I know it has its flaws, but it really trivializes chunky descents like what's at the punchbowl (if you're stupid enough to charge them as if you're on a 40 pound enduro MTB). Thank you for watching the ride and taking the time to comment. Thinking of you riding this on a 1290 is pretty inspiring in terms of the kind of tech bigger bikes (I even consider the Tuareg a "bigger bike") are capable of conquering. I hope you have an awesome riding season this year!!

@@TROVids I would never ever do it again, even a little. But it was during the KTM adventure ride event. Someone thought it was a good idea to mark the route "moderate" and a bunch of people on wholly inappropriate bikes got stories for a lifetime. The KTM events are open to all bikes and come through CO every few years.

I love it! I don't see what better off-the-shelf choice there is for me when factoring in cost/performance/utility. I do see a lot of folks with bad things to say about the bike, but it seems like people who actually own and ride them are (generally) extremely satisfied!! I certainly have some qualms with the bike, but I'm excited and happy with it on every ride I've taken. I hope to have my Tuareg 660 1 year/4000 (all ADV) miles review recorded and uploaded some time this month. It won't be an awesome video because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I already know I have a lot of positive things to share about my ownership/usage experience. I felt like I took a gamble opting for this bike around the time that I bought it, but it has turned out to be so exceptional at everything I was hoping it would do

@@TROVids there is no better option.Everything is perfect including price...My second favorite is Africa Twin

Awesome

Heck yeah! I'm absolutely loving the Tuareg. I see that you've got a treasure trove of content and that you also have a lot of Tuareg videos - Since most people seem to find my channel through interest in the Tuareg, I've pinned your comment so folks who are interested can see some more Tuareg stuff!!

@@TROVids I just bought mine this spring so haven't had time to do much but there is a lot coming for sure 😄 Thanks

I love them so far, but I don't have experience with any of the other options on the market. I do believe they are the best option for me and they are a proven set of tires that offer great longevity, especially on "lighter" ADV bikes like ours! I have been very happy with their offroad capabilities. Over the last weekend, I took them on their first overnight trip - it totaled ~5 hours of highway, ~3.5 hours of easy offroad riding and ~1 hour of technical offroading. The tires were phenomenal for all bits!!

They were wild! I had the stock tires on the bike at street PSI. I'd love to go back with my new tires and lower PSI

Hey congratulations on the Tuareg! I hope you're able to enjoy yours as much as I've enjoyed mine so far!! The rack is from axp racing - I went for theirs since it appeared to be the slimmest option on the market. It's plastic and some of the cuts have sharp edges, but it hasn't botherd my rackless straps and the rack has held up really well so far!!

Hey thank you! The Tuareg continues to impress me, ride after ride - especially as I've upgraded it and become a more competent rider!!

I had never considered that piece of the bike failing and what it may mean for me/the ride. It's definitely towards the top of my mind on rougher rides nowadays. I'm embarrassed about strapping the thing to my swingarm instead of a non-moving piece but I really wasn't thinking clearly out there lol. I now carry straps that will work well for strapping the kickstand to the rear footpeg hold or even the bike's frame. Thank you for the feedback!!

Hey thank you! Congratulations on your Tuareg. They are extremely capable bikes and it's cool to hear you're going to be putting yours to use!! I have a never-ending list of bike (and body) gear purchases that I keep putting off because money is just getting tighter and tighter nowadays. The crashbars are from Outback Motortek. I am very happy with how they look (not that it matters much) and how they've held up through some pretty hard drops. They also have a bundle package for the bars and their skid plate and it comes in at a cost that's lower than a lot of other options out there.

This offer is way too kind! I caught a pair of Tech 7 Enduro boots on a clearance sale and jumped on them ASAP since it was the boot I had been saving for. Thank you a ton for considering something like this at all!!

@@TROVids Glad to hear!! keep making those videos!!!

This is such and embarrassing (and obvious) mistake. I promise I wasn't thinking straight at the time, though that should be obvious haha

@@TROVids we've all made crazy mistakes, glad you made it along that tricky looking trail!

For sure! I was definitely way in over my head (for my knowledge and my prep), but I don't regret this one bit!!

I genuinely love it! It has some faults but still seems like by far the best choice for me and what I want out of an ADV bike. This video was actually recorded just days after the Schofield trip!! Unfortunately, all of this time later, I still don't have boots. The budget has been way tighter than expected, but boots are actually next in line!! I just got the tires I've always wanted on it put on and I'm super happy with that upgrade

lol I wasn't very nice to the Pirellis, but what they put up with was pretty amazing

Heck yeah! This was my dream trip and I promised myself I'd do it if I ever had a vehicle capable enough (dirtbike, quad, small jeep, adv bike etc..). Once I got the Tuareg, I couldn't get this route off of my mind and got as prepped as I could for it (not very prepped) prior to the holiday weekend so I could give it a go!! I get so happy every time I think back to this trip, even if it was a (kind of) stupid thing to do!! The kickstand sensor will definitely prevent the engine from running, but it my case, the sensor wasn't harmed (I got lucky) so I wasn't stranded out there. On my long list of parts and upgrades to acquire, a kickstand sensor bypass device is very high up. It will let me remove the kickstand if I ever need to, and it will prevent me from being stranded should the sensor ever break or fail out in the wild. Thankfully, it's a super cheap device

100% - I didn't even air them down. I underestimated how much adventure riding was going to cost and stretched the budget as far as I could to build out the camping/overnight setup that made this trip possible! I've now got a Motoz Tractionator Adventure in the rear and a Motoz Tractionator Dual Venture in the front. They aren't the most extreme or aggressive for offroading, but they are a massive upgrade from the Pirellis!!

Tying that to the swingarm is such an embarrassing mistake, and while I'd like to blame how unclear my thinking was at that time, I should've taken some time to stop and actually think about things. I was so focused on taking action to just get the heck out of there that I wasn't really processing things. Even before the video starts, my mental state wasn't ideal - It was surprisingly overwhelming to be out there and doing this ride!! I have since acquired way more appropriate equipment, tools, straps etc and carry them on all rides. I knew I wasn't well prepared for this trip but I knew I had to do it before the season ended or that it would've driven me crazy all winter!! The bike and my riding of it are in a far better place for something like this nowadays, but I don't have any crazy rides planned for this year

@@TROVids i see. Probably you had a peak of adrenaline, that pass was really hard. Thanks for the answer!

lol yeah, it wasn't much of a choice! I didn't realize how quickly my adventure budget was going to be eaten up. The bike (and I) was nowhere near where I wanted it to be for this trip, but there's such a small window of time for getting out there to make the journey a reality and I pushed for it so I didn't have to compulsively wonder about what it would have been like all winter. I've since put on the tires I wanted (Motoz Tractionator Adventure and Motoz Tractionator Dual Venture) and am slowly acquiring protective upgrades for the bike and for myself. I have also since added a lot of additional tools to be more prepared for situations like the kickstand failure and I carry them with me on every ride. I swear I know that what I was doing was stupid, I just had to do it and the drive for it would not go away

Heck yeah, I've since learned that and that they're pretty cheap! I hadn't considered this being one of the many many things that could have gone wrong, but I'm certainly aware now!! I guess even the sensor itself sometimes fails and can leave you stranded even if the kickstand is fine. That sounds like a nightmare. I'd love to have the option of just removing it and tossing it in a bag in a situation like this

Not an opinion, just delete it and no more worries 👍

The most unexpected difficulty I had and hadn't expected was the large loose rocks on some of the shelf sections. They were pretty wild!! I didn't get the Tuareg to do things like this, but I had previously promised myself that if I ever had a vehicle capable enough of doing this journey, I'd do it. From the time I got the Tuareg until I did it, I couldn't get it off of my mind!! Congrats on your Tuareg, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I've been enjoying mine!! As for trails near you, there's got to be something within a days worth of driving for you!! I do have a lot of options within a couple of hours of where I'm currently living - but this area is about 4.5 hours from where I was living at the time. I got to use the Tuareg as an actual ADV bike, riding out to the nearby mountains to camp near this ride and then hitting it the next day!!

That's awesome! Very similar to this trip for me. I wanted to go in the glacier water at the punchbowl where my kickstand broke, but I had less than 0% interest in doing that once the going got rough. Your ride sounds awesome. I hope you look back on it like I look back on what this ride was for me. Thinking about it always makes me happy and excited

Hey sorry for the slow reply here!! I made the embarrassing mistake of trying to strap the kickstand to the swingarm, which is constantly varying its distance from the kickstand while riding. I think I would have been fine if I had used the passsenger footpeg triangle but I wasn't really thinking at this time (just wanted to take action towards making it out). The bike is now more equipped for situations like this, as am I! I wanted to have a lot more in order (for the bike, myself and my tools) for this trip but my adventure budget was exhausted way earlier than I had expected. The Tuareg has been amazing. It's been better than the bike I thought I was buying and I'm generally very happy with it. I now have more appropriate tires on it (Motoz Tractionator Adventure and Motoz Tractionator Dual Venture) and it feels like a different animal when the terrain gets rough. I have some minor complaints, but I don't have any major complaints. I currently have around 5,800km/3,600mi on it (all riding to or on trails, which is what I got it to do) and considering the hell I've put (and I continue to put) it through, I am consistently impressed with it!!

Yeah it's quite embarrassing in hindsight and I can't believe I didn't have the logic or reasoning to catch that in the moment - but considering everything else that could've gone wrong out there, I'm happy with the way everything played out. Thankfully no, I am not an engineer at boeing - Apparently I just perform like one when I'm under stress. Also, I was originally notified of your comment while on my way to a flight across the country in a.. 737 MAX 9.. you know - the planes that it seems like I worked on lol

Hey thank you! It was a great day