Riding July 2 and/or 3

[Marylander]

Cool

[Marylander]

Had a good ride out at Shade with Joe, who has made the switch back to 4 strokes, possibly for good.

I realized I really miss the rekluse in my kx250. If only I could somehow combine the rekluse in the kx with the magic button of the beta...

[Wingfixer]

Rekluse makes a clutch for the X-trainer...

[gots_a_sol]

, who has made the switch back to 4 strokes, possibly for good.

[Marylander]

Rekluse makes a clutch for the X-trainer...

Yeah, but ~$800. I paid $200 (so, half price) for the EXP 2.0 in my kx (for which they didn't make the full kit). Maybe if I could just put the EXP part in instead of the full monty.

[Marylander]

Ok, so here's the actual ride report, which Sam has requested.

The big thing for me is that I've been trying to get a functional GPS setup without spending much money. Towards that end I bought a cheap, used samsung rugby pro phone (water resistant, impact resistant) and loaded up locus pro mapping software on it. I didn't put a SIM card in the phone so it's just for GPS. The rugby pro was mounted to the bike using a holeshot bar bad, which has a cut out in the foam for a phone and a plastic window that you can work the phone through. I supplemented the velcro of the bar pad with a pair of bicycling toe straps (belt and suspenders). I balked at spending $40 for a bar pad but it held the phone well and was even kind of viewable while riding (my vision isn't that great). This was not the case when I used my RAM mount stuff from my street bike (lost a phone using that).

I took some GPS tracks that Skinny-J had sent me and pared them down so that each trail was represented just once in the file. This worked pretty well although we did have to turn around here and there. I didn't have the screen turned on all the time as I haven't set up power from the bike to the phone. So, we did miss some turns and have to turn around. Still, the phone helped us to avoid straying from official trails so that was a big plus. We weren't turning around any more than when I did an R&T ride there earlier this year and those guys were more familiar with the place than me so I think the phone test was a success.

Joe was on his recently re-acquired yamaha wr250f since his husky's motor is out getting stroked (ooh la la). I was getting way ahead of him at the start as he was becoming reacquainted with the bike. He adjusted the throttle play on the trail but some things were beyond trailside adjustments (brakes that don't brake, extra 50 lbs over his beloved husky, painful stock seat, etc).

For myself I was feeling pretty alright and enjoying the significantly quicker steering of the xtrainer in the twisty sections of the trail as compared to my ole faithful kx250. I don't so much notice the difference in manueverability at places like the cove or taskers but it was really obvious at shade. Up until now I was thinking the biggest improvement from the kx to the xtrainer was the magic button (which really is magic). The kx likes to go in a straight line. It'll turn tight ok if you rear wheel steer a lot but the equilibrium that's on there now tends to grip rather than spin, taking away some of the kx's steering ability. The xtrainer has no such issues. The short wheelbase and steep steering setup means it'll turn with just the slightest effort. The klx300 I used to have felt that way too although I'm betting it'd feel like a tank compared to the xtrainer. The klx was super quick steering compared to the 84 xr350 it replaced though. ;)

We had avoided the tougher sections at the beginning to give Joe more time to get used to the wr-f. We hit those sections at the end, taking the southern trails to get back to the parking lot. It was then that I was really wishing I had a rekluse in the bike. I was a serious clutch abuser before I put the rekluse in the kx and, now that I've got the xtrainer with no rekluse, I'm back to doing that. So, my left hand was pretty well worn out by the time we got to the last rocky section and that was causing me some issues. I went from 2 fingers on the clutch lever, to 3 fingers, and finally all of them just to get through there. I've got carpal tunnel syndrome but not severely enough for the docs to fix it yet (have had the surgery in my right hand and it was awesome). So, I may start setting aside some cash for a rekluse for the xtrainer.

Now, while I had issues with the clutch on the xtrainer the clutch pull on Joe's wr-f was a lot heavier. It seemed to be nearly as stiff as on my kx250 with the basic rekluse EXP setup (so, VERY stiff). I wouldn't have made it through the ride with that thing.

Other than still thinking of things to spend more money on with the xtrainer I had a fairly uneventful ride. I clipped a tree once with the right handguard and fell over to the left but was going slow at the time so no biggie.

I really wish I was able to get out more often as most of my issues while riding are from riding infrequently or, rather, riding off road infrequently. I ride my street bike to work but that doesn't help dirt riding at all. This may sound a little strange but I need to start practicing riding off road while sitting down to conserve some more energy...

That's all I got.

[Laoch]

I need to start practicing riding off road while sitting down to conserve some more energy...

Let me know when you figure out how to do that.

[gots_a_sol]

Joe was on his recently re-acquired yamaha wr250f since his husky's motor is out getting stroked (ooh la la). I was getting way ahead of him at the start as he was becoming reacquainted with the bike. He adjusted the throttle play on the trail but some things were beyond trailside adjustments (brakes that don't brake, extra 50 lbs over his beloved husky, painful stock seat, etc).

Yea, pretty much anything I've ever complained about on the husky suddenly wasn't a problem

wr-f pros
-e-start
-lower seat height than the husky
-low end grunt was impressive
-wide ratio trans. This is actually the only real complaint I have with the husky.

wr-f cons
-heavy
-brakes are scarily bad. Coming down that steep steep hill I couldn't stop, I was just maintaining speed. Standing on the rear brake lever and all fingers on the front lever.
-stock seat (like most bikes)
-very heavy clutch pull.
-engine braking. This is actually my biggest complaint on 4-strokes. I love the all most non-existent EB of a smoker.
-low end grunt was a surprise at times. Such as when loading the bike up at the end of the day and I gave it a little bit too much clutch
-doesn't turn nearly as tightly as the husky. The triples hit the stops much earlier than I'd like. They are not adjustable either
-suspension was all out of whack/front end was very light and skittish. Hard to have confidence in it.



When the husky does get put back in service, it will be even more amazing after a month on this bike hahaha. Plus an additional 12cc will be nice.

[gots_a_sol]

Oh and not sure how accurate the speedo is on the wr-f but it says we did about 20 miles.

[Marylander]

That sounds about right. I managed to not record the beginning but got 15.8 miles of it recorded.

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/display/20 ... 0-map.html