by Coloradoenduro » Mon May 09, 2016 9:23 am
*Spoiler Alert* No broken bones or damaged machinery to report.
I was finally able to get the bike out on Saturday and do some decent riding. I went to Texas creek which is a wee bit of a haul however; this was necessary due to all of the snow the front-range has received over the past 6 weeks.
The trail conditions were dry with loose shale, rocks and decomposed granite. I rode for 2 hours and got more comfortable with the bike the more that I rode it. The riding area consists of narrow roads and single track type of trails. I nearly got into trouble on one of the steeper hills. The trail was narrow and had many sharp turns and tree branches obstructing the view. The hill went from a minor grade to progressively steep. I ended up shifting down to 1st because of the lack of speed that I was carrying. Slower speed was necessary because I was constantly ducking and leaning away from tree branches. I might have been able to carry 2nd gear but there is no way that my old machine would have carried 2nd. Again, I’m still learning how capable my Beta truly is. As I neared the top of the hill (maybe 1 mile total length), I was sucking wind, sweating and my forearms were burning. I didn’t think much of it until I turned the bike around and was getting ready to head back down. It finally hit me just how steep this hill was. I was not at all looking forward to descending. The good news is that I kept it upright the entire time.
My point to this is the hill became very steep and rough near the top and the bike didn’t have ANY problem whatsoever. I’m still amazed as I write this. As far as the rider, I need to work harder on my cardio when at the Gym….
Lessons learned: 1) Try very hard to avoid 1st gear. Throttle control can be difficult when bouncing over rocks, dodging tree branches, etc. 2) Maybe walk the hill first when you can’t see more than 30’ ahead.
On the narrow rough roads, I wasn’t going fast but would consistently cruise at 31 MPH. These same roads almost killed the rider and suspension of my old bike at speeds greater than 20 MPH.
Observations: The seat wasn’t as terrible as expected. I really didn’t have any issues after 2 hours. I was going to install a seat concepts seat but might wait on that upgrade. I will say the anatomy of the seat designer was much different from mine. This was rather unpleasant once when I was sitting down over a rougher stretch of trail. Maybe a little wider seat? Looks like I’ll get about 45 miles of range per tank. I think this is normal for the 300? I did have spent premix dripping from the exhaust pipe rubber coupling. I was probably running too rich for the remainder of the 1st premix tank. I followed the manual on the 1st tank and 1% premix. I ran 1/3 of a tank of non-mixed fuel through it near the end of the ride and I’ll pull the plug to have a look at it. Is the coupling leakage issue normal? If it is, I’ll probably install 2 stainless steel hose clamps.
I had an excellent time and am attaching a few pics. The snowcapped mountains in the background are the Sangre De Cristo’s.
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2016 300RR - Sold
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