These are some pictures of my first ride on the new bike. I drove from Sacramento east to Jackson and then up Hwy 88 to Bear River Lake Resort to test out the bike. The bike has plenty of low end torque and just cruised right up the mountain roads. The original gearing was pretty high, a 15 tooth front sprocket and a 42 rear sprocket. I changed it to a 14 front and a 45 rear. I gassed up at the resort and had an ice coffee to let my bottom side take a rest. These dirt bike seats aren’t like driving a BMW. Then I headed up past the cabins to the trail head. At first the black top turned into a dirt road and everything was great. Going over some hoop de doo’s I went airborne and really had some fun. The stock tires worked very well. As I progressed the dirt trail turned into the Rubicon. Instead of me eating up the road, the rocks and boulders were starting to eat me up. I need to progress in my riding skills before taking on the rough stuff like this. The bike is 320 lbs and I am 210 lbs, plus I was wearing a back pack with water, extra jacket and a tool kit. The only time I really had a problem was going up in in a long stretch of rocks and boulders when I stalled the bike. Because of my weight I could get the bike up, I just kept spinning the tire. I had to get off the bike and ease it up with a slight throttle and a good push. Pretty soon I got tired of fighting the rocks and turned around for easier trails. Going home I headed across the old Latrobe dirt road and past Hang Town motocross track. It was a good first test on the bike. I love the dirt trails and the bike eats them up.
Thanks for the advice. I usually ride with my brother inlaw, he has a KTM 530 EXC, he loves the rough stuff and keeps taking me further into the out back. I wanted to go alone and feel free of pressure for the first trip. Where to you go riding down your way?
