New bike build-up: Stage 2, Guards and First Ride

Making grip diameter larger

Got some time over a couple more nights last week to finish up getting most of the bike built up.  First was grips.  I prefer the Pro-Grip pillow tops but didn't have any one hand.  I've got a collection of other ones in the parts bin so I decided to use up some stock.  Got a really helpful tip from Gilles T. a while back...use tape under the grips to make them bigger in diameter and more comfortable for my long hands.  I use two rounds of Gorrilla Tape.  I run the grips under the hot water tap for a couple minutes and they get nice and pliable and go on smooth with some spray adhesive acting as lubricant until it starts to set up.

Extended barkbusters

In the previous post, I mentioned about the way in which I'm using regular barkbusters with some extensions to reach the FastWay top clamp.  You should be able to get the gist of it from this pic.  This set up seems to work really well in that the bolted joint at the extension provides just a little flex during impacts, but the FastWay clamp and the threaded bar ends keep things in place very well.


With this being my first FI bike, this was also my first map switch.  The KTM Hard Parts one is a very slick setup that takes the place of the top of the clutch perch.  A very interesting feature that I was not aware of is that there are actually three maps: stock, mild, and aggressive.  With the switch, position one is always stock.  Position two is determined by another switch mounted under the seat near the ECU.  On this switch, position one will make the map switch option select the mild map.  When the under-seat switch is in position two, the map switch option will select the aggressive map.  Pretty cool stuff and a very clean install.

Handlebar map switch

Under-seat optional map selector

Of course, for any New England bike, the usual protection items are mandatory.  For the first time, I went with the Hard Parts plastic skid plate.  This was the only item on this build-up that didn't really fit well.  My guess is that there are slight changes in the engine mount gussets from the 2012 to the 2013 bikes.  I had to do a little bending on the mount to make it work.  I replaced the Dzus fastener at the front with a bolt for security.  It's the only fastener holding on the plate so removing it for oil changes should still be very easy.  Also included in the protection category are the shark fin and radiator guards.  Both of these items are from Bullet Proof and the fit was perfect and installation very easy.

BulletProof rad. guard

BulletProof shark fin

Hard Parts skid plate

While I had the airbox open, I did a couple other things.  I made a little gap for the tail light wire to get in there, I switched out the stock battery for the TurnTech that I had on the 300, and I also installed a little bit of skidplate foam over the drain at the bottom of the airbox.  I've been doing this for a while now.  The foam lets water drain out but also slows down or stops any splashes from coming in.

TurnTech battery

KTM tail light

Skidplate foam covering
airbox vent

With all that done, it was finally time for a real ride.  After the 600+ hours that the Pathfinders put into getting Thomaston Dam open for riding, we finally had a chance to enjoy the fruits of our labor in the form of a nice club ride.  I think 20+ members, family, and friends showed.  Weather was perfect and I got to work breaking in the bike.  I already know that the suspension was going to be firm, but I didn't know just HOW FIRM it would be.  VERY firm is the answer.  I took it as a good sign that, even with the MX-type suspension, the bike did not really deflect at all but it definitely was not well suited for N.E.  The next thing I noticed was the power of the motor.  I was still a little skeptical that a 350 would be enough to haul around my 235lbs.  I no longer have any doubts.  The motor is strong and very useful.  I'll know more on the next ride when I can open it up some more, but I like the motor and the FI a lot.  The map switch provides a very subtle change in the mild map.  It doesn't feel de-tuned, just a little mild.  Should be very useful on slippery days.  The motor has very little flywheel effect which does make it susceptible to stalling.  Turning the idle up a little and minding the clutch seem to take care of this.  Here's a quick helmet cam video of the second loop of the day.  I was staying away from the most technical trails until I get the suspension back from Gilles later this week.  You can hear the quick-revving nature of the motor in the beginning of the video - nothing like the RFS 450 that was my last 4-stroke.

I think it's going to be a really fun bike!

New bike build-up: Stage 1, Controls

This season has been pretty much a loss due to my terrible riding connected to the chronic headaches and vision issues I've been dealing with.  So, might as well write a little about something optimistic.  Nothing more optimistic than getting a NEW BIKE!

Thanks to Pete T. at Razee for a really honest deal and great customer service, I'm now selling the '09 300 and I'm back on a thumper:  2013 350xc-f.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Think it's going to be a great bike and tons of fun.  So, it's not as interesting as talking about racing, but I thought it might be cool to document building up the bike for New England enduros.  Never really documented the process before with other bikes.

Tight panel gaps

First, some quick initial impressions of the bike.  I've only done a couple backyard circles on it so far but it definitely does not feel heavier than my 2009 2-stroke.  It feels just as flickable.  This is my first F.I. bike and it's impressive.  Quick power but not jarring.  With the stock silencer, the noise is not too bad at all.  The motor seems a little tight right now...it will not start in gear (bike is e-start-only).  The fit and finish on this bike is really impressive.  The gaps between body panels looks like something you'd see on a Lexus.  It seems like with each successive KTM that I've had, they've upped their game in this department.  The shrouds are two-piece, and the quality fit continues there.  One other thing that I've noticed so far is that the foot pegs are canted back just slightly - angled back maybe 10 degrees or so.  Maybe KTM thinks that we're all bowlegged and their trying to help.

Two-piece shrouds

Canted foot pegs

Looking at the foot peg picture, you can also get a feel for how the oil filler cap kind of sticks out a little.  Wonder if this is what caught out Charlie Mullins in the first couple National Enduros of this year.

Now on to set up:  Of course, bike set up is an extremely personal thing.  I'm tall (almost 6'5") with most of my height being in my legs.  I'm riding New England enduros where timekeeping still survives -- if only slightly.

Fastway top bar clamp

Bars in forward-most position

Three bikes ago, I bought Fastway barkbusters - the ones that mount to the special top bar clamp and are extra long.  I didn't have good luck with the bark busters themselves, but I really like the top clamp part of the system.  So, I've added little bolt-on extensions to stock Moose barkbusters and hook'em to the Fastway clamp.  (pics of this setup in a future post)  

A main reason that the KTMs work well for me are the ergos.  Being able to move the bars to the forward-most position and rolling them forward some really help give me some space in the cockpit.  I took a class with Rich Lafferty a while back and he told me something counterintuitive....a tall guy should use low, straight bars.  Didn't seem to make sense at the time, but I've now really come to like the Carmichael bends that I've cut down to 30.5".

Reshaped front brake MC

It seems like Brembo has reconfigured the front master cylinder a little bit - for the better.  The banjo bolt now seems to mount a little lower.  I run my levers somewhat low and my bars rolled forward and in the past I've run into interference problems in this spot.  This new (to me) set up seems much better.

For the Dugas Watchdog, I came up with a pretty clean mounting idea about a year ago.  I drilled one hole in the Fastway top clamp and use, one bolt, a spacer, and just one of the mounting tabs that come with the computer.  This rig has about 100 miles on it now and has not moved at all.  Along with this, I've made it a habit to always run my kill switch backwards so as to avoid accidentally hitting it when going for the computer switch.  Now, I think it's a much better thing to reach for the kill switch with my index finger rather than thumb.  It feels just like reaching for the clutch...really natural and I still have my thumb around the grip.

Watchdog mounted to top clamp

That's it for now.  Hope to finish up grips, headlight, and map switch next time I can get into the garage.

Watchdog and kill switches

Watchdog mounted to top clamp

Open Season

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted here.  With last season being a wash after hurting my back and this season starting off with a thud....flat in the second section of the snow run....I've finally got something worth posting about....The Sandy Lane.

While not a points-paying event for us NETRA guys, the Sandy Lane is the unofficial re-start of the season (after the Snow Run, of course).  We had a really good contingent of Pathfinders go down this year; eight of us in all.  The ride down, sign up, and tech inspection went really well on Saturday.  Because this was the 75th anniversary of the ride, they put out a really cool display of vintage bikes and I heard that John Penton was on the grounds but didn't see him myself.

The only exception to the smooth sign-up procedure that I was smart enough to cut my right wrist wide open while crawling around in the jam-packed trailer...caught it on the underside-corner of one of the drawers in the tool box.  It really looked like I was going to need stitches, but a combination of New Skin, bandages, sport tape, and duct tape kept things together and eventually stopped the bleeding.  That night was the usual tom-foolery of dinner out with the guys, watching SX in somebody's hotel room, and junk food.

The Race:

I had told the guys that I was there to practice and would not be at my race pace and I kept to that....for most of the day.  The first sections was laid out like last year.  Off the start Scott and Ed went off in front of me and then at 0.3mi there was a big reset.  Just enough riding to get warmed up a little and then just enough reset to cool off.  What followed was about three miles of sugary South Jersey whoops.  It was a cruel awakening to the riding muscles that had been dormant for months.  I started to feel it in my legs and arms and worried that it was going to be a very long day.  But at about mile 4 the whoops subsided and we were into some very cool rhythm riding.

The second check was a check-in to the first timed section of the day.  This was the fun stuff that we go there for every year: semi-open single track that you could just rail into the turns and dump the clutch on the way out.  Ed and I ran the whole thing pretty much nose to tail, swapping the lead once or twice.  Really a lot of fun.  Rick (who was riding one row behind us), Ed and I all dropped a 5.  Nice big reset after the section got us all back on our minute.

This transfer section was familiar from the past few years.  They ran us out into and around the big square plots of a tree farm.  This was the deepest and softest sand of the day.  Lots of fun if you kept your momentum.  After rounding the far side of the field we saw a check-in well ahead.  I was running about 20 seconds hot but because the check was easily visible there was plenty of time to scrub that off and come in right at the top of the minute.  Ed came into the check right next to me only a second later and I knew the drag race would be on.  I dropped the clutch, went to WFO throttle on the 300 and quick-shifted up to 5th as quick as I could....probably accidentally roosted the check workers....sorry about that!  Later, Ed said that he'd had trouble getting his bike into gear.

This section was more of the same, super-fun Jersey stuff.  Lots of rhythm stuff with lots of flow.  Ed was on my rear for the first part of the section.  I was pushing, but not at full race pace.  Just trying to concentrate on form and technique.  In the middle of the section, there was a very cool little enduro-cross bit.  Some piles of logs and a few MX-style berms.  I was a real squid through this stuff and just tried to keep forward motion.  In the zig-zag of the section I saw that Ed was just behind with Rick right behind him (having caught us from one row back).  I just concentrated on staying smooth and consistent without pushing too hard.  Rick caught me about 2 miles before the end of this long section that ended in an e-check.  I pushed hard at this point and he let me lead and gave me a good push.  I dropped 11 and Rick 10.

Ed led us into the next section and I just concentrated on staying on his tire and keeping my form.  There was a really cool, spooky section that had been hit by brush fires...earth, trees, and brush all the same shade of gray.  Just as Ed and I arrived, we came upon about 5 slower riders.  Because of the burnt, thinned, brush, I was able to spot a cheater line and squirt by the whole bunch in one move.  Ed stayed right on my tail for the rest of another really fun, long section with both of us dropping 11.  Then to gas to get ready for the second loop of the day.

It was obvious by the routesheet that the majority of the second loop would be the A/B section.  We spent the gas stop telling Jim that he should forget about the fact that he's a C rider and do the A/B with us....he caved and did it.  Good thing too.  I led us into the section after the split, riding just about 10 seconds hot.  I spotted the check in about 20 yards up the trail and started to scrub time.  Then I saw the check sign indicating that it was a START check and sped in to wait for the flip.  We all knew what to expect here....9 miles of "the meat grinder".  However, the Meteor club took it fairly easy on us.  There definitely was trail here that was super-tight.  But it was not as relentless as years past.

After about 6 miles of tiring, tight trail, we came into another clearing and another enduro-cross section.  I rode this one a little better than the last but not much.  This was a light at the end of the meat grinder tunnel because all of the spectators and parked vehicles certainly signaled the end of the A/B section and a rest at gas.....or so I thought.  There was, indeed, a check here.  I thanked the guy that wrote my score on my card and said to him "That was a workout!"  He replied "Ya got about 3 more miles!"  No reset here, which meant any tardiness at this check would be compounded at the next.  I was feeling surprisingly good and pushed on. And finished up the section.  Somewhere in the middle of this section, Jim - the guy that we had to talk into riding it - passed me like I was standing still.  I tried to hang with him but couldn't.  I just got back into my zone and rode.  A little before the eventual end of the A/B I caught and passed Jim when he toppled.  He was riding super-quick up until then.

Back to gas and then the final section.  It turned out that this section was not timed at all...just ending at the beer tent with a KNOWN.  I vote for this checkpoint as the best one on the east coast.  Can't beat ending an enduro with a red Solo cup full of beer.

In all, I was pretty happy with how I rode.  My score was decent.  Hands not too torn up and body not too sore.  Looking forward to next year already!