Ptkatoomer

So, just got back from my second trip out to Colorado where the wife and I went to visit our son and see the grandkids. They live in Pine Junction which is up the mountains from Denver at about 8500 feet. While there, my good friend Pearson (also from Ramona - he moved there 5 years ago ) agreed to be our trail guide. My first day there be took my son and I on a 65 mile ride. The first 40 miles were all technical singletrack ; lots of loose, shale rocks and roots. Some of these sections were just relentless, going up or down for hundreds of yards. If you screwed up on the accents it was a bear to get going again. I'll tell you: if I could ride this kind of stuff all the time, the Tecate enduro would be no problem! I ended up taking my 500 Exc and a 350 XC-f. My son rode the 500. For the 350 I was concerned about stalling so I added a weight to the clutch and also adjusted the tpi setting. Looking online I was told that stock should be somewhere around 5.6 - 5.8 ( you can't find any info in the manual about this). This one was set at 5.2 so I richened it up to 6.2. Well, even with that this bike would unexpectedly stall when you closed the throttle. It happened ALOT. Probably 15 times during our ride. We had multiple water crossings during the ride, three of them quite deep, fast-flowing and rocky. One of them you had to get off, soak your boots and pick your way across. One of the above mentioned flame-outs caused me to take a bath, completely soaking my back and pants. I will say though, that 350 was so light and nimble that if I could figure out a way to prevent the stalls, this would be a great bike for this kind of stuff. Maybe a Rekluse would cure it but that would be an expensive solution. The suspension was stiff for this kind of terrain, even with setting the air forks 10psi lower then stock. If you pushed hard though, it could really soak it up. It IS a racebike after all. At the end of our trip my friend Pearson and I did another 80 miles of narrow, twisty two-track through the mountains. The trail was only wide enough for a quad - a Razor or a Jeep couldn't fit. It was smooth and flowey with a lot of bermed turns. I rode the 50o for this ride and it was perfect for this. I rode this bike last year and I gotta say this time, with the suspension redone by George at 101, the bike was amazing. In between these two days I did a mountain bike ride with my son. I'm sure he was disappointed. Within the first mile I was gasping for air big-time and had to stop and get off and walk. We didn't do anywhere near the ride he was planning but I still managed a 4 1/2 mile climb with a really fun downhill return. Ostensibly this trip was about the grandkids and we did have lots of fun with picnics by the river and walks around the lake. Even took in the new Toy story 4 movie. All in all, those rides were the epitome of what I hoped to experience in Colorado. Had a blast.

I'm with Kenny. With the trailtech fan you're temps are being monitored and what I really like is how that waterless coolant doesn't cause any kind of corrosion.

Yep. I ruined a perfectly good Belstaff jacket back in the day doing that. I want to try one of these rides on my 500 using a backpack. See if this could work or would it be too much weight on the shoulders /top heavy, etc......

Back in the 70's one of the local pros in the desert would slather his chain in some really heavy grease and then hit it with a blow torch to melt it into the links. We used to soak 'em in gear oil and then hang them up to drip dry. Now it's WD, chain lube and replace as necessary.

I got a steel and aluminum one like Bp's talking about to replace the crazy heavy all steel unit I had. It's been great and I love the light weight.

Darth Vaders Imperial cruiser let him down! Might have something to do with the FACT that the '15 500 Exc is the greatest bike of all time.....

Hey! Somebody needs to update their bike profiles......

I'll be in an older white 4runner with a 500Exc. If some naked old guys see me be sure and wave me down. Approaching the wrong naked guys could a problem.........

Thanks!

I'll make it , but i have no idea where you're talking about meeting..... Bow willow camp says it's in Julian?

X4

Girl smoked me out in the desert on one of those when I challenged her to a drag race on my pull-start Briggs & Stratton:-) I'm still getting smoked by the girls now down at the Tecate enduro!

There's two sites I use that have been a wealth of information and meeting like-minded riders. Sdar is one of them. I contribute to both. Small price (literally) to pay for such benefits.

I think if I was to try Adventure, this would he the scoot i'd like to have .......

Great looking trail! How'd the ride go?