Jump to content
Guest

950 Attack !!

Recommended Posts

Guest

And how to properly break in your new Adventure Tourer...............photo

link.

http://community.webshots.com/album/258409036OCOuuO

Saturday I took a drive up to Irv's BMW shop in Orange, near Anaheim. They

had a beautiful 950 Adventure for a good price, only 900 miles, first

service already done, immaculate condition, Touratech Panniers and a Corbin

Seat. I just couldn't resist. Sunday, met the Sunday Social Club (my regular

group of riding friends) and we had 5, yes, FIVE KTM 950's in the group.

After breakfast with the boys at La Posta, I headed off on my own. Took the

dirt road behind La Posta diner to the powerline trail, then to Buckman

Springs. I figured the best way to break in my 950 on my first ride is to

take it to Corral Canyon. I had a blast on the narrow, twisty road on the

way in to Corral Canyon OHV Area. Up at the 4 Corners Trailhead, I let some

air out of the tires and took the trail along the road down to the lower

campground. Out of the campground, I took one of the trails that heads up to

the upper campground. This trail was more challenging than usual due to all

the recent, heavy rains. And more challenging to me since I was just getting

used to the 950.

At the intersection with the perimeter road, I headed to Kiernan Cycle Trail

and took that down a few miles from the 4 Corners Trailhead. This section of

the trail was also more challenging since a lot more rocks were exposed and

there were more ruts than usual.

After crossing the paved road, I started up the other side of Kiernan Cycle

Trail towards Pine Valley. The stream was flowing strong, and passed a

waterfall in the distance. This trail gets pretty challenging in some spots.

On one steep uphill, I wasn't quite sure of how well the 950 works. I got

into a rut and it was very loose, so I stalled it. I was on a steep incline,

so it took me about 10 minutes to back down the hill about 40 feet, while

using the clutch with the motor turned off to prevent the bike from sliding

downhill. At the bottom, I took the easy way around the uphill.

Continued up the trail, stalling quite a few times, the bike is still stock

and needs some jetting and all the pollution crap taken off. I also ALMOST

dropped it many times, but saved it each time. Then got up to the main dirt

road and headed into Pine Valley for gas and hydration.

After a break, I went to Descanso and took the Boulder Creek dirt road

towards 78. Cedar Creek is still closed from the fires last year, too bad,

that's a great, fun trail. Then blasted down the twisties to Santa Ysabel,

Old Julian Hwy. to Wildcat Canyon.

I turned off onto one of my favorite trails. The ground was still so moist

and dark, and greenery was everywhere. As I progressed along, the trail

started to get very rutted out, it looked like a river had been flowing down

it. I was going up a small incline, stalled the bike, and couldn't save it

from tipping over. Oh well, it figures I drop it on the last trail of the

day, the first scratches !!

Continued further up the trail until it was so washed out, I didn't want to

risk dropping it again trying to get around the ruts and washouts, so I

turned back. Up the road a few miles, I turned off and took another section

of the trail until I had to hit the pavement for the final blast back home

to San Diego.

An awesome day of riding, and I think the KTM and I will get along just

fine. My Ducati E900 Elefant is a great bike, but the KTM power is awesome

and fun, and it has better suspension. Looking forward to more Adventure

Touring and dirt riding on both !!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Ziggy

Great write-up of a great 1st ride. Does the 950 seem a little too big/heavy for such small trails though?I have a hard enough time with the 640 Adventure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Ziggy

Great write-up of a great 1st ride. Does the 950 seem a little too big/heavy for such small trails though?I have a hard enough time with the 640 Adventure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, it's a workout with the big bike on the tighter, tougher trails, but I'm used to riding my 900 Elefant. I like the challenge !!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×

Important Information