I made it out to a state park in Missouri that has a large offroad park. Unfortunately it's mostly ridden by ATV's, so the trails through the woods had low hanging branches, it was rutted pretty bad in places but was still good practice. IF nothing else I got practice picking up my bike and some hill climbs. I dropped the bike at least 5 times, not damage but hte decals on the fairing are pretty scratched up. ZERO damage to hard parts except on my last fall, my shift lever slipped upwards and I couldn't up shift anymore.

At the park was a small MX track. I definitely got a few strange looks wiht a bike with signals, mirrors and a rack wiht a Pelican case on the back. Over all the track was not too difficult which is good since it was my first time on jumps. I nearly killed myself on the first lap until I got the hang of the apprach to the jumps... ie control you approach speed and use LOTS of throttle on the launch. I fought to urge to come at at jump with a lot of speed exiting a corner, but i know it would end in disaster. It was a firly tight track so I pretty much just kept it in second gear.

After a few dozen laps I wasn't hitting any doubes but was landing fairly smoothly and having a good time. The suspension on this biek is great. I cased a couple jumps a little and nosed the front end on a few landings but I always managed to save it. It seemed like I might have been bottoming it out when I really got some air and landed flat on the ground or into the approach (slight incline) to the next jump. Next time I going ot get the nerve to hit a double, at least on a small rythym type jump. I'm not too bad in most corners and through small whoops.

Overall.. THIS BIKE ROCKS! You definitely can't ride any other dual sport the way I rode this bike today. I think I would have broken A DR-Z400 or at least crashed on more than one landing in that MX track.

I'm amazed how well the bike handles being dumped. No broken mirrors, signals or anything. The bike even fell off my trailer when I was unloading this evening. No damage, just another scratch on the radiator shrouds. They seem to take most of the abuse. The handguarsds also held up very well.



PS - the exhaust wasn't too loud. Lots of other people had exhausts that were much louder. The power and throttle response really helped on the track and in the woods, but a stock bike would have been perfectly capable in such low speeds.

 

Thanks for the report about how the bike handled. I can't wait to get mine to the track.

 

Have a smooth throttle not lagging and your jump attitude will be much better. Also I made a huge mistake this weekend by over excellerating over a rutted double and paid dearly. My rear tire hopped to one side of the rut then hopped out of the rut then tagged the top of the jump wich sent the rear tire out to the right. I flew threw the air sideways landed hard, high sided then flipped of the bike like a rag doll. Damage to me: Bruised ribs, sprained wrist, and bad bruises on both thighs. Damage to the bike: fork pushed up into the triple clamp(quik fix), possible bar twist( so small not noticable), and shattered front fender.

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the fix( I have a new fender coming in a couple days)

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You should add a couple of band aids on that fender just for aestetics.

It's amazing how much abuse these bikes can take. I was sure something was going to be cracked when it fell of my trailer. I'd swear that the suspension was bottoming out when I landed off a few of those jumps. I definitely bottomed out the front fork when I cased a small rythem jump and nearly endoed the bike.

Now I just need ot take a hair dryer and remove the decals off the side of the radiator shrouds since they are scratched up pretty bad anyway. I'm actually suprised the radiators aren't damaged from most of the bikes weight being supported by them when it falls over.

Again no cracked handguards, signals or broken mirrors! NOw that's low maintenance. I could lowside this bike on the street, dust myself off, pick it up and keep going. I'm definitely taking this thing out in the snow next winter. I've had bicycles that couldnt; take thsi much abuse without stuff breaking.

 

Got my new front fender from UFO today made the switch to black. FYI KDX front fender same as KLX 300R, and our bike.

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Side veiw

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Oh ya! I removed all turn signal Items to make the bike look more enduro(plus North Carolina doesn't require them)

 

The bike looks great! can we get all black plastic for this bike?I think this bike would look bad *** in all black!!

 

Fender looks good.... I bet this one is a bit stronger than the stock one. I will be calling you if I need some help with the carb. Oh and I'm gonna stick with the new clutch. I will be ordering that soon.