It was an early meet at 6:30am and we got to ride with other locals, Ken my son and Ken the Berger.
Now, why so early, well, if you go here you'll understand why.
The problem is that it gets hot real fast and you'll understand why in a minute this was a problem for this first ride.
First of, we had a few problems starting the bike, but it did start eventually, and we adjusted the idle screw and that was Berger's first help for that ride. You know, a Berger is very handy to take with on a trail ride. I would advise you do so once in a while.
Berger had his Husky (the 650 really hates the heat), a British dude had a GasGas and the rest of us were all bl1ngish and japanese.
So here we go and Berger and I tally along, Berger deciding to sweep as usual.
I totally enjoyed the difference right away. Most of my struggles on the Lil'Pig were gone. No lack of power, no bouncing left and right each time I hit a bump or a whoops section and the bike actually went exactly where I wanted to. I could not believe it... What a blast... This exhilaration lasted about 5 minutes until I fell and stalled
Ok I took the fall very philosophically and knew I was going to fall this morning. I charged down a hill and realized the thing was zipping this time, unlike the pig. There was a sharp turn at the end of the hill and I realized I never had really touched the rear brake at that time, did not thing about using it for some reason, and I used the front, which was absolutely useless on its own so instead of jumping off the trail and ending in a cactus, I decided to lay it in the sand.
Duuuuh, I forgot this bike does not want to restart on the button. It was already hot. I had ridden a bit hard and had already started to tire a bit for it. That's when I heard a Husky arrive behind me, with a yellow jersey on top. I told you Berger can be very handy.
Well, he did give me some starting lessons. I returned the favor by giving him some French lessons. After a couple kicks, including hitting TDC (I have to learn to know when it's coming) tadaaa the motor woke up. Oooh I loved the feeling.
So here we go again. I passed one of our fellow riders who had come back to get us, and we start going up and down on an easy single track. Well it was easy NOW. I had taken Lil'Pig on single tracks before and it always ended up in French lessons and a lot of aggravation.
First stop, everybody notices the bike is losing fluid. Hmmm.. not good... Actually the radiator fluid was overheating (as is normal on a Berg) and was not getting into the overflow bottle I mounted (Yes, I did my first mod, taadaaaaah! Hmmm I wish I had changed the battery instead... duh...). Little scare, actually. The line was not primed and was full of air. When the air pressure got sufficient, all of a sudden high pressure coolant flushed into the overflow bottle and a big squirt came out... from the overflow's overflow... Hmmm... You don't get it? Forget it, it's fine. At that point I was good to go. Just had a very hard time restarting again. Still learning...
Well the rest went fine until I forgot to charge up a hill and that's were I learned that you have to rev a Husaberg real hard all the time. Bottom end does exist, but it seems to start at 7000 rpm.
I was stuck in that hill and I tried desperately to kick start it with the clutch engaged, but it did not work. Getting into neutral was not possible without falling, so I turned it around, and managed to start it, but I was already getting hot. Vultures started to turn over us.
To make it short, we decided to get back to the truck and to let the 4 other guys ride on their own without the anchor. Riding back to the truck, I realized I forgot Berger. Kenny and I misunderstood him and we went each in the wrong directions.
Anyway, in the meantime I had lost the endurance computer, after the mount broke in the first fall. But there really was no endurance to compute. Kenny found it anyway. Teenagers too can be useful at times.
Back at the truck, Berger told us he was done for the day. Kenny and I decided to follow the jeep trail so I could get accustomed to the new bike a bit more. Being rested, it went fine as well. I obviously need to have this bike dialed in for me but it was close enough for a first ride. Bobzilla and I are not too different in weight.
I did manage to go too fast and to crash. I jumped on a bump and landed very badly, could not save it, so I crashed it at about 35mph, but survived that crash like so many before. I twisted the front axle, fixed it fine by blocking the front wheel and twisting the bar. The clutch master cylinder was also twisted towards me but I realized the rear view mirror could be used as a lever to push it back into position.
Having survived my first "high speed" crash, I decided to call it a day. I was actually pooped from all the restarts and the heat plus the last crash totally finished me.
Overall it was a nice first ride, exactly as I expected, except for the electrical issue which has to be fixed, I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and Kenny enjoyed riding with a faster version of me.
Now, why so early, well, if you go here you'll understand why.
The problem is that it gets hot real fast and you'll understand why in a minute this was a problem for this first ride.
First of, we had a few problems starting the bike, but it did start eventually, and we adjusted the idle screw and that was Berger's first help for that ride. You know, a Berger is very handy to take with on a trail ride. I would advise you do so once in a while.
Berger had his Husky (the 650 really hates the heat), a British dude had a GasGas and the rest of us were all bl1ngish and japanese.
So here we go and Berger and I tally along, Berger deciding to sweep as usual.
I totally enjoyed the difference right away. Most of my struggles on the Lil'Pig were gone. No lack of power, no bouncing left and right each time I hit a bump or a whoops section and the bike actually went exactly where I wanted to. I could not believe it... What a blast... This exhilaration lasted about 5 minutes until I fell and stalled
Ok I took the fall very philosophically and knew I was going to fall this morning. I charged down a hill and realized the thing was zipping this time, unlike the pig. There was a sharp turn at the end of the hill and I realized I never had really touched the rear brake at that time, did not thing about using it for some reason, and I used the front, which was absolutely useless on its own so instead of jumping off the trail and ending in a cactus, I decided to lay it in the sand.
Duuuuh, I forgot this bike does not want to restart on the button. It was already hot. I had ridden a bit hard and had already started to tire a bit for it. That's when I heard a Husky arrive behind me, with a yellow jersey on top. I told you Berger can be very handy.
Well, he did give me some starting lessons. I returned the favor by giving him some French lessons. After a couple kicks, including hitting TDC (I have to learn to know when it's coming) tadaaa the motor woke up. Oooh I loved the feeling.
So here we go again. I passed one of our fellow riders who had come back to get us, and we start going up and down on an easy single track. Well it was easy NOW. I had taken Lil'Pig on single tracks before and it always ended up in French lessons and a lot of aggravation.
First stop, everybody notices the bike is losing fluid. Hmmm.. not good... Actually the radiator fluid was overheating (as is normal on a Berg) and was not getting into the overflow bottle I mounted (Yes, I did my first mod, taadaaaaah! Hmmm I wish I had changed the battery instead... duh...). Little scare, actually. The line was not primed and was full of air. When the air pressure got sufficient, all of a sudden high pressure coolant flushed into the overflow bottle and a big squirt came out... from the overflow's overflow... Hmmm... You don't get it? Forget it, it's fine. At that point I was good to go. Just had a very hard time restarting again. Still learning...
Well the rest went fine until I forgot to charge up a hill and that's were I learned that you have to rev a Husaberg real hard all the time. Bottom end does exist, but it seems to start at 7000 rpm.
I was stuck in that hill and I tried desperately to kick start it with the clutch engaged, but it did not work. Getting into neutral was not possible without falling, so I turned it around, and managed to start it, but I was already getting hot. Vultures started to turn over us.
To make it short, we decided to get back to the truck and to let the 4 other guys ride on their own without the anchor. Riding back to the truck, I realized I forgot Berger. Kenny and I misunderstood him and we went each in the wrong directions.
Anyway, in the meantime I had lost the endurance computer, after the mount broke in the first fall. But there really was no endurance to compute. Kenny found it anyway. Teenagers too can be useful at times.
Back at the truck, Berger told us he was done for the day. Kenny and I decided to follow the jeep trail so I could get accustomed to the new bike a bit more. Being rested, it went fine as well. I obviously need to have this bike dialed in for me but it was close enough for a first ride. Bobzilla and I are not too different in weight.
I did manage to go too fast and to crash. I jumped on a bump and landed very badly, could not save it, so I crashed it at about 35mph, but survived that crash like so many before. I twisted the front axle, fixed it fine by blocking the front wheel and twisting the bar. The clutch master cylinder was also twisted towards me but I realized the rear view mirror could be used as a lever to push it back into position.
Having survived my first "high speed" crash, I decided to call it a day. I was actually pooped from all the restarts and the heat plus the last crash totally finished me.
Overall it was a nice first ride, exactly as I expected, except for the electrical issue which has to be fixed, I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and Kenny enjoyed riding with a faster version of me.
