Jordan Creek Ride Report (E-Ticket -- 12/20/09)

First things first: I LOVE MY FRACKING NEW BIKE!!!!! :roost:



There. I feel better. One of my riding buddies Dave Klug just got a new '10 KTM 250 XCW and I just picked up a '10 Husaberg FE 390.
Finally got all of the protection pieces and bling-bling installed on it and have been 'jones-in' to go for a ride. But with the ice and freezing temps, and the "Noah" rain following it, have made it tough. Saturday looked good - then turned rainy - and we said, "screw it...let's go riding!"

Met up with Dave Canfield and Kawi 450 at the North Plains Chevron and headed on out to Jordan Creek. On the drive over the top, saw ot's of big ice chunks left over on the waterfall spots - but the woods looked pretty clear. The only question was "how muddy, eh?"

Parked, loaded up and took some pre-ride photos. (Had to take these hiding under the tailgate of the Scooby ... rain was starting up again.)

Dave Klug on his '10 KTM 250 XCW:

{ DAVE K: Dave Canfield, Randy Burress and I went out to Keenig Crk Saturday for a puttsy even though the weather forecast had changed from dry to rain, practically overnite. Got to the parking lot in a full heavy PACNW mist, dressed, admired new bikes, discuss how many blue anodized parts could be on a bike before it was officially "cheerful" (inside joke) and took off into the mist. It wasn't too bad once we started going, not too cold and the mist wasn't heavy enough to obscure vision. We jumped on the Jordan Creek trails down to the staging area, took that side trail and then went over to Spaur Ck trail. Yes Randy, you were right about the trail location and I still owe you 5 push ups and a Diet Coke... ;-) Trails were not bad, I expected lot's of standing water and mud but traction was fine and never any deep puddles. }

Like Dave said, the trails were great! After all of the heavy raining, we really expected a mud fest. But it wasn't bad at all and the traction was just great. BTW, Michelin S-12 XCs absolutely ROCK. I think I am done trying new tire brands for a while. :^)

{ DAVE K: Oh, and did I say how much I like my new KTM 250XC-W? Oooooooo, thing is soooo much better everywhere than either my 450 or 200 and I thought that 200 was the ultimate woods bike. Suspension is fantastic and I haven't touched a thing, didn't even checked the sag yet. Figured I'd let all that break in first and then start playing with the knobs, but ooooooooo. }

And I feel the same way about my new Husaberg FE 390. I absolutely LOVE my '08 KTM 450 EXC-R (which is for sale, btw) but there are times on the really tight trails that I could do with a bit less motor. And that's what the new 390 is all about. This is the perfect woods bike!! It weighs almost exactly the same as the KTM 450 but when in motion it feels like it weighs 20-30 lbs less and rides like a 250. Carves and corners like crazy and feels like you can just flick it back and forth all over the trails.

Oh, and the fuel injection. ooooohhhhhh. It doesn't matter what gear or condition - it just pulls so cleanly off of the bottom and then just transitions very smoothly into a real strong mid-range. Me likey!!! No. I have fallen helmet over boots in love with my new Swedish girlfriend. :^)

And here's where we have to apologize to poor Dave Canfield. All day long... every time we stopped ... he had to listen to DaveK and I going on and on about how cool our new bikes were and how much we loved them! We were like a couple of kids on Christmas with brand-new BMX bikes, Wrist-Rockets (tm), and the whole world was a target. Yah, we were pretty bad. So, sorry, Dave C.! <big>

{ DAVE K: Spaur Creek was fun, nice little rip thru the woods, still hadn't seen any other riders so that's good. We then jumped back on the Jordan Creek trails all the way to the end. Could hardly hear anyone's bike behind me over Randy's hooting and hollering about HIS new bike. Geeze Randy, it's just another Huskaberg 390, ya see those everywhere. OK, yes it is a very nice bike and if I was going to get a 4S trail bike that weighs 40 lbs more than my 250, I'd get one of those... ;-) Did I say how much I like my new bike? }

Don't pay any attention to Dave.... he's just jealous.

It was amazing who good the trails were! Not very much mud or puddles at all and traction was great. Hey, who knows ... maybe all that rain washed away the mud. (grin)

Dave C. was banging along just fine and having a great ride. It's easy to see his improvement over this last year. Got to the end of Jordan Creek Trail (the new converted-road section... thanks Dave Hiatt!) and snapped some pics as the rain had eased a bit.

Dave K. on his new '10 KTM 250 XCW:


Dave C. on his Kawasaki KLX 450:


And RandyB ("E-Ticket") with his new Swedish girlfriend: :thumb:

{ DAVE K: Everyone was still fresh and the weather wasn't much worse so we decided to head up to the Archers trails and over to Chainbreaker. Along the way Dave managed to wheelie up a steep uphill ALMOST to the top and do a nasty getoff. The judges all gave it 9s except for the French judge who thought he missed the landing and awarded him a 7.5. He tweaked his knee a little, bent up the controls a bit but we were able to get the bike sorted out and he sucked it up and said, "Let's go!". Archers was...well Archers, nothing new here. Traction was still good and the weather holding up when we arrived at Chainbreaker. There is some trail and road work going on there, so it's a little torn up and we took the little side trail on the left up to the top. Remember years ago when that was considered the easy way up? Well it's the only way up now and starting to get nasty. At the top we took a break and while sitting there three groups came thru. The first was a group of about 5-6 and as each one came by they yelled, "Hoo-hoo, crappy day isn't it, yee-haw!" or something to that effect. 2nd group was only about 3-4 and it was the same thing and the final group was two guys who stopped and talked awhile. Yup, same conversation, "Yeehaw, crappy day isn't it, you guys having fun?". We headed down the trails to Jordan creek and once to the road Dave decided to just keep on the roads back, his knee was still sore, but he did great. From the first time I rode with him last summer to this ride he has really improved. Randy on the other hand... ;-) }

We stopped for a snack at the top of Chain Breaker and two groups went by while we there. And EVERYONE had this stoopid grin on their faces and was just having a ball! This is what is so hard to explain to non-dirtbikers ... how you can go out in a steady drizzle ... muddy riding conditions ... and have just so much fun. :^)

One weird thing, though. It had been real slow going here and there and I may have been doing a bit too much just sitting and idling here and there - but after turning off my motor - we could hear the gas boiling the gas tank. Very disconcerting!
I am definitely putting on the aluminum reflective tape on the bottom of the gas tank. If you have good speakers - you can hear it here:



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I continued to have way too much fun, throwing the FE 390 around, and hootin' and hollerin' and grinin'. I was instantly 12 years old again. Man, what a perfect bike for the woods. With DaveK leading the way, we just kept boppin' on and ignoring the slight drizzle.

One of the Archers Firebreak trails is a nice long uphill with a small gnarly section near the top. No biggie, just got to keep your speed up and gear down at the top.
Dave C. found himself in 3rd near the top and lost his momentum and killed it. Rats... but no biggie. Got it started (e-buttons rule, btw) and went to accelerate over the last bump. But his wheel was spinning, he got caught leaning back a bit too much, and then his wheel bit hard on a rock. Instant big-a** wheelie. You know, one of those straight-up numbers. Followed by a slow fall backwards and to the right and a big crash. Dave stuck his leg to try and catch himself - which is a big no-no. On the big crashes - you put your tray in the upright position and pull in all bendy parts. Dave C. snagged his foot, and bent his knee back and then hit pretty hard. :white:

Ayiiiee. I thought he had blown his knee for sure. But he laid there for a bit, then slowly got up, and went "whew!" I thought I pulled a Roger there for a second... I bet I'm sore tonight!"

Double whew. It's always nice to see a riding buddy get back up and be okay.
We whipped out some tools and moved some controls around as he had squashed his Acerbis hand guard pretty good. And then we right on riding. Way to go, Dave C!

{ DAVE K: We bid Dave a good day and decided to find that "good trail" down to JC and back to the camp. I "thought" I remembered which one it was and the two of us desended down Marvelous Mainline. Dang, I got it wrong, really wrong. Sorry Randy... This is that trail Joe is famous for cartwheeling down last summer, it's got a couple very steep downhills with dips, washouts and big rocks. Along the way we had to cut out a dropped tree, good thing I brought my saw this time. No falls, or at least bad ones but a lot of close calls and more "obsticals" because of all the rain than the last time I went down. Oh yeah, and the rain was catching up with us. We finally got to the bottom and I decided my bike's MUCH more fun to ride than to bull-dawg down hills and drag over downed logs. I must have stopped and cleared 3-4 areas of branches and logs on the way down. Did I mention how much I like the estart on my new bike? }

I'm not sure where I pissed off Dave K. recently ... but I sure must have. <LOL>
And yes, I know that I can get down the Marvelous Mainline trail just fine - but don't think I will do that one again any time soon. <g> And worse yet, I recognized the trail myself about the 3rd steep pitch down: "Hey! I've crashed right here before! *Now* I remember this trail. :^) It wasn't a death trail, but it was definitely a LOT of dead-engine, bull-dogging, and trying to wrestle the bike down some pretty steep drop-offs that I'm sure the hard rains didn't help at all.

On one drop-off, I had the front wheel planted in a hole and I felt the back-end of the bike get that r-e-a-l-l-y light feeling. Looked over my shoulder to see the back wheel on my bike pointing straight up in the air ... and no where near any terra firma. Aieee. Gently pushed back with my elbow and brought it back to earth. Hoo-boy. Got lucky on that one.

We came to one log across the trail and Dave whips out his handy Boy-Scout folding hand-saw and proceeds to use up about 4,000 calories sawing it in half. Dave get's 14 pts. added to his "good dirtbiker" profile for trail maintenance. Here we are parked on the hill - and as any serious dirt bike knows - pictures just can't do justice to the steepness of the hill. You can get some of the idea by how Dave is having to stand. It looks like he is leaning back - but he is standing straight up:





And a shot into the Abyss ... for our next 20 minutes of wrestling gravity and the Law of Physics:

Got down to the bottom of Not-So-Marvelous Mainline and caught up with Dave.
Rode down the road a bit ... and my new bike is smoking. WTH!!! Man, that is one of the worst feelings seeing smoke coming out of the tail pipe of your new bike. :cry:
Dave and I yakked about it for a bit and he reminded me that we had just spent ~ 40 minutes with our bikes pointed downhill at a 50 degree angle ... and sometimes more than that. And with the lay-down angle on the Huseberg's engine, I might have had oil migrate up from the engine vent and into the airbox. Which made sense. Rode easy for a bit and smoking cleared up as the oil was burned up. We think. Double-whew.

{ DAVE K: We took the JC Rd trails back without any issues, just a nice ride back and loaded up, both of us commenting on how nice my new bike was. Hmmmmm, wait a minute, maybe Randy was saying how much he liked his... 30 miles, didn't have to stretcher anyone out and back in the day light, sounds like a good day.

Looks like next week Wed or Thur will be sunny. I know Randy's heading to Boise, anyone else up for a rip? - DK }

Sorry I didn't get more pictures - but the rain kept my camera in the fanny pack for the most of the day. Next time, eh!

Cheers! E-Ticket

Did I mention how much I like my new bike? :thumb:

tazer said:

Very nice little article E-Ticket you have some great country side to ride in.

I totally agree with you on the Michi S12 tyre, the standard Metzler 6 days IMHO, looks half worn out when new.

Also about the smoke issue, we had the same problem with a mates new 570 he dropped the bike down hill on a steep sand dune and it sat on its side pointing down for a few minutes until he could pick it up.
A substantial amount of oil ran via the engine breather hose into the air box causing lots of smoke and and a nervous new Berg owner. :cry: :cry:

There was so much oil it had to be wiped out with a rag.

All is OK with the bike, however the rider needs more practice!! :? :?

Steve

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LOL! Good one, tazer!

We used to have that same problem when the wifey-poo ("Flying Ant") would have a good crash on her '08 KTM 250 XCF-W and it would be laying upside-down on the hill. Start it back up and it would be like a mosquito-abatement truck for a couple of minutes (lol).

I just went out and pulled the air filter ... and the airbox is totally squeaky clean ... no sign of oil at all!
No spotting on the air filter or the backfire screen either.

S-o-o-o, this means that the oil didn't come from the engine breather tube. :idea:

Hmmm.... Which means that it had to come up from the crankcase area and migrate past the rings. Which is quite possible as I had the engine stopped for at least 10-15 minutes at a time while bulldogging my Swd. GF. down the extreme slope. And I *know* that the bike was definately at a 45-50 degree down-angle a *couple* of times as the rear wheel was *nowhere near* the ground ... and was pointing straight up in the air ... gently waving in the breeze. :shock:

So the oil migrated past the rings due to the engine being off, the extreme down angle, and the time spent in this position. (It may have only been 20-25 minutes... but it sure felt longer. (grin)). Which is plausible as the piston/head area was definately below the level of the crankcase for extended times.

One other "good" item. I checked the angle and routing of the engine breather hose. And it comes off of the valve cover, follows fairly closely the angle of the cylinder towards the rear of the bike, and then goes upward at a 45 degree angle (but still pointing backwards) to connect to the airbox. So it would definately have to be an upside-down event to haveengine oil migrate up this hose to the airbox. Even with my extended down angles it would not be enought to do it. So that's good to know.

Maybe this will become less of an issue as the rings seat in better?
Or maybe I'll just stop following my mate Dave down insane-bulldog downhills, eh!

Thanks for the infor, Tazer! E-Ticket

geenadavis said:

BTW, Michelin S-12 XCs absolutely ROCK. I think I am done trying new tire brands for a while

List Easy

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My riding buds are always reefing on my to try a trials tire ... and I have been thinking about it. But I still find myself doing a bit of pavement here and there, so am nervous about it.

But until then, yup, S-12 XCs are the bomb! (grin)

Cheers! E-Ticket

CodeMonkey said:

E-Ticket said:

geenadavis said:

BTW, Michelin S-12 XCs absolutely ROCK. I think I am done trying new tire brands for a while

List Easy

Click to expand...

My riding buds are always reefing on my to try a trials tire ... and I have been thinking about it. But I still find myself doing a bit of pavement here and there, so am nervous about it.

But until then, yup, S-12 XCs are the bomb! (grin)

Cheers! E-Ticket

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I did a lot of research - anyone using the "competition" trials tires pretty much loves them, but agrees that they don't last at all on pavement - as in not being able to make it 50 to 100 miles before falling apart. So I went with the DOT trials tire - the Pirelli MT43 and the Tubliss system. So far I like it - I've put about 150 to 200 miles on it so far. I ride about 20 miles out to the trails from my house then dump the pressure down to about 8 PSI then trail ride. Then I ride it back home on the low pressure. About 5 miles of the pavement includes highway at 60+ MPH to keep from getting run over.

So far so good. I would say it is overall better than the stock Bridgestone 402 knobby that came on the bike - about 10 to 20% better in all aspects of riding - but keep in mind that I ride slow and I ride technical trails. I don't ride fast or care how the tire corners at speed or any of those things some people care about. I care about how it gets over rocks, roots, through mud, up/down a hill and so on - see my vid thread for how I ride.

As for pavement, it is definitely smoother than a knobby. I think it will probably last longer too - so far the wear seems minor.

I do notice that the tire is a lot more flexible than any knobby I have ever ridden on, and this is an issue on pavement at low pressures - not dangerous IMO, but noticeable - i.e., you don't want to try to race a super motard with it when the pressures are low. Not surprising, just something to mention. At normal street pressures (I run about 22 PSI) it feels fine - better than the knobby.

The only problem I have noticed so far is that this is a taller profile tire, so on bumps and such, the tire rubs against and through the mud flap for the shock. I don't have enough slack in the chain to move it back further and there isn't a lot of adjustment room left anyway.

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That's great feedback ... thank you very much! - E-Ticket

CodeMonkey said:

BTW - I did look at the 'competition' trials tires that Michelin and Dunlop offer and that some people I know use for off-road riding only - they are much softer than the Pirelli MT43, so they mush be brilliant off-road, which is why a lot of people recommend them.

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Well, I finally made the switch from a Michelin S-12 XC on the rear to a Dunlop D803 with and extra-heavy tube at 9 psi.

OMG. It's like cheating. What people have been saying is so true.
I'm just "driving" up steep, rocky, rooty trails. It just hooks up and goes. And as a bonus, because of the flexible sidewall ... there is *much* less tire rebound from smacking into a rock or tree root. Which means, you're not ping-ponging around, you can keep a straighter line, and on the ground and hooked up.

I am so converted. :^) Cheers! E-Ticket

BOSS said:

Nice info e-ticket , but were did you get your bike?

Looks great!

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From this crazy guy somewhere over in East Portland. :^)

BTW, I heard about your foot. OW! Hope you're healing up okay, Rick!

Cheers, E-Ticket

WoodsRooster said:

Just don't run that 803 for long stretches of road. The road will eat it up.

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Yup!

The only pavement it sees is the 8 blocks over to the car wash for removing parts of the Tillamook National Forest.