Joined Jul 2004
106 Posts | 0+
North Adams, Massachusetts
Hey guys,
The local motorcycle club here had a get-together just to ride some trails in the area. Being this is the northeast, it was about 80% KTM's, like 3 Yamaha's, a Kawasaki, a Service Honda CR500, one Gas Gas and my Husaberg FE501e. I actually did horrible this day. I couldn't get the bike to go where I wanted it to. I had a trails tire on the back that didn't do all that bad, but worked much better on the rocky trails in Vermont that we rode a few weeks before. A knobby would have been much better in this soft squishy loamy soil. My problem was coming from somewhere in the front end, just couldn't keep it planted. I backed off on the fork's compression almost all the way out. This did help a lot. I probably wouldn't have hit the first 3 trees if I had this setting from the get-go. So, now I was riding faster and I was coming up to a group of guys around a tight S-turn. Well, I made the left, but didn't quite make the right as the front end slid out on a bunch of wet roots and I plowed head-on into a tree which threw me off the bike. The smash broke the front fender right in half. Anyone have a front fender for a 98 FE501e? These guys helped me pick-up the bike and mentioned everyone is wiping out on this corner. They also said "man, the way you came flying up we thought this guy knows a good line----well, maybe not". I took a break for a little while then went back to the truck and just took pictures of guys riding by. I took a couple movies of guys riding up a rutted line. They can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzYPOwYEETU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H29860yR ... er&search=
Well, we went back to my friend's house where I have my 99 FE400. I decided to take it out and ride around his property. The ride was going pretty good. Then of course I got caught up in a rut and laid down the bike. Got it going again and was riding around the field. He has this little table top jump in the field. Well, I went one-way over this and I went fine. Then I went the other way over the table top and plowed the front wheel into a lip on the landing. When the backwheel hit the lip, it bounced my body about 2 feet above the seat. Well, both me and the bike came down pretty hard and not on the wheels or my feet on the pegs. I think I had about enough for today. For some reason, I just couldn't get the bike to go where I wanted it to. I hope this isn't the beginning of some long term trend. Maybe, I just need to go riding some more.
The local motorcycle club here had a get-together just to ride some trails in the area. Being this is the northeast, it was about 80% KTM's, like 3 Yamaha's, a Kawasaki, a Service Honda CR500, one Gas Gas and my Husaberg FE501e. I actually did horrible this day. I couldn't get the bike to go where I wanted it to. I had a trails tire on the back that didn't do all that bad, but worked much better on the rocky trails in Vermont that we rode a few weeks before. A knobby would have been much better in this soft squishy loamy soil. My problem was coming from somewhere in the front end, just couldn't keep it planted. I backed off on the fork's compression almost all the way out. This did help a lot. I probably wouldn't have hit the first 3 trees if I had this setting from the get-go. So, now I was riding faster and I was coming up to a group of guys around a tight S-turn. Well, I made the left, but didn't quite make the right as the front end slid out on a bunch of wet roots and I plowed head-on into a tree which threw me off the bike. The smash broke the front fender right in half. Anyone have a front fender for a 98 FE501e? These guys helped me pick-up the bike and mentioned everyone is wiping out on this corner. They also said "man, the way you came flying up we thought this guy knows a good line----well, maybe not". I took a break for a little while then went back to the truck and just took pictures of guys riding by. I took a couple movies of guys riding up a rutted line. They can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzYPOwYEETU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H29860yR ... er&search=
Well, we went back to my friend's house where I have my 99 FE400. I decided to take it out and ride around his property. The ride was going pretty good. Then of course I got caught up in a rut and laid down the bike. Got it going again and was riding around the field. He has this little table top jump in the field. Well, I went one-way over this and I went fine. Then I went the other way over the table top and plowed the front wheel into a lip on the landing. When the backwheel hit the lip, it bounced my body about 2 feet above the seat. Well, both me and the bike came down pretty hard and not on the wheels or my feet on the pegs. I think I had about enough for today. For some reason, I just couldn't get the bike to go where I wanted it to. I hope this isn't the beginning of some long term trend. Maybe, I just need to go riding some more.
