This past weekend I rode my 01 fe650 in a local enduro. Last year I attempted the last enduro of the year but a broken cam chain very early in the first timed section ended my day. The culprit was a cam sprocket bolt that backed out and jammed the chain. The berg is my only road plated bike and this race required the plate so I decided to run what I had. I used to ride a husky 250 that was plated but sold it and now ride a husky 144 in races that don't require a plate.
The berg is an 01 with an 03 650 engine with a delorto carb (put it on for the race because I had profiled the throttle cam to ease it up), rekluse clutch, left hand rear brake. 18-20 ktm triples in the 18 position, fs suspension with forks that I revalve myself using info found on here. Both front and rear tire were pretty shagged. The front was one that came with a rim off eBay. I couldnt even tell you what brand it is. There was lots left on the knobs but they were pretty rounded. The back was a track master with about 1/3 tread left. I would never run tires like this normally. The husky, I have rims with tires that only race.
The course was tight single track mixed with good flowing sections and some open stuff. The loamy sand has some rain a few days before so the traction was excellent. Being on the 5th row made for some navigation errors as the trail was not beat in and lots of leaves we're down from the winter. The first few sections I was trying to figure the bike out and I stalled quite a few times (need to turn up the idle a bit) and kicking over the big girl really wore me out :furious::furious::furious:. The bike turned extremely well and felt very balanced, the power wasn't a problem and I was running mostly in 2nd gear (road gearing). I never lost the front and only went down once over a log that laid on a 45degree angle to the trail. By the fourth section I was really confident in the bike. I went in to the section with a guy riding a te449. He got ahead of me and I figured he was leaving me but I started catching him. When I got within 25 feet of his rear tire he realized I was there and he wicked it up. I forgot about any fear or second thoughts of how the bike would do, clicked it in to third gear and the game was on. We had a blast ripping through the single track, him on a modern fuel injected, new tech bike. And me on a 14 year old beast. We swapped positions a couple times when either of us made an error. Both of us missed arrows and we got off track together, both losing time. This was the best part of the day. At the end of the section we had a laugh and a fist pump and continued on.
The next section we were sent in one at a time but I continued to ride like the section before. The bike was flawless and in that section I posted the second fastest time in my class.
It was a great day. I finished 7 of 8 in my class. It would have been much different had I rode the early sections like I did the later but I was very pleased, especially riding a 650 with shagged tires up against the newer sea of orange. I saw the te449 rider stepping on to the 1st place podium at the awards but I didn't catch what class he was in.
Up until this point, I've only raced 2t bikes and trail ridden and D/Sported the berg. I can't believe how well this bike handles when you start to push it. It really seems to like to be pushed.
The power is addicting. There is nothing like powering out of a corner in third gear rocketing to the next corner.
I might need to set up some race tires for this girl.
The berg is an 01 with an 03 650 engine with a delorto carb (put it on for the race because I had profiled the throttle cam to ease it up), rekluse clutch, left hand rear brake. 18-20 ktm triples in the 18 position, fs suspension with forks that I revalve myself using info found on here. Both front and rear tire were pretty shagged. The front was one that came with a rim off eBay. I couldnt even tell you what brand it is. There was lots left on the knobs but they were pretty rounded. The back was a track master with about 1/3 tread left. I would never run tires like this normally. The husky, I have rims with tires that only race.
The course was tight single track mixed with good flowing sections and some open stuff. The loamy sand has some rain a few days before so the traction was excellent. Being on the 5th row made for some navigation errors as the trail was not beat in and lots of leaves we're down from the winter. The first few sections I was trying to figure the bike out and I stalled quite a few times (need to turn up the idle a bit) and kicking over the big girl really wore me out :furious::furious::furious:. The bike turned extremely well and felt very balanced, the power wasn't a problem and I was running mostly in 2nd gear (road gearing). I never lost the front and only went down once over a log that laid on a 45degree angle to the trail. By the fourth section I was really confident in the bike. I went in to the section with a guy riding a te449. He got ahead of me and I figured he was leaving me but I started catching him. When I got within 25 feet of his rear tire he realized I was there and he wicked it up. I forgot about any fear or second thoughts of how the bike would do, clicked it in to third gear and the game was on. We had a blast ripping through the single track, him on a modern fuel injected, new tech bike. And me on a 14 year old beast. We swapped positions a couple times when either of us made an error. Both of us missed arrows and we got off track together, both losing time. This was the best part of the day. At the end of the section we had a laugh and a fist pump and continued on.
The next section we were sent in one at a time but I continued to ride like the section before. The bike was flawless and in that section I posted the second fastest time in my class.
It was a great day. I finished 7 of 8 in my class. It would have been much different had I rode the early sections like I did the later but I was very pleased, especially riding a 650 with shagged tires up against the newer sea of orange. I saw the te449 rider stepping on to the 1st place podium at the awards but I didn't catch what class he was in.
Up until this point, I've only raced 2t bikes and trail ridden and D/Sported the berg. I can't believe how well this bike handles when you start to push it. It really seems to like to be pushed.
The power is addicting. There is nothing like powering out of a corner in third gear rocketing to the next corner.
I might need to set up some race tires for this girl.
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