1st Ride with 300RR

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1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Coloradoenduro » Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:26 pm

I was getting impatient waiting to take my bike to the mountains so decided to do so yesterday. It has been warm and windy on the front range and I thought I might find some dry trails in the lower (9,000' ASL) elevations of the Mountains.

There was a little more snow and ice than anticipated so I decided to stick to the dirt roads. Tip: Our bikes don't do well on inclines combined with hard packed snow and ice.... I was the only dirt bike all day.

There were a few trucks driving around with ATV's but they didn't bother to unload.

The temperature was a balmy 40 F with a slight wind.

Anyway, I had a chance to work on balancing and wheelies. My wheelies suck by the way. I need to gain a little more confidence on this bike before I do betajuice type wheelies. Muddy and icy conditions didn't help much.

Impression after 2 hours of riding: The brakes and balance are astonishing. Don't laugh, my old bike had a drum rear brake. Clamping down on the front and rear brakes is like dropping an anchor. The cornering stability is wonderful. This bike responds like it's an extension of my body. It's balance and handling is that good.

I might have found another possible solution to the small kick stand footprint. Simply ride to an area containing frozen soil, drop the kick stand and presto, no sinking.
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby doolin64 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:49 am

:lol: I like the kickstand idea.

I also suck at wheelies and have a huge fear. I'm with lofting the front over moderate size logs and rocks. But a straight up wheelie just blipping and it and driving long at the balance point....well that's pretty much non-existent in my bag of skills.
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Re: 2nd Ride with 300RR

Postby Coloradoenduro » Mon May 09, 2016 9:23 am

*Spoiler Alert* No broken bones or damaged machinery to report.


I was finally able to get the bike out on Saturday and do some decent riding. I went to Texas creek which is a wee bit of a haul however; this was necessary due to all of the snow the front-range has received over the past 6 weeks.

The trail conditions were dry with loose shale, rocks and decomposed granite. I rode for 2 hours and got more comfortable with the bike the more that I rode it. The riding area consists of narrow roads and single track type of trails. I nearly got into trouble on one of the steeper hills. The trail was narrow and had many sharp turns and tree branches obstructing the view. The hill went from a minor grade to progressively steep. I ended up shifting down to 1st because of the lack of speed that I was carrying. Slower speed was necessary because I was constantly ducking and leaning away from tree branches. I might have been able to carry 2nd gear but there is no way that my old machine would have carried 2nd. Again, I’m still learning how capable my Beta truly is. As I neared the top of the hill (maybe 1 mile total length), I was sucking wind, sweating and my forearms were burning. I didn’t think much of it until I turned the bike around and was getting ready to head back down. It finally hit me just how steep this hill was. I was not at all looking forward to descending. The good news is that I kept it upright the entire time.

My point to this is the hill became very steep and rough near the top and the bike didn’t have ANY problem whatsoever. I’m still amazed as I write this. As far as the rider, I need to work harder on my cardio when at the Gym….

Lessons learned: 1) Try very hard to avoid 1st gear. Throttle control can be difficult when bouncing over rocks, dodging tree branches, etc. 2) Maybe walk the hill first when you can’t see more than 30’ ahead.

On the narrow rough roads, I wasn’t going fast but would consistently cruise at 31 MPH. These same roads almost killed the rider and suspension of my old bike at speeds greater than 20 MPH.

Observations: The seat wasn’t as terrible as expected. I really didn’t have any issues after 2 hours. I was going to install a seat concepts seat but might wait on that upgrade. I will say the anatomy of the seat designer was much different from mine. This was rather unpleasant once when I was sitting down over a rougher stretch of trail. Maybe a little wider seat? Looks like I’ll get about 45 miles of range per tank. I think this is normal for the 300? I did have spent premix dripping from the exhaust pipe rubber coupling. I was probably running too rich for the remainder of the 1st premix tank. I followed the manual on the 1st tank and 1% premix. I ran 1/3 of a tank of non-mixed fuel through it near the end of the ride and I’ll pull the plug to have a look at it. Is the coupling leakage issue normal? If it is, I’ll probably install 2 stainless steel hose clamps.
I had an excellent time and am attaching a few pics. The snowcapped mountains in the background are the Sangre De Cristo’s.
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Kels » Mon May 09, 2016 11:57 am

The leaking coupler is common on the bike.. Clamp it or just use wire and it will be fixed... Makes a nice mess if you don't..

If you are looking to ride in 2nd or 3rd gear easily ,where you would be in 1st gear before, give me a call and I can help you make this happen..

Great bike!! You're going to love it!
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby mtdirtbag » Mon May 09, 2016 12:01 pm

You should be able to get more than 45 miles to a tank, most likely the float needs lowering a smidgen. Mine would give me about the same mileage and after the float adjustment the increase was quite noticeable, can't give you the exact mileage as I adjusted mine while I had the tank off so I could install the large tank (3.1). As for the pipe, I use zip ties on the coupler - did it before riding it.
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Johnno » Mon May 09, 2016 12:50 pm

It's personal belief that a soft seat will give you a sore backside.

My bike spat a bit of spooge out the pipe join at first too but barely does at all now.

You're right about first gear, lots of clutch helps me deal with first but I am generally paddling and crawling over really bad terrain if I resort to first gear.

Great pictures.
Loose...
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Clearvu1 » Mon May 09, 2016 4:26 pm

Believe it or not I've gone to 12/49 gearing for rocky, technical terrain. Stock gearing was just too tall for me. I tried 13/50 and like that for faster, flowing terrain but it's just too tall for slower technical ridding. I can run 12/49 and 13/50 with the stock chain length. 1st gear is granny low for that really nasty, tight a** stuff and seldom gets used. 2nd and 3rd become the work horse gears and require less clutch work.
I think about all of the 300's have float height issues and your fuel economy indicates yours is no different. You could ask your dealer to adjust it, or learn to do it yourself. I'd be cautious about leaving your fuel valve open when the bike is in the truck or your garage, you might have a tank full of gas puddled under the bike.
The 300 is a climbing machine, perfect for your location. BTW, the scenery looks amazing, much better than where I live. A buddy and I are planning a trip your way this summer, or sooner. Keep me up to speed on trail conditions. If you want to guide us to the good trails we'll provide beverages and maybe some light wrenching duties.
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Coloradoenduro » Tue May 10, 2016 11:48 am

All,

I appreciate the comments and suggestions.

Kels,

I'll PM you about the 2nd/3rd gear suggestion.

Clearvu1,

I'll do some research on the gearing and will lower the float level. I was perusing the suspension thread and I'm going to get with my dealer on the SAG and softening the front forks a bit. They are equipped to handle this in house and their service manager is a Beta enthusiast. The majority of my riding is over the rough stuff and I wouldn't mind a softer fork setting. The rear suspension seems fine as is. Mine stays planted on the faster terrain and seems tuned more toward high speed Moto X type riding. Of course it's 200% better as is than my old bike.

The Texas creek area trails are clear now but it's a smaller area and you can ride most of those in a day.

I'll keep you posted on the mountain trail conditions. The lower elevation (Rampart Range Road near woodland park 8,500 ' ASL) trails should be in good shape the first part of June. This area received 6' of snow between the 3rd week of March and last week of April. as far as the trails above timberline, I'm guessing sometime after the 4th of July. I'm always in for a riding trip so let me know when you have a date selected.

I was at a track meet in Woodland Park just last week and took a picture of the back side of Pikes Peak. As you can see, there is still quite a bit of snow at higher elevations.
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Re: 1st Ride with 300RR

Postby Johnno » Tue May 10, 2016 2:07 pm

I wish we had mountains, you'd think in the sixth largest country in the world we'd have a mountain. You used to be able to drive a normal car to to the top of our highest mountain until they stopped it.
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