- Joined
- Sep 15, 2020
- Messages
- 800
My son scored a really low-hour (says 100, who knows, but runs great) '03 KTM 450 EXC, California-plated, for $2500. Holy smokes! We rode up to the local canyon, where the fires hit last fall and flooded over the winter. Everything is rearranged from mud/rock slides. The roads are terrible. To make matters worse, it was a very bright day, and the divots were tricky to see.
At one point, while leading my son on the washboarded/rutted straight road part, I spied a smoother line on the other side of the road, so like an idiot I made a bee-line for it. Without slowing. I center-punched a series of sharp potholes with various angles of approach—about eight of them, I'd say.
The pegs are too far forward on the N15CS for prolonged stand-up work, but I was up on them and managed to ride the bronco.... The front fork did bottom out on the initial pothole (the big Kahuna) but performed valiantly, I'd say. I hung on tight and gripped the tank with my knees. It was hilarious from his viewpoint, and I can only imagine how I looked
, as that back end was doing a crazy rodeo dance. Of course he glided right over it, with his custom reworked suspension blah blah blah. I think I knocked my lower spine back into alignment. It was a fun adrenaline giggle after, but I had a couple of flashes of dumping the bike.
It was a certified 'bad idea' (TM) to dash across the middle without slowing down. Oh well, not my first or last.
His KTM is running a Neutech 'Tubeliss' system, very clever. Also check out the rear brake lever. Two positions for seated and standing. The PO is a mech engineer and did that himself. I don't know how great it is but plan to find out.
At one point, while leading my son on the washboarded/rutted straight road part, I spied a smoother line on the other side of the road, so like an idiot I made a bee-line for it. Without slowing. I center-punched a series of sharp potholes with various angles of approach—about eight of them, I'd say.
The pegs are too far forward on the N15CS for prolonged stand-up work, but I was up on them and managed to ride the bronco.... The front fork did bottom out on the initial pothole (the big Kahuna) but performed valiantly, I'd say. I hung on tight and gripped the tank with my knees. It was hilarious from his viewpoint, and I can only imagine how I looked
, as that back end was doing a crazy rodeo dance. Of course he glided right over it, with his custom reworked suspension blah blah blah. I think I knocked my lower spine back into alignment. It was a fun adrenaline giggle after, but I had a couple of flashes of dumping the bike.It was a certified 'bad idea' (TM) to dash across the middle without slowing down. Oh well, not my first or last.
His KTM is running a Neutech 'Tubeliss' system, very clever. Also check out the rear brake lever. Two positions for seated and standing. The PO is a mech engineer and did that himself. I don't know how great it is but plan to find out.
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