…and his friend Don and Jr. join the fray.
While many slept in after a night of festivities, with hopes of viewing the Macy’s parade from beginning to end (when is the inflatable Bullwinkle gong to be retired?), a gang of four dirt bike enthusiast were in hot pursuit of some mighty fine trailing in the pines 6k’ above Los Angeles, near Silverwood Lake.
I was hot-to-trot on a friend’s loaner, but first I had to pay my dues. He had been complaining about how poorly his custom-made trail bike was running, a KDX-powered KX125. Whenever he’d have it out, it would run poorly. So I suggested whilst I had all this time off, that I’d determine the source of his woes. My only payback was to let my middle son, Shorty, take it out one day to see if he could be persuaded onto something other than an XR200/250 which he admires deeply; so deeply there was no sense in arguing with him on what would be his next bike in the event I was able to secure one just for him. He was saddened as he saw the $ for a ’99 Husky WR125 go to my wife’s new (to her) four door of late, so I thought him riding this would only cheer him up.
The symptoms of the sad state of affairs with this little mean-green machine was fuel starvation. And that’s what it ended up being, as the float bowl was set way too low, thanks to the directions posted on our own Canadian Dave’s JustKDX website. But being the perfectionist I am, that was the last thing I corrected as the levers were set too high (good for sit-down riding only); the shifter and brake pedal too low - can’t have those rocks contact boots, now; a missing bolt here and there; spooge coming from a gap in the stinger/muffler intake needing RTV; and on and on it went - I didn’t get to the fix until well after dark; but that’s the way I am - picky about bike setup/prep.
So as I awoke the morning of the ride, I thought: why not enjoy the fruit of my labor? On the one hand, all I needed to do was to swipe a main jet out of my RMX, and take a risk at meeting a ranger - you see, my friend never affixed a green sticker. But on the other, how often does one get to spend time on a custom, one-off machine like this?
Therefore I had Jr. load the greenie. And I was glad I did. More on that in the KDX forum.
We arrived at the pre-determined time, only to be alone in the parking lot at the Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area. This spot is not far from of previous DRN escapades maybe nine-months ago. You may remember the story. A CR125 that just would not start; the problem being a rag left in the intake track. But that’s another story said another time.
After suiting up, Jr. and I see not signs of the others, so we jet off to and up the forest trail to the heavens. But not without a frequent glance to the access road. And sure enough, here comes that four-door Ford with a KTM and another bike in the back. We head back down; after introductions, 2strk4fun and Don unload, gear up, and we’re off again.
It was cold: 38 deg. F when we started. Then we got rather warm as the pace set by 2strk was demanding. Don lost his bar-mounted jug, which was retrieved by 2strk, but he began to have fuel-related problems which were not rectified by 2strk; it was a bad-fuel day. Don felt it was best to go back, get fresh fuel, and let up go our way.
Sweet trailing! The soil was still damp from last weekend’s snow. And that boy 2strk can ride. There were signs of the white stuff, increasingly evident as we climbed in altitude. But with that comes slick conditions, especially in the shaded sections. 2strk looked back to me, jestering “slick conditions” and as if I paid no attention, I was on my arse in no time, but not before showing how it’s done by him! (I liked my rendition better, because it had the dumb a$$-was-forewarned-and-still-fell-like-a-dumb-fool precursor). Jr. went down too, but not until we were up in the pines; hurt his knee, so he carried the rear without much aggression from then on the rest of the day.
We took a snack-break once at the Pinnacles, eating the usual Placelast trail snacks (dried figs, almonds, dried bananas, and healthy snack bars). I like this approach of arriving better than the one and only other time we were there; riding from the Mojave desert floor rather than driving and staging up there - driving those mountain roads do take some of the fun out of it.
Continuing onward towards Lake Arrowhead, we encountered larger and lager sections of deeper snow on the shaded sections of the trails, to the point of lacking spiked tires, decided to turn around and take some lower-elevation spurs. It’s good we did as they were a blast. I remember the trails from when my club put on an enduro there 3-years ago, although there was less running water and snow.
On our way back we swapped rides, and my whole perspective of KTMs has been elevated: his 250 E/XC isn’t that bad of a mount, and I preferred it’s meaty, enduro power to the KDX - it has bigger lungs, that’s for sure. And the first-generation PDS/’Zokes are just fine - didn’t mind the “hard” seat either.
The long decent off of the mountains was just as fun, if not more that going up, as it was a whole new perspective, looking down on the lake.
Upon arriving at the staging area we chewed on some topics, and called it a long, rewarding day, 49 mountain-miles later. And I’m going to have to detail that KDX again. But it can wait for tomorrow.
While many slept in after a night of festivities, with hopes of viewing the Macy’s parade from beginning to end (when is the inflatable Bullwinkle gong to be retired?), a gang of four dirt bike enthusiast were in hot pursuit of some mighty fine trailing in the pines 6k’ above Los Angeles, near Silverwood Lake.
I was hot-to-trot on a friend’s loaner, but first I had to pay my dues. He had been complaining about how poorly his custom-made trail bike was running, a KDX-powered KX125. Whenever he’d have it out, it would run poorly. So I suggested whilst I had all this time off, that I’d determine the source of his woes. My only payback was to let my middle son, Shorty, take it out one day to see if he could be persuaded onto something other than an XR200/250 which he admires deeply; so deeply there was no sense in arguing with him on what would be his next bike in the event I was able to secure one just for him. He was saddened as he saw the $ for a ’99 Husky WR125 go to my wife’s new (to her) four door of late, so I thought him riding this would only cheer him up.
The symptoms of the sad state of affairs with this little mean-green machine was fuel starvation. And that’s what it ended up being, as the float bowl was set way too low, thanks to the directions posted on our own Canadian Dave’s JustKDX website. But being the perfectionist I am, that was the last thing I corrected as the levers were set too high (good for sit-down riding only); the shifter and brake pedal too low - can’t have those rocks contact boots, now; a missing bolt here and there; spooge coming from a gap in the stinger/muffler intake needing RTV; and on and on it went - I didn’t get to the fix until well after dark; but that’s the way I am - picky about bike setup/prep.
So as I awoke the morning of the ride, I thought: why not enjoy the fruit of my labor? On the one hand, all I needed to do was to swipe a main jet out of my RMX, and take a risk at meeting a ranger - you see, my friend never affixed a green sticker. But on the other, how often does one get to spend time on a custom, one-off machine like this?
Therefore I had Jr. load the greenie. And I was glad I did. More on that in the KDX forum.
We arrived at the pre-determined time, only to be alone in the parking lot at the Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area. This spot is not far from of previous DRN escapades maybe nine-months ago. You may remember the story. A CR125 that just would not start; the problem being a rag left in the intake track. But that’s another story said another time.
After suiting up, Jr. and I see not signs of the others, so we jet off to and up the forest trail to the heavens. But not without a frequent glance to the access road. And sure enough, here comes that four-door Ford with a KTM and another bike in the back. We head back down; after introductions, 2strk4fun and Don unload, gear up, and we’re off again.
It was cold: 38 deg. F when we started. Then we got rather warm as the pace set by 2strk was demanding. Don lost his bar-mounted jug, which was retrieved by 2strk, but he began to have fuel-related problems which were not rectified by 2strk; it was a bad-fuel day. Don felt it was best to go back, get fresh fuel, and let up go our way.
Sweet trailing! The soil was still damp from last weekend’s snow. And that boy 2strk can ride. There were signs of the white stuff, increasingly evident as we climbed in altitude. But with that comes slick conditions, especially in the shaded sections. 2strk looked back to me, jestering “slick conditions” and as if I paid no attention, I was on my arse in no time, but not before showing how it’s done by him! (I liked my rendition better, because it had the dumb a$$-was-forewarned-and-still-fell-like-a-dumb-fool precursor). Jr. went down too, but not until we were up in the pines; hurt his knee, so he carried the rear without much aggression from then on the rest of the day.
We took a snack-break once at the Pinnacles, eating the usual Placelast trail snacks (dried figs, almonds, dried bananas, and healthy snack bars). I like this approach of arriving better than the one and only other time we were there; riding from the Mojave desert floor rather than driving and staging up there - driving those mountain roads do take some of the fun out of it.
Continuing onward towards Lake Arrowhead, we encountered larger and lager sections of deeper snow on the shaded sections of the trails, to the point of lacking spiked tires, decided to turn around and take some lower-elevation spurs. It’s good we did as they were a blast. I remember the trails from when my club put on an enduro there 3-years ago, although there was less running water and snow.
On our way back we swapped rides, and my whole perspective of KTMs has been elevated: his 250 E/XC isn’t that bad of a mount, and I preferred it’s meaty, enduro power to the KDX - it has bigger lungs, that’s for sure. And the first-generation PDS/’Zokes are just fine - didn’t mind the “hard” seat either.
The long decent off of the mountains was just as fun, if not more that going up, as it was a whole new perspective, looking down on the lake.
Upon arriving at the staging area we chewed on some topics, and called it a long, rewarding day, 49 mountain-miles later. And I’m going to have to detail that KDX again. But it can wait for tomorrow.
