Went out and checked some of the trails for the Amarillo Spodefest March 8/9/10 with Trailryder42. This guy is good, and he took me on some pretty gnarly trails, river crossings, steep inclines, and some intermediate technical stuff, not for the novice, or those who like the flat fast stuff. This was heart in your mouth hang on all your brakes stuff, commit to a hill and keep going stuff, and the Pampera kicked @ss, especially mine, had a bit of a tumble going down a steep riverbank, hit my chest on the bars, and was winded for about five minutes - was seeing stars. Other than that this bike took everything thrown at it and did so in its stride with ease.
I was really impressed with Derek Turner who was showing me the way, he is pretty quick, and has a very smooth riding style, made everything look easy on that XR400.
By the end of the day, I was managing to be a lot quicker, was tearing down the hills, and ripping up the steep hills, the bike has very good gearing, most of the hills I was riding in 2nd and 3rd, the Pampera has plenty of power.
The only thing I found strange was that if I touched the rear brake in 3rd or 2nd, I would kill the bike, and it would not just roll on and restart, had to stop and kick, only once did I get the bump start right, this bike has torque and then some. Some of the very steep banks, I would just pull the clutch and jump on the rear brake, and ride on down, worked for me.
The best thing, the bike is very manageable, for a short guy like myself, the bike did everything I asked and then some.
I am going to have a whale of a time at the Amarillo Fest.
:p