Bill -
Welcome to the elite club of riders, you know the club that actually OWNS a 300 and RIDES a 300 and says you can ride it in the woods
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You pretty well hit the high points. Here are a few comments that may help too. I almost never use 1st gear, other than pulling out of the parking lot. If I stall or stop on the trail while riding in 3rd, the bike will pull away from a dead stop in 3rd no problem. Just start it in gear with lots of throttle and pull away.
Also, you may not have overheated it. Since it was the first ride, you may have just been pushing out a little excess coolant. Mine normally pushes some out after I change the coolant. Even if you did get it hot, the proximity of the clutch to the water pump can boil some coolant too if you were using the clutch hard. That does not mean the motor was about to seize, just something that happens when you ride the bike really hard. The overflow should dump coolant on the pipe, that way you can smell it better as an indicator that the bike is spewing a bit. Where the down tube meets the engine cradle is where the overflow tube ends.
So you like the power, huh? Yes, there are places you ride where you don't get to use all of it, but if the terrain opens up at all then it is nice to have it. Also as you pointed out, the low end is great - something you'd give up on a smaller bore bike.
I am considering trying a 13 on the front to make 3rd a bit more usable in the woods. There are certain conditions, like more hilly and trying to maintain 18-20 mph, where the lower gear may be a plus. On the flatter stuff around here the 14 seems OK.
Just stay on top of the jetting to keep the power smooth. My air screw was rich when I started to ride last week because the last time I rode the bike it was about 20 degrees cooler, so the bottom end felt weak and the mid more of a hit. Cranking the air screw out 1.5 turns returned the bike to normal.
You sound like the maintenance-happy type, but go after those chain adjusters with some anti-sieze grease ASAP!! Axle nut too.
TexKDX.
[This message has been edited by TexKDX (edited 03-29-2001).]