XR600 First Rides

Well I had to take my new to me 600 out for some familiarization. I took off into the hills of the Tahoe National Forest here northeast of Grass Valley. First off I went riding with my buddy John and somehow my "mentor" Jim weaseled in on the ride. I say weaseled in because any ride he comes on is bound to become a long drawn out break- and lost- and out-of-gas-fest. So we headed out Graniteville Road toward the town of Graniteville (closest thing to the Ozarks around here), at around 5 pm. About a mile or two before Graniteville, Jim decides we should go "explore" a fishing hole and camp on the Middle Yuba River so we begin riding along a road with log landings. All of a sudden it becomes a super steep cat trail with shale and rolly sticks and switchbacks zigzagging down the canyon wall which is more than 45 degrees. Well near the bottom Jim decides we should park the bikes and walk down so we do that and there is a furnished camp, and he hooks a few small trout and I fall in the river. Well we make our way back out to the bikes and I watch those 2 go out (they are real good riders) and then I go out behind them. Well my 600 is jetted for 500 ft uncorked and here I am at 5000 ft with it corked (to be legal) and it sputters a fair bit, and isn't quite the same as my CR500. Plus I have a street legal tire with too much pressure (that I hadn't realized) so I get 3/4 of the way up the first switchback and hit something, and fall. No problem, I will just turn around. While turning around, just as the bike was 90 degrees to the trail I fall low side and bail off, well the bike comes down and breaks the clutch perch. So I have to get it down to a starting point, then John comes down and while I lift the back end up, he kicks it into gear and then spins and takes off. We fight our way out like this, pushing the bike the last steep part and then ride home in the dark. Whew

Well then on Saturday I rob a clutch lever off my CR and we go to the same general area. We start in the town of Washington, and ride up to Graniteville and then towards Jackson Meadows Lake. Jim didn't come on this one. :D All was well till we came to the only 3 snowbanks still left up there, in the middle of the road. John just shot up this little berm trail on the soft loamy cut bank to get around the top side, so I thought I would try it too...heh heh. I got to learn how the heavy weight of the 600 can affect the trails. It took 3 tries to find the right balance of enough speed to make the top, but not so much that it destroys the berm and I was up and over.

I find I enjoy the 600 a lot, but actually it seems to me I have to shift the gears more often than the 500. Maybe the 500 has better torque, or maybe the 600 being corked off is slowing it up, but it seems that the 500 is more tolerant of gear mis-selection. The fuel mileage, quantity, couch-like ride, top speed, and lack of paint mixer effect are what I enjoy about the 600.

Have a nice day.