Thoughts on 07 250XCW

[KKXR400R]

Much on my findings about this bike are from a 2 1/2 hour trail ride that included mostly Desert terrain and twisty trails at a fast pace. Most of what we did was a click below race pace after break in.

Well I took the new bike out today and got her broke in. I did 3 heat cycles in 15 minute intervals. I have to say I was somewhat confused at first. This is not a stab and jab or let her rip by dumping the clutch type of bike. After break in I fought this thing for about 30 minutes on a fast paced trail ride but just couldn’t get the hang of it. With the CR you have to drop the hammer, let the rear wheel take over and ride pretty aggressively. While the bike was cooling off for a while I was trying to figure the whole thing out. I told everyone in the group to let me do my thing and I’d catch up. I threw my leg over the seat and just relaxed. I let the bike have a mind of its own, rolled the throttle and tried to ride as smooth as possible. Before you knew it I was catching back up to everyone and was riding a great pace. Even without the damper I was railing corners faster then I before on the CR. I felt less fatigued in my hands as compared to the CR. This is one of things I was shooting for. The suspension needs a little bit of work with the springs rates as it pushed here and there and the rear wheel wanted to slide out in some of the harder pack stuff. I did find that 1st gear is useless in the softer stuff and momentum is still a 2-strokes best friend. The bike does get up and go in more of the mid range of the power but has a nice smooth hit and transitions into the next gear smoothly. The XC-W’s have the least amount of hit on the low end out of all the the others (SX, XC). The power band is very smooth and likes to be ridden with more finesse. I hit a paved road today and laid it wide open. I hit 77 MPH going into 5th but I had to sign off early as a corner was coming up. To say top speed is not an issue is an understatement. There will be lots of tweaking and figuring out the quirks but right now I’m just trying to get used to it. See ya

-Kevin-

[pjg351]

Kevin was in such a hurry to test his new bike, he couldn't wait for Tracy to help him load it. Nice work Kev!

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[YZalltheway]

Sounds sweet man. Cant wait to see some helmet cam footage of it once you get the skidplate and all the other Armor you desert guys need

[Keetoman393]

Kev, ai have a friend that owns a 525EXC and he said the same thing as you did. He let the bike do what it wanted and he rode it a lot better. As he puts it, the bike does the hard part and he is just along for the scenery. Glad you like it!

[KKXR400R]

Thanks guys. One thing I didn't mention about the break in. Tracy was having some strange problems with the CR250. We rode for about an hour for the heat cycles and the bike never acted up. It ran great. We rested for about 20 minutes and did another session. Thats when things went wrong. It would idle really weird when you came to a stop. almost like it had a 10 pound flywheel weight or was being starved for fuel . It would dropped real low and..Bear with me here....would go ping.....ping.....ping...and every time it did it the revs would raise but literally for only a split second at a time. At first I thought it was the new carb and flywheel weight but remembered it did this a few times with the Mukuni but went away. Also, out of the corners I got a surge or stutter all the way through the power band. This is not normal for this bike. It was kinda freaky so we called it a day and headed home. I got it home and decided to open the left cover (where the stator is at) to make sure the flywheel weight was still in good shape....bad news. I found tranny oil and coolant puddled up under the stator. It's like clockwork. I get a new bike and now the CR breaks....I should just let it blow up so I have an excuse to get rid of the damn thing...anyways...just venting a little. With the CRF still being rebuilt (back ordered intake valves), a kitchen/living room/bathroom remodel and my work picking up big time I don't have much of time to "learn" how to do a low end rebuild right now. Yep, thats a stock low end on that CR. I was planning on trying it myself but I just don't have the time right now so I'm having Chris shop do all the work. It's going to put me in the hole but in the long end I think we will be better off.

-Kevin-