klx 650

[Dan Pauley]

Big Macho men is what we are. Until....... Francis Marion National Forrest, Wambaw cycle area. www.sctrails.net We rode the bikes out to find the trail head on Sunday. My friend Will on a Sherpa, my son Shawn and I on KLR250s. It is a long ride though some very scenic areas of the National forrest. Not very technical or twisty, just scenic. The trails here are listed at 40 miles as per the national forrest guide. The Sherpa only has about 80~90 miles to reserve. Closest gas station to the trail head is about 20 miles. We decide to trailer the bikes to the trail head so we'd have more riding time. Due to our vacationing attitude we get up and head out to the trail by the crack of noon. It is sort of drizzeling rain and slightly cool. Get to the trail head and unload the bikes. There is only two other groups there. A father son with matching blue/white jerseys and new yamaha's. Dad's YZ125 and boys TTR125. Two other guys on beat to crap bikes, an RT100 yamaha and a KLR300 that look rode hard and put up wet on many occassions. With the exception of YZ dad, they are busy making a little race track of the parking area. We unload the bikes and get suited up. YZ dad is polite and walks over to strike up conversation. We ask about the trails and he offers to take us on his regular loop. Sez it is about 6 miles. I'm thinking "great, but I want to do some real trail riding." I make one loop around the little parking area race track. Lots of whoops. Kids just seem to skim the top. Me I get beat to scrap. Dang this is tough, I'll be glad to ride some easy trails. Finally we are all herded up and ready to go. The guy sez his son will lead as he sets a steady easy pace. YZ dad offers to ride sweep. Kids in front we head out. Whoops, whoops and more whoops. Felt like I was on one of those mechanical bulls with handlebars attached. Except if you happened to loose the whoop sequence there were pine trees of sufficient diameter to remind you of where the designated path is. My son Shawn fell a couple times. Will fell once. I wanted to fall several times but the trees wouldn't let me.... Just about as soon as I've had all I can take there is a power line and I get to rest. The kids are long gone, Shawn and Will and YZ dad finally get there. YZ dad sez to stay here a second, he has to go warm up his plug. The dude take off and just scorches the berms and whoops for about 500 yards. BIG 180 roost and he sets the same pace getting back to us. He said "sorry about that, my plug was trying to foul and I needed to wank on it a bit." My upper body feels like I went through a wringer. I'm exhausted, can't breath and even my eyelids hurt. YZ dad finally pipes in and sez "We are almost at the half way point." Said there is some rough stuff coming up. The trick here is to loosen up and let the bike do the work. By then I was making plans to run over him with the truck if I ever make it back at the parking area. The rest of the ride went about the same. I tried everything I could to make it smooth. Never got it. Soil is sandy and the whoop bowls are spaced anywhere from 3 to 15 ft apart. Can't ride up on the edge of the bowls I don't have the traction and both the front are rear tires wash out. Tried to blast it hard and drop the wussy attitude. Managed that technique for about 100 yards then a pine tree taught me that weren't smart. Being a wuss ain't such a bad thing. We made a couple more stops at clearings so YZ dad could remind us how old and out of shape we were (under the guise of clearing his plug) Eventually we make it back to the parking area. Seems like days since we left. I'm more beat in the upper body than I can remember. There is something wrong with all of our bikes. Something I didn't know about dual sport bikes. Apparently the odometer quits working when your sphinter locks down tight. All of us are showing 5.8 miles... On a serious note, I really had a good time. YZ dad was wonderful even to dang yankee visitors. The trails are great and can be ridden easy or hard. If you ever needed a good excuse to go on a diet, come down and ride these trails. I can see it getting really hot during the summer so a mid winter break from the snow in Ohio may be the plan for next year. Did have a great time and hope to one day have the talent and be in the physical condition of YZ dad. Dan / \

[allanwhittington]

I have the opportunity to buy one of these. Can anyone tell me more about them? What are their mechanical weaknesses (if any). What should I look out for before buying? Allan Whittington