It had to happen. After 5 long painful years of abuse Chris' poor little Gas Gas 200EC is being retired gracefully. Its been a great little bike, but getting to the age where a full season of racing would require an excessive amount of shed time.
So whats planned and whats the bike?
"2011 was a great riding year, I took part in most of the rounds of the Big Bike Rally Challenge (7th single!) on the XR650R, did a number of enduros/hare scrambles(low success...), went trail riding in some of the UK's best areas, tried my hand at Flat Track racing(highly recommended), had an awesome week adventure trail riding in Portugal, plus riding sessions in Spain and the USA. Result!
I really enjoyed the rallies but felt id like to try and improve my technical riding, fitness and outright speed so have decided to concentrate on the small bikes this year. Ive decided to take part in the North of England Enduro Championships (NEEC) and the North of England Cross Country (NEXC), organised by a number of clubs (details of the series can be found on the website http://www.enduro-neec.org.uk). I did a couple of the enduros and one of the hare scrambles and found the courses amazing (there are great videos of all their events on this youtube channel). I also want to take part in a number of other events and also do some enduro and motocross practice days. My loose goal, if there is one at all other than fun, is to improve my riding and fitness so i can happily ride in the Clubman pack. Id like to get my technical riding up to scratch as well and maybe even have a crack at one of the extreme events next winter (eek!)
With these events in mind and having seen Chris Salt and Patsy Quick have so much fun with them, ive opted for a KTM 150xc (2011 model with 50 hours prior use). They're a super lightweight and nimble handling enduro/motocross hybrid designed for the American Cross Country market but now imported to the UK with the rise of the discipline here. I figured all the great racers have started off by mastering the art of riding a small bore two-stroke, so its not a bad bike for a late starter! For enduros i will have to fit some basic lights and register it, but plenty of people have done this before so its not a big or expensive job.
After a test run at Preston Docks MX, a few things needed tweaking on the bike and a few bits adding. The bike ripped as it was and had really confidence inspiring handling, but if anything needed the power smoothing out a little for my taste.
First job was to setup the carb for the UK conditions. Its an American bike so its jet from the factory for 750-1500metres altitude at between 16-26 deg C. Not much like Yorkshire then! The bike was very lean and after the melted piston incident at the Enduroland Sandfest i was keen to not make the same mistake twice.
The seat comes off with one bolt and the tank with three, so i whipped out my 8mm Motion Pro Mini-Pro T-Handle Wrench and was ready to go in a couple of minutes. After loosening the jubilee clips on the carb boots the carb twists easily to get access to the float bowl drain where the jets are accessed. I use the super handy Motion Pro FCR carb tool to get the main jet out first and then add the deep screwdriver bit to remove the pilot jet. I replaced the jets with the right ones for upto 300m altitude and 6-16 deg C, much more realistic. Its a really easy job when youve got the right tool!
Next job was to swap out the needle, so i pulled the top of the carb using the 3mm hex bit with the carb tool. The special bolt that bolds the end of the throttle cable and keeps the needle in its place is removed using the main 6mm carb tool. I popped the new needle in with the clip in the new position (the bike came with 3 needles, 3 pilot jets and 3 mains, unfortunately ALL the mains were too small for UK use!)
While doing this i took the opportunity to install a swanky new Motion Pro T3 Slidelight throttle cable. Unlike on the standard cable, the t3 cable cant pull out of the throttle housing. If the cable snags the throttle is stuck wide open and fires you into the nearest solid thing, scary! I became aware of the problem on this thread on ktmforum.co.uk. Another great plus with these cables is theyre a bit longer so you can route the cable round the back of the headlight and the back of the headstock. Another obvious plus is the super bling factor!
(the image below shows the standard routing and the new Motion Pro T3 Slidelight Throttle Cable routing)
Theyre easy to install, but you want to give them a good lubing before hand for the best results. I used the Motion Pro Cable Luber and their awesome Cable Lube.
(the standard cable can be pulled out of the throttle) (bling machined billet adjuster on new cable!)
The bike came with a basic aluminium glide plate that offered no protection to the vulnerable side bits of the engine, fine for MX, no good for enduro!
I added one of our awesome Guard-iT bashplates in all its annodised glory, plus some skidplate foam to stop it filling up with mud! Ive also added the super cool front and rear Kriega Haul Loops that came off my old bike.
I should also mention the awesome job Bootleg Bike Seats in Preston did of lowering the seat (to within an inch of its life!). They've done a superb job of recovering it in a 'faux-suede' material that looks cool, but doesnt soak up water like the real stuff. All for £60!
Yesterday the bike got a run at a Leisure Lakes Enduro Club practice day. The weather had not been great and left the course super muddy (sandy mud) which caused an interesting issue that ended my days riding (more details soon), but the changes to the jetting and a slight tweak to the powervalve made the bike ride exactly as i hoped, much smoother and more bottom end torque! Next i'll be adding Michelin Mousses (recovered from the Gas Gas again) before the first round of the NEXC, Graham Jarvis' Total Enduro event on the 12th February. I'll probably change to some flag style Cycra M2 Recoil Vented Handguards as well and add my favoured Pro-Taper pillow top grips.
