Through his company, Harden-Offroad, Scot spent three days teaching a our class of six the skills of navigation, jumping, braking, turning and other riding skills. Bike set up, for me, was the most important aspect of the class. I ride a KTM 950 Adventure with a stock set up except for a stiffer rear sag setting to suit my weight. My front forks proved to be too soft; the bike wanted to dive and this put the rear tire in the air too much. It also made it hard to hold a good line through a turn since the bike tends to dive on braking and lift too much on throttle. Scot's front spring is stiffer (a 5.1 Honda spring I recall in place of the 4.8 stock spring) and the forks are revalved.

The real difference though, is in the way his bike is set up for a standing riding position. It was very comfortable to ride standing, with no weight on the wrists or shoulders. I would have to have slightly higher bar risers to bring the bars up just a bit more. The bars were straighter too, without the turn back that is made to accomodate seated riders. Of course it also had knobbies in contrast to my stock tires, which helped turning, braking, and climbing.

My stock tires weren't bad though. I did all the climbing and sand washes and power turns on them and felt comfortable. That is relative, of course, as 70mph down a deep sandy road without knobbies on a very big bike is a challenge and a charge. The only time I fell over was when a rock tore off the side stand switch and killed the engine on a steep, rocky uphill climb. Take it off and solder the wires that lead into the switch.

Riding with Scot was like riding with Malcolm Smith. I have followed both over trail at high speed and to watch them flow over the trail is beautiful. Pure lines and smooth, effortless grace. I call that image to mind when I ride.

· Adventure Motorcycling

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Posted by: Flower Online at September 12, 2006 4:04 AM

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