Tue, 02 Jun 1998 12:52:28 +0100 - Message No. 3252
From: Marc Luethi

Subject: Africa Twin Motocross!


Hi all!

This weekend, (it was the MegaFete of de.rec.motorrad), I got offered a
test ride on real MX track in Frankenthal, no too far from Mannheim.

At first I hesitated, since I didn't want more scratches on my "new" twin.
I had just taken off the totally bent an torn Givi crash bar that had been
damaged on my accident with a 20m slide on wet asphalt early in may.

aeh..where was I ? ah yeah, the MX track in Frankenthal. The soil was hard,
sometimes dusty, but no mud or heavy dirt; these would make it almost
impossible for an Africa Twin or RxxGS to get through!
In fact, after a few laps, a K100RS and a R1100RS even joined for a lap or
two! they did not jump, alright, but they made it!

After I had seen a friend of mine going down there with his R80GS an riding
the track softly (all wheels on ground at all times) I was sure that my AT
could do at least as good as that, screwed off the windshield and had a go.

It was *great*, to say the least. At first, I tried it the hard way and
tried too much with force an power. The more exhausted I was, the more I
had to let the Twin search it's own way. And all of a sudden, it started to
go where I wanted it to, the curves an banked turns became smooth and
"round", and noticeably faster than before.

But coolest were the table tops and the jumps! Of course, I could not
imitate that "long distance flight thing" that the CR250 showed off there,
but it is nonetheless impressive what an RD04 is capable of!

Yet, suspension reaches its limits *very* fast, the fork was at its limits
despite the White Power springs, and adjusting the compression damping to
the max at the rear end did only help a little.

The main problem is the center stand; you definetly should remove it for
hard off road usage. It keeps hitting the ground (or is hit by the ground)
very hard, and you risk sever damage to it, to the frame or yourself on a
hard ride.

I just keep regretting that I didn't take my "old" Twin with me. The
missing center stand and the Michelin T63's traction woul've made it even
more fun!!

Greets

Marc


-- 
marc@rrr.net                                           YJ@IRC
http://zebra.fh-weingarten.de/~luethi                   





atic@gmx.net