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Trail ride review with some notes on Triple Point carbide upgrades, Giant Loop Bushwackers handguards and gas mileage!
We get horrible snow here @ sea level on the east coast of Newfoundland so I get out when conditions allow. We've finally gotten some snow and I had my first shake down run of the season late last week and tagged along with a friend and his Dad yesterday.
My bike is a 2011 Husaberg FE 390 with a 2015 ST Kit w/ .52 front fork springs. I rode the kit 4-5 times last year (bad snow conditions and work kept me away) and found some areas for improvement to suit my area, so this year's upgrades were:
2016 TSS
2016 2.5 track
Gold Standard triple point ski skegs (center and both outer edges)
Enduro Eng. Heated grips w/ sicass racing high/low/off bar mounted switch
Giant Loop buckwackers hand guards
Raptor springs
Yeti freewheel kit
No doubt the bike is low on power compared to the 450 MX bikes but it's still damn fun and it's the only bike I have
So, with that said I managed to do a 90 km trail ride yesterday w/ 2 sleds!
It was fun, it was hard, it was fun, it was painful, it was fun
First off, there is no way I could of done it without the triple point skeg upgrades. For our nasty freeze/thaw cycle there is just way to much ice and combined with how tracked out everything around here gets (first sign of snow and everyone is jumping up and down ready to go on sleds/atvs) the stock skegs don't come close to making for a fun ride. Last year w/ the stock ones was scary in many many places. Now with these new skegs I can turn on ice and even pavement! They are an amazing upgrade if you are in a situation where you deal with hardpack/ice!
http://snowbikekits.com/product/gold-standard-wear-skeg-fits-timbersled-10-backcountry-ski/
The only real issues I had on the ride were several un-frozen river crossings where so many sleds had worked the sides down... Those were scary. but just had to be like Homer... 'Shut up brain, or i'll stab you with a q-tip!' Count to 3 and just nail it and stay on the gas until on the other side Made it across no problem, but would still much rather not have to do those again!
Second main problem area were some crazy narrow tight turn sections where the trees were heavily overgrown. The bikes sit so tall that even tucking as low as possible there were tree branches catching on my helmet. Just about got pulled off the back a few times. And with so little room to maneuver side to side the twitchy feeling of rutted out sled tracks becomes very difficult. It took alot of concentration and white knuckled handlebar action to make it through
Next are the giant loop bushwackers. Wow are these things amazing! I really was skeptical on these but I liked the idea more than the other mitts that you put your hands into. So they're fairly cheap and I figured wtf, I'd give 'em a go. These w/ heated grips, maybe i'll be ok!
Within 10 minutes into my ride my heated grips give out (Enduro Eng. ones installed under reg. grips - i weakened the throttle side wires on install it seems and they shorted out, blowing the fuse). I rode the next 4 hours in summer dirtbike gloves with no issues at all! It was around -5 degrees C and I couldn't believe how good those giant elephant ear looking bits of plastic were working!
I soldered the grips wires back on today nice and strong and now I'm very confident that in just about any weather this combo will be plenty!
https://giantloopmoto.com/product/bushwackers-hand-guards/
Another thing that made the trail ride so much more enjoyable was the suspension upgrades. I couldn't say for sure which had more of an impact, the TSS or the Raptor springs (done both before riding) but all I can say is that compared to last season, this feels amazing! The bike soaks up the bumps so well now and rides incredibly smooth over washboard type chatter its a joy. Also it feels like it's so much easier to carry the front end off small bumps like a tiny wheelie.
While I was really pleased with the run overall and how the bike coped, it's far and away not what this was designed for. My forearms and hands are sore as hell... It felt like I was fighting the bike alot due to the narrow trails and hardpack. Even with the upgrades done to make this easier, it's still not near as enjoyable as it could be. While there were sections that I had a blast on, wider trails where I could play on the side and practice carrying the front end over small terrain features, it's definately more suited to a sled! If i had space to store a sled, i'd likely have both
And finally, gas consumption!! I was really worried that I would not have enough to tag along on a long ride with sleds and their giant tanks. My berg has around 7 liters in the tank, plus 13 liters in the MA gas can that used to come with the TS Kits. So i have 20 liters total. Several times on the trip I refilled my main tank - not when empty, but just whenever stopped for a decent break. Both to keep a close eye on how things were going and also to get weight off the rear track as quickly as possible.
When I got home I refilled the bikes tank and I was very pleased to still have around 2 liters left in the MA can!! So i burnt around 11 liters of gas in 90 km's of riding. Just over half my fuel capacity, so I should easily have a range of 150 km's. Great info for me to have!
a quick note on the Yeti freewheel kit. I had a home made 4 wheel dolly last year and it was a huge pain in the *** for me to use solo. This year, with the new track the bike is WAY more tippy and I just wasn't happy with it. Combined with not being happy, the triple point carbides were going to completely destroy the flooring in my garage so I bit the bullet and ordered the freewheel setup. It's incredible! So easy to put on / take off by myself and a really really high quality piece of kit!
all in all, i'm very happy to have this snowbike kit to extend my riding to all 4 seasons!
Such a fun 'little' bike!!!
We get horrible snow here @ sea level on the east coast of Newfoundland so I get out when conditions allow. We've finally gotten some snow and I had my first shake down run of the season late last week and tagged along with a friend and his Dad yesterday.
My bike is a 2011 Husaberg FE 390 with a 2015 ST Kit w/ .52 front fork springs. I rode the kit 4-5 times last year (bad snow conditions and work kept me away) and found some areas for improvement to suit my area, so this year's upgrades were:
2016 TSS
2016 2.5 track
Gold Standard triple point ski skegs (center and both outer edges)
Enduro Eng. Heated grips w/ sicass racing high/low/off bar mounted switch
Giant Loop buckwackers hand guards
Raptor springs
Yeti freewheel kit
No doubt the bike is low on power compared to the 450 MX bikes but it's still damn fun and it's the only bike I have
So, with that said I managed to do a 90 km trail ride yesterday w/ 2 sleds!
It was fun, it was hard, it was fun, it was painful, it was fun
First off, there is no way I could of done it without the triple point skeg upgrades. For our nasty freeze/thaw cycle there is just way to much ice and combined with how tracked out everything around here gets (first sign of snow and everyone is jumping up and down ready to go on sleds/atvs) the stock skegs don't come close to making for a fun ride. Last year w/ the stock ones was scary in many many places. Now with these new skegs I can turn on ice and even pavement! They are an amazing upgrade if you are in a situation where you deal with hardpack/ice!
http://snowbikekits.com/product/gold-standard-wear-skeg-fits-timbersled-10-backcountry-ski/
The only real issues I had on the ride were several un-frozen river crossings where so many sleds had worked the sides down... Those were scary. but just had to be like Homer... 'Shut up brain, or i'll stab you with a q-tip!' Count to 3 and just nail it and stay on the gas until on the other side
Made it across no problem, but would still much rather not have to do those again!Second main problem area were some crazy narrow tight turn sections where the trees were heavily overgrown. The bikes sit so tall that even tucking as low as possible there were tree branches catching on my helmet. Just about got pulled off the back a few times. And with so little room to maneuver side to side the twitchy feeling of rutted out sled tracks becomes very difficult. It took alot of concentration and white knuckled handlebar action to make it through
Next are the giant loop bushwackers. Wow are these things amazing! I really was skeptical on these but I liked the idea more than the other mitts that you put your hands into. So they're fairly cheap and I figured wtf, I'd give 'em a go. These w/ heated grips, maybe i'll be ok!
Within 10 minutes into my ride my heated grips give out (Enduro Eng. ones installed under reg. grips - i weakened the throttle side wires on install it seems and they shorted out, blowing the fuse). I rode the next 4 hours in summer dirtbike gloves with no issues at all! It was around -5 degrees C and I couldn't believe how good those giant elephant ear looking bits of plastic were working!
I soldered the grips wires back on today nice and strong and now I'm very confident that in just about any weather this combo will be plenty!
https://giantloopmoto.com/product/bushwackers-hand-guards/
Another thing that made the trail ride so much more enjoyable was the suspension upgrades. I couldn't say for sure which had more of an impact, the TSS or the Raptor springs (done both before riding) but all I can say is that compared to last season, this feels amazing! The bike soaks up the bumps so well now and rides incredibly smooth over washboard type chatter its a joy. Also it feels like it's so much easier to carry the front end off small bumps like a tiny wheelie.
While I was really pleased with the run overall and how the bike coped, it's far and away not what this was designed for. My forearms and hands are sore as hell... It felt like I was fighting the bike alot due to the narrow trails and hardpack. Even with the upgrades done to make this easier, it's still not near as enjoyable as it could be. While there were sections that I had a blast on, wider trails where I could play on the side and practice carrying the front end over small terrain features, it's definately more suited to a sled! If i had space to store a sled, i'd likely have both
And finally, gas consumption!! I was really worried that I would not have enough to tag along on a long ride with sleds and their giant tanks. My berg has around 7 liters in the tank, plus 13 liters in the MA gas can that used to come with the TS Kits. So i have 20 liters total. Several times on the trip I refilled my main tank - not when empty, but just whenever stopped for a decent break. Both to keep a close eye on how things were going and also to get weight off the rear track as quickly as possible.
When I got home I refilled the bikes tank and I was very pleased to still have around 2 liters left in the MA can!! So i burnt around 11 liters of gas in 90 km's of riding. Just over half my fuel capacity, so I should easily have a range of 150 km's. Great info for me to have!
a quick note on the Yeti freewheel kit. I had a home made 4 wheel dolly last year and it was a huge pain in the *** for me to use solo. This year, with the new track the bike is WAY more tippy and I just wasn't happy with it. Combined with not being happy, the triple point carbides were going to completely destroy the flooring in my garage so I bit the bullet and ordered the freewheel setup. It's incredible! So easy to put on / take off by myself and a really really high quality piece of kit!
all in all, i'm very happy to have this snowbike kit to extend my riding to all 4 seasons!
Such a fun 'little' bike!!!
