Alright guys, I know it's not Dec. 1 yet, buy hey, I put on 27 miles this weekend! Am I supposed to wait until Dec. 1 and then post about my riding in October?
Gaylord MI got a bunch of snow late last week, so I figured I better get a test-ride in while the snow lasted. I drove three hours up from Lansing and arrived at about dark Saturday night. My buddy who lives in Gaylord brought my brand new Attak GT home from the dealer in Gaylord and I met him at his house. Three of us suited-up and took off ditch-banging, trying to do our best to stay out of the mud. Anything that was snowplowed was obviously a sloppy mess, but otherwise there was a good 6" of real heavy snow that had condensed from the foot or so that had fallen.
The two other guys I was riding with are brothers aged about 19 and 21, the older one retired from snowcross due to knee injuries, and the younger one is currently a semi-pro. Needless to say, ditchbanging with a brand new Attak with these two guys on modified XC-600's that are just their "beaters" was interesting!
We were on about 1,000 acres of private property consisting of two-tracks, severely whooped-out pipelines, a meadow good for about 500' drags, and a mile stretch of a real wide road right-of-way/mild ditch that had an additional layer of snow from the snowplow.
This thing is fast! I was able to beat both of the other sleds in repeated 500' drags, even with my track ratcheting occasionaly, and very little weight transfer. Until I let off, this sled was pulling away from them faster and faster. I'm not sure how many miles the "Moto-man" break-in theory recommends, but I have 27 miles of "pinned to 80mph and let-off". I only got a quick glimpse of the tach on one of these runs, and I think I saw about 10,300. We were never on anything flat enough for me to watch the tach; I was more concerned about looking for those early-season suprises like hidden rocks, stumps, posts, etc...
I had installed my Simmons skis prior to the ride to keep the stock ones "new" to be sold. The wet, good packing snow is where the Simmons are the worst, so steering this beast was pretty tough. The lack of any weight transfer added to this. I can tell that I will have to do alot of suspension adjustments, but I pretty much knew this was going to be the case.
The front springs appear to have been set way too hard; there is hardly any sag, and I couldn't bottom the front out if I tried. I will probably have to speed up the rebound after I soften the springs, since the front seemed real slow on the rebound. The back spring also seemed to be set too stiff, but I was not wearing all my gear ( I was wearing jeans and hiking boots), and I plan to add saddlebags full of the usuall stuff, so the spring might stay where it is. I weigh 165lbs in street clothes by the way, for all you guys reading this wondering what yamaha did for the 07 Ohlins spring/shock. I left the shock compression damp. set as SOFT as it will go, and only bottomed-out a few times. This was on a 3/4 mile length of constant 12-24" whoops made by ATV's and trucks. I didn't really get a chance to re-run this stretch with the comp. set harder. The rebound screw must have been backed all the way out, because this thing would rebound to the point of almost bucking me off! I have no idea where any of the suspension adjustments are, and did not touch anything during the ride; we hopped-on and took off riding. I figured I would have lots of garage time later for messing with it. I know this sled is not meant to be a ditch-banger, and most of the riding I do these days is saddlebagging in the U.P. of Michigan. I am going to try and set it up to be as plush as possible while allowing me to push it a little in the bumps and do some occasional jumping.
Yamaha might have done something with the hot grips for 07, but let me tell you, they still might not be hot enough. They dont get hot at all while idling; I thought they were not even working at first. I checked them after a mile running at 45-65mph at full setting, and while they were warm, they were not "hot". I rode all 27 miles with the grips on full, in a pair of Yamaha mechanics gloves, in 32 degree weather, and I never had my hands get "hot". Proper grip warmers should burn your hands in conditions like those!
While I was only in jeans, and having bibs on might change things, my right shin kept rubbing the cowl to the point that it hurt.
This sled is going to be awesome! I drove 360 miles round-trip in my truck to ride 27 miles on my new sled, and it was worth it! This was three weeks earlier than I have ever ridden, and while I feel just a little guilty about getting my new baby a little dirty, I had to do it!
Gaylord MI got a bunch of snow late last week, so I figured I better get a test-ride in while the snow lasted. I drove three hours up from Lansing and arrived at about dark Saturday night. My buddy who lives in Gaylord brought my brand new Attak GT home from the dealer in Gaylord and I met him at his house. Three of us suited-up and took off ditch-banging, trying to do our best to stay out of the mud. Anything that was snowplowed was obviously a sloppy mess, but otherwise there was a good 6" of real heavy snow that had condensed from the foot or so that had fallen.
The two other guys I was riding with are brothers aged about 19 and 21, the older one retired from snowcross due to knee injuries, and the younger one is currently a semi-pro. Needless to say, ditchbanging with a brand new Attak with these two guys on modified XC-600's that are just their "beaters" was interesting!
We were on about 1,000 acres of private property consisting of two-tracks, severely whooped-out pipelines, a meadow good for about 500' drags, and a mile stretch of a real wide road right-of-way/mild ditch that had an additional layer of snow from the snowplow.
This thing is fast! I was able to beat both of the other sleds in repeated 500' drags, even with my track ratcheting occasionaly, and very little weight transfer. Until I let off, this sled was pulling away from them faster and faster. I'm not sure how many miles the "Moto-man" break-in theory recommends, but I have 27 miles of "pinned to 80mph and let-off". I only got a quick glimpse of the tach on one of these runs, and I think I saw about 10,300. We were never on anything flat enough for me to watch the tach; I was more concerned about looking for those early-season suprises like hidden rocks, stumps, posts, etc...
I had installed my Simmons skis prior to the ride to keep the stock ones "new" to be sold. The wet, good packing snow is where the Simmons are the worst, so steering this beast was pretty tough. The lack of any weight transfer added to this. I can tell that I will have to do alot of suspension adjustments, but I pretty much knew this was going to be the case.
The front springs appear to have been set way too hard; there is hardly any sag, and I couldn't bottom the front out if I tried. I will probably have to speed up the rebound after I soften the springs, since the front seemed real slow on the rebound. The back spring also seemed to be set too stiff, but I was not wearing all my gear ( I was wearing jeans and hiking boots), and I plan to add saddlebags full of the usuall stuff, so the spring might stay where it is. I weigh 165lbs in street clothes by the way, for all you guys reading this wondering what yamaha did for the 07 Ohlins spring/shock. I left the shock compression damp. set as SOFT as it will go, and only bottomed-out a few times. This was on a 3/4 mile length of constant 12-24" whoops made by ATV's and trucks. I didn't really get a chance to re-run this stretch with the comp. set harder. The rebound screw must have been backed all the way out, because this thing would rebound to the point of almost bucking me off! I have no idea where any of the suspension adjustments are, and did not touch anything during the ride; we hopped-on and took off riding. I figured I would have lots of garage time later for messing with it. I know this sled is not meant to be a ditch-banger, and most of the riding I do these days is saddlebagging in the U.P. of Michigan. I am going to try and set it up to be as plush as possible while allowing me to push it a little in the bumps and do some occasional jumping.
Yamaha might have done something with the hot grips for 07, but let me tell you, they still might not be hot enough. They dont get hot at all while idling; I thought they were not even working at first. I checked them after a mile running at 45-65mph at full setting, and while they were warm, they were not "hot". I rode all 27 miles with the grips on full, in a pair of Yamaha mechanics gloves, in 32 degree weather, and I never had my hands get "hot". Proper grip warmers should burn your hands in conditions like those!
While I was only in jeans, and having bibs on might change things, my right shin kept rubbing the cowl to the point that it hurt.
This sled is going to be awesome! I drove 360 miles round-trip in my truck to ride 27 miles on my new sled, and it was worth it! This was three weeks earlier than I have ever ridden, and while I feel just a little guilty about getting my new baby a little dirty, I had to do it!
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This has to be posted in the TY Ride Section Please and keep you log in the same thread....Awesome so far 
MR.HAPPY
TY 4 Stroke Master
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Hey Doug I hope everything still looks good & clean for me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice to hear somebody got to ride a little!!!!!!!!!
We still on for the Nov. 4th weekend?
That gives you lots of time to get all my parts polished up!!!!!!!!!!
No scratches please!
BR
Nice to hear somebody got to ride a little!!!!!!!!!
We still on for the Nov. 4th weekend?
That gives you lots of time to get all my parts polished up!!!!!!!!!!
No scratches please!
BR
mdkuni
TY 4 Stroke Guru
Re: TY - Mileage, Doug
That is awesome you got a ride in already Enjoy your new sled.
^That worries me.Doug said:
That is awesome you got a ride in already
Enjoy your new sled.- Status
- Not open for further replies.
