Not again, yes again.

I sold the mud bike I bought at the end of last year. During our ongoing COVID 19 lockdown I spent what seemed like months looking for the next project. I wanted a lighter 4 stroke bike to ride in the woods. I finally found a candidate a super, super clean 2017.5 Factory Edition 250SXF with 12.2 Hrs. That’s right a motocross bike that weighs 219 lbs without gas and came with a bunch of goodies on it that I wouldn’t have to buy and the price was very, very good. Yes it’s a five speed close ratio transmission the only drawback to a five speed is limited top end on those occasional fire roads. But I’ve had five speeds before and found I seldom wound it out especially when it turns 13000 RPM before I ducked back on to a single track.

 

The bike came with a brand new Guts soft seat a brand new Acerbis skid plate, FMF muffler and spark arrestor the high dollar Rekluse and a brand new set of graphics. I added a fan kit, foot pegs, kickstand, Flex Bars with Cycra hand guards, speed odometer, left hand operated rear brake and an 18” rear wheel. Some of this stuff I took off my mud bike.

My major concern was/is the suspension the forks are air and of course the suspension was set up for MX not trail riding. And so far this has been the only real issue. The bike is so light it dances around like a two stroke and we haven’t been able so far to get it plush enough for me. Right now I’d say there would be a lot of riders who would think the suspension is great where it is right now, but it’s not for me and after all it’s me that counts.

The bike handles very well and will eventually be much better once the suspension is worked out. I’ve been surprised at the amount of power the 250 puts out especially when you consider how much I weigh. The 250 wasn’t intended to haul a big belly like me around but it does. The motor revs very freely pulls ok off the bottom and overall has very good power. 

Bucky at SBB has been working with me on the suspension. He re valved the shock and changed the spring I’m about to try the third different settings on the front forks the air forks are tricky for trail riding. If this doesn’t work I think we will go to a spring fork conversion kit

Second ride after the last fork re valve and before this latest ride I changed the rear shock spring back to the stock unit and rode 34 miles at Chalk Bluff so obviously it worked better with the softer spring. But the front is still not where I’d like it, so I have put the Explor forks on off my KTM 350 dual sport bike on and will try this combo. One of the things I don’t like about the Air Forks is they are still a little harsh in the initial part of the travel and they hold up in the middle of the stroke, I’m expecting the forks to move in the middle as I go through corners and when they don’t it throws me off. If you read MX bike reviews one of the things testers constantly complain about is that the forks don’t hold up in the middle of the stroke as they corner apparently lots of ex pro MX’ers like the fork to hold up in a corner I don’t, I like them to move as I go through a corner.

I’ve fallen off this bike five times already and have taken lots of skin off my arms as a result. I finally discovered one of the reasons. I’d like to blame it entirely on the bike but can’t. The rear brake master cylinder was inconsistently bleeding off and of course it did it when I needed it the most, I’ve fixed that issue.

The Explor forks solved the front end problem for me. Stan, Wayne and I rode about thirty miles at Chalk Bluff and the bike worked the best it has today. Still didn’t keep me from peeling more hide off my arms though as I hit the ground again a couple of times, most of the damage was done going over a 20” log.

So the question now is do I keep the Explor forks off my 350 on it and then what do I do for my 350? I can convert the air forks to spring forks, but I’m not confident that will work for me, do I look for a set of Explor forks for sale or do I cut my losses and sell the bike before I put more money in it still not knowing if spring forks will solve my problem. I’m leaning at this moment towards selling it.

I’ve decided, I’m in the process of getting it ready to sell it.

Oh well. Stay tuned.

Doug 21J