Weather: bout mid 50s, great weather, perfect temps…there were some puddles…(lakes actually)

Location: Rider bud has some property (private) with what has to be 100s of miles of trails, fire roads, power line access etc. Awesome place, and actually almost no one else there. Western Washington, bout 45 min or so from the house.

Ride: Well I forgot to top the fuel off from the last ride (rocket scientist here!) but we will get into that later. Started right up, never have had her on a trickle charger…put it on once, it read charged and turned off after about 15 seconds…so charging system is pretty awesome. I always had to keep the Berg on a trickle charger. Did some fire roads and some wide single track. First off this suspension is really starting to settle in. It just gets smoother with each ride! Confidence this bike inspires I am sure is going to bite me…oh well…..I will go down crashin with a smile! It tracks straight, doesn’t deflect and just goes right where you tell it. Pretty simple. Scotty Parker on fire roads!…hand the butt end out there and twist….woooo hoooo! The front end is really showing its charms..goodness those forks and the shock are simply out of this world. Hit some bad G-outs today, and felt that I was using most if not all of the front suspension, hard…but it stayed tracking and did nothing strange…no bad hit when I found the bottom either…nice. I haven’t set the sag yet…I will do that after my next ride. Pretty sure that with my weight I will have to most likely up my springs in the rear…and the front we will see. Best friend rode her again today, and just couldn’t say enough about the suspension. He is a great rider…so…means a lot in my book from him.

Motor: I honestly think with me doing a lot of open work today: fire-roads, wide single track and single track as well as power line access, mud, rocks, deep water, perfect traction in grass (woooooo hoooooo!!! Love that stuff…instant hook up and roost and stick!) Ponds (OMG) to gravel roads….this motor (well this map) is without a doubt the best power I have ever ridden, at least for me and the way I ride. It refuses to tire you out, hooks up all the time, no surge, incredibly predictable…almost vanilla bland (but extremely deceiving, corners come up really quick on this machine..thank goodness she has some great stoppers) but the fatigue factor from motor hit and surge…is totally absent. You can push this thing at your skill level and ride longer at a faster pace than anything I have ever ridden, and be way less tired when you are done. Just smooth pull, any time you want. I have found that butt and shoulder position is sensitive (this is a good thing, not bad). You want the front to stick, the slide forward…if you want the front light either just lean your shoulders back a bit, or your backside…its lite…and totally at your control. Its not a wheelie machine, if you don’t want it to be. But if you want to Play Doug D. the ol wheelie king…go for it!…easy done. Controls…nothing to report, don’t remember em actually. Brakes are sweeeeeeet!…clutch is well….don’t remember…so must be pretty good! E start spun fast and lit each time. Have to trim the bars down…way to wide..know how to do the Acerbis inside bar mounts now…duh so I can trim em.

Oooops stuff: I ran out of gas. My fault, I didn’t top off from the last ride and I remember I didn’t burp the tank when I ran the last time either. Had 24 miles on the last ride (without burping) and did 28 today (before I ran dry), so that gave me well over 50 miles on a tank and actually a lot more cause I didn’t burp her. Well the gas goof (on WFO fire roads and pretty fast wide single track) and she started like to die…thought it was the computer (great!)…then it lit back up….looked down at the fuel filter and she was empty….OOOOOOPS! Best friend gave me about a liter from his Huge tanked YZ…and went back to the truck and topped off (bout 4 miles away) now…all that said…I put in my full 2.5 gallons that I brought. So my tank is right at 2.6 as adverts in the brochure. So with today, me getting 50 + miles on my tank pushing the motor…is no problem. And for me, on this tight single track…is plenty in Western Washington. Cant believe I had to take fuel from a YZ…will the Dale forum ever forgive me?

My Panoram did its nuclear melt down today…was on the leg back to the truck…and I noticed that my run time worked…but no mileage, and no speed, just zero in each place. Weird…then it came on for about 17 miles…then it reset…zero’d out…then…after I jumped it…(boy does this thing love to jump and neutral in the air and landings)…it started its disco flash down…every possible number location of the screen all flashed all 1s, then 2s, then 3s…all the rest of the way back…I will call Panoram on Monday. My other one has never done this…so we will see what they say.

Went through some deeeeeeeep water today. Couple of long ones, and at least 2 where the water was up at the top of the rad shouds. Goodness. I am deep water scuba qualified…but not on a bike. One puddle, was long and deep….went through it with no problems…(motor got real quiet, they get muffled under water!)…well….when we loaded up, I looked at the sight glass for the Trans…wasn’t pink anymore…kind of a milk shake!…so she pulled some water into the trans. I have had other bikes do this on shallower water than we went through today…so I am not worried. Will flush her out and put in some new!

Other than that…no bad things. Getting used to the thinness of the machine, extremely easy to move around on. Wonderfully sensitive to rider input and weight shifts…flies on fire roads.

I have to say how much I enjoy riding this machine, more than any other bike I have owned. For me, my size/height, and the speed (or lack of it)with which I ride…its almost perfect.

Great ride. Probably did close to 60 miles today, if not more. Nothing loose, nothing happened other than the panoram going stupid…and taking in water through one of the vent hoses in radiator shroud deep water…go figure.

Cheater bike folks….let me tell you…for HR, this is a cheater bike. C’Dale has hit nothing but net!