KDXRIDER.NET

On short notice, my son and I decided to race in the local Colorado Off Road Championship Series (CORCS) 5th round at RAM Off Road Park here in Colorado Springs this past weekend. The race was scheduled for July 21st, but had been rescheduled due to severe rain and washout of the track, which worked well for us. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to see how the KDX compared to my CRF 450 that I raced in CORCS 5 years ago. I had just spent Thursday through Friday riding some single track in the mountains near Sargent, CO, and was really impressed with how the KDX performed. I knew that it would do great in the sand washes and technical areas, but wasn't looking forward to some of the bigger jumps at RAM since I have ridden that area quite a bit over the years and know how big they can be.

We arrived at RAM Off Road Park early Sunday to get registered and ready for race day. I was in the 11 a.m. race - C1 (C Super Senior 50+ class) group and my 16 y/o son was racing in the C2 (C 250 class) right after mine. The weather was pretty toasty, with temps around 90, but at least it's a "dry" heat, unlike you east coast folks get to deal with. I filled up my 3 liter hydration pack knowing that I would probably go through that in the 1.5 hour race.

I wasn't too worried about trying to get out front during the start and treated this race more as a marathon, so I started out about mid-pack on the start. The KDX ran really well and did excellent through the more technical stuff, but I was hesitant to do any of the bigger jumps, so I rolled quite a few of them during the first and second laps. After that I said "what the heck" and started hitting more of them until I was jumping all of them by 3/4 through the race. I've included a couple videos of the smaller jumps, and in the first one you can see where I was bottoming out without even getting much air.

By the end of the race I was heating up pretty well and was ready for a chair and some more hydration. I didn't dump my bike at all and ended up getting 5th place, so I was pretty happy. My son also got 5th place in his class which made for an overall good day. I know one thing - if I plan on doing anymore hare scrambles with the KDX, I will definitely do the fork conversion so that I can jump it with confidence. I love the current setup for single track and technical riding, but it's not intended to do motocross the way it's setup now. Even though my lap times would have been faster on my 450 and I probably would have moved up one or two positions, I had more fun riding the KDX, so that made it worthwhile.

Todd

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 1 on Flickr

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 2 on Flickr

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 6 on Flickr

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 3 on Flickr

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 4 on Flickr

2019 CORCS RAM Offroad Race 5 on Flickr

Nice! Now you just need a helmet cam so we can join in the ride!

SS109 wrote: 12:19 am Aug 06 2019 Nice! Now you just need a helmet cam so we can join in the ride!

We have a GoPro 6 with a Proshot mount (on the front mouthpiece) that works really well, but unfortunately we didn't bring the GoPro?! I'll definitely shoot some video next time!

Cool! Yeah, man, gotta have the Gopro when you're racing! LOL!

I would try springing the bike properly if you haven't already done so. Fun looking track set up they had.

bufftester wrote: 12:52 pm Aug 06 2019 I would try springing the bike properly if you haven't already done so. Fun looking track set up they had.

The course was definitely fun. It was approximately 5 miles long and incorporated a small sand wash, some rocks, small hills, MX track, etc. My son was taking some pics/videos, but that was only in the front area where the MX track portion was.

You are absolutely correct - I need to first look at setting up the bike properly to see if that helps. I've just heard a lot about the stock forks and how it's very difficult to set them up for MX type of riding, so that's why I have been considering just going to a newer fork setup like a lot of KDX owners have done. I just bought this bike a few months ago and did quite a bit of work to get it where it is now, but haven't done anything suspension wise.

VERY NICE! Congratulations on getting out there and mixing it up!

KDXGarage wrote: 03:46 pm Aug 06 2019 VERY NICE! Congratulations on getting out there and mixing it up!

Thanks! It was a great time and I can't wait to get some more saddle time on the KDX.

Outstanding! And congrats on the 5th place finish. May I add that is one heck of a nice looking KDX. And as a final note from someone else actively racing the KDX, yeah, do the forks!

doakley wrote: 06:25 pm Aug 06 2019 Outstanding! And congrats on the 5th place finish. May I add that is one heck of a nice looking KDX. And as a final note from someone else actively racing the KDX, yeah, do the forks!

Thanks for the kind words Doug. You sir, have been an inspiration to me and I'm sure many others on this forum. I've really enjoyed following your racing adventures - keep up the great work!

Yes, even sprung right the stock fork will never be great at MX, but may be better enough for the occasional race. If you plan on racing a bunch more then I would probably look at fork swaps. Sprung correctly its a great fork in the tight/technical.

Gatoroc, Great write up, pics and video clips. Just makes me want to get out and ride!