G450X Race Report - Rendlesham Enduro

Porthos1

Guest
Raced my G450X at Rendlesham Forest yesterday as part of the TBEC Enduro Series. The race was a 3 hour Hare and Hound event through very tight forest tracks and occasional firebreaks which offered a slight rest. Feedback as follows:

The bike was set up as standard and I ran it at 40Bhp which was more than enough given the tight terrain. It was absolutely chucking with rain all day and by the 2nd and 3rd laps the course was extremely rutted.

The bike did not miss a beat all day. It was an absolute dream to ride and my initial concerns of weight (having come from a KTM 250SXF) and steering lock were completely alleviated within about 10 minutes of racing.

I dropped the bike a couple of times during the latter stages of the race, but I found picking it up fine and it started first time every time. The majority of the race was spent in 1st and 2nd gear through the tight forest areas and I was worried about the engine needing to be ‘opened up’ occasionally to shake the low rev cobwebs! To be fair, every time I needed to squirt it down a straight, the power was there and again the responsiveness was first rate.

At one point on the course we had to clear a concrete pipeline running across the track. Several were talking of their bike bottoming out but I can happily say it cleared it with ease. Unfortunately I did not have any handguards fitted which meant a couple of my fingers are worse for wear today having clipped several trees!!

It certainly caused a topic of conversation in the paddock and everybody was keen to know how it rode. Some had already taken a test ride from a local dealer and were generally eager to know how it raced.

There was one other G450 racing (bought from Northampton BMW). He was a good rider (did not catch his name). He was riding with the switch to flick from 40-50Bhp but said he spent the majority of the race set at 40bhp. He did complain of the bike cutting out on him during the race but did not seem to worried and said it re-started easily enough.

In sum, I am thrilled with how the bike rode. If I were to change anything, I would have let the tyre pressures down and maybe softened the suspension a couple of clicks……all minor tweaking stuff.

Unfortunately the bike is now sat in my garage at home still covered in mud as my sodding car broke down on the way home and I had to be towed back by the AA. The recovery man had is priorities right as we recovered the bike first and then back for the car!!
 
Good report and good to hear youa nd the bike performed well :thumb

I still get the very occasional cut out - Always when I am blipping on the down shift to second or first but it always starts again immediately. I used to get the same on my KTM and Husaberg so it may be me...

Do you know if you can switch engine maps on the fly or do you have to kill the ignition first? (stop the bike)
 
Good report and good to hear youa nd the bike performed well :thumb

Do you know if you can switch engine maps on the fly or do you have to kill the ignition first? (stop the bike)

Not sure.......he implied he was doing it on the move but would'nt like to say. I am sure Possu will be able to answer when he reads this thread!
 
Not sure.......he implied he was doing it on the move but would'nt like to say. I am sure Possu will be able to answer when he reads this thread!

Not sure of the benefit? I've heard talk of wiring the power up in to a toggle switch mounted on the bar's, providing an on/off mode? The power up plug basically raises the rev limit from 8 to 9,000rpm & richens the mixture up a little to cope with the Akra or Remus silencer. I've heard that running the power up plug with the stock silencer is not good for the cat?

You should be using the bike in its stock 41hp form ( standard can & no power up plug fitted) or in 52hp form (plug & Akra/ Remus), not 49hp whichis what you might get with the stock silencer & no plug fitted (possibly gives a woolly throttle response due to running rich).

As some of you know, my time on the G450 was cut a little short the last time I rode it...... :augie , lacking a bit of saddle time.

On reflection, I still think the forks were a little stiff (bike only had about 2 hours on it). Anyone found them to be a little softer after they've clocked a few more hours? The front wheel locked under gentle braking, not doing anything I wouldn't have done or got away with on my 400EXC.

Alex: do you want a NOG sticker for your 450? :D
 
Alex: do you want a NOG sticker for your 450? :D

Possu - Yes please, would love a sticker:bounce1 are the Remus cans and handguards in yet?

My forks have certainly softened (now ridden 8 hours). I was suffering the same front wheel lock on hard braking.......now the forks are giving all the way and having been ridden hard for 3 hours on Sun, certainly feel 'dialled in'.
 
Not sure of the benefit? I've heard talk of wiring the power up in to a toggle switch mounted on the bar's, providing an on/off mode? The power up plug basically raises the rev limit from 8 to 9,000rpm & richens the mixture up a little to cope with the Akra or Remus silencer. I've heard that running the power up plug with the stock silencer is not good for the cat?

You should be using the bike in its stock 41hp form ( standard can & no power up plug fitted) or in 52hp form (plug & Akra/ Remus), not 49hp whichis what you might get with the stock silencer & no plug fitted (possibly gives a woolly throttle response due to running rich).


On reflection, I still think the forks were a little stiff (bike only had about 2 hours on it). Anyone found them to be a little softer after they've clocked a few more hours? The front wheel locked under gentle braking, not doing anything I wouldn't have done or got away with on my 400EXC.

I am running mine on the standard pipe and power plug with no evidence of any wooliness so far (20 hours) Fuel consumption ridden hard shows no real difference between plug in and plug out.

Forks are still too harsh, this weekend is dedicated to another engine service and a strip and check of the forks.
 
Running mine with the 50hp power plug and standard can, Runs alot better that at 40hp much better throttle response doesnt stall half as much.

Not really worried about the cat all it means is that it will shorten the usable life of the thing which is years, Cannot see me having it on for long anyway soon as i have learnt to stay on the thing without binning every time i go out i will be investing in a full Ackro :bounce1
 
Hi Alex,
I was the other guy on a G450 at Rendlesham. You obviously didnt see me all the way around the course! I did find the bike cut out a lot, but im not sure if it was due to the Clutch not being adjusted properly,(clutch drag) I really enjoyed the day and think the bike went well. I'm out Green Laning tomorrow so we will see how it goes then. hopefully see you at the next TBEC meeting in Chatteris.
hopefully have an Ackro by then!
 
See you there tomorrow Sammo just fitted a new rear tyre and Mouse on the kitchen floor,

The wife couldnt understand why i even thought it was a good idea to do it there but made perfect sense to me as the garage is a bit cold this time of year
 
Good man, I wouldn't even of considered the garage in the first place! See you at about 9.
 
Standard 6 days as fitted by the factory found it to be good usually fit mitch ac10's to my old KTM 450 which i loved (tyre not the bike)

Found the metzeller quite good and it lasted 15 hours using it with a mouse so going to give it another go.
 


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