- Joined
- Jul 27, 2010
- Messages
- 5,485
- Reaction score
- 659
- Location
- Blouberg, Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 890 Adventure R
What is your bike's idling speed in 1st? Especially your dirt or enduro bike's idling speed.
I realized how important this is again at the Eendekuil Funduro the past weekend. We have two SWM's in the family: a SWM RS300R that idles in 1st @ 8km/h, and a SWMRS500R that idles in 1st @ 14km/h. I had to skip a very technical section because of high gearing (steep section, switchback with fresh start in loose gravel). I would have burned the clutch going up there as 14km/h is just too fast for the terrain.
To reiterate the point, the 6km/h difference between 8 and 14 makes a huge difference in uphill stop start technical riding. You can almost walk a bike at 8km/h, but not at 14km/h.
The bikes look precisely the same - same frame, suspension, plastics (you have to look at the badge to see the difference), but the 500 has taller gearing which favors faster enduro riding, where the 300 with slower 1st is ideal for more technical stuff. With the 300 it is just so much easier to gain traction on an incline from standstill (because of the slower 1st).
Apart from weight, this is most probably why a medium or large adventure bike does not fare well in technical terrain: they all idle @ 14km/h...
I realized how important this is again at the Eendekuil Funduro the past weekend. We have two SWM's in the family: a SWM RS300R that idles in 1st @ 8km/h, and a SWMRS500R that idles in 1st @ 14km/h. I had to skip a very technical section because of high gearing (steep section, switchback with fresh start in loose gravel). I would have burned the clutch going up there as 14km/h is just too fast for the terrain.
To reiterate the point, the 6km/h difference between 8 and 14 makes a huge difference in uphill stop start technical riding. You can almost walk a bike at 8km/h, but not at 14km/h.
The bikes look precisely the same - same frame, suspension, plastics (you have to look at the badge to see the difference), but the 500 has taller gearing which favors faster enduro riding, where the 300 with slower 1st is ideal for more technical stuff. With the 300 it is just so much easier to gain traction on an incline from standstill (because of the slower 1st).
Apart from weight, this is most probably why a medium or large adventure bike does not fare well in technical terrain: they all idle @ 14km/h...
