Forums > Motorcycle Discussion > G650XChallenge @ 24hr Perry Mountain Challenge this weekend

The G650XChallenge survived 24 hours of abuse in about the worst riding conditions you could imagine. What is even more amazing is our rider Helli Kornton (128lbs soaking wet) was able to clock off 16 laps at 12.4miles each in the dust bowl of Perry Mountain. The dust was so bad we were changing out foam air filters every 2 laps. Luckily I had already installed a foam filter and brought 3 as extras for cleaning planning on only needing one extra. About 16 hours into the event and everyone was scrounging for foam filter cleaner and oil, I have never seen worse riding conditions. There were over 160 bikes entered that were started in four waves at 1 minute delay each. from that point on there was a constant cloud of dust along the whole trail with exception of the mx track which had been watered down. We had a set back the first lap out as on the MX portion another rider crashed into Helli sending him over the bars and the bike for a nice tumble. Both the G650 and Helli survived, but it really took his punch out of him and cost us an hour (1 1/2 laps of physical time) to bandage up Helli and the bike. Our next hurdle was setting up the suspension, it took 4 laps to get it dialed in somewhere to close for his overly light stature. The fork springs were too stiff which meant we had to run the rear too stiff as well to get the bike to turn, but this meant at the cost of beating up Helli in the process. Over 24 hours teams of 6 elite/semi pro riders were only able to put in just over 40 laps and the highest lap Ironman was 29 laps riding a much much smaller bike already set up for the terrain. The terrain by the way was made up of mostly single track with a high amount of silt and soft sand over rutted out hard bottom. This means you go into a burm thinking its soft sand only to have your tires slide along the hard bottom while finding ruts at the same time, very fatiguing and hard to plan for. We had some mild running hot throughout, mainly contributed to all the dust built up in the radiators I believe. We will be wrapping the header with exhaust tape to relieve temperatures in the oil tank and around the engine at slow speed trail riding. 14th front sprocket would have also been a nice touch, however we ran in stock form. The only mods made were Remus exhaust and our foam air filter, we plan to get a dyno run later this week to see the results. Body work held up very well as did the sub frame and other peripherals. We may have bent the handle bars, but not sure until we compare with a known good straight set. The only real body damage was a crack in the front fender from hitting a tree and the left radiator cowl peeled back from the crash on the MX track. We tie wrapped the panel back on and it held for the rest of the race and several more fall downs. The Muffler took a good hit as well, but nothing tweaked as a result. The Touratech skid pan was definitely better then stock, however it deformed pretty quickly after a few hits on log crossings and what have you. The TT Skid pan really needs some sort of rubber filler/dampener between the bottom of the engine case and the pan. The pan is now in good contact with the lower banjo bolt and is actually allowing the drain plug to catch on obstacles.

Overall a very impressive finish for both rider and bike. 6th place Ironman Open out of 21 entries and we actually should have been entered in Ironman 40+ where I think we would have placed 4th and been in a position to push for third. Our 650 was riding against anything over 250cc, this included 300cc 2 strokes and alot of 400/450 KTM thumpers. We were definitely the biggest and most powerful bike on the circuit, which isn't always the best thing for a tight single track type event. However there were many other bikes that blew up or failed mechanically. The team entries were allowed an impound/back up bike in the event of such an occurrance so they definitely had an advantage should their main bike take a hit or need extensive repairs, this option was used by many of the teams! This bike may eventually go on to compete out west where it will do quite well I believe where it is open and suspension will not be as much of an issue at speed for such a small stature rider.

That's all for now, still recovering from the weekend and washing everything that was at the track, we must have brought back a ton of dust with us as everything including the inside of our air conditioned trailer had a coat of silt on it. Nasty Nasty stuff, still blowing black stuff out my nose 24hour later

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