We decided the day before to start with a ride on Finns and Things. It’s a well know designated trail in the Sand Flats Recreational Area that’s just 10 miles in length.
Here’s the map in AllTrails.com https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/utah/fins-things-trail
It’s open to cars, ATV’s, side by sides, and of course, Motos. It’s part sand, with some fun S styled sand berms and part Moab rock. The incredible thing I found was that the black parts of the rock are usually well rubbered in and had incredible traction. We figured it’s a perfect day to sort out the bikes and our riding together.
We got a late start to the day as mornings were quite cool.
I did make a pretty decent omelette if I do say so myself.
Landon and Adalto had been there before so they both led to the park entrance. Once we got on off road Landon took the lead. Unfortunately, he didn’t have helmet communication, and Adalto had a Cardo, while Tomm and I have Senas so it was just Tomm and I talking. As usual, I took up sweep. Staying behind Adalto who was relatively new to riding ADV bikes.
Speaking of bikes. This was almost the perfect gathering. Originally when Tomm and I were looking for lighter weight bikes we first considered the Honda CRF 250 Rally. Brandon has had his 250 Rally for a while and made some of the necessary upgrades. So we got a good chance to see how it did in real life. Tomm also had bought a 250 Rally and his impression was it was light and fun but under powered especially for big fat guys. Which in part is why we started looking at the Honda CRF450 instead. More power, better suspension… And guess what bike Adalto brought? Yup! So we got to see a little about that bike too. Rounding out the party, Tomm had his 2020 Husky 701, and I brought my slightly faster 2014 KTM 690 Enduro R. You can read all about the decision making process here.
Overall, my bike was wonderful even though it had a blown shock. My ergonomics were spot on. I also tested using the ipad / bad elf for navigation on my dashboard and it worked really well. It did have a coolant smell coming from the front so I tried to keep it cool as I could. Gearing was off for this stuff but it had enough low end torque to manage most everything I needed. I was running a 14 tooth front which made the bike top out at a comfortable 65mph on the freeways and gave it a little more low end in 1st and 2nd. With the torque it has, I’d be happy to try the 15 tooth next time.
Both Landon and Adalto had a couple of minor spills along the way. Nothing major. I almost dropped it a few times when my front wheel jabbed in the sand. One one small rock climb, somehow Landon fell and jammed his wrist. It wasn’t until later that night that he found out he broke a small bone in there.
I’ve got a segment of that in the video. I also saw a Instagram post on that same rock. I should have done that. Nice looking 690! Landon crashed going up the shady side of that rock.
Here’s a few videos. The first from my camera (GoPro Hero 7) and then one from Tomm’s Camera (His Sena 10c I think). Then I also have the entire 1 hour from my camera unedited and no music.
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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