Last year, Scott (Stingray) let me ride his KTM around the parking lot in Study Butte. I had seen Tyler's KTM 500 at a gas station in Ozona on the way out to last year's event. After I rode Scott's bike, I was hooked. I called TJ's in Austin on the way home to San Antonio.....
"I'll be up on Tuesday" I told TJ.
On ADV, I had read Rich Dozer's Baja ride report.
Riding Little pigs in Baja!
Based on that report and PMing with Rich on ADV, I made up a list of mods and had TJs bolt them on.
The Big Things that were great mods on the Desert Challenge and the Adventure Challenge were these:
(1) Acerbis 5.5 gallon tank (note to self: still get at least 2 gallons in Rio Grande Village)
(2) Rekluse Clutch
(3) Scott Steering Damper
(4) Precisely tuned suspension
When I was on River Road West last year with Philip and Carl, I was on the KLR and it did fine, but this year it felt like cheating on this bike.
I enjoyed "snowboarding" over the deep sand and gravel a la "Arnold"
I did spin the bike out from under me on the climb out of Black Gap when I was in the wrong gear and grabbed too much throttle.
Other than that, I had zero problems anywhere on the two day ride
...Other than having left a tire spoon in the rear tire before Uncle's weekend, a tire spoon which made the full Desert Challenge loop inside the rear tire and which didn't emerge until Marfa on the Adventure Challenge.
Note: I am ditching the Dunlop Geomax 51 rear tire as well as the rim locks front and rear. Between Richard, Milton, and myself, the stiff sidewall on that tire turned fixing the tube into an hour and a half ordeal, which included Richard's fingers getting slammed, and the rim lock causing another flat that had to be patched. I am returning to tire spoon friendly Dunlop 606s
PS: Thanks to Beemer Bob and Solorider who found my license plate on River Road
This was a great bike to ride in Big Bend.