First Ride!!!!!!!!!!

[Msg Harmon]

Hello,

Picked mine up this evening.   Have only road it in the parking lot on the dirt.  Sure seemed like a gutsy bike.

My wife took it for a maiden run and she is a putter on her 350 rancher.  She actually did better putting on the bike than I did,  then she was doing donuts in the parking lot.   I guess I've got to get use to the clutch.  It really is a sweet bike tho.

This weekend we will be out trying to break in the 700 and my wife will be getting use to the 420 Rancher.

Take care.

Have a picture just can't seem to post it.

[HondaPosterBoy]

Well I picked mine up tonight . I rode it around the dealership in the ditch and I rode it around our trails at home for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow after work we are going to our 1 mile personal MX track and I will be trying it out there. I will not be riding it to hard as it needs about 15 miles to break her in.

First impressions......WOW. I love it so far. We have about 40 acres and I went riding around on the trails that we have on our surrounding land. I was not on it very long but I did try some of the things that The reviews said it was not good at.

The bogging issue...well I am not sure what there issue was here or what they were comparing it to. I can literally put the 700xx in first gear and let out on the clutch and it will move along without applying any gas and it will not kill the motor. That would be a slow creep to me. If you do hit the gas..hang on as it is very snappy in first gear and will take some getting use to in the throttle (loved it). 2nd gear seamed about what I would use in the tight woods. Now depending on what you mean by tight woods and what I mean could be two different things. Think of a corner about a foot or two wider than your ATV and it turns about 90 degrees or maybe a little more. That is usually the average tight woods for us up here in MN. Well in second gear it worked flawless. In second I was going pretty fast into a corner in the woods and then I brought it down to a pretty slow speed to make it around the corner and then nailed the gas again. To me it seamed very effortless and smooth. If you wanted a crazy out of control wheelie out of the corner you could shift down to 1st. 2nd will also wheelie, just more controlled. I also pulled the clutch in and shifted into second gear and I let the clutch out without applying any gas and it did not kill the motor until there was not enough gas being applied by the idle speed. (witch actually took me about 5 feet or more at a troll).

Wow is it ever smooth. I cant wait to see how it handles the whoops on our track. Two of the salesman from our dealership took it out in the ditch for a little bit and commented the following. The one salesman was surprised. He was expecting to feel a heavier machine than the rapter 700R. He actually said that it felt lighter...he seamed kind of shocked.

[700xx]

Well I picked mine up tonight . I rode it around the dealership in the ditch and I rode it around our trails at home for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow after work we are going to our 1 mile personal MX track and I will be trying it out there. I will not be riding it to hard as it needs about 15 miles to break her in.

First impressions......WOW. I love it so far. We have about 40 acres and I went riding around on the trails that we have on our surrounding land. I was not on it very long but I did try some of the things that The reviews said it was not good at.

The bogging issue...well I am not sure what there issue was here or what they were comparing it to. I can literally put the 700xx in first gear and let out on the clutch and it will move along without applying any gas and it will not kill the motor. That would be a slow creep to me. If you do hit the gas..hang on as it is very snappy in first gear and will take some getting use to in the throttle (loved it). 2nd gear seamed about what I would use in the tight woods. Now depending on what you mean by tight woods and what I mean could be two different things. Think of a corner about a foot or two wider than your ATV and it turns about 90 degrees or maybe a little more. That is usually the average tight woods for us up here in MN. Well in second gear it worked flawless. In second I was going pretty fast into a corner in the woods and then I brought it down to a pretty slow speed to make it around the corner and then nailed the gas again. To me it seamed very effortless and smooth. If you wanted a crazy out of control wheelie out of the corner you could shift down to 1st. 2nd will also wheelie, just more controlled. I also pulled the clutch in and shifted into second gear and I let the clutch out without applying any gas and it did not kill the motor until there was not enough gas being applied by the idle speed. (witch actually took me about 5 feet or more at a troll).

Wow is it ever smooth. I cant wait to see how it handles the whoops on our track. Two of the salesman from our dealership took it out in the ditch for a little bit and commented the following. The one salesman was surprised. He was expecting to feel a heavier machine than the rapter 700R. He actually said that it felt lighter...he seamed kind of shocked.

I knew Honda wouldn't disappoint us 

[Turbofriek]

put a k&n on it boys. It gained 1-2 on the dyno. I stiffened up the suspension a bit an its not pushin anymore. I love this bike. Now just need to get some power to it!

[sprocket226]

Good write up HPB 
How plush does the suspension feel?
I called all the local Honda dealers around me, and there won't be one around till at least this week-end, some say next week-end.
Street-Track & Trail is supposed to get 3 Friday, and two are already sold!

[xx-rated]

Posterboy! Hey man congrats on the purchase!! It sounds awesome. Mine is being delivered to me today, unfortunately I wont be able toi ride it until Friday....I'll be jonesing in the worst way. Sounds like all the apprehension we both had about the XX was a waste of time, eh? Can't wait until I actually get to give her a spin out on the trail. What color did you get?

[HondaPosterBoy]

Ride RED    (color)

I was told by my dealer that they will not be getting another 700xx in this year

He said that they tried to order another one but they will only be getting the one I got.  Could change though.

Where did you get your K&N Filter from Turbo?  Do they have one for the 700xx or is there one that works with it?  How mush did you stiffen the suspension-up? and how much did you have to adjust it?  Thanks

Sprocket226....as stated before I did not get allot of time on it last night but from what I could tell it was not as plush as my Sportsman 800 but it was very nice.  Allot of that could be the weight.  The 700xx is lighter so it feels stiffer....witch it should because it is a sport machine.  I will know more after tonight.  I have got to say that this things feels very light.  One of the sales guys at my dealer made a comment about how shocked he was .  I asked him about what not knowing what the subject was.  He rode it a little bit in the ditch around the dealership and he was expecting it to feel heavy compared to the Rapter 700.  He was in dis-belief...but he said that it actually felt lighter than the Rapter 700.  He said it like he was confused and just saw a ghost.  Tonight I will ride the Suzuki 450 also and try to get a comparison in the weight.

Later

[xx-rated]

FYI, apparently DG has a front bumper and nerfs for the XX already. They don't show on thier website, but Rocky Mountain shows both on their site. The bumper looks pretty good, but I'm wondering if a powder coated black one wouldn't look better on the XX.
Check that. They show them, but they are not available yet.

[Turbofriek]

I havent seen a K&N made for this bike. I have a few spare ones and threw it over the actual intake tube.  As Far as suspension goes, how much do you weigh?  Between 5-8 turns on the preload and 2 on damping did it for me. I weigh 240.  The push is not that bad. The more i rode it the less i noticed it. yoiu just have to change style a bit from the straight axles

[Msg Harmon]

Congrats hondaposterboy.

Sounds like you are not disappointed at all.  I know I'm not.  Have fun and keep the posting.

I think I figured out the problem with stalling.  If you back up and then do not think about it you will shift out of reverse and right into 2nd.  I know I made this mistake a few times and the bike does not really like taking off in 2nd.


Wolverine

[HondaPosterBoy]

I am about 210 and 6'2" tall.  I just got back from riding tonight at our 1 mile long MX track and will have some details on that when it isn't to late.  If anyone needs those Bumpers Powder coated let me know.  I work for a Manufacturing company and we have a powder coating line.  I have already planed on putting black on mine.  I might even do a black wrinkle.

What end did you stiffen up? Front or rear or both?

Thanks

[xx-rated]

Picked up mine tonite. Man this thing is beautiful. I forgot how good they looked in person. I only got to ride it out in a field for a few minutes, but at least I got to "feel" it. Like Posterboy said, I don't know where the low end stalling or high first gear came from. First and second seem really standard to me, and I certainly wouldn't call the engine "mellow" as Quad magazine did. I'm sure it's got all the power you'd ever need. I can't wait to hear and feel the difference a slip on pipe will make though. Third gear did feel a little tall maybe, but I didn'y have enough room to stretch it out anyway. The power is very good, it is comfortable, it has flawless finish....I can't wait to get this thing out on the trail this weekend! I'm so damn glad I didn't buy that Outlaw! Ireally love it.

[sprocket226]

Where the hell is the darn pics? 
Don't tell me that not one of you lucky SOB's have a digital camera!
Someone start a new topic with their pics!

[xx-rated]

I was pretty late by the time I put mine away. I'll take some pics Friday morning while she's still got the showroom shine on it. I probably won't get to post them until Sunday or Monday though. I'll try to take some pics of her after she'd muddy too, cuz it will definitely get muddy this weekend!

[700xx]

You all are making me jealous