faster off-road racing: grass track, trees, roots, ruts, forestry roads and chopped-out trails where you need a bike that turns, settles, drives and doesn’ t beat you up over a long day. Basically, exactly the kind of thing you get at a good New Zealand club enduro. And this was a going to be a good one.
FRIDAY NIGHT RACE PREP We picked the bike up on the Friday night before the race, so this wasn’ t one of those tests where I had weeks to creep up on a perfect setup. It was proper race-weekend stuff; collect the bike, check the basics, get the cockpit right, have a quick ride around, and go racing the next day. The first thing I did was go through the usual setup checks. The sag measured up well, bar roll felt good, levers were in a sensible spot, and nothing felt out of place. Because I’ ve been testing the TF450-RC long-term, I had some prior experience, and the Triumph layout already felt familiar, so the cockpit, controls and general feel were all easy to settle into.
The bike did come quite soft for me on the stock settings, so they were firmed up before the race. I’ m 6ft and around 90kg, and with my riding style, I usually like a bike with good holdup, especially when braking hard or pushing into choppy terrain. We moved it up around five clicks out on fork compression and around six out on shock compression, so fairly firm on the clickers before the race had even started. Even then, the fork still felt a little on the soft side, while the rear at low speed had a slightly firm feel over the liaison-style bumps. That might sound a bit contradictory, but it’ s something you often feel with a bike when you’ re not fully in the race window yet. Cruising around, the balance can feel a bit average. Get up to pace and everything starts making more sense.
A PROPER TEST Sign-on was the first sign this wasn’ t going to be a quiet little club day. There was a generous turnout, which was genuinely good to see. Credit has to go to the Forest Trail Events team
40 KIWI RIDER