idaho extreme

this will be a different sort of RR, but I hope some of you may enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed many incredible journeys here.

We live in central Idaho. For seven years we have been on a mission to explore it. This is our story.

I love reading about all the crazy and awesome bikes, so that's where I'm going to start.





this thing is looking like it has some potential, but I think I'm going to need some backup







testing 2 miles from the house:

Nice More Please

This is gonna be good.

Now aside from my teaser, you may have noticed I'd taken some winter deliveries.



If you're wondering, we live in Ketchum, and I have worked for Sun Valley Company teaching skiing for 25 years.

In the winter there are two ways to ride:



and then you can drive an hour and a half to "paradise" near the snake river, which is usually free of snow. That's where I tested the KTM:

she's a virgin:





there's some real gully action



my partner Jon, who you will get to know, thought the descent looked like no problem







there are some serious tumble weeds around here, hehe






and sand dunes too









heading back..



We had a blast, but the bike was....well just the screaming pipey bitch of a two-stroke you'd imagine, with suspension only James Stewart would have liked. I wondered if it was such a good purchase after all. Why did I go for the 250SX? It's 5 lbs lighter than a crf250, actually illegal to race in the pro class because its too light. I wanted the lightest thing I could get.

so I went to work:



that helped, and I went into heavy jetting research mode. You can still find a huge thread over at KTM talk. After all kinds of testing with various needles, pilots and mains, plus finding the right spring and tension on the powervalve, she underwent a complete change in character. No blurbling off the bottom, no hit, just more and more power. Then I put a grand into the suspension. Plus of course all the nick nacks, scotts damper, skid plate etc.

And since we are going to face some huge climbs when the snow melts:



The GG as you will see, presented her own unique issues.....

MMMMMMmmmmmm. Sweetness. Love that 250 SX. I had no idea it was five pounds lighter than the CRF, that's great.

I ride a YZF250 in the woods (the WR250's I rode were slow and lazy feeling) and am looking for a two stroke replacement. Like you I value light weight however looking at the KTM 300 shows a weight that is not as light as I would of liked. The Dirt Rider June 2009 issue showed a real tested weight of the 250 XC as being 243 pounds. Your SX has a claimed dry weight of 213-216 depending on where you look, sounds very appealing. Is the reason you chose the SX over the XC weight based?

Good to see you are doing what KTM should of done in the beginning, give their bikes adequate cooling capacity. My KTM 525EXC constantly overheats in the tight stuff and it seems their two strokes suffer the same fate judging by the threads I read on KTMTalk.

I'll be following your build process with hearty interest. Enjoy your ride.

The bike on the right was my first water cooled bike, I think you will recognise it. It went 450 hours without a valve adjustment, zen and the art, hehe. Many ADV riders may recognise this spot, Dollarhide Summit west of Ketchum at the top of Warm Springs Creek.



Yes I choose the SX over XC for weight reasons, but for the 07 models it had many other differences--totally different motor, frame, and forks. Now they are much closer, but the SX should still be way lighter--but it needs work to be trail fit.

The other consideration is the transmission. My bike has a close ratio 5 speed, which is awesome for single-track, but you have to choose between a low first or high 5th. You can't have both. With a real technical low gear, 49t rear, top speed is a bit over 60, but it is really singing.

If you go to an 18" rear, which I did to eventually run a trials tire (I will never go back--they are that good), then stock 48t rear sprocket is perfect for single track.

The other "must have" if you really want the absoulute best performance on single track is the nuetech tubliss system. Besides saving some weight, this allows you to run 8lbs front and rear without fear of pinch flats, and you can ride a flat for a very long way---basically you can always ride out.

In dry conditions the difference in grip with nuetech tubliss is sick. Dusty loose trails feel like the perfect tacky day after the rain.

Besides being lighter than your YZF, the SX has 10 more HP, which makes it far more pleasant on the trail, once it's properly jetted (which it won't be stock). The 250Fs have terrible low-end, especially above 4000ft. All of them. My SX will PULL right off idle, and the new one is supposed to be even better. So you can ride at very low rpm and still have a responsive bike. Yet it is still very forgiving in this range. If you get bored you can really scare yourself in the higher revs.

The other thing is that the 250SX has a small carb and can get very good mileage. I once went 80 miles on 2 gallons (all single track)--now I do shut off the motor on the big downhills.

AND of course the two strokes are far more reliable. My first piston went 200 hours and still ran fine. They also FEEL far lighter, all else equal, because there are no cams and chains and valves whirling around.

Great looking rides.............

Each spring the mission begins. Riding starts sometime between mid-april and late may, depending on the snowpack. Our "backyard", is still covered, but 15 miles to the south the Smoky Mtns meet the camus prairie in huge long south facing round ridge lines. These are the first to melt. Very close to Hailey, Idaho.

There's alot of lily white skin after the long winter, hehe



up the low draws we go





here you see the last high ridge from the south



up we go



a few gates....



and up again..





Now looking north at Buttercup Mtn, the southernmost peak in the Smokies, 9081 ft.



we reach the pass and look on the other side.......



uhhhhhh, not yet, hehe

looking south, that's Magic Reservior



OK lets get moving....















damn that's big winddrift, is there a way around?



oh yeah...



we are always the only humans, but this place is popular

This is a magnificent photo.

Another key upgrade:



looks a little dangerous, so



Now as I said, spring can last a long time. You don't feel like driving to paradise AGAIN, and croy (that last big group of shots) is getting pretty boring, but the snow is holding dammit.

Well I met a fellow 07 250sx owner on KTM talk when I was going through my jetting tribulations, and he turned me on to a spectacular spring alternative that none of the locals around here had ever heard of, though Boise riders know it well.

It's closer than paradise, but it takes alot longer to get there, hehe. YOu head west towards Mountain Home, then turn off on one of those classic idaho dirt roads which dead ends here, 1:15 after you left the pavement.



Frankly it does not seem impressive from the parking lot.

Greg lead us off along a nice double track for 1/2 mile and then we dropped down into a sweet canyon on ST. Greg is quite the explorer himself



and he likes to work on his bike



aircraft wreakage, no kidding



These fish were perfectly happy



untill



then you start to climb



and climb



till you get up on the ridge



where there is one hellva view



my favorite plateau



yep, there's the snow line



yep it's flat agin







now what's on the other side of this ridge?







SF of the Boise River









OK OK that's close enough



we are not in kansas anymore



I think I feel raindrops



something coming in....



Only an hour to a paved road....



I thinks she's broke in now....

Ohoh7 - Love the pics. Looks like Idaho has some wonderful terrain to explore. Is most of the land you ride ranch land that as long as you respect gate closures is accessible?.

Thanks for the beta on your SX. Do you miss the wide ratio box in the terrain you're riding?

Yes after riding fourstrokes for a bit now I'm hankering to get back on what I used to race.....250 two strokes for the lightness and ease of maintenance.

Thanks for the thread.

Yeh. Killer shots and RR UhOh. Keep it coming.

Get to the part where this happens:
https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/u/uhoh7_jimmysmithweb.jpg

Timing's right for vicarious riding. A foot of freshies on my deck this morning. Can't find the Sunday paper.

uhoh7:


Looking forward to seeing more of our year by year RR!
I'll be sure to interject as I see fit.

Bravo!
great pictures

Great Report so far Scenery looks amazing! Looking to head somewhere this summer to ride, Idaho looks like the ticket. What part of Idaho is that you are riding?

Yep, wonderful pix! Thanks for the ride. I'm down in Boise, very unhappy with myself for not knowing firsthand the beauty of off road adventure in this incredible state. Gotta fix that! I'm thinkin' I should sell one of my road bikes and get an off road vehicle.

The funny thing about idaho is that although it is totally dominated by republicans, it's mostly an uninhabited communist state. What? 70% of idaho is public land. Untill recently vast tracks were under the wonderful, now defunct, designation "cross-country travel permitted". This was ruined by the rise of ATVs. They were making their own trails all over the place. In the past few years each ranger district has inventoried their trails and designated exactly where you can ride. The closest thing to private land we ride is sometimes crossing mining claims. Ranching is a part of this, though because many ranchers pay the gov to graze their stock on public land.

Despite the increased regulation the legal trail system is so big nobody knows it all. Believe it or not, it's possible to ride from Ketchum all the way to Idaho City almost entirely on single track (takes 3 hours on the highway), though I don't think it's ever been done. On our trails 50 miles is an average amount to do in a day--good workout. 70 miles and you are crying for mercy. Those figures go up if you have some double track riding to connect trails.

No, I far prefer CR because you always have the perfect gear. What I miss is 6th gear. But I don't ride the SX much anymore as you will see later. I'm waiting for the day when we can go electric and leave the dirty bikes behind. Meanwhile I'm riding........well that's a story coming. The sad truth is that the idaho we inheritied is now dying from carbon pollution----but we will get to that controversy eventually. As many ADV riders know, not every discovery is a good one, whether it's poverty or pollution. Exploration can be bittersweet.

Course that doesn't stop us, in fact it may make us more determined.

We start off, we learn, we grow, we go on.

all the best

Bustin Out.....

You know the feeling.....



SX is out of the question....



It's early. No one else is riding. Trees down everywhere. Snow in the shade. Not an issue.



On the SX if this move were possible, I'd leave a trench, which I don't like to see and I don't like to do. The GG---you can't even tell where you rode when you inspect the damage.

Definitely first tracks.....



Jeez, kinda nice up here





that intersection way there a mile south of the house



not totally alone.....



stuff grows fast in the spring...



Two weeks later the boys are starting to venture....

hmmmmm



watch that pipe uhoh7





this thing is heavy, thanks AMA minimum weight rule









the long way round...







there must a way to deal with this......



well......let's get serious













OK OK, it's worth it

Nice. Great pics. I need to get up there and ride one of these days.

Nice photos, looks like lots of fun!