ADB's Stephen Tuff fills us in on what he's been up to on the 2024 Beta RR390 Racing long term test bike after a few months living with it.
Winter can be a turd of a time but when it comes to riding dirt bikes it can be pretty damn good. I haven’t changed my air-filter on the Beta RR390 Racing long term test bike in three rides and to me that is excellent. I have managed three sensational rides in the past month which is really good going for me.
All three were at PBI ride Farm in South Gippsland, Victoria. It’s a great place with two tracks to choose from and although I have only added another 2.5 hours of ride time, it’s been bang for buck.
I paid attention to what my Beta RR390 Racing long term test bike was doing out on the track and feeling it could be turning a bit better, I measured the static sag and found I needed to make an adjustment to put some pre-load on the shock spring. This reduced the amount of sag and I feel I am going in the right direction with this bike. I have been banging on about how much I love the engine of this 390 Racing and some time on motocross tracks has only reaffirmed my initial thoughts. It’s a great mixture power and torque for me and I smile every time I ride it.
The biggest thing I have learned this past month is that my riding experiences may have changed forever. I took my six year-old son to the track for the first time so he could unleash his inner riding beast aboard his PW50. I was a little nervous about the experiment but he took to it like a pisshead to a bottle shop. He loves it.
While this was a heartwarming occasion that made for a great family day that my wife also enjoyed being part of, what I didn’t count on was my boy hogging all of the track time. I like to be trackside when he is riding for swift reaction to any possible mishaps me might find himself in, but the little brat just kept clocking up the laps. The other down-side is that there’s no rest between motos for me. As soon as my helmet of is off, my boy is off on his PW50 so I have to hotfoot it down to the kids track sweating bullets from my ride.
I am not ashamed to admit that I disconnected his PW50’s sparkplug lead the least time we were there so I could get some more track time. That was short-lived after I spotted him trackside waving me in. I pulled over to hear he was in immediate need to the dunny to produce a number two. With sweat pouring off my head I wrestled him into a toilet cubicle and to get his boots off so he could drop his Alpinestars pants and get to business. I didn’t quite make it in time so the bin in the toilets at PBI now has a pair kid’s jocks in them with a slight skid mark.
Back on track and ripping laps has been great, not only for my own personal satisfaction, but also to learn more about this bike. Once again the Pirelli Scorpion XC mid-soft rear tyre and the MX32 front tyre combination is excellent. I feel safe on these babies and they perform in all types of terrain. I love them.
The Beta RR390 Racing long term test bike is now due for another oil change and I guess I better get to the air-filter as well. Other than adjusting the shock sag, the only other thing that required attention was the rear rim-lock losing tension which was a 20 second job to fix.
I haven’t ridden for two weeks now and I am itching to get back out there.
Stephen Tuff.