RIDE REVIEW I BEN KELLEY'S FMF K TM FACTORY RACING GNCC 350 XC-F
P88
something else. He said his stuff was prob-
ably on the stiffer side than other racers',
but he expects it to move when it hits things.
He needs it to stay up high in the stroke at
speed but react to obstacles smoothly. I think
he knows what he's talking about. While I
certainly wasn't getting it to move as easily as
his speed can, I could feel the valving open-
ing more freely than you'd expect from riding
it around the pits. The bike stays tall in the
stroke. And its stiffness is misleading as you
almost think it's going to be harsh. It's not. It's
resistant to movement a bit, but as soon as it's
tasked to do so, it moves just fine.
Remember; I did most of my testing of
this bike in great conditions the day before
the race. But I can tell you that during the
deluge of chaos that ensued Sunday after-
noon, I was sure glad I was on a smooth,
powerful bike, and not something that was
trying to murder me. His bike was remark-
ably easy to survive on. The 350 feels light
and lets you change lines from mud-pit-of-
death to slightly less deadly mud-pit in a
flash. But it has the ponies to simply bury
the throttle and blow through a slop-filled
field when needed. I did both, often, and
the bike didn't miss a beat.
I could have used a softer suspension setting. Even
though the bike had 400 pounds of mud on it, I could
still feel Ben's bike's aggression in some spots. It cer-
tainly really didn't matter in the conditions of the race,
but it was noticeable.
THE OTHER FACTORY
ADVANTAGES
There are probably more modifications done to Ben
Kelley's race bike than the team told me about. But
from what they did tell me, I can quickly pencil out that
most of the modifications they make are for survival.
Redundancies in the starting, charging and electrical
system including customized and, in a way, simpler
wiring-harness arrangements, safety measures against
loose bolts and other crucial components, reinforce-
ments to deflect crash damage away from DNF terri-
tory, amplified cooling capacity/functionality, and more
Here's proof that Ben
Kelley's bike was ridden
by a moron in moronic
conditions. But they both
lived to tell the tale.
A bike this beautiful is a terrible thing to waste.
Unfortunately, it will never look like this again after
what we put it through. It still works fine, though!
