Well, first real ride and race on the 360 yesterday. That bike is gonna kill me. Stands straight up in 5th gear. Endless torque, had some monster hill climbs, and the dang thing would dang near idle right up them.
The engine is a lot of extra weight. I regret not weighing it before I dropped it in the frame. But the extra weight is noticeable when muscling the bike around. More importantly, the extra weight is felt in the forks and braking. I thought surely I was going to cook my brakes, but they held out for the race. On the forks, I'm going to have to go up a stiffness for sure.
This thing is crazy fast. Like stupid, crazy fast. Once I re-dial in the suspension, I'm going to have to learn to embrace the brute that it is. I did not steal the holeshot, had I practiced a few starts I would've realized I was going to need to be in 3rd gear from the dead engine start. In 2nd it was fighting to come up to hard right off the line and I went into the woods in 4th. Needless to say, this was a test run and I wasn't really out there racing anyone and my results were not stellar, but I got some notes from it which is what I planned to do. The bike held together for 2 hours, but I need to get a new clutch cable ASAP, stiffer fork springs and repack the silencer.
The exhaust I can see will continue to be an issue for me on this. I will probably keep running it as is for now, hoping a repack will get me down to approved sound levels for the OKC National Enduro. After this test run, I do think I'm going to move forward with the 300 rebuild over the winter, putting the extra 6 speed in it and the earlier ignition system. The 300 has plenty of power and combine that with the 6 speed and I think it will really be the sweet setup for me. I've gotten very used to the 300 and can manage it for 6+ hours of ride time without getting worn out, I'm thinking I'd be doing really well to make 3 hours on the 360.
I've got a couple closer up shots of the engine to upload after work.