Test: Can-Am DS 450 X
As if the events in Erzbergrode were not diverse enough, the organizers prepared for all the brave journalists the “Journalists' Trophy” on two (or four, aka) wheels: a race that runs in the same way as the qualifying for the Red Bull Hare Scramble.
It's not picky, you can ride it, I know Octavia 4x4, but it's fast. I took the opportunity to head to Erzberg to test out a sporty four-wheeler, but to back up the story with information on bike speed and heart rate, I wore the Garmin Forerunner 405 sport GPS watch on my left wrist.
After five minutes in line with 14 writers and photographers from around the world, I press the top right button to start recording data on the watch. I was the only one with four bikes, so they put me at the end of the line as they weren't sure if I could start from the narrow motorcycle ramp.
Hey no problem my friend! My heart is beating at over 120 beats per minute, although I do nothing but move my wrists and slowly move towards the start. Anyone who has ever waited for the start signal in any race already knows why. Nerves work, nerves and right. The lady reads me a coded card and gives me a sign that I can go.
I start slowly at the one and a half meter "runway" so as not to accidentally do some nonsense, and then push my right thumb all the way. The engine is running wild and I already want to shift into sixth gear from a precision five-speed gearbox. Full throttle, warning signs, braking. Hell, but last year it didn't! In the fast section, a chicane is installed, in which I lose about a second, and in the next one I already perceive the "foro" and start with a wild skid of the last pair of wheels.
When there is a huge puddle in front of me at full speed, and a sharp turn behind it, I brake, sit down, open the throttle fully to “fly through” with - front pair of wheels - FLUSH - and darkness before my eyes. On the first plane, I try to wipe my splash goggles with my left hand, and after failing, wipe them off my helmet to hang around my neck. In a later computer analysis, I found that it was in this part that the heart rate was the highest and even exceeded 190 beats per minute!
On the hardest new climb this year, the yellow flags inform me of the accident, and past my uncle, who is trying to pick up the difficult Africa Twin, I drive moderately slowly, and then again baaaam, baaaaam, baaaaaaam. The most beautiful are the long corners made of rubble, where the body has to be moved inward and by adding gas (not braking!) The ATV is placed across. An unprecedented holiday! And on Erzberg there are a lot of these wide macadams.
On level ground, I overtake an Austrian in a 450cc EXC, who later called me a fool (laughing under his helmet, of course) and held full throttle for too long. Oops, the rubble is full of holes and the rear wheels lose contact with the ground because I didn't lean back enough during braking. I calm the four-wheel drive as soon as I enter a corner in second gear, open the throttle and with the wide steering wheel pointing in the opposite direction, I go through the next plane again.
Colin McRae, it's in your mind! I already know the turn on the last, fastest part (you can't see what's over the hill!), So I keep full throttle in fifth gear at a good 105 km / h. I can barely hold the steering wheel. I squeeze my wrist, burning the muscles in my arms, but I don't give up because I know there is a goal behind the curve. ...
Kss - I open the energy drink of the main sponsor of the race, which is offered to me by a handsome Austrian, and I notice that the screw that covers the clutch thrust bearing is missing on the left side, and there is a smudge around it. Cement. There is still enough on the dipstick to check the oil. Well, yes, that's how it is in racing - since there are quite a few of them behind the engine, you can expect something similar to happen too.
It took me 11 minutes, 8 seconds and 699 thousandths over 12 dusty kilometers, which was enough to finish fifth among the 15 who reached the top in the Journalist Trophy class. The average speed was about 65, and the maximum speed, according to GPS data from the Forerunner, was 107 km / h.
The maximum heart rate was 191, and an average of about 170 beats per minute, if you subtract the waiting time before the start. It is enough that in the evening I rinse a portion of cevapi with cold beer without worries: “Hey Mare, if I hadn’t crocheted this chicane and if I hadn’t slowed down because of this photo in Africa Twin, if I had glasses. . Seecher could take another five seconds, huh? “And another year.
Test car price: 9.990 EUR
engine: single-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-cooled, 449 cc? , 3 valves, electronic fuel injection.
Maximum power: np
Maximum torque: np
Energy transfer: Transmission 5-speed, chain.
Frame: aluminum.
brakes: front coil? 182mm, twin-piston calipers, rear disc? 198 mm, single piston caliper.
Suspension: aluminum A-arms, fully adjustable shocks, 241mm travel, aluminum rear swingarm, fully adjustable single shock, 267mm travel.
Tires: 21 x 7R-10 inches (533 x 178R x 254 mm), 20 x 10R-9 inches (508 x 254R x 229 mm)
Seat height from ground: 838 mm.
Fuel tank: 11, 5 l.
Wheelbase: 1.270 mm.
Weight: 156 kg.
Representative: SKI & SEA, doo, Ločica ob Savinji 49 b, Polzela, 03/4920040, www.ski-sea.si.
We praise and reproach
+ power, explosiveness of the engine
+ light weight
+ precise and short gearbox
+ agility and stability
+ quality suspension
- hard clutch lever
- unscrew the screw on the left hood
Matevž Hribar, photo: GEPA, Matevž Hribar
Basic data
Test model cost: € 9.990 XNUMX €
Technical information
engine: single-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-cooled, 449,3 cm³, 4 valves, electronic fuel injection.
Torque: np
Energy transfer: Transmission 5-speed, chain.
Frame: aluminum.
brakes: front disc Ø 182 mm, double-piston calipers, rear disc Ø 198 mm, single-piston caliper.
Suspension: aluminum A-arms, fully adjustable shocks, 241mm travel, aluminum rear swingarm, fully adjustable single shock, 267mm travel.
Fuel tank: 11,5 l.
Wheelbase: 1.270 mm.
Weight: 156 kg.
We praise and reproach
engine power, explosion hazard
a light weight
precise and short gearbox
agility and stability
quality suspension
unscrew the screw on the left hood
hard clutch lever
