No, I don't think it is an ongoing problem, it was only XXX's bike that was over heating. My 649 Adventure never went over 4 bars on the heat gauge. It is hard to say who was the best rider as we were all on different size bikes. The 990's are a lot more difficult to ride in the sand than the 640 or the 625. All the guys handled their bikes very well and were more than capable in the very soft sand.