fastrnrik
02-08-2010, 11:04 AM
Well, I'll start off by saying that I haven't raced MX in at least 12 years. LOL. Back in the day I ran MX a lot, but I quit riding for awhile, and for the past several years I've been riding flat track & TT. I race the 250R and a 450, but I figured if I was gonna be racing MX, I'd stick with what I last rode MX on LOL. I switched my R from TT to MX setup and went racin. So, at 36 I'm back to the MX track with my buddies, and my son who is just starting to race his 50. His starting to race is what made me switch back to MX, so we could race together.
My first race was this past weekend. There were a few LTR450's, A couple 450R's, A KFX450, and several YFZ's. I was the only 2 stroke (of course). I posted some pics of my bike a week or two ago, but my setup is: LRD frame, pro trax front end, LSR swinger, ESR310 motor with ESR TRX6 pipe, PEP shocks, 18" RAZR's on the back, Razr Cross's on the front, Hiper wheels, 14/39 gearing.
I went out for practice and noticed a few things:
1) The track was a short supercross style track, and my gearing was off, and I was gonna be between gears all night. I hate that haha
2) I really, really need to get my shocks serviced.
3) My jetting still needs some fine tuning.
Practice went well. I took it easy, and just rode the track to feel it out. No biggie. A kid on a 4 stroke asks me if "I think my old dinosaur can hang with the 450's" I said no... probably not and just laughed.
The first moto comes, and we line up- 10 bikes on the gate. The gate drops and I come out 2nd, right behind my buddy on his built YFZ. Almost had the holeshot, but my buddy had the better line and piched me off. In the old days, I would have plowed him and pushed him out and kept going! LOL, but we're both old, and we don't ride each other like that. I'm chasing him good, but he's pulling me in the rough stuff. I'd reel him in, but he would get out a little in the whoops and rythym sections. I felt the bike wasn't reacting "right", but I was so caught up in catching him, I kept pressing. By now the 3rd place guy was behind me trying to pass me. I shut the door on him in several turns, and would pull away, but just like before he would run up on me in the rough stuff. He finally got around me. By now I know something is wrong with the bike, and I assume I've blown the rear shock, so I slow down, and just ride slow, trying to get off the track. I ride up the face of a big jump, and the bike just bogs down. I look down, and it's stuck- tires spinning. I get off, and look and the dogbone has broke and the linkage is plowed into the ground, which got me stuck. After we got the bike off the track, I was talking to the announcer and he told me my bike was broke on the first lap when I came by the tower. No wonder I was getting beat up! haha . I did make it a point to find the kid with the smart mouth and ask him what he thought of the "dinosaur" now? LOL.
I'll get it all fixed up and go to it again.
I have two questions:
First-I need a dogbone for stock linkage. I need the "short" one. The one I have is "long" and sits the bike down too low. I'm not sure about the differences in the linkages on the different years, so if someone could educate me, please do. And, I need to buy one.
Second- I am running 14/39 gearing. I was going to switch the front to a 13 to gear it down since this track is short and tight. Any thoughts?
My first race was this past weekend. There were a few LTR450's, A couple 450R's, A KFX450, and several YFZ's. I was the only 2 stroke (of course). I posted some pics of my bike a week or two ago, but my setup is: LRD frame, pro trax front end, LSR swinger, ESR310 motor with ESR TRX6 pipe, PEP shocks, 18" RAZR's on the back, Razr Cross's on the front, Hiper wheels, 14/39 gearing.
I went out for practice and noticed a few things:
1) The track was a short supercross style track, and my gearing was off, and I was gonna be between gears all night. I hate that haha
2) I really, really need to get my shocks serviced.
3) My jetting still needs some fine tuning.
Practice went well. I took it easy, and just rode the track to feel it out. No biggie. A kid on a 4 stroke asks me if "I think my old dinosaur can hang with the 450's" I said no... probably not and just laughed.
The first moto comes, and we line up- 10 bikes on the gate. The gate drops and I come out 2nd, right behind my buddy on his built YFZ. Almost had the holeshot, but my buddy had the better line and piched me off. In the old days, I would have plowed him and pushed him out and kept going! LOL, but we're both old, and we don't ride each other like that. I'm chasing him good, but he's pulling me in the rough stuff. I'd reel him in, but he would get out a little in the whoops and rythym sections. I felt the bike wasn't reacting "right", but I was so caught up in catching him, I kept pressing. By now the 3rd place guy was behind me trying to pass me. I shut the door on him in several turns, and would pull away, but just like before he would run up on me in the rough stuff. He finally got around me. By now I know something is wrong with the bike, and I assume I've blown the rear shock, so I slow down, and just ride slow, trying to get off the track. I ride up the face of a big jump, and the bike just bogs down. I look down, and it's stuck- tires spinning. I get off, and look and the dogbone has broke and the linkage is plowed into the ground, which got me stuck. After we got the bike off the track, I was talking to the announcer and he told me my bike was broke on the first lap when I came by the tower. No wonder I was getting beat up! haha . I did make it a point to find the kid with the smart mouth and ask him what he thought of the "dinosaur" now? LOL.
I'll get it all fixed up and go to it again.
I have two questions:
First-I need a dogbone for stock linkage. I need the "short" one. The one I have is "long" and sits the bike down too low. I'm not sure about the differences in the linkages on the different years, so if someone could educate me, please do. And, I need to buy one.
Second- I am running 14/39 gearing. I was going to switch the front to a 13 to gear it down since this track is short and tight. Any thoughts?