Husqvarna – Page 2 – Andrew Gore

To finish first, first you must finish…………..That’s racing.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by admin

As any racer will attest, it seems every race weekend has some sort of drama leading up to it. Mine (as posted about earlier) was no exception. Thankfully the planets aligned, bikes got sorted out, and even the weather was looking to be just about perfect. Truck and trailer got loaded up, I headed up and picked up my buddy John who would be racing his first Enduro. After spending some time at his house changing his tires, setting up his suspension, and loading his gear, we were on our way out.

We spent the night in fine luxury of a couple camping cots in the back of the trailer. The mild rain that came in the middle of the night sounded like thousands of shotguns blasts on the roof of the aluminum trailer. I motivated myself to get up & out of bed around 7 to get registered for the day. It’s nice walking straight through registration not having to deal with a swarm of other riders. We really had no line preference for when we started, so we got up on row 10, easy enough for calculating out Key-Time early in the morning.

We didn’t have much time after the riders meeting to get our final gear on & get to the starting line. They funneled us from the pits down & across a corn field to a gate where the actual start was. We hopped in behind the Row 9 guys, and saw some of the others who would be joining us on row 10. My buddy John (despite my yelling) jumped the gun and somehow snuck in with the Row 9 guys right off the start. Thankfully it was just a .5 mile road section to another start point, and he was able to fall back in line as he should be.

We got up to the line and we were immediately off. I took the lead of the 4 or 5 of us on our row, and immediately felt extremely confident on my bike. The terrain was grassy, but had an odd sand base to it. It was a perfect situation for the Michelin S12XC tires that I run. I had a few initial bobbles as I was getting reacclamated to running in much tighter tracks than we usually run. I was running smart though, and running confident. I began picking up speed where I needed to. Areas that I normally would have cruised in a constant RPM, I was holding full throttle, and immediately pitching myself fore\aft for upcoming terrain.

I was attacking in a restrained way. Knowing the race was all day, and it was still early on. However, I was already pacing myself ahead of the rows ahead of me. I knew they could all be in totally different classes than me, but it still gives that mental gratification that you passed someone. It helps, helps me push, helps me keep focused. I rolled through I believe a check point and motored on. I came into a tight section that had a fallen tree stump to my left, and some shrubs to my right. I can only assume I didn’t look far enough ahead, or whatever, cause I immediately felt my foot being smashed between the stump & my foot peg. I lost my balance, fell to my right and hobbled away from the bike.

It was a sharp pain. My adrenalin was flowing, and I knew I could work through it. I looked to my left (behind me) to make sure no one was coming. I knew I had a good gap from the guys I had passed, but that race instinct says to get back up and going ASAP. I picked my bike up which was thankfully still running (thank you Rekluse). I went to turn my bars, and felt some resistance. I saw the inner radiator shroud had been pushed in, so I yanked it out to toss in my camelbak. No sooner did I rip the shroud out that the radiator began pissing coolant.

I knew it was over. As soon as the fluid hit my fender, that was it. Game Over, See you next credit. I was pissed and extremely frustrated. I pulled my bike off the main line and began looking for ways to be resourceful to work around this. I began pulling for sticks that I could bypass the busted radiator, so I could at least get myself out of there on 1 functioning one. I searched all around, nothing. If I had some little tube, maybe I could make it work, but obviously no tube. Plenty of riders checked to make sure I was OK. I was grateful, as this never seemed to be the case in the Harescrambles around here. Somewhere along the way, someone must have mentioned that there was a rider out, because just as I was about to begin the daunting task of pushing my bike out, here comes a truck in the corn field.

It was a long drive back to the pits, so I can only imagine how bad it would have sucked having to push my machine that entire distance. I had plenty of time to think things over, that’s for sure. I thought that maybe I could rig something together, but no way was I going to risk getting stuck out there again, only to have to hope for another tow back out. At this point the race for me was mentally over.

I waited and waited, and my buddy John rolled back into the pits from the first 1/2 of the race around 12-12:30 or so. He was beat, exhausted and had no desire to do the 2nd half of the race. I laughed when he told me I’d be riding Enduros alone from here on out. Which right there makes me laugh. I’m absolutely pissed that I busted my bike and had to end my race so early. I was riding solid and knew I had a good finish in me. But that’s the awesome part of the Enduro’s. You’ve gotta make everything click. It’s all day and one early mistake can cost you. Super frustrated for sure, but now looking forward to the next enduro which is unfortunately not until August.

Until then, I’ll be keeping myself going with Harescrambles & whatever else I can. Going to be one long summer full of a lot of racing.

-Andrew

Enough about me. What about the bike?

Posted on April 5, 2012 by admin

I’ve spent a good deal of time on my mental end of things with my racing. I figure it’s about time for some info on my weapon of choice. I hopped all around the board in years prior. My buddies ride KTM’s and get all giddy just thinking of orange things; just not me. I thought my KTM was good, but honestly, they pull an extra $1000 premium right now, and there were plenty of other options out there, and I’ll add in a bit of spite as my final reason for not going pumpkin. I knew that I had to go 2-stroke. Granted I loved the power of my 450, I knew that I could get similar power out of a 2-stroke & not have to think about valves, yadda yadda yadda.

Much consideration went into the possibility of sorting out a Japanese 250. I liked this idea, as there are plenty of bikes around, for extremely cheap. I know how to revalve suspension, so that wasn’t a huge thing, but in the back of my mind, I knew I’d still have to get some lights (even if “not working”), some Enduro parts, and all that nonsense. My brother, the wise man that he is, asked me a simple question: “Why not buy a bike that is built for what you want to use it for?” It was at this point I knew I had 1 of 2 choices. Husqvarna or GasGas.

I’d read mixed reviews on the GasGas bikes, and finding one that appeared in decent condition around me was a bit of a stretch. The Husky was about the same situation, though I knew that I’d seen plenty at the races, and they sold a 300cc 2Stroke which is really what I wanted to get. I had a line on a nice 2007 Husky, though a WR250. It needed some standard items (hand guards, protection, bigger tank for longer rides, etc). It was then that I recalled a friend had a 2006 Husky WR250. I had seen it on some rides we did, but hadn’t thought too much about it at the time. This led to that, which led me to buying the bike off of him. Mint condition bike, I was in heaven.

Fresh from JZEE

Like I said, the bike was\is mint and ready to rock. I posted earlier what was my first ride on the bike. I knew after that first outing, that I needed to scoop up the 1 item that I will refer to as the “ultimate cheater”. The Rekluse EXP 2.0. I had an auto clutch on my YZ144 and really enjoyed it, but nothing existed for my G450X. I’ve found this to be one of the best $ I’ve spent on this bike (almost). The auto clutch saves me when I miss the clutch going into a turn, or have a bobble somewhere that would normally stall the engine (which really sucked due to the bike having such a goofy kickstarter).

I opted to not spend a dollar on any sort of engine upgrades. The bike rips pretty well, and had an all around good feeling (slight carb tweaks required, but a given with any carb’d bike). I decided that despite looking new, I had very little to no confidence in the front. Before I would dive into suspension valving, I figured a fresh tire would help things out, and I was quite right. The next time out on the bike, I felt very confident in the front end, and felt I could push the bike much better. I didn’t have 100% confidence, but that is coming along with the more I get to ride & know the machine.

Just after the Bass Lake Loop

After my last trip to the UP, I felt the bike could handle a little loving’ to the fork valving. Not much, but a bit. Thankfully this isn’t the first set of forks I’ve massaged into better handling units. I revalved my YZ144 & G450X, both with awesome results. On the Husky, I focused on the base valves, and found that the OEM valving was a bit on the wonky side. It’s damping curve, despite appearing linear, was far from it. I added in some shims, smoothed things out, and got fresh oil in there. I’m ready to ride!

So now I sit and wait for the weekend to arrive. I’ve got the bike dialed in how I want. I’m stoked on the machine, and itching to improve my feeling and abilities on the bike. I’ll have more practice footage. Any questions, feel free to ask.

-Andrew

Past mistakes, future fortunes.

Posted on April 4, 2012 by admin

As stated before, I’ve made some bad choices in the past. The thing that’s really killed my racing as of late has been my only constant being change. I’ve tended to keep a bike for a few short months, complain about something on it, and want to change to something “better”. While it was true that each bike presented itself with it’s own unique issues, I didn’t stick to my “just run it” attitude I had in the past. I assume this is partially because now I could actually get the bikes I want & choose. But aside from causing me to lose money, I lost valuable time in learning my machines.

So it all started back with a 2001 KTM 300exc. I picked this up from another ADVRider member in February of 2010. Prior to this, I had a BMW G650XCountry that I realized would not be a good race bike. The KTM had power, suspension, and at the time, I felt it wast the lightest bike on the planet. I raced 3 races on the bike, and by the 3rd I was thinking it’d help if I had something lighter. I test rode a Honda CRF250R and felt this was the key for Harescrambles. I unloaded the 300exc & picked up a 2004 Yamaha YZ250F. The bike was setup for an A MX rider, far from ideal for the Harescrambles (and the Indy Endurocross I raced it in). The YZ250F was feeling good, until I rode a 125 2-stroke.

This is about where I really shot myself in the foot. I ended up trading a perfectly good YZ250F for a YZ125, thinking that it was going to be all that and a bag of chips. I lost BIG on that deal. I was jaded by lack of lighting, a crew of hillbillys surrounding me, and the sweet scent of pre-mix. I got the YZ125 home and began finding all it’s problems. Steering stem bearings were the least of my worries, and after my first real ride on the bike, found that aside from the top end being worn, the bottom end was as Eric Gorr put it “One of the worst we’ve seen”. This was the end of October/ beginning of November of 2010, and of course, I needed to rush to get the thing sorted. 1 Eric Gorr 144 big bore & a fresh bottom end rebuild, and I was ready to rock and roll. Go figure that the day I go to test out the bike, I case a small double at a buddies track, exploding the rear shock, linkage, and along the way, my right knee. Thankfully it was getting towards winter, so I had time to get things sorted.

I rebuilt the YZ144 over the winter, fresh everything. I added a Revloc auto clutch & was ready to get down to business racing it. First race out was awesome. It was up at Aztalan MX in Wisconsin. I took 2nd off the start and was positioned well to be competitive throughout the race. Go figure though that about 30 minutes into the 120 minute race, I flatted my rear tire. I said screw it & continued on. On the jumps, I took it easy to not throttle too hard in the air. By the 90 minute mark, my body was feeling it & I was slowing quickly. I ended up in 4th or so in the race, which sucked, cause the 3rd place rider was right in front of me, I just had no idea on timing\scoring…..Racing and learning.

I continued to race the YZ144 at a couple more local Harescrambles. Somewhere along the way in early 2010, I convinced myself to pickup a BMW G450X. Dealer had a stupid low price & I convinced myself I “needed” one for riding trips in the UP (Michigan). Plated, dirtbike, yup how can you go wrong? Unfortunately I was alternating between racing the 450 & the 144 and just wasn’t doing good at all. I was never confident in the races, and just fudging up where I shouldn’t have been.

At this point, I was really getting down on my abilities in racing. I knew I could ride faster than my friends when we’d race around. I knew I could keep up with A riders at times, but it was like I had A skills, with the fitness of a C rider, and the mental lapses of an 80 year old. Flashes of brilliance while racing, peppered however, with more poor riding. This is just chalked up to not having raced a whole bunch. Nerves and the like. (Un)Fortunately at this point I had a buddy of mine ask me if I wanted to give Supermoto a try. I was a bit worn out on the off-road riding\racing & more or less just needed a break. I had a good first weekend in that, really enjoyed having proper brake markers & keypoints on a constant track, but just didn’t “feel” it for the road type racing again. This brief foray back onto the road racing cost me some valuable off-road race weekends, but I needed to do it to know for sure.

At this point, I was beginning to feel that I should be sticking with the 450 for racing, but was still switching back and forth between it and the 144. I went down to race a GP on the 144 and was just downright pissed about my performance. I’ve only myself to blame, as my tires were destroyed and half way into the first race, I lost all rear brake. I thought I had it fixed for the 2nd moto, but it was all but gone, not my way to ride, but not much I could do. I was getting to be quite sick of that YZ144, and just fed up with how things were going for me.

It was at this point that I finally decided to finally give an Enduro a go. I figured there were no other Harescrambles going on at the time and it’d let me see if maybe I’d like the format of these types of races over whatever else. I loaded up the 450, signed up for Open B class & just figured I’d go and have fun with it. And fun was had! These enduro’s actually started on time (pet peeve of mine from Harescrambles), I got to race for all day long, and best of all, I got a great finish in my class. I had some issues, but I loved how my bike felt, I felt positive with how I rode, and basically went home feeling happy. At this point, I was dead set on racing the 450 the following season, in the Enduro’s.

This past winter was spent prepping the 450X for a committed D17 Open B Enduro season. I had scored a great bigger tank for the bike, I revalved the suspension just to my liking, and had it completely fresh for the season. I got one early ride on the bike and just felt great on it. Again, my brain began to wander. Deep down I knew that for 2013, I’d want to be back on a 2-stroke. One thing led to another, and here I am now on a Husqvarna WR250 2-stroke. It was a relatively easy decision for me to make. I had no real complaints with the 450X, but things fell into place, so I rolled with it and am now on a bike that just feels wonderful.

I’ve learned some really key things this past year, and despite how much I had wavered throughout the year, it’s really helped me focus in. In 2011, I had no set goal. I had no set plan. Yes, I wanted to race Harescrambles, but I wasn’t yet at a point to really push to be competitive. I was jumping around from bike to bike, discipline to discipline This year I feel renewed and confident. I’ve got the clear goal to compete in the D17 Open B Enduro class and I feel I’m on the best bike for the job.

This season, I’m going in with confidence! – More to follow!

-Andrew

Finally a ride on the new scoot

Posted on March 11, 2012 by admin

Finally got a chance to take the new Husqvarna out for a test ride (video uploading shortly). We had a good 3 mile loop to really push ourselves and our bikes. There was a great mix of high speed open sections, mixed in with some plenty technical & extremely rough terrain. Overall I felt really positive about the bike. The ergonomics fit me really well. The bike has plenty of power, though the jetting down low in the RPM’s is a little on the rich side. Minor details, and really the jetting can be solved with me running a bit faster.

I had a lack of confidence in the front end of the bike, though I feel this will be solved with a fresh front tire & possibly some toying with the front forks a bit, get a bit more feeling out of things. My only real gripe with the bike is the wonky kick start. The lever is about 3″ further forward than any other bike I’ve ridden & it has a super short sweep. Extremely annoying if I killed the engine in a rough spot and as I noted while washing my boots, it ripped apart the center of the sole on my Tech 8’s.

All in all, a very positive day riding. Heck, I even got to test the 85′ XR350R & what a fun bike. Great 6 speed gear box. Just the right amount of power, super plush suspension, and my goodness a lazy-boy seat. Great combo for a fun vintage machine.

-Andrew

Again? Really…..Again?

Posted on February 27, 2012 by admin

It’s been a last minute decision. Another change de force. I’ve gone and sold yet another race bike of mine. I’m sure most people will think that I just absolutely hate my bikes. I wish that were the case. Truth be told, I absolutely loved the BMW 450. Having 50hp on tap to “fix” those areas where I may have messed up. That will be missed, that’s for sure.

Fortunately I’m moving to something somewhat similar to what I’ve been on in the past. I’ll be back on a 2-stroke for this upcoming season. I knew that I would be making the switch next year (2013), but something in me just told me I needed to make the switch this season. I’ll be on a slightly older scoot, but one more than capable of what I can throw at it.

More to come…..

-Andrew