Tag: Motorcycle

Unexpected Findings

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Got invited to ride on some farm property yesterday. Close by, free, and wide open areas to work on some skills…how could I say no? I also saw it as a chance to do some scientific testing between some bikes and see which gets me through some trails quickest.

We plotted out a small loop. Started on a small section of farm field, into a singletrack tall grass section and then a quick duck into some mildly tight\off-camber section. This led to a small jaunt back out of the woods and back across the field. Once you were back across the field, there was a dried up pond that we roosted around. The outside was packed full of downed trees, and sticks, and by the end of the day, getting slick and rutted. As you finished your way around the pond, we had a pile of downed tree limbs to hop over followed by a slightly larger 18″ diameter-ish tree to hop. After the tree hop, you immediately banked hard right, and then a quick left to bring yourself back out of the pond area to where you started.

It was a short loop, but it gave me a chance to do a lot of hot laps. My findings were mildly frustrating, but I suppose telling of my riding. I had 3 bikes to test out. My Husky, the Mighty XR, and my buddies KDX200. I started out on the Husky, so I had a good general idea of how the bike handled the loop, what to do, what to expect, etc, etc. Initial lap times were 59-60 seconds. I then hopped on the KDX, and my lap times were 57-58 seconds. I hopped onto the Mighty XR, where my lap times were at a consistent 58 seconds. After all that, and some other fooling around, with my body tired, I did another 5 laps on the Husky, where my lap times were at a consistent 58 seconds.

So what’s this telling me? I know I felt that on the KDX, the bike felt the most compliant and kind of the easiest to go fast. The bike felt plush and confident. The S12XC front he has on the thing helped in the slick sections for sure. He’s got an autoclutch, though I still work the clutch manually, but that may have had an effect on things. The XR, I felt I had to work the most to go the same speed. The drum rear brake always required more attention to help stop you, and the slightly sticky throttle made you have to think more while riding, rather than focusing on going fast. I liken riding it to riding a 125 2-stroke. They can go just as fast, but require a LOT more input, body english, and finesse to get the speed out of it. Now for the WR, I felt to me it has the most room for improvement. The bike has got plenty of power which helps immensely in anything more open. It was the most forgiving if I messed, up, but required a bit more brain focus to extract the speed out of it. The suspension is also not nearly as plush as the KDX, however, it is feeling better now than it ever has (I opened HS\LS Rear compression 100% open).

I got to do a lot of work on drills that we did at the Shane Watts school. Braking\accelerating\drifting\wheelies\etc. From where I was a year ago, I’m 10x more confident in high speed roosting, and drifting out the rear. Heck, I could be dragging my knee on the XR if I wanted. 

Yesterdays riding (and subsequent timing results) has me questioning if the Husky is the bike for me. With my apparent knack for breaking a bike at every race, it’s got me considering the idea of going back to a Japanese bike, due to the abundance of parts\spares\cheap prices. Hard to say as I really enjoy the Husky, but I need something that I can trust will take me all the way through a race. Any thoughts\opinions on this?

I can say however that that XR350R just won’t be sold. We did some flat out drag races between it & the KDX200. The XR was dead even with the KDX. Quite the mighty little beast. 

Time for some Sunday lunch.
Andrew

Some y00per Fun!

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Well this past weekend was spent re-energizing my riding batteries. A lot of time spent on the bike, in a non-competitive, non-race situation. Granted I still pushed myself while tooling around, but in a way that just puts a big ol smile on my face. Me & 2 other riding friends loaded up the toy-hauler and drove due North to the great y00per (The Upper Peninsula of Michigan). The plan was to ride some fun 2-track loops based around our camp & if we were up for it, hit up some of the local singletrack. Some\most of the pics courtesy JZEE

The 3 bike crew:


JZEE on the KTM 530xcw
Jburroughs12 on the Honda XR350R
Me on the Husky WR250

We were all having a blast out there. Essentially all of the 300ish miles we rode, we didn’t pass a single other dirtbike\4×4\ATV\UTV\ORV\Car\Truck\Bus\Logging operation. It was just some good pure fun. I realized immediately I shoulda re-geared my Husky. The OEM 13/48 gearing left a lot to be desired in the speed department. On these same trails on my 450, I could cruise 10-15mph faster and not feel like I was revving the snot out of the bike. My fault for not gearing up for the ride properly. Not the end of the world, but in some of the more open riding (and sandy areas), I really like to open the bikes up, and being topped out around 65-70mph, just wasn’t enough.

On the 2nd day of riding, just after a rockier section….followed by a high speed whoop section, I was flagged down, with John & Joe pointing at the rear of my bike. I thought I had some deadly animal attacking me, but soon found the problem.

A rock (presumably) shot up a hole through the center of the rear fender, and the following whoop section sealed the deal and that rear fender was toast. No biggy. First some duct tape, which was the replaced by just looping the thing onto my Nomad Rider pack. Initial repairs took place at the local Ace Hardware:

After that, we continued riding, and remembered part way through the 2nd day that the loop we were on, was one of our least favorite. It had a few road sections & way too much gravel road for our liking. It wasn’t much, but more than we’d care for. There were a couple more spirited sections, but nothing overwhelming. It’d be a better loop if you’re worn out on harder riding & just looking to have a more relaxing final day of riding. When we got back, Joe had the look of “I need some singletrack”, so we tossed our gear back on, filled up the camelbak & around 6:30pm rolled out to go hit up the Bass Lake singletrack loop (videos earlier in thread).

I started out on the Husky and Joe on the XR. I figured I’d offer up the Husky to him, since he’s more used to a 250 2T. He gladly swapped, and I gotta say I was quite happy to really ride the bike on some more aggressive trails. What a blast. That bike was so much fun. I was able to maintain a 15-20mph speed on the loop without trying too hard and was just having a blast while doing it. The only downer with the bike was the rear drum brake. I may have overshot a few turns and ended up in the weeds, but what a blast. I’m really loving that little bike.

Day 3 was our last, and unfortunately cut short. Before we rolled out, I pulled the Rekluse autoclutch from the bike. I didn’t miss it on the XR the day before and figured it’d be a good chance to really test the bike out without it in there. Things started out really well, but unfortunately about 20 miles into the loop, I came down from a roller, and noticed when I got on the gas, that it felt like the rear wheel was spinning. Odd, but it seemed to grab again, so I figured it popped out of gear. Again, another roller and this time it felt out of gear for good. I pulled the clutch cover and immediately saw the problem. My primary gear (on the crank), the nut had backed off and was somewhere in the engine.

I tore things down mid trail and found that the nut thankfully fell in an area where it caused NO damage, but then found that the keyway on the crank\primary gear had sheered itself. I also destroyed my clutch cover gasket in the process of all this, but knew at this point, I wasn’t riding that bike under it’s own power back to camp:

With that we figured the weekend was done. We just had to get back to camp. Luckily we were only a couple miles from a paved road, and luckily I had a tow strap in my kit, so we were off…….and with that I have the pic of shame:

Stuff happens, I’m just glad nothing more went wrong. A 2$ keyway, and 10$ in gaskets and the husky will be back in action for another day. I learned a lot though on the trip. For one, I immediately listed my Rekluse for sale. I just don’t need it. Shane Watts was spot on with his assessment on how it affects the bike. I just had to see\feel it for myself. I found I also learned to ride wheelies on the WR really well. Apparently all the tooling around on the XR translated over, as I can now click through all 5 gears and just rest at the balance point for as long as I want.

I also feel I need to do some work to my suspension. Higher speed stuff, the Husky is pretty good. Low speed stuff, the XR feels so confidence inspiring, and feels like you’re riding on pillows. Low speed the WR feels like it’s being jarred like mad. High speed on the XR…..well you just don’t. lol I’m really looking forward to my next race, whenever it may be. I’m just gonna go have fun with it. I found while riding the singletrack loop, that yes I could push myself super fast right off the bat, but I lose energy too quickly, and overshoot things. If I tone it back to 80-90%, I overall end up much faster. Heck, we rode the loop in 1:35. Not bad at all, considering the last time I rode it, I finished in 1:45.

I’m ready for riding.

Andrew

Not quite a noob, Not quite a Pro, Not quite old man, Not quite boy racer……

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I am at a point in my life finding myself making up for lost\missed time.  Doing my best to get in as much racing before I feel I’m “too old”.  I suppose it’s best to back things up a bit and give some back story.  My name is Andrew Gore.  I’m 26 years old and I race dirtbikes.  I’ve got a lovely wife, slightly spastic dog, and officially work as a Mold Designer\Machinist at my Fathers Injection Molding\Mold Making company.  I have one goal ahead of me: to race national pro enduro by 2015 (or by the time I’m 30).

I began riding bikes when I was in elementary school.  First ride I took, was on a 1974 Kawasaki 175.  From then, I went into racing MX at a local track on a 1985 Yamaha YZ125 that was nothing but issues.  At the same time I was dealing with that bike, I was also forced to deal with the reality that the area I had to practice\ride was being shut down.  It was 1999, I was entering high school & found myself using any free time I had to go skateboarding, with the YZ sitting dormant in my basement.  Through high school I went full blown into skateboarding, was shooting video non stop, and gained a great board sponsor out of Pennsylvania, and even managed my own signature board by the end of high school in 2003.

Unfortunately from there, the board company was going under, and I found myself in a position of owning a paintball company with my brother.  From that point on, I just didn’t get competitive in much of anything.  We had separated ourselves from our fathers manufacturing business to venture out on our own, we were both immersed in work, and at the time I just didn’t feel any draw back to competition or even motorcycles.  This slowly began to change when I moved back in with my parents & back to work with my father.

Summer of 2004 (or maybe 2005?), I don’t remember exactly, but suffice to say, I got the bug to ride again.  I picked up a 1974 RD350 & had all sorts of fun fogging the area on the thing.  One thing led to another, and I found myself road racing a 2004 Yamaha R6.  With the help of my brother coaching me, I was picking up speed at a great pace.  Unfortunately, as my speed increased, as did the spending from my wallet.  A weekend of racing was using up every bit of money I had, especially so after a triple digit crash sent me sliding directly towards my entire family there at the race to watch.  I knew something had to give.  My funds were essentially non-existent, but the desire to compete was extremely high.

At this point, my dad had seen some trials events, and inquired if I’d be interested in giving that a go.  We made a deal that he’d front the money for a trials bike until I sold the R6.  I found a bike (1994 GasGas JT25), and a week or so later, had the R6 sold.  I entered my first event and was sucked in.  The slow methodical approach to riding, with a delicacy that just drew me in.  After my first event, I knew I needed some schooling and in the fall of 2008, I went down to the Trials Training Center in TN.  The following year, I competed in the D-17 Advanced class, and won the overall for the season.

The following year had me feeling the need for a bit more speed.  Early 2010, I competed in a couple trials events at the Sportsmen level, but I was feeling the need for some speed.  Maybe it was me knowing I was getting married in a few months, I don’t really know.  I do know that I needed some speed or change of pace from trials and began giving HareScrambles a go.  I had tried a Harescramble in May of 2009.  I made it 45 minutes into the event on a bone stock DRZ400S (yes, lights blinkers, everything).  I wanted to die, and I was barely half way into the race.  Things weren’t much different when I entered another event on a KTM 300.  I got stuck in a terrible rut, sunk the bike down to its rear axle and just about lost my brain.  It wasn’t until I entered my 3rd race that I even managed to finish.

I’ve spent the past 2 years competing in Harescrambles, dabbled into supermoto (finding I needed to be in the dirt), and finally giving an enduro a go this past fall (2011).  I’ve made a HUGE mistake the past couple years, which has been not focusing on an ultimate goal for each season.  This season is different.  I aim to win the D-17 Open B Enduro class.  I’ll be racing local Harescrambles as well to help keep my brain in race mode, but won’t be so focused on taking the “overall” for that.  Something to keep me in shape and in the spirit of racing.

I’m stoked for what’s to come this year.  I’m on a phenomenal bike (2006 Husqvarna WR250).  I’ve got myself on a tasty diet, and have a workout plan going on.  I’ll post as more comes up here.

-Andrew

 

Leaf River Enduro……….

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The morning started with me causing issues on my bike.  I had forgotten that when the bike was last in at the dealer, they neglected to torque the shift lever to an appropriate spec, leaving it a bit jiggly.  No problem I figured and busted out the tools to get it locked in properly.  Bike leaned over, skid plate off, wrenches out.  Spin Spin Spin SNAP!  There went the shifter bolt.  Go figure, it snapped in a spot where it was still holding the shifter onto the shift shaft.  A little bit of pit area wrenching, and the old & mildly stripped shifter were removed; replaced with a modified YZ250 shifter.  Problem solved.

I’ve never done an Enduro, and spent the prior week stressing over having to keep time, navigate myself, and do all those things that make riding even more confusing & difficult.  Much to my surprise, I found that this enduro was run in the national\restart format.  Simpley put, it’s a couple mini harescrambles (test sections), grouped together by un-timed connector routes.  You are required to start each test section at a specific time.  If you’re really fast, you can arrive at the end of these sections ahead of schedule, and get docked points.  Or you can arrive late, and get docked points as well.  The connector routes are good for a couple things.  If you were late on your test section, you can make up time to get yourself back on time for the following test section, or it could be a great time to catch your breath and relax a bit, or use it as a time to have even more fun ripping around on your bike :-D.

So there I was, lined up on row 15 with a group of Kawasaki riders (great guys btw!).  Mildly nervous, but ready for what the day would bring.  Get to the start point, 5 seconds…..Off we roll.  WFO down and across a corn field, finally dipping into some woods.  I do my best to stay on the gas as much as possible, stand, let the bike bounce and float beneath me.  I royally mess up just before a short & steep climb.  I try to start right at the bottom and get myself up the climb, only to not stand up in time and watch my bike launch away from me into the air.  It was quite impressive, just about as impressive that nothing really broke.  After a few wrong turns, and bobbles, I manage to get to the first check-out point, unfortunately 7 minutes late.  I made it though, and roosted my way on over to the next start point.

The day continued on in a similar fashion.  Come lunch time, I was ready to eat.  Luckily, with the time we made, I had about 30-35 minutes to wolf down my sandwich, fuel up the bike, and get myself refocused for the second loop.  Second loop was essentially a better version of the first go around.  The first and second test sections I was still doing pretty well (energy wise), but by the final section, I could feel myself getting tired.  Understandable, as the day totaled almost 4 hours of ride time.

Overall, I was stoked on how I rode.  I knew that I could have ridden better, and pushed harder in quite a few sections.  Hindsight is 20/20, and I feel I should be better next go-around.  I couldn’t have been happier with how the 450 powered through everything.  Sure I could have pushed for some more front grip, but that was my fault for not dropping tire pressure as I should have.  All that being said, I’ve heard (unofficial) that I pulled a 3rd place in the B group.  I definitely can’t complain with that!

Now I must prepare myself for Fox Valley Off-Road GP race this Sunday.

Andrew

Please give my sponsors a visit.  They make these events happen for me!

YZ144 Ramblings (some continuations from ThumperTalk)

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What you’ll see here are some postings I’ve made up on the site ThumperTalk.  You can see the full thread HERE Here is some of the latest:

Well the issue proned YZ has to a degree been maintaining it’s evil ways. I was spending some time bleeding another bikes brakes, so figured I’d re-bleed the YZ rear brake as it was getting spongy the last time I rode it. Power bleed, all clear, no bubbles. Thought I was golden. About 30-45 minutes into my last ride, I got no rear brake  So I sat there in the parking lot, bleeding away. I could see no bubbles, and fresh fluid was pouring out, but alas, no pressure. I noticed that each time I’d add fluid to the “reservoir” that there would be an odd swirl of colors in there, so it dawned on me. Clean that out, and re-fill completely fresh. 2 minutes later and I’m working with a whole new brake. 

I didn’t realize how much I had altered my riding to compensate for a rear brake that had always been a bit on the squishy side. I chocked it up to old lines, and slightly worn components. After having properly bled brake, I really had to work on my braking points, as my rear was locking up much quicker\easier than I had been accustomed to. Couple laps around a track and I was back in action. How sweet it was!

I have been really enjoying my woods suspension, other than for the fact that every time I have ridden the dang thing, it has been on tracks instead of trails, but what can you do. I haven’t really even bothered touching the clickers, as I feel they are so far pretty solid; although I feel I may end up clicking them a bit more stiff in the future.

I am finding that the ATV High bars are….well, too high. It’s not terrible, but really I need to switch to a CR-Hi bend, with 0.5″ cut off each end. That will be the best setup.

I also had the joy of a friend hooking me up with a spare Michelin MS3 110/100-19 rear tire. I know, it’s a bit larger than normally on a 125, but I tell yah what. The larger profile gives that much more grip & also acts as if I am rocking an 18″ rear tire. I’m hooked. I will be switching from the Shinko 520 tires (thought I thought they performed quite well for as long as they did).

That’s about it for now. Was supposed to race a GP with it last Sunday, but the club wussed out because of some light rain in the AM (oddball MX guys ). I’m taking the 450 out for an Enduro this Sunday, and then the following weekend, there is another GP race that the YZ144 will be back at.

Some parting pics from the riding we did since the GP was canceled:
Been “attempting” to scrub a bit on the jumps. They’re so short that I flat land if I gas too much:

Scootin away from my buddy on his ktm:

Enjoying some small air:

Explaining to MR. KTM how to stay up front 

Happy Thursday!

Andrew