A Fun Dr. Appt?

Whoever heard of having fun at a doctor appointment! Well it happened to me. In my advancing years it seems the doctor always wants to do some sort of test or referral and did just that. He sent me to a specialist that tests, lung, fitness, agility, etc. All I can say is that I lucked out when I was referred to Rick White for my testing. It turns out Rick is a long time, although currently retired, dirt bike guy. An old time MX guy! It doesn’t get any better than that. Once we started talking the evaluation and testing took about twice as long as it should have and I had a good time during it all.

Rick told me of his motocross back ground and all the guys he used to ride with. It seems it is a small world since I know a lot of them and still see some of them occasionally. Rick was a lot of fun to listen to because I could tell how much fun he had in those days and how much he missed it by the laughter and stories. He is now devoted to his family and career and hopes to get back to his fitness training soon; he has been swamped with his 2 year old and his job. The guy has a lot of knowledge and information that would benefit anyone training in almost any sport. He gave me a couple of tips I will have to explore.

So we do the testing and Rick told me he had estimated the distance I would cover during the test during the fast paced walking given my age and condition. Happy to report I actually did 160% of his estimate. As a bonus when it was all said and done he told me I had covered 33 laps during the test. I started laughing and he had a puzzled look until he realized what the 33 represented since he and I had discussed the #33 blog. I had no idea of how many laps I had done until I was told at the end.

Could be an omen. #33 (laps)

#33 Tests the 2013 Models

This is the time of the year when many of us start thinking about new bikes. A new 450 mx bike always makes a great Christmas present. Many of us pour thru the magazines, Dirt Bike, MXA and Dirt Rider to learn which one best fits us. This year #33 participated in Dirt Bike's 450 test day. Here are his observations about each of the bikes.

 

#33 Reports

HONDA:  The all new Honda CRF 450 was a bike I was looking forward to riding after the redesign and whole new look. It was very easy to get on the Honda and ride it because everything is in the correct place, fit and finish is usually a Honda trait I have come to expect.

The layout is comfortable for me at 5’ 11” and didn’t require any adjustments. Although the Honda technician, Charlie, noticed I have large hands and did adjust the clutch lever out for me since it was adjustable. Everything else fell into place. The bike started very easily and rolled out with a smooth clutch release. Once on the track and up to speed the bike felt low and squatty for some odd reason. I brought it back and Charlie adjusted the rebound on both ends to get rid of that feeling. What a huge difference I immediately felt on the track. The bike now worked and was more comfortable to ride. The brakes were on par with every other bike, well except KTM. The clutch was good without the fade previous years had the reputation for. The bike turns well, feels stable and predictable and inspires confidence as you ride. The motor seems very good without too much hit and pulls well throughout the power band. It is not a fire breather but it is by no means slow. Suspension in the back works very well and the only money needing to be spent there would be to change a spring rate for a rider’s weight if necessary. The forks are very adjustable with the AIR system. I had to go up a couple of pounds to get the bike to ride a bit higher in the stroke. It was an easy fix without having to change springs. The only complaint I could lodge was the spike I felt when the front wheel slapped down on some jumps. I started to wonder if the Air system had more stiction in the seals to keep the forks from leaking down since the Air was an integral part of their action. The Honda turns well has a good layout for most riders and has a wide range of adjustability to work with that should get almost anyone comfortable on the bike.

KTM:  The KTM seems to have some serious potential with a couple of changes. It works well, has an awesome hydraulic clutch, brakes that the others have to put after market rotors on to match and a motor that is waiting to be set free! I enjoyed riding the bike because of all those items but felt there was more available if I could change a couple of things. For instance the rear shock spring just wouldn’t work for me at 195 lbs, it felt like the spring was not up to the task of supporting Bubba (me). It gave me the chopper feeling no matter what we tried. The forks were lowered to compensate and it definitely was a step in the right direction but not the cure. I believe I needed the spring for my weight to fully appreciate everything this bike could do.

The motor is just waiting for someone to take off the “quiet” stock muffler and put on a quiet free flowing after market muffler to unleash the beast hiding in there. The stock set up is very strong once it starts to pull and build a few rpm, it is one of the best motors in the bunch. I can feel the restriction off the bottom with the stock muffler, but there is more and I want it! Back to the brakes and clutch. I had to readjust my braking points on the KTM because the stopping power was phenomenal with less effort and more braking being supplied from the stock set up without being touchy or grabby. Just a nice powerful set of stoppers!  Every bike should have these brakes. The clutch is light, smooth, releases cleanly and never needs adjusting! What more could you ask for? Not much except for maybe a muffler and a shock spring.

Kawasaki:  I was surprised by this bike. I have limited experience with the Kawasaki and had no expectations, except hearsay of a powerful motor. The hearsay turned out to be true since this bike has a superb motor with a simple plug and play module that raises or lowers the output to the riders’ preference. I rode with the stock module and was impressed with the power, both output and delivery. Then tried it with the higher output module and liked it even better. My logic is that if I can drive a small V-8 or a big block V-8 which would I choose. I liked having the power on tap when I wanted it since it only was going to go as fast as I twisted the throttle.  The brakes worked very well and didn’t require any extra effort to haul that big motor down to a reasonable speed. The clutch kept it all under control with good pull and feel. The bike turned very well and yet was still stable at warp speeds. The forks were right in the hunt with the best forks of the bunch and I really didn’t have to do much in the way of adjusting to be happy with the way they worked. Impressive since I am a fork snob and that is the first thing I will snivel about on a bike. The shock was equally impressive and didn’t require any real adjusting except to make the ride height correct for Bubba. It performed better than I expected at soaking up everything I could give it. It was an easy bike to get on and ride for my height and weight. The spring rates, the control layout and the seat, bar and foot peg relationship were all comfortable. Like I said, I was surprised by this bike.

Suzuki:  Right off the bat I have to give the best turning award to the Suzuki. This thing turns inside whenever you decide it is time to go inside of someone. The layout of the Suzuki didn’t seem to make me feel cramped which is something I had felt in years past whenever riding yellow. It seemed the Suzuki used to fit someone more Ricky Carmichael size. That was a nice surprise, it fit and was comfortable without the cramped feeling I remember. All the controls function perfectly and without any extra effort required. All very clean and precise feeling. The shock worked well but felt a bit under sprung for my weight. The forks felt the same, under sprung but they still worked very well given the spring limitations. I guess I should go on a diet since that seems to be my catch phrase “under sprung”.  But let’s move on to the motor. This thing rips! I did not expect to have this motor rival the others for top honors in power output and delivery. The thing pulls from the bottom to the top and with authority. I was in shock and had to take a second look down while riding to be sure I was on the yellow bike. It made riding the bike a ton of fun since you could choose any line, any gear or make a mistake and still pull without having to clutch it back up to speed. Impressive. As I walked away from the Suzuki I thought to myself no wonder Mike Alessi gets so many holeshots.

Yamaha:  Yamaha has the distinct advantage of being recognizable by the motor and exhaust layout. The fuel injection in front and under the gas tank creates a sound as you open the throttle that none of the other bikes possess. You hear the air being pulled into the air box. It is strange at first but disappears as you ride the bike and get used to the sound. The motor has an almost infinitely adjustable motor if you have the GYTR programmer. You can make the motor hit hard or smooth out if you enter the correct numbers, it is all up to you. As far as the stock motor goes it runs well, starts easily and is by no means slow. It is not the horsepower king but doesn’t have the grunt down low that the Suzuki and Kawasaki have. The backwards motor for some strange reason seems to have more compression braking than some of the others, I have no idea why. I just noticed that when I closed the throttle it seemed to load the front tire slightly more than the other bikes. That didn’t hinder the turning prowess since it turns as well as anything, except the Suzuki which is in a class all by itself. The layout of the bike and controls are a good comfortable layout that feels right. Nothing out of place. The brakes are good and progressive with good lever feel. The clutch seems to take a lot of abuse without a whimper which is good since the bottom of the power band could be stronger. You will use the clutch to get things back up to speed more often than the others. The forks work well and can be dialed in to suit a rider without too much trouble. The shock was impressive. The rear end of the bike seemed to take everything I could dish out and made me want to wheelie through anything rough because it worked so well. I had fun riding this bike but would like to see more from the motor on the bottom.

If I had to pick the one I would want to ride as my own I would choose the KX 450 F.  After that it comes down to what color matches your riding gear because if you aren’t winning it isn’t the bike.

1. KX450F
2. KTM SX-F
3. CRF 450
4. RMZ 450
5. YZ 450F

Franksgiving Day Ride!

Let me explain what Franksgiving Day is for those of you that have not participated in the group ride that a buddy named Frank leads the day after Thanksgiving. The ride goes to different places that I wouldn’t even begin to be able to tell you the names of. If I knew the places I would have been sworn to secrecy because it is an invitation only ride and I wouldn’t want to encourage any ride crashers (uninvited riders). Frank had 14 people ride with him this year and we were treated to perfect riding conditions and weather.

Frank has been riding for probably, oh about a thousand years, on trails all over the western part of the country. He is an encyclopedia of some of the best and long forgotten trials I have ever had the chance to follow him around on. How he finds some of these long lost gems is beyond me but I sure am glad he does. Because every time I go with him he takes us to someplace I have never seen and would never be able to find again myself. I always have a great time and come back grinning ear to ear. I usually put on the smallest counter shaft sprocket I have for this ride because we spend a lot of time in 1^st and 2^nd gear through some of the best off road woods riding you can imagine. We rode about 5 hours and only covered 70 miles. So you get an idea of the average speed.

Beautiful scenery, cool people, perfect riding conditions (this year) what more could you ask for!

Can’t wait for the next one. I will try to wipe the grin off my face and take more pictures next time. 

#33

** More secret photos in the Gallery

Baja 2012, 3 for 3 = 500x

Last year (2011) was a good year in our Baja race series as we wrapped up the championship with a nail biter by crossing the finish line with no lights. (Flashlight ride) for those of you that may not remember.

Our 2012 effort has paid off in keeping the 500x plate for another year with consistent rides and minimal problems throughout the year. You know the old saying, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! Well we were lucky enough to win all three events in the SCORE Baja race series which includes the 250, 500 and the grand daddy of them all the Baja 1000!

The FLY/Western Power Sports/MX43.com/Precision Concepts supported CRF 450-X was almost flawless throughout the year. We were blessed with minimal injuries, minimal bike problems and minimal spectator intervention (booby traps). Our support crew drove thousands of miles allowing us to pre run all the miles needed to ensure we knew our problem areas during each race. The crew at Precision Concepts that did most of the prep work that goes into a bike making this many miles without a failure did their part. A big Thanks to Bob and Phil at Precision Concepts.

Yours truly, #33, rode from the start in Ensenada to race mile 235 before handing off to bike owner Marc Prince. It took just about 5 hours and kicked my butt! The last time I remember being that worn out was at the Virginia City Gran Prix all the way back in 1986! The ride was supposed to be at a completely controlled pace to make sure the bike got to Marc so we could make it to the finish to secure the Championship for the year. Well guess what happened along the way……..I run into Ricky Johnson, (yes that Ricky ex National and Supercross champ) before the race and find out he is riding on a team on a Class 40 motorcycle. I hadn’t spoken to him in 20 something years! He is starting a few minutes in front of me and going to ride to race mile 167.  We have a good time kicking it and laughing about old times when we raced in the 80’s.  So now I have a target!  Any racer know what happens next………..I am going to try to catch Ricky and he is going to do his best to not let that happen! It was probably a good thing for both if us because it kept us pushing each other and not settling into complacency. At each pit stop I was asking how far ahead is Ricky and I know he was asking how far back Eric is. Since we both used the Honda pits and they have radio communication from pit to pit that information was available. It made it more fun for me and I am sure for Ricky too.

Well we see sawed back and forth for about 3 ½ hours at right about 3 to 4 minutes between us. I never caught him and he never got away. So when he got to his hand off point he came over and gave me a pat on the back and wished me good luck in my next section. I asked him if he wanted to ride my bike to the next hand off point and he declined. I think it was the 40 or 50 miles of whoops that lay ahead that swayed his decision.

I did try to keep in mind that the most important thing was to get this bike to my team mates because the championship was the ultimate goal. So I didn’t take too many risks and had some good luck along the way. My first gift was the overcast day I awoke to. This made the start which is right at daybreak completely tolerable. Since we start and head east the sun is usually blinding the riders for the first hour of the race. Mix that with the dust hanging in the air with everyone so bunched up and it becomes a matter of survival as opposed to racing. The spectators were fairly well behaved and I only came across a couple of mounds built up as kicker/jumps along the way. I did come across a few vehicles on the course going the opposite direction on a couple of occasions. I was fortunate enough to spot their dust and the top of their vehicles as I approached so I was prepared. They didn’t catch me napping!

The information I got from my team mates after the race led me to believe that no one had any major problems or crashes and the bike ran great all the way down to La Paz. One of our night riders, Bob Johnson, said his ride was fairly uneventful which I find hard to believe because I know that he rode high speed, all at night and through some of the worst silt beds you can come across. I have ridden some of these silt beds in the daylight  and it worries me to cross them not knowing what holes, ruts or ditches are beneath what you can see. I do my best to go around that stuff! So Bob is racing through that crap at speed in the dark with head lights. That is my idea of heroic. Good job Bob!

Doug Smith was another night time rider and we were very lucky to have him on the bike when we did encounter a problem. It seems the head light plug was damaged during a light swap and it caused a problem during Doug’s ride. Fortunately he has a helmet radio and called his support crew to come back instead of driving down the road to pick him up. He was able to ride using only his helmet lights to get to where he needed to be to meet the truck. So obviously he was prepared for anything with a back up helmet light, spare parts and the radio communications. Smart man.   Doug and the Baja Designs people found and fixed the problem to allow him to continue to the finish. It sounded like they only lost 20 or 30 minutes to make the repairs. Along the way he described to me boulder fields with rocks like bowling balls and fog so thick he had to stop and swap his goggles for glasses so he could see to keep going. What a ride!  Hero #2!

Over the course of 27 hours the bike and all the riders probably encountered every kind of condition you can imagine. I know one rider, Dave Potts, was nursing an injured knee (injured during pre running) to make it to the end of his section. Another Hero! Then there was Marc Prince, the rider of record for the race who stepped up and took on some of the mileage that Dave had to relinquish with the knee problem. That gave Marc a minimal amount of time to rearrange his plan of attack with adding mileage and having to learn the added section.  I am starting to think I am not worthy to ride with these guys.

Thank you to all the riders, all the wives, friends, drivers and support crew that helped us get through this year with so much success.

I am going back down to ride in January with some friends, but I think I will go a lot slower and look around a bit more. I am going to take in the scenery this time.

Buenos Diaz, #33

On Any Funday!!!

On Any Funday

What started out as any normal ride day for me turned into a “Funday” of observation. I was sitting at the truck at the local riding area/track and noticed an unusually large turnout of kids and parents. There were both moms and dads in the mix. Since it was out of the ordinary I watched them for a few minutes and found myself laughing and enjoying watching the kids and their parents interact while riding and learning to ride mini bikes. The kids were having the time of their lives just going around in circles. It appeared that the ages of the kids were from as young as 5 to no more than 7yrs old.  A few of them could ride by themselves; a couple of them still used training wheels on their bikes. But one lucky kid had dad running alongside him acting as his training wheels. Now that was funny! Poor kid still fell down a bunch of times with dad’s help, but the little guy got up every time and got back on the bike. Luckily the area was softer tilled up soil and he didn’t have far to fall while traveling at a very slow speed. He will probably grow up to be one tough kid!

After watching and enjoying the show it dawned on me that some of these kids would grow into real motorcyclists if given the right encouragement. Hopefully a lifelong interest that would become a passion and keep our two wheeled life style growing and gaining new participants in all styles of riding. Whether it is off-road, Motocross, trail riding, dual sport riding, street riding or Adventure riding I am all for it because they will be riding.

Have a Funday and see you on the track, trail, street…………

#33