Baja Testing!

Road Trip

I just got back from a quick road trip to meet up with my Baja race partner/team mates to test our race bike suspension and lighting system. The suspension testing went very well with Bob Bell of Precision Concepts suspension. He makes the bike work like most people wish their bikes would work. The guy has so much knowledge and experience he never ceases to amaze me. If you ever want to ride something as close to a “works’ bike as you can get then have him do your suspension for you sometime, amazing!

We also had to test the lighting system since this bike will be used for the Baja 1000 which requires riding through the night to cover 1000 plus miles. The lights worked very well and allowed us to ride the bike at scary fast speeds into the night. It was not a perfect test session as we ran into one problem when the lights and battery on the Honda CRF-X 450 started to fail after an hour or so of use. Bob spent the next hour and a half trying to discover the cause of the malfunction. He traced everything down from lights to connectors to fuses and finally discovered a loose ground wire.  Bob told me the late Bruce Ogilvie always said, “That is why we test”.  A very professional attitude. I am glad this guy is in our corner!

The trip down to the southern California desert and back was a blur with driving two days, sleeping about 6 hours and testing the bike. I recruited Doug as a co-driver for this jaunt to get him out of the house and to help me drive. Doug as you may remember if you have read the “3 Amigos” story is becoming better known as Senor Kirby. Doug had a mishap and is currently sporting a removable cast on his foot from a local practice day on the motocross track. So I asked him if he was up for a trip and he was more than happy to take a ride to the southern Calif desert just to get off the couch and out of the house.

We had a great time, learned a few things and boy did I get to listen to some stories on the drive down and back. You have to remember Senor Kirby is 70 years young and has been around the corner a few times!  I heard stories from motorcycles to marriages and everything in between. Some of them might have been what I like to call “whoppers” but I don’t doubt that they really happened. I will have to tell you about them sometime in a later story. But it sure made the trip go fast! Thanks Senor Kirby.

Good Times!

#33 

Time on your hands...Go for a local ride

Shake Down Ride

Well it seems the past few years of riding has put quite a few miles on my off road dual sport Honda. So naturally it seemed like the perfect time to upgrade since a buddy had a line on a seldom ridden bike with all the aftermarket accessories already installed. So I buy this bike at his recommendation, sight unseen! Thanks Little Chief! (Aka Doug Smith, one of my Baja partners.)

The bike is very clean and has some good stuff on it but not quite set up for the long haul I like to put these bikes through. So I am figuring I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 hours of prep time to make it #33 dependable. I don’t like to walk on some of these 80 to 400 mile jaunts this bike will do. The bike this one is replacing has a lot of miles on it and has never let me down except when I crash it or run into a boulder or some other kind of bonehead move.  I am looking for the same kind of dependability out of this newer mount. I took it out for the first time on a very short (60 miles) shake down ride to see if I missed anything or if it needed adjustments. What a pleasant surprise to find out in all that prep time all I forgot to do was set the rear tire pressure to the correct psi. I noticed it was a little busy and harsh in the rear with 40 psi. I forgot to let the air out when I changed the tire, oops!

It was a great close to home ride that had me come across a couple of things I have never seen before and reminded me to not take for granted the rides close to home. I was riding on some railroad tracks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and came across 3 teenage kids sitting on the tracks in a slight curve.

 I found this odd so I stopped to talk to them and take their picture. I think they thought I was some sort of Railroad Police because they were a bit standoffish at first. So we were talking about how they live close by and are in the area around the tracks a lot. They also said this was the first time anyone had even slowed down so as to not throw dust and rocks when they went speeding by, much less had anything to say to them. I found it interesting and sad at the same time. It is sad that we as motorcycle riders are looked at like that from even teenage kids. I took their picture and we wished each other well as I continued on my shake down jaunt. I was not far from home when I next came across a railroad undercrossing with a lot of colorful graffiti that I had never seen before. How was it that I have never seen this so close to home? I guess I need to get out moreJ.

The new/used dual sport bike performed almost flawlessly and I had a great time meandering around and evaluating my surroundings and the bike. Try it sometime and you may be surprised at what you find so close to home.

#33

Dunlop MX51

I just finished riding all the 2013 MX bikes in a head to head comparison and was happy to see an updated Dunlop MX 51 front tire on all the bikes.

Having ridden on the original MX 51 front tire I was less than impressed with the performance. The newest updated version is a substantial step forward and I am looking forward to trying one long term and even in race conditions. So stay tuned for an update or if they hit the dealers soon don’t be afraid to try one of the new style and see what you think.

I would like to see what the mx43.com riders think of the new version in all types of conditions.

Happy testing,

#33

The Potato State Shines!

IDAHO IOTMX 2012

As the sun is setting on the 2012 season of the International Oldtimer MX series it has been a close rivalry as to which club has hosted the premiere event. With the Idaho Chapter throwing their hat into the ring for top honors for best event for OTMX 2012 category.

The Fernley Chapter had set the bar extremely high with all the entertainment, good weather, a 2 track weekend and the great Saturday night dinner they provided.

Well, along comes the Idaho crew trying to one up them with a Potato Bar to start the weekend on Friday evening, after a practice session. A perfectly groomed track over the 2 days of racing, mild temperatures and a dinner that looked more like a $500 dollar a plate fundraiser than a weekend out at the mx track meal! There was Chicken, Prime Rib, Smokey Sausage links, salad, cheesy potatoes, beans, etc. Oh and not to forget the choices of deserts, cookies, brownies, and frosted chocolate cake to satisfy just about everyone. The serving area was set up with tables and chairs to accommodate the riders and families in a shaded and grass covered area that resembled a park more than a motocross track. Quite a feast Idaho! Great job.

 The racing was run without any delay and very efficiently from start to finish. The start area was groomed to absolute perfection before EVERY MOTO! The last time I saw anything like this was at a Pro National event and they only did it for the 4 pro motos. The track was kept in just about the same condition and it held up well throughout the weekend of racing. It did get fairly rough by the end of each day just as a motocross track should!

There were some very good battles going on in several classes. The 50 Master was fun to watch as #38  Ed Marchini chased the #118 of Hampton throughout the weekend with Hampton being mister consistent and taking the win with a couple of moto wins along the way.

The spoiler of the weekend for these two was the #64 of Mark Kaestner. It seems Mark was on his way to the races on Friday evening when he and his wife, June, got tired around 11pm so they pulled over to sleep. According to June’s version of the story when she tried to wake Mark to get going to make the race in time he wasn’t having any of it!  So now the Kaestners get to the track AFTER practice and AFTER the first moto had been run. Mark decides to ride so he signs up, walks the track before he rides and then rides moto #2 as his first moto and his practice all rolled into one. Since it is a 20 minute moto Mark starts out in 4^th works his way to the front and wins the moto! He comes back and does it again in the next moto. It looks to be a 3 way battle now for each win. However the #64 of Kaestner failed to show up for the Sunday start. It seems Mark not wanting to get out of bed on the way to the track may have been an indicator of things to come. Mark wasn’t feeling well and failed to participate on Sunday, leaving the scrap to continue with the two original gangsters, Hampton and Marchini. They continued their battle with Marchini finally getting a moto win in the last one but having to settle for a 2^nd overall with Hampton being clever enough to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em to secure the Overall win.

Another highly contested class was the 50 expert division with our own Sierra Chapter member #72 Carmen Ogino being in the mix with see-saw battles all weekend long. I have never seen Carmen so excited and pushing himself to such limits as this weekend, probably due to the fact that he always had to hold his ground or someone was right there to take it away. Or maybe it was because he had his family there cheering him on every lap and he was surely not going to disappoint them by giving anything less than his best effort. Good job Carmen! Especially by putting the exclamation point on the whole weekend of racing by taking the final moto holeshot and making everyone chase him.

A great weekend of racing, eating, visiting and napping………..I mean resting between motos. The Idaho Chapter has elevated the bar for all other clubs if they care to compete for best event honors. Good luck.

Great job Idaho, Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into having such a great event.

#33

Bent but not Broken!

Durability Testing

I have had the opportunity to evaluate products for the long haul with a couple of things being apparent.  One is that I can destroy almost anything if you give me enough time and the other is that some of the products are of such good quality and function I am amazed I don’t see them on every bike I pass.

The two items I have had the chance to long term test are a shift lever and an oil cooler, both being used and abused on a Honda CRF-X 450. The oil cooler is manufactured by IRP-LLC and is such a simple and clean bolt on operation that someone might think it can’t work. 

 But rest assured it does. The increased oil capacity and out of the motor circulation the cooler provides has more than doubled the time between oil changes. I also believe it is the reason this bike is not requiring piston, ring and valve replacement that I have been hearing of others having to do on the same model bike.  The durability part has been proven by repeated bashing through boulders and anything on the trail without a single failure in 3 years on two different bikes. I have even had to replace a side case without doing anymore damage to the cooler than a nasty gash. I am thoroughly impressed with this product and would have to give it a solid “10” rating.  You can contact them at ian@irp-llc.com or 503 860-5712.

The second item is a Hammerhead shift lever. I have used this shifter for approximately 2 years until I damaged it on the same boulder that the oil cooler survived. The Hammerhead shifter worked as designed until I smashed and bent it beyond use or repair. I had in fact worn out one replaceable tip and upgraded to a +10mm tip for easier boot clearance. Replaceable parts and adjustability, this alone is worth the price of admission.  The shifter was bent outward beyond normal use but still functioned to get home on. Greg at Hammerhead explained to me that they designed them that way in an attempt to not damage the shift shaft on the bike since that would be a more costly and time consuming repair. The best part was when I checked with Hammerhead through their website the warranty was for the first 6 months. Fair enough since this sucker was at least 2 years and two tips old.  Then Greg offered to replace it at 50% off retail even without the receipt.  I was pleased and surprised to find a company willing to take care of a customer that used their product for that amount of time and made it an easy and pleasant experience. My new replacement shifter is on the way! Hammerhead can be reached at www.hdmoto.com

Hope this information is useful to mx43.com readers, and do your best to avoid BIG rocks,

#33