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Unfortunately even SS lines, RBF and better pads won't make the DRZ brake all that much better. On the plus side, you don't really need to use the brake unless you're the kind of person who likes to do stoppies. Go find some curvy mountain roads and you'll see what I mean - I rode the hill country roads near here and literally relied on slight engine braking between curves because the DRZ is that good at handling. This was with pilot powers on so with Distanzias YMMV.
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Jun 1, 2012 15:55
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JP Money posted:Unfortunately even SS lines, RBF and better pads won't make the DRZ brake all that much better. On the plus side, you don't really need to use the brake unless you're the kind of person who likes to do stoppies. Go find some curvy mountain roads and you'll see what I mean - I rode the hill country roads near here and literally relied on slight engine braking between curves because the DRZ is that good at handling. This was with pilot powers on so with Distanzias YMMV. At this point I don't feel like my brakes are lacking at all, I like to ride twisties and brake hard. My back wheel likes to slide (step out?) to the side when I'm breaking hard, but I'm not sure that's even something I want to solve.
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Jun 1, 2012 16:09
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Don't ever ride a euro sumo then  The DRZ brakes aren't bad really but once you see what's possible... Actually, this summarizes the DRZ quite well. It's awesome as gently caress until you see what you're missing when you ride a euro bike and everything is twice as good (but half as reliable). I'm still part of the group that thinks you really, really cannot beat the DRZ for the price though. I do somewhat miss my 400 now that I'm back on a SS. I've even toyed with finding someone with a 690 who wants to trade me 
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Jun 1, 2012 16:17
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Those of us who prefer reliability over power think the DRZ is just fine, thank you  And yeah, the DRZ brakes are pretty drat good right out of the factory, but the OEM line on mine is rubber and 6 years old, so I figure its time to change it.
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Jun 1, 2012 16:46
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The modern Euro bikes aren't unreliable, despite what people like to attribute to the mid 00's ones. I would have no issue buying a modern KTM, Husky or Husaberg SM made for the street and riding it daily. It's time to drop the 'twice as unreliable as a DRZ' shtick and go with one that has merit: 'twice as expensive'. On brakes, for just normal riding, DRZ brakes are fine. If you get out to a SM track or a big boy track, a larger rotor and a relocation bracket will do wonders. It *is* a pretty weak brake setup, despite how well it works for normal riding. Twice during my DRZ ownership (pre-690, folks) I needed to do emergency stops and came to a stop 10-20 feet past where I wanted to/was expecting. If you really hammer on the DRZ brakes, they don't hold up. Luckily, brake options can be cheap to upgrade if you pick up something someone is taking off another bike or parting out their amped up DRZ.
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Jun 1, 2012 17:23
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In general, I will say that the euro bikes arent what they used to be in the unreliability department, but even on SuperMotoJunkie, where you will find the most hardcore europhiles who dont even blink at 3K mile crank replacements, you see people talking about not trusting Huskys/Aprilias and the like, and being surprised when bikes hit high miles without complete engine rebuilds. There is a thread there where someone tore down their 625 at like 25K and everyone is absolutely blown away that it doesnt need a rebuild. Thats a far cry from the WRX and DRZ, where you would be shocked as hell if they didnt make it to at least 30K before needing maintenance, let alone a rebuild. Plus, yeah, they're twice as expensive, and hard to get parts for, and the dealership network is poo poo, and parts take 9 years to come on the slow boat from wherever, and they NLA all their parts once the bikes are like 4 years old. Edit: There was a good video posted at SMJ, I'll have to see if I can dig it up, but its an SXV and a DRZ riding together, and the SXV blows by the DRZ, but spends most of its time getting push started because the starter crapped out, while the DRZ fires up over and over. Pretty fitting and representative Beve Stuscemi fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Jun 1, 2012 |
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Jun 1, 2012 17:31
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It's not that you are wrong, but that wasn't my point. The 625/640, though more reliable than people on here give them credit for, were not something you could just ride without worrying about. No SM Aprilia has ever made comes close either. The Husky 510 and 450's that people ride on the street are complete race engines, and are meant to be treated like dirt bikes with frequent rebuilds. The last generation of KTM, Husky and Berg (though we don't get the big street bergs in the states) are perfectly reliable and wonderful engines that don't have stupid check intervals or stupid check procedures. Aprilia, still doesn't know how to do it right as far as I now... but this is the same company that thought step 1 should be drop engine and step 2 should be split the case for drat near everything on the SXVs so I don't even bother keeping them in mind anymore. I really don't know what parts you are needing to get for your Euro bike that you just cant. There is no part shortage for any of the 3 (now 2) 690's in the seattle family, or the KTM dirt bike. The husky was tricky to get a SM rim for, but it's a 2004 450 SMR. It's a discontinued husky race bike, hardly the same shopping market as a DRZ. Dealer networks can be more sparse, depends on where you live. Edit: Just to address that last point: Aprilia is, and will continue to be, the laughing stock of the reliability heap. So bad. This is why you could buy 2 for 2k new from the dealer, you got a new one, and a bran new bike for parts. This was like 2 years ago. FlerpNerpin fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jun 1, 2012 |
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Jun 1, 2012 17:37
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Spiffness posted:It's not that you are wrong, but that wasn't my point. The 625/640, though more reliable than people on here give them credit for, were not something you could just ride without worrying about. No SM Aprilia has ever made comes close either. The Husky 510 and 450's that people ride on the street are complete race engines, and are meant to be treated like dirt bikes with frequent rebuilds. Ok, thats fine, but they're a euro brand, and they get lumped in with the rest, and when you want to talk high performance SM's you cant not talk about the SXV. The 690 is doing it right. I've never ridden one, but people say that they're a bit big for SM duty, but other than that the power and reliability is where it should be. I see lots of complaints about poo poo fuelling and idling, but, again, I cant really speak to that. The 625, while not unreliable, wasnt "pres butan and go", and, in my experience at least required a good amount of fiddling to keep happy. Plus the build quality, wow. Top-shelf parts with Chinese assembly was my experience. EDIT: nevermind, I see you covered the 625
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Jun 1, 2012 17:42
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I think on reliability alone you can leave Aprilia out of any sane discussion, unless you're having one where the point is all euro bikes are unreliable, I guess. Nobody in their right mind should buy one of those bikes and expect it to go well, period. Anyway, I think I've said my point. I do still love DRZs deep down, but the information on all euro bikes are time bombs is out dated and not true for the last gen. There is no need to scare tactic someone into a DRZ from a maintenance perspective, unless they're shopping 8 year old euro SMs. In which case, yeah, someone should probably give them the 'know what you're getting into' talk.
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Jun 1, 2012 17:46
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Olde Weird Tip posted:From where? And do they have a setup for DRZ's? I just put a $40 set of pads on the DRZ, and I cant imagine getting a SS front line for $30. Goodridge was from Dennis Kirk, Ferado HH pads were just the part number searched on Ebay.
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Jun 1, 2012 19:12
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 Everyone says the first ding on your new vehicle is the worst, and then they get easier after that.I went down a concrete ledge with the DRZ today and as soon as I got the front wheel down my brain went "this is way more steep than you thought, idiot", and I scraped the frame on the bottom. Granted, its on the bottom, and its a ding just a fraction of a mm deep and maybe 1/4 inch long, but its there and I'm pissed Oh well, got that out of the way. Nothing some touch up paint cant cure.
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Jun 1, 2012 22:13
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NOW it's a happy DRZ 
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Jun 1, 2012 22:21
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Olde Weird Tip posted:
I did exactly this with my Husky yesterday. I was worrying that I'd scraped a fuel line or the crank case or something important, until I looked and saw that the frame rail is the lowest point. No biggy.
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Jun 1, 2012 23:29
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Jun 2, 2012 15:24
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Well I've discovered the colors to paint my next bike! 
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Jun 2, 2012 17:21
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That's awesome. Is that Fender Surf Green?
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Jun 2, 2012 17:27
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we don't need headlights to see where we are going
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Jun 2, 2012 19:05
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DEUCE SLUICE posted:That's awesome. Is that Fender Surf Green? According to the guy who did it its "Tiffany Blue" http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/372104-drz-pics-lets-see-your-z/page__view__findpost__p__10056871
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Jun 3, 2012 04:17
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If its wrong to love that, I don't want to be right.
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Jun 3, 2012 04:25
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I installed a Seat Concepts seat on my Husky SM610 last night, and went on a 4 hour ride today. My rear end was numb, but it wasn't numb after 45 minutes. Have some pictures! Welcome to scenic Chattahoochee Bend State Park!  That's my riding buddy Myles on his Ninja 250. He bought it a little over two years ago from a Juggalo. That's right, he bought a Ninja from a Ninja! He had it serviced by a competent shop recently, and it runs "a million times better" now. Here we are parked by a playground:  Myles: "Are my tires going to be okay in the dirt?" His bike was basically unridable all of last year, so he's still a little new. Cut him some slack. Myles in the playground: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwu842JlGSE Finally:  Smokestacks from the nearby power plant rising above the state park. I thought that was a neat shot. The Husky is still a great bike. Plenty of power, very predictable. I tried to wheelie once, but was not successful (I didn't try very hard, mind you).
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Jun 3, 2012 04:26
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Got a little evening brappin done tonight. Even found a decent gravel road, a rarity round these parts.
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Jun 3, 2012 04:41
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Olde Weird Tip posted:Got a little evening brappin done tonight. Even found a decent gravel road, a rarity round these parts. well are you going to brap in central wisco with me? we can ride the TWAT or I can find all the gravel and sand you can handle, boy.
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Jun 3, 2012 09:11
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Where exactly in central wisco? I guess I never realized you were in WI!! I've been meaning to ride the twat for a while now. Whoever acronymed that is a genius.
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Jun 3, 2012 13:26
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Olde Weird Tip posted:Where exactly in central wisco? I guess I never realized you were in WI!! Yeah the TWAT, I am leading some old guys (my dad and maybe a couple of his friends) on the southern half (Sparta and south) this weekend. Mainly because they claim that they can't operate a GPS. Probably camp out by Prairie Du Chien. We will run two KLRs, an XR650L and maybe a XT225. Get a set a dirt rims and we should hit the northern half, southern half you could probably do on your supermoto wheel-set if you wanted. Large parts of wisco has a surprising amount of sand, it will make a man out of you. I just graduated from UW-Oshkosh, so I still got an apartment there for now, but my base of operations for motorcycles is in the cow town of wautoma (hell hole). I also like to hit up Dyracuse park in Adams county (poorest county in the state), super sandy and it is a good workout for me and the KX. Only made once there so far this year cause of money, excuses, blah blah, etc.
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Jun 3, 2012 15:10
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'raced' a 690 this weekend at what was a terrible supermoto course, but a fun venue none the less. 2nd moto is more interesting, so I'll post that video up: Race start at about 1 minute, sorry for the lack of edit, I was tired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKj2wzaAsU I'm nice and slow. The dirt section wasn't your traditional 'bit of motocross track' that's been packed down, instead it was a long single track trail section with ruts, mud, roots and rocks. Then the pavement was lovely, covered in sand, dirt and rocks, and consisted almost entirely of switch-backs. Plus the ribbon system they used kept moving around and it was really hard to look ahead and spot your lines as your eyes just got lost in a sea of flapping ribbon. The aftermarket exhaust didn't hold up to the first moto and fell off, making the 690 hilariously loud and caused it to spit huge flames on decel. Awesome  The start is pretty fun, a real poo poo show. I went on the left to pass on some power but got defeated by one of the ribbon holders having been moved in about 5 feet at some point during the previous race, eating the line I'd been using in the first moto, then I get caught up in the crash madness. Good moments at 8:25 through till about 12 minutes, where I have a huge moment, then try to chase the guy back down, and he pulls off the funniest unintentional defensive pass maneuver ever at the end of the drama, killing my chance to get past (I'm not passing anyone in the dirt...) Lots of fun. Picture from the first moto start of Zool and Gullous doing a supermoto start properly: 
FlerpNerpin fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Jun 4, 2012 |
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Jun 4, 2012 18:43
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Balance point Bros! It was fun in a chaotic way. I had a blast despite all the silly redneck stuff.
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Jun 4, 2012 19:21
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DRZhavers/Supermotohavers, what is your tire of choice? My drz is on the oem tires (from 06, ugh), and they are trashed. I do 95% street, 5% wishing I was offroad on gravel roads or two-rut dirt. I don't like the stock tires, and I do generally like the profile of the Michelin Pilot (both power and road) series, they seem to mesh well with my riding style, but I understand that they can take forever to warm up on an sm. Any suggestions? Beve Stuscemi fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Jun 5, 2012 |
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Jun 5, 2012 01:17
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Olde Weird Tip posted:Any suggestions? I know this is ignoring a lot of what you just said about 95% street, but I think I know a way you can put a lot more adventure into that % of yours: http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/motorcycle/themes/motorcycletires/enduro/tkc_80/tkc_80_en.html
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Jun 5, 2012 01:53
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The DRZ with those would look like a giant TW200 On a serious note, I thought about the Distanzias, but the internet says they wear out really quick considering that they're pretty expensive. Like 1500 miles quick. I've had the bike for 3 weeks and I already have 400 miles on it. At that rate, the tires would last me 12 weeks 
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Jun 5, 2012 02:09
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I'll throw out my usual takeoff Pirelli Diablo Supercorsas. Easy to mount yourself, last ~3k, available from SV racers/ebay for cheap. Stick well everywhere. Personal taste, I prefer these over any of Michelin's offering for supermoto use. They deform much more readily due to the softer carcass construction, and that means they're much quicker to come up to temperature and they provide a much nicer contact patch than most of the other offerings out there on a lightweight bike.
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Jun 5, 2012 02:42
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Diablo Supercorsa's stick well everywhere it's dry they are complete poo poo in the wet though. I've been very happy with the ContiForce SM tires, I haven't tried the new sportier ContiAttack SM tires, but they'll be my next set.
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Jun 5, 2012 02:53
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My ContiForce SM tires lasted me less than 3,000 miles with the KTM 625, ymmy. Needknees got decent mileage out of his.
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Jun 5, 2012 03:39
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Zool posted:Diablo Supercorsa's stick well everywhere it's dry they are complete poo poo in the wet though. I've been very happy with the ContiForce SM tires, I haven't tried the new sportier ContiAttack SM tires, but they'll be my next set. My 690s oem skins are about shot, I'm going to try the contiattacks as well. They don't look like they'll have quite as good "all around" performance as the contiforce but should be TITS for track work. FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:My ContiForce SM tires lasted me less than 3,000 miles with the KTM 625, ymmy. Needknees got decent mileage out of his. Not much  . I got something like 3500 out of the rear (it was to the cords  ) and over 4 out of the front. I had a few trackdays on em too. Very impressed with how they performed.
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Jun 5, 2012 03:45
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Zool posted:Diablo Supercorsa's stick well everywhere it's dry they are complete poo poo in the wet though. I've been very happy with the ContiForce SM tires, I haven't tried the new sportier ContiAttack SM tires, but they'll be my next set. I always felt like they were fine in the wet, but I don't get "real" rain, so I don't think the sipes were ever that stressed in my area.
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Jun 5, 2012 05:02
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Olde Weird Tip posted:The DRZ with those would look like a giant TW200 I put about 2k on the Distanzas, pulled them off the Husky last year and threw them on the WRX now. They still have decent tread and they've been dusting sportbikes on backroads and doing donuts in the dirt. Now I'm doing highway though so I'll see how that affects their life. I think a lot of it depends on psi, though.
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Jun 5, 2012 11:02
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Gnaghi posted:I put about 2k on the Distanzas, pulled them off the Husky last year and threw them on the WRX now. They still have decent tread and they've been dusting sportbikes on backroads and doing donuts in the dirt. Now I'm doing highway though so I'll see how that affects their life. I think a lot of it depends on psi, though. Yep, I put like 1500 on my distanzias with very little noticeable wear.
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Jun 5, 2012 19:47
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SaNChEzZ posted:Yep, I put like 1500 on my distanzias with very little noticeable wear. Are you guys talking the SM version of that tire or the DS version? I was always under the (apparently false) impression it was an iron-like wearing tire that was great for light offroad duty and on road touring  . Maybe I was thinking of the DS versionEdit - answered my own question... in my own post  olde tip if you're wearing those tires out in 1500 miles it sounds like something is seriously wrong. From my 18 seconds of googling to answer my previous question even the SM version of the Distanzia should last 3500 or so with hard use. needknees fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Jun 5, 2012 |
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Jun 5, 2012 21:38
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Still rocking the PXR front / Distanzia Rear combo. This is my second SM compound Distanzia, my first was almost to the cords at nearly 4K. I still haven't seen an original source for this 1500mi Distanzia, just a lot of people who have heard of it... EDIT: As an aside, apparently you can now get the similar Conti TKC80 in 120/70 17 now, I can only assume for the sumo and/or rat bike crowd: http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/motorcycle/themes/motorcycletires/enduro/tkc_80/tkc_80_en.html No 160/60 yet, so I'm out of luck for the SMC. Shame, they're cheaper than Distanzias and apparently even better (and just look at them). ReelBigLizard fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Jun 6, 2012 |
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Jun 6, 2012 17:00
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Pics are up from the Goldenspike Sumo race Spiffness mentioned  Me  Zool:  Spiffness:  The rest of the pics My footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0XuFaqTqVs Spiffness on an open-pipe 690 to my right, Zool to my left. A lovely start put me directly behind 654CCs of unfiltered KTM. My head was pulsing, I had to get off that line... Some drama in the third turn put me into 4th, I finished 3rd with a some challenge from the 4th place guy. The first heat I dropped from 2nd to 6th after dropping it in the woods 4 times. I slowed my pace in the 2nd heat. Luckily it was single track! GI Joe jobs fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jun 9, 2012 |
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Jun 9, 2012 03:31
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Gullous posted:Goldenspike Sumo race Spiffness mentioned That looks like a lot of fun other than the maze of markers and orange tape. Still I wish I had something like that around here to play with.
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Jun 9, 2012 03:41
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