VTNewb posted:

Race I participated in a couple weeks ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1XPJuqNUWE

I've got a couple problems this season. First time on a modern four stroke for racing - the thing just doesn't start on the line.

Never have I ever come around less than 12th place in a NETRA event. I came around in 26th, then second lap in 25th. I could no longer handle the knee pain so I just pulled off.

Upon examining my laptimes, I was about 3 minutes off the leader pace on a 7 mile track, so I don't feel too bad. 3rd knee surgery is a week from Monday so I hope that can get me back into shape!

builds character posted:

For cornerspin last year I rented gear and the only regret I have is that I wish I'd brought my knee pads because theirs suck and my only injury was from where I fell and they pinched me and I got knee pad abrasion.

EX250 Type R posted:

Spiffness posted:

An invasive root kit affecting the power band

clutchpuck posted:

How long does it take to stop wetting yourself on steep declines? Downhill is my kryptonite.

Yerok posted:

I just got a screamin deal on a plated XR650R so I'm hunting down two 17" hoops to lace to an extra set of hubs. In my journey I found some company from Michigan that is offloading 7 sets of oldish, but legit Warp 9 690 Enduro R supermoto wheels for absolute bargain basement prices at $250 a wheel.

Front: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Dirt-Bike-Wheel-3-5-x-17-Warp-9/202688506498

Rear: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Warp-9-Racing-Wheel-Assembly-Rear-SM-4-25-x-17/202687516559

The listings are awful, but all I had to do was google the Warp 9 part number on the rotors to figure out they were KTM wheels. The supermoto thread is archived so I figured I'd post em up here just in case.

right arm posted:

what's wrong with your current setup?

personally, on a bike that comes with decent suspension out of the box (lol @ showa), I would not recommend throwing money on parts at it. I'd recommend seeing about having it revalved / resprung by a pro. you're likely going to be looking at a little bit more money, but you're also going to have it set up perfectly for your riding style / use case

it's not a bad deal at all, it just isn't what I'd personally do is all

Gullous posted:

I just got a FE501 (not S). The rear light has leads for run and brake lighting, but has no control for it in the harness. I added the OEM switch to the front brake mastercylinder and wired that to the 'extra' wire on the brake light (powered from the little headlight lamp). I just passed my street legal inspection, but can't get a loving plate until the state mails the title.



I feel you on sicass delays, it's tedious sourcing things piecemeal; I went with a cyclops LED bulb, customLED.com blinker relay, tusk controls, and did the wiring myself (Deustch connectors + crimping tool make life so much easier)

I'm curious what you find with the forks. I only have a single ride so far so too early to complain. I'd consider getting springs before any valving upgrades; body weight, terrain, and skill level will dictate your ideal spring rate. You can check stock vs the ideal on racetech's website. Also, any used upgrade will have a spring rate for the previous owner and unlikely to suit you.

Elviscat posted:

Yeah, that two rear brake light thing made replacing the giant, poorly engineered USDM dong hanging out the back of my FE250 a nice punch in the wallet.

The original one literally got sucked into my rear tire while riding whoops, and poo poo my license plate somewhere of in the forest, never to be seen again.

Pretty sure the two designs is because USDOT regulations are dumb.

Jazzzzz posted:

wtf? did you already post about this somewhere? I thought you were still brapping it up on that thing

cursedshitbox posted:

Reading comprehension is hard aint it.

ChocNitty posted:

I need some feedback on something. Basically I did a full day dirt bike tour in Thailand, and it was kind of a hosed up experience, and i'm just not sure if its my fault, or the tour companies fault, so getting others thoughts would help get some perspective. It's a long story though.

This company offered 3 hour and an all day dirtbike tour, but they heavily recommend the all day tour. They had ATV tours but only for 3 hours. I know the 3 hour tour would feel too short because I did other 3 hour tours that felt too short. This place advertised it caters to any skill level, beginners, intermediate, and advanced, and that it would accommodate whatever skill level you were. Many of the reviews were people saying they had never been on a dirtbike or even a regular motorcycle before, and had a great 5 star time. Reviewers said they got an hour of training, one said they got 2 hours of training. And this business is being advertised to tourists just looking to have fun.

I drove a honda cb750 for about 6 months. I'm an avid cyclist, with over 10k miles logged on strava. I own a pretty powerful e-mountain bike, and ride on beginner mountain bike trails at a pretty quick speed. Havent crashed on a bicycle in over 10 years. So I figured if all these people who have never even been on a motorcycle before, absolute beginners, had a great experience, then there's no reason I shouldn't either.

I didn't get any real training. There was a little practice turn and straight away in an area the size of a small gas station that they recommended I ride around which I did alone for 5 minutes, and the instructor spent a minute explaining how to shift, which I didn't understand because of the language barrier, and that was it, we started the tour. I eventually acquainted myself with shifting through some trial and error during the ride. I did not protest for more proper training because I knew the language thing would be a problem, so instead I made it clear that lets ride slow for the first hour, and figured i'd get the hang of it myself like i've done with countless things like jet skiing, snow boarding, ice skating, etc.

I was the only one on that tour that day, which was a blessing, because I fell off the bike about 12-13 times. I'm not joking, or exaggerating on that number whatsoever. I did the best I could. I hung in there on the route for 5 and a half hours until my strength was gone and had to throw in the towel and we had to get back on the highway to get back to the tour company, and when we got back, it was about the same time as the tour would have been if I was able to complete the route.

Was I an idiot who just bit off way more than I could chew? Do I just suck more than the average first timer? Or was it the tour guide and companies mistake?

About 50 percent of the terrain I was able to handle without struggling. Some if it I was able to do just barely, and some of it I would try and crash, and a couple of spots looked so gnarly to me that I didn't even take the risk to try. We rode through loosely packed sand that almost half the wheel would sink into. I had a real problem with that, and the way it made my bike wobble like a fish on fishing line. We went through big puddles that were knee high, that I was surprised didnt flood the engine. We went on trails no wider than the tires, short bridges barely wider than the tire. Ditches that were difficult to spot. There were very tight turns in dense forest and jungle.There were downhill and uphill parts you had to attack at an angle. There were areas where I had to ride in a previous riders tire track just right, and if I strayed two inches to the side, i'd hit the lip of their tire trail and lose control of the bike and crash. There was recent heavy rain, and heavy rain for 30 minutes in the middle of the tour. There were just a lot of challenges with the terrain that I don't know the terms to explain. Lots of deep grooves and ridges that would make me lose traction and control of the bike.

I realized that the faster i'd go, the more stability i'd have, but I also knew that one high speed crash would likely end the tour right there, cause expensive damage to their bike and possible big fines for me, and maybe seriously injure myself. I was able to get up and keep going after a dozen crashes because they happened at low speed. I realized that much of the difficult terrain required confidence, because you had to go fast and couldn't stop. I did not have the experience that creates such confidence. And after so many crashes, I couldn't fool myself into being confident.

The tour guide was very frustrated with me, as I was with him. He was frustrated with how many times I crashed. And how he had to turn around and help me get the bike back up some of the time. He was frustrated with how slow I was going, and how it would gently caress with our route and timing. He was frustrated with the couple spots I refused to ride through and had him ride my bike through it. He was frustrated with me burning up the clutch, or not being in the right gear. He was frustrated with me getting the bike stuck when stopping in a soft spot. He was frustrated with me using the brakes too much when going downhill and us having to stop and pour water to cool down the brake calipers. He was frustrated with me for asking stupid questions like what to do about my goggles getting fogged up. And he was frustrated with the language barrier as much as I was, and how awkward it made the lunch with just us two.

I was frustrated with how far he rode ahead of me, and how impatient he was. I was frustrated how he stayed far ahead of me after passing forks in the trail, and having to toss a coin and guess which way he went, then finding out I probably guessed wrong, and having to wait and honk my horn for him to find me, then him being upset and asking me why I didn't see which way he went, and me not being able to tell him its because he's too far away and that my eyes need to be on the terrain i'm struggling with, because of the language barrier. I was frustrated how he let us get separated 5 times. I was frustrated how he would say I was too scared when I refused to try a steep uphill part, because I knew he wouldn't understand if I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to break their bike.

I was frustrated how after he saw me fall off the bike 12 times, he continued to lead me into terrain that just kept increasing in difficulty. I was frustrated how when a vine got caught on my boot and made me crash, he told me I crashed because I hit the front break too hard, and shook his head in disbelief when I pointed at the vine and told him thats what made me crash.

I was frustrated how he didn't seem to realize that my strength and hydration level was at a much different level than his because he fell off his bike a dozen fewer times than I did. I was frustrated with feeling like a weak pussy for asking to stop to catch my breath and drink water so I wouldn't get a heat stroke, because he didn't call for a water break like a competent guide would have done. I was frustrated when he told me that 98 percent of riders were able to do something I was unable to do. I was frustrated with the feeling that this was his tour and that I was just a tag along, instead of it being my tour. I was frustrated by the fact that not having any other customers to worry about should have only made it easier for him to accommodate my skill level, yet he didn't, or was unable to.

There were a handful of moments of saying "Are you loving serious?" to myself when seeing a new area of terrain we were riding into, and even laughing out loud because it started to get so ridiculous and surreal that it was funny. Then we started going up a forest mountain. Going through areas that I could not physically get my tall and slightly wide body through without shrubbery stopping me. Big rocks sticking out of the ground, thick roots crossing the path, vines hanging around me, all kinds of poo poo in narrow and steep uphill and downhill turns. Areas where I doubt weekend hikers would walk through. Areas I saw nor heard any other dirt bikers around, where I had seen others earlier in the tour.

Since my strength was depleted and the ride was only getting more challenging I had no choice but to call time. Because of this abrupt and unexpected end, in order to get back on the road fastest, he had us bike through 5ft tall bushes. There was no dirt or ground below me, only the bush I was riding over. I could only see the next bush in front of me a foot away. But finally we got to the road and I at least got to end the tour with some chilled out on road riding.

After showering, changing my clothes, and having a cold drink (the company did these other aspects well), I decided to give the tour guide a tip. As a peace offering, and because I know regardless of who's at fault, it was a hard as gently caress day for him too and he's not paid much. But he must have been pretty upset with me because he didn't even try taking the frown off his face when I handed him 3 days of pay. They didn't fine me for bike damage, and I don't think they're going to try to mail me a fine, so I appreciate that. I know I hosed up the horn button, and I think I broke what were turn signal buttons. And I likely added many new scratches to the fairing and maybe a dent on the exhaust.

Try comparing this to your first time on a dirtbike, and not to your current experienced selves now. A part of me feels they hosed up by not giving me at least an hour of training, and did not put me on a route that was suitable for my skill level. But another part of me feels like I was naive and foolish to even do this for a first time ride, and that the company isn't responsible for user reviews that I let influence my decision to do it.

I wouldn't be like, hey come learn guitar, I cater to beginners. oh this is the first time you've had a guitar in your lap? go ahead and tune to open e, capo the 5th fret, and go ahead and strum a nice folk chord progression so we can use that for your awesome travis meeks acoustic solo. Dude wtf are you doing? Why is the guitar facing the ceiling? 98 percent of students did this just fine.

right arm posted:

proud of you for not choosing a quad lol

TotalLossBrain posted:

Any opinions on good skid plates?

My kid busted the flywheel cover on his KLX300R last weekend falling on a rock.
(He's got a skid plate but I had not yet installed it after dune season)

My KX250 has no protection at all. There's the OEM KX250X "plate" that's really just a plastic grid covering only the bottom of the engine.
On the other end of the spectrum are the almost fully enclosing plates, either metal or plastic. Those are expensive and I guess they impede engine cooling which would be a bad thing on this bike that already runs hot.

I don't really ride over rocks that are tall enough to touch the engine. The use case is probably falling over and smashing something on the side, like water pump, flywheel or clutch cover.

I need to get one for a KLX140 as well and I think I'm going all out with that one as it sits so close to the ground.

Opinions?