Out and about

I took a day off yesterday to go tooling around the dirt bike dealers 'cause I am trying to get my oldest Grandson into MX... . My knees were twiching and strangely painful all day...

At any rate, I was at the local Kwacker, Polaris, Triumph dealer and while waiting (more on that in a second), I took a good long look at the Triumph Rocket III. I had looked at in passing before but as I just stood and looked at, I realized just how freaking BIG this thing is! The radiator looks liike it was pulled from a Pinto or something, the engine is big enough to sit beside a Nissan 4 cylinder in comparison. This thing is just flat BIG. I just could not get past that radiator either. Now as I said, I was there to look at the Kwacker KX85. I stood looking at the MXer's making myself perfectly visible and not one salesman bothered to break away from their gossip session to come over. The sad part is, prior to moving to their new "mega-store", they were responsive and helpful from the second you walked in. Thankfully, there are two dealers in town.

Rearend Shots

That's why when you go to their web site all the gallery shots of the Rocket III are from the rear with one side shot and nothing head on.....even they think it's retarded looking.

You're looking at KX85s? How old is that boy and how much experience? Those things are intermediate level, little rockets! They're not that far from a 125, really. Kids usually start out on the 50s and 65s, but he's probably too big for them, I guess, by now.

Yeah, the rocket three does nothing for me. I don't like the motor, either, just dumb lookin'. The Triumph Sprint ST is more my style, sport/touring and not expensive, either. It's about 11K and I'd get it with the GPS option. I don't need no stinkin' ABS, though.

I alse like the new version of the Bonneville. I guess the classic Bonneville, for style, is my all time favorite. It and the Sportster, for some reason, I have a soft spot for, just says classic MOTORCYCLE to me. I grew up in that era, reckon old farts are that way, eh? They could have gotten the modern Bonney a little better. I'd dump the speedo and widely space a tach and speedo either side of the headlight shell, like the old ones. That speedo they put on it just turns me off. It's just little stuff like that I would want to change. The engine is dandy as is.

I had a nice 70-80 mile ride on a Rocket III two Summers ago up in Colorado. Like the Triumph guy told me..once you get into 5th gear..shifting is optional. The torque on that baby was something else from 30mph on even in 5th gear. Just wack the throttle when it's time to pass..no need to downshift. I was surprised how well it handled too. Still it's a strange bike. I guess if ya wanna pull a trailer..it'd adapt well.

Goose, you're right...he's too big at 5' 2" with a 30 1/2" in seam and about 125#.

The little 85's are pretty serious bikes but there are few choices Their is the Honda 150cc 4 stroke with similar ride height and probably a better choice. I am checking out all the brands and I still am in touch with a couple of racers and they are giving me input. Two have kids racing so they have some good ideas.

Sidecar comes to mind...

CD, only thing about the CRF150 is the suspension is more play bike than serious racer. You up for fabbin'? You can fit a built XR100 into a CR80 chassis. There are race classes out there for them, four stroke series' and such. Check out BBR ( http://www.bbrmotorsports.com/Home.htm ) , they're famous for their CR80 framed XRs. My suggestion on the motor would be off the shelf Takegawa stuff. The power is proportional to the cubic dollar. http://www.hondaminitrail.com has all the Takegawa and Kitaco performance stuff.

I had a 123cc motor built by Jay Wright at http://www.barebones.net . This thing is a monster! Right now, it awaits me getting money together enough to rebuild the crank, but that motor had major umph. Jay's built a stroker 145cc. He was going to bring it to a Denton race a couple of years ago for me to ride, but never got down here. He says it'll pull tree stumps compared to my motor. I have a Frank Nye/engines only 150 stroker ( http://www.xr100.com ) in that flat tracker I bought. It has lots of low end, but doesn't pull up top as good as Jay's 123. You should see the HUGE titanium reangled valves in that thing, look like they're out of a small block chevy! The head is a friggin' work of art. That motor set me back about $2500 when I had it built.

Takegawa heads are bolt on, though. They even have a DOHC four valve head for the XR50 stuff! If you wanna get that kid a serious small four stroker, I'd build it using a CR80 chassis and an XR100 motor. However, they aren't cheap. If I lived near ya, I could get into a project like this. Heck, though, I've got two XR100 race motors apart right now. I need to order a cam, valve guides and springs for one of 'em and need to do the crank in that BBM motor.



And check out BBR's aluminum frame XR here http://www.bbrmotorsports.com/Products/370-BBR-1001.htm

Heck Goose, He's already quivering at the thought of beginning to ride...If I built something like that he'd kill me if he lived.

When I was discussing the CRF150 with a MX friend of mine he told me he was modifying the suspension for his wifes CRF150. I'll have to ask again but he said there was a place in CA (not Progressive or Works etc) that would be able to tweak the suspension.....For a beginner that would do. I began life on an MT250 who needs more than 4" of travel anyway...ouch.

I figure slow and steady is the way to go with him. He's a natural with hand-eye coordination but I'll need to use the building block approach. Already had him try the 90º quad squat against the wall and he about fell over....That's an old exercise but still effective.

Yeah, but you could stick a stock motor in it at first. There are several of the CR chassis XRs running in our mini road racing series. One's a high dollar BBR, but two are older tubing framed bikes with the inverted forks that guys ebayed and did their own installation.

I'd recommend Lindeman Engineering for the suspension. Send it off, bolt it on. I don't know if the CRF shock is rebuildable, know the 100 isn't. I have Works shocks on both of mine, but they're not adjustable. Lindeman sets 'em up to rider weight/skill level/application and you just bolt it on and go. It works cause I've had two bikes done and they were flawless and my Tracker is Lindeman and has a Works shock on it they tuned. They rebuilt my KX80's rear shock and tuned it for road racing application (very stiff compared to MX) and valved and sprung the forks. They use Eibach springs front and rear.

I don't know of Noleen is still in business, but they were good. Race Tech is more of a sport bike outfit that sells a do it yourself cartridge fork emulator that installs in the fork and you can adjust and also sells springs and shocks. I've not messed with the race tech emulators. Lindeman revalves and the stuff is ready to bolt on and race.

http://www.le-suspension.com/

Edit, BTW, CD, it's those three inch suspensions you can thank your knees for today...

Goose,

I have the cartridge emulators in the RK. Set on stiff with 15wt and it has made that front end feel pretty decent.

I have the same in my Royal Star and it got rid of the dancing while banking around a sweeper at 80mph..love em.

I'm not sure if emulators are available for dirt bikes. I think they might be, now. I have a low opinion of Race Tech for little bikes because when I was building my KX 80 motard, I was looking for some help on the suspension, I called 'em. I told 'em I'd be road racing a KX80 and the guy goes "you wanna do WHAT with WHAT??!!" and starts laughing on the phone. I called Lindeman and he says, "Oh, no problem" and asks weight, rider skill level, application, etc. When I get it back, I called 'em and asked what sag I should set 'em at. He says "just bolt it on and go race, it's all done" and he was right because I've won 8 sprint championships in two organizations in four years on that bike. The thing turns a corner as good as the RS125 chassis GP80s that run in the CMRA series and it'll eat 'em alive on the little kart tracks.

Race Tech does have a nice, easy to use spring rate calculator on their site and I used that when I ordered the springs for my SV. I never got emulators for it. It handles pretty well with just a change to 20 wt fork oil and the springs set to 25mm sag for the street. I know a friend of mine runs Motorcycles Unlimited up off 1960 in north Houston and does a lot of suspension work for sport riders. He uses Race Tech stuff and did the suspensions on a couple of KX65 motards that are fast in the TMGP series, so I guess they're doing dirt bike stuff now. That is an option, probably cheaper than Lindeman. I just know Lindeman knows their stuff because they've proven it to me. I have three bikes now with Lindeman suspension and suspension is NOT a problem with any of 'em. They do professional road racing, dirt track, and motocross stuff, so they have the resume.

I've got this Chinese DP bike along with a neat little TTR Yamaha clone with a 150cc motor that's fun to ride. I discovered a Chinese bike owners board the other day. Got info on interchangeability with Honda parts on sprockets, front and rear, what I've been wanting to do for a long time on that Diamo to get it up to highway speeds. It's way under-geared for the highway.

Anyway, a post in the dirt bike section on that board yielded this neat lookin' bike, a CRF150 clone. This guy started this "support group". LOL Has an upside down fork, but I'm sure it's more looks that anything else. I don't know what these things might be pretty cheap, though, and I know the little engines are pretty durable.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/200chinabike/

So, after looking and checking out articles and looking etc. I sat down and spoke with my old friend Jack who owns East Side Yamaha. He's been around forever, it is a plain old shop, nothing fancy but he has customers that come in from when he forst opened probably thirty years ago. So, we picked up the 2006 YZ85 last night. Eric can sit flat footed and is plenty big enough to be able to learn on it.

But, it's a DRY heat....

I started Gretchen on the 80 I eventually motarded and raced. She did okay on it and got to where she'd actually hit the pipe once in a while and get a little power wheelie. ROFL They're typical two stroke, dynomite with a short fuse. Just be ready when it hits the pipe. That, of course, is 90 percent of the fun with the little two strokes and I'm sure he'll catch on to it. Just warn him while he's learning to keep it off the pipe. Explain it to him, that he will be really embarrassed as you laugh when he loops it.

One bonus, a lot less weight to force around than a four stroke.

Weird thing about is that when we were kids growing up in South Phoenix we wandered all over the South Mountains in all sorts of weather. We carried canteens and knew all the signs to look for. Back then, you could chug a 1/2 gallon of cold water and still not need to hit the john.

When I was stationed here in Tucson in the '80's, we used to race at night in the summer when the heat was a little more bearable. Races started at sundown or just after. We wouldn't get done until 2-3 AM but it was a lot better than trying to race in 110º heat. Strangely enough, if you were properly conditioned and well hydrated and kept yourself hydrated and carb-loaded, you were more likely to seize your engine as it is just plain brutal on air cooled 2 strokes. Water cooling was just beginning to show on new models.

Desert racing was a whole 'nother tune. Labor day weekend 1982 I raced in the Butterfield classic behind a mountain range outside of phoenix. 135 miles of torture in 100º+++ heat. Three 45 mile loops with very little high speed non technical stuff. A lot of washes, jumps, tight stuff and ungodly heat. I crashed and burned more than I can remember and was trashed for week afterwards.

The hottest place I worked in Tucson was on the aircraft ramp..That was hotter than hell. Made Saudi Arabia in May feel like winter some days.