What you do to your MC today?

[What?]

I just did 1k mile riding, cleaned and inspect.

Missing nut on doggone link. Replaced that. Rear brake flush and replaced spark plugs.

 

[Squamch]

Almost set the house on fire charging the battery for the kid's ttr50. Smart charger made it into a balloon, good news is the wife was home to notice and unplug

 

[willis_racing]

Spent about an hour and a half pressure washing my bike and all my gear last night after that mud race I was talking about in the useless things thread. Here's how she looked coming home.

Other damage included destroyed bar mount bushings and leaky fork seals. Gonna try scraping the seals, they might seal back up.

 

[What?]

That's hell of a mud race

My friend and I bending kickstand back to original, the lean isn't leaning as bad anymore.

Picked up my repaired custom seat. Ready for 2k mile riding soon.

 

[willis_racing]

Even after two pressure washing sessions, I pulled the rear wheel off to replace rear brake pads and chain and was chiselling out mud packed into the chain guide and entire brake caliper assembly.

Bikes are just never the same after a ride like that. I might just bow out of mudders in the future just to take better care of my equipment, lordy.

 

[Squamch]

Even after two pressure washing sessions, I pulled the rear wheel off to replace rear brake pads and chain and was chiselling out mud packed into the chain guide and entire brake caliper assembly.

Bikes are just never the same after a ride like that. I might just bow out of mudders in the future just to take better care of my equipment, lordy.

Hang on, isn't that just what a bike looks like after you ride between October and April?

 

[willis_racing]

Hang on, isn't that just what a bike looks like after you ride between October and April?

Not where I'm from you poor bastard

Between october and april here just means more hero dirt

 

[Steve300xcw]

Gave everything a once over, even replaced the 4 year old plug on the 300 This poor bike is just wore out

Snowed last weekend, 110% chance of rain tomorrow. Will be the 1st ride since fire season. Goona be a bunch of fat boys that haven't been outta the shop for 4 months lol.

Goona be a rather sad shitshow tomorrow

 

[willis_racing]

Buncha shit today, gotta race prep it for sunday!

Cleaned the mud out of my swingarm guards and got those back on.

Chiseled a bunch of mud out of the rear caliper and put some new brake pads in.

I lost a piece of hardware on the rear fender so got that replaced.

Fresh air filter, oil filter, and oil. Also got a dust cap for the dry break so I don't keep getting mud and shit in it.

Also replaced the destroyed bar mount bushings and set my bars to a more forward position. Interested to see how that works out.
You
And
Me
Are
Hauling
Ass
!

 

[Gots_a_sol]

How has the YZ been for you?

I've been eyeballing a YZ250FX for my next bike. The Beta 250 smoker is a fine bike but I am noticeably faster on a thumper, just don't want to admit it/spend the money




I replaced the battery that crapped out in the Beta today. I tried to replace it last weekend but the battery I was sent was melted and only had about 2v. Got a refund and ordered another one which showed up fine.

Put in the replacement replacement battery and fired it up. No change in voltage. Hmm...

That'll do it. Garbage ass CCA wire. Rewiring the bike now to get rid of that crap (didn't know about CCA when I did the wiring).

While messing with that I found the cooling fan and tail light are dead so need to order replacements

 

[willis_racing]

How has the YZ been for you?

I fucking love this bike. It's really heavy compared to a smoker or KTM product but for the type of riding I do that just keeps it stable.
It has funny issues starting sometimes, not sure why that is, but it's rarely enough of an issue to complain. Never left me stranded.
The suspension is a dream right out of the box. After valving and springing it's easily the greatest bike I've ever owned.
Yamaha reliability is strong. 125 hrs so far, haven't even popped the valve cover.

I've been eyeballing a YZ250FX for my next bike. The Beta 250 smoker is a fine bike but I am noticeably faster on a thumper, just don't want to admit it/spend the money

Honestly, after spending all that time and money building my 04 yz250, I can say the same, I'm still faster on my 450 even in the tight stuff. Oh well.

250s don't have the weight issue, they're light and very nimble feeling. This isn't 2008 anymore either, if you can keep them revved up to about 12k they are absolute rockets. I'd recommend anyone to give a modern yamaha 250F a try. The FX is also one of the best XC/ offroad packages available IMO.

 

[What?]

willis_racing that's never ending mud cleaning work, what pressure washer youre using?

Oil change on mine today, trying out this oil for the winter riding

 

[willis_racing]

what pressure washer youre using?

We have a couple, both electric. One $80 walmart special and one 20ish yr old northstar with an upgraded cat pump swapped onto it, with a turbo nozzle from harbor freight. That gets the mud out pretty effectively, but it also removes stickers and other stuff you may not want blasted off the bike lol.

Bike's pretty clean now. I just had to take all the body panels completely apart.

Also did about 50 miles on it today. The bibs in my race wheels are pretty much sacked after only 3 races. And people wonder why I scoff at them when they recommend I run bibs full time for trail riding

 

[willis_racing]

Oil change on mine today, trying out this oil for the winter riding

Oh also, be careful, I'm not 100% sure that the 5W-40 carries the JASO MA-2 rating. I haven't looked in about a year though.

 

[What?]

We have a couple, both electric. One $80 walmart special and one 20ish yr old northstar with an upgraded cat pump swapped onto it, with a turbo nozzle from harbor freight. That gets the mud out pretty effectively, but it also removes stickers and other stuff you may not want blasted off the bike lol.

Bike's pretty clean now. I just had to take all the body panels completely apart.

Also did about 50 miles on it today. The bibs in my race wheels are pretty much sacked after only 3 races. And people wonder why I scoff at them when they recommend I run bibs full time for trail riding

Nice. These works pretty well for you, how long does it usually take between washing these mud out? Not a dry place after the mud racing I bet lol

What's bibs?

 

[OHV Wildcat]

Oh also, be careful, I'm not 100% sure that the 5W-40 carries the JASO MA-2 rating. I haven't looked in about a year though.

Interesting—I had it in my head it was the T6 that carried the rating. Hope I used the right stuff on my last change!

 

[What?]

Oh also, be careful, I'm not 100% sure that the 5W-40 carries the JASO MA-2 rating. I haven't looked in about a year though.

You're right, no JASO MA2 rating, edit. That was for t4, I'll check tomorrow if this do or dont have it. I ran moto 10w40 super tech and mobil 1 for while and tried out T4 15-40 then noticed smoother shifting from that and used it most of time.

What you use on yours?

 

[OHV Wildcat]

Today, I failed at bolting on some parts. I got a rear rack put on the CRF450L. And wired some power to the handlebars for an SAE connector and a USB charger. I also tried to get this slick-as-shit mini-display wired up and mostly functional. It reads off the ECU just fine, but won’t read the speed sensor right. Once it does that, it will also have a gear indicator, which would be handy occasionally. But I’m happy to have a tach, hour meter, and engine temp, all stuff missing on the factory dash.

Shitty pic since it’s a screen grab out of a video.

 

[willis_racing]

Nice. These works pretty well for you, how long does it usually take between washing these mud out? Not a dry place after the mud racing I bet lol

What's bibs?

Mousse bibs, or foam inserts. For when tubeless and tubes both don't cut it
Linky

Interesting—I had it in my head it was the T6 that carried the rating. Hope I used the right stuff on my last change!

The pattern seems to be that the 15W-40 for both the T6 and T4 are JASO rated. I haven't checked the T5 yet, It's not as common in stores.

You're right, no JASO MA2 rating, edit. That was for t4, I'll check tomorrow if this do or dont have it. I ran moto 10w40 super tech and mobil 1 for while and tried out T4 15-40 then noticed smoother shifting from that and used it most of time.

What you use on yours?

T4 15W-40 in basically all my powersports toys, nice to be unified. I've had very good wear characteristics using it. Previous bike had a piston swap at 300 hours and the piston skirts still had tons of life left.
I also have amsoil on the shelf, but not sure what kind of special occasion I'll use that for.

 

[Squamch]

Rode it in 16" of snow. Good times.

 

[willis_racing]

Was pushing hard in some gorgeous tacky dirt yesterday, went OTB and demolished myself. I haven't knocked the wind out of myself like that in ages. Have a gnarly chest soreness now, and my jaw was hurting pretty good last night. all in all 9/10 fucked around and found out, just wish I had a gopro rolling at the time

 

[Steve300xcw]

OTB just sucks. Seem to do that about once a year when I get cocky, trying to go to fast on big downhills.

My new hub showed up, I should swap my rim over to it today. Probly stuff a fresh tire on it as well. Going to be ugly running without studs for a bit

 

[BIG-O]

Hey guys. Santa brought me a Trail tech GPS for my dirtbike. Anyone else have one? Do you have to load maps for parks riding areas etc or does it already know through GPS. I have a 05 KTM 450EXC. It is a great bike!

 

[willis_racing]

Rode moto in Santa Fe on saturday. Flatted my rear tire and had to ride my buddy's 2015 YZ450 for awhile (my old bike, I sold it to him)

The 15 was noticeably faster than my 19

Clearly I need to get off my ass and do that piston swap soon, and figure out somehting better for my rear tire. I get rear flats like nobody's business when I'm running the tube rims.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Just pinch flats?

 

[willis_racing]

Just pinch flats?

Occasionally. I do need to up my pressure to avoid those. I should probably start running 18-20psi if I want to run tubes to be cheap.

The main issue I've been having for a long time now is the tire slipping on the rim, which if I don't catch it in time, rips the stem out of the tube. I've tried running 2 rim locks, more pressure, all kinds of stuff. The thing that worked for me on the previous bike was running a Nuetech Tubliss in the back. That system works well for me, but It limits what tires I can run, as some tires like to seap air out of the sidewall.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I would be all over the place with 18-20psi lol. I seem to be about 12 in the rear and 14-15 in the front.

Only time I have had issues like that was with a brand new M5b that was studded 100%, riding in wet decomposed granite. Ended up breaking the rim lock.

Must be crazy traction where you are riding

 

[willis_racing]

Must be crazy traction where you are riding

I wish! NM is 70% desert, so it's a mix of sand and normal hardpack most of the time. I think the main problem is whoops. I'm a heavy guy(230 with no gear) on a heavy bike (260ish) that makes a ton of power riding pro speeds in big desert whoops.

That rim lock must be under insane stress trying to keep the tire in place while I'm revving it up and then smashing it into a whoop face every few seconds for hours on end.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Yea that might be it. Would think everybody else would be having the same issues though.
Course everybody wears a bike differently. I break off most the outside lugs on a front tire within a few rides, no idea why.

 

[What?]

Vstrom gets brake bleeding, coolant flush, fork seal and new front tire (E705)