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Racing Desert (moto) questions

5150dhbiker

5150dhbiker

Turbo Monkey
Nov 5, 2007
1,200
0
Santa Barbara, CA
Ok, so I went out with some friends this weekend out by Ridgecrest to check out a desert moto race. I was going to race but since they would not take a credit card for the District 37 membership I was screwed :P My buddy raced and worked his way from 75th to 2nd place before crashing and putting a hole in his radiator.

Anyways, for those of you who have raced desert before I got some questions. When I go out at the end of the month it'll be my first race and need to make some changes from to my bike. Currently it's set up mostly to ride a track. Here's what I was thinking of doing, let me know if there's anything else that I should do to it.

Skid Plate (works connection full plate that covers part of the sides)
Radiator guards (already have braces)
Re-valving suspension
Bigger tank (stock CRF 250R tank)
Hand Guards
Gearing (thinking 47 in the rear but not sure about the front...currently run a 52 for tracks).

So, anything else?
 
tylerpier137

tylerpier137

Monkey
Mar 29, 2007
366
0
ventura
5150dhbiker said:
Ok, so I went out with some friends this weekend out by Ridgecrest to check out a desert moto race. I was going to race but since they would not take a credit card for the District 37 membership I was screwed :P My buddy raced and worked his way from 75th to 2nd place before crashing and putting a hole in his radiator.

Anyways, for those of you who have raced desert before I got some questions. When I go out at the end of the month it'll be my first race and need to make some changes from to my bike. Currently it's set up mostly to ride a track. Here's what I was thinking of doing, let me know if there's anything else that I should do to it.

Skid Plate (works connection full plate that covers part of the sides)
Radiator guards (already have braces)
Re-valving suspension
Bigger tank (stock CRF 250R tank)
Hand Guards
Gearing (thinking 47 in the rear but not sure about the front...currently run a 52 for tracks).

So, anything else?
Click to expand...
Welcome to the dark side, not alot of track riders make the switch.

All I would add to your list is heavy duty tubes.I would try running either 13-47 like you are thinking or 14-50. Depending on the race, stock gearing could be fine. I would also get a good sized camelbak, atleast 100oz bladder, and room for tools. What race are you planning on racing?
 
5150dhbiker

5150dhbiker

Turbo Monkey
Nov 5, 2007
1,200
0
Santa Barbara, CA
tylerpier137 said:
Welcome to the dark side, not alot of track riders make the switch.

All I would add to your list is heavy duty tubes.I would try running either 13-47 like you are thinking or 14-50. Depending on the race, stock gearing could be fine. I would also get a good sized camelbak, atleast 100oz bladder, and room for tools. What race are you planning on racing?
Click to expand...
Ya, a lot of my friends still ride tracks but I've really been getting into trails and desert. Tracks are fun but expensive to always do.

So far I'm just planing on starting out with a small Dual European Scramble that's put on by District 37 at the end of the month, then possibly a Grand Prix in the beginning of October. Smaller races to start out with and slowly work my way up.
 
tylerpier137

tylerpier137

Monkey
Mar 29, 2007
366
0
ventura
For Barstow I wouldnt worry about gearing too much, pick something slightly taller and run it. When you are racing 50-100miles you dont want to run full kill the whole time. It will probably take a few races for you to figure out your pace that you can hold for the entire race and not be risking crashing too much.
 
5150dhbiker

5150dhbiker

Turbo Monkey
Nov 5, 2007
1,200
0
Santa Barbara, CA
Ok, thanks for the info.

Also another really random question. Any reason why after having a new top end put in my bike seems to burn a lot of oil? Before the new top end went it, I almost never had to add any. Now after even a day of riding I had to ad almost 1/4qt.
 
tylerpier137

tylerpier137

Monkey
Mar 29, 2007
366
0
ventura
5150dhbiker said:
Ok, thanks for the info.

Also another really random question. Any reason why after having a new top end put in my bike seems to burn a lot of oil? Before the new top end went it, I almost never had to add any. Now after even a day of riding I had to ad almost 1/4qt.
Click to expand...
Thats alot of oil. It sounds like you may be leaking past the rings. Does your bike seem to gain tranny oil while losing engine oil? A common problem on the Honda's is for a seal between the two to leak and allow oil to leak to the opposite side.
 
5150dhbiker

5150dhbiker

Turbo Monkey
Nov 5, 2007
1,200
0
Santa Barbara, CA
tylerpier137 said:
Thats alot of oil. It sounds like you may be leaking past the rings. Does your bike seem to gain tranny oil while losing engine oil? A common problem on the Honda's is for a seal between the two to leak and allow oil to leak to the opposite side.
Click to expand...
I wish it was that easy. Nope...tranny oil is holding just fine and there's no visible leaking from other places on the bike :~
 
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