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Topics - rsmith

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1
General Two Stroke Talk / Legends
« on: August 21, 2019, 08:42:38 AM »
Ever wonder what it would be like to be trained by a group of legends of the sport?

Wonder no more because I am going to tell you: Epic, in every way! It ranked near the top of all time fun days on a motorcycle in my 41 years of riding.



This last weekend (August 16-18) was the annual NW Challenge vintage motocross race at Washougal. As part of that my friend Chris who is the promoter for this race brought in 4 huge names from back in the day (Broc Glover, David Baily, Warren Reid, Scott Burnworth) along with the track owner/operator and former factory pro Ryan Huffman and local fast guy, National pro and regular instructor Tommy Weeck.

The class was limited to 50 riders and included all skill levels and all age ranges. We were broken up into 3 groups based on our own assessment of our skill levels and the 6 instructors paired off to handle specific skills and sections of the track.

I have said for many years now that if I could afford to rent out Washougal for a day I would spend most of my time just riding up Horsepower hill and jumping off the Ski Jump. I got my wish on Friday!  My group rode that section of the track for about an hour straight. Up the hill, jump down the hill, go through the switchbacks at the bottom where Tommy Weeck and Ryan Huffman were watching, evaluating and correcting everyone's cornering technique, then exit the track ride back around to the base of Horsepower hill and go again!

Tommy was able to correct my riding position in the corners which I have apparently had completely wrong for the last 40+ years because my ability to make the bike go where I want it to was improved by an order of magnitude with just a few minutes of help.

If that had been the end of the day I would have felt like I got every penny of the $150 this class cost in value and left with a huge smile on my face.

But instead we rotated to the next section on the lower portion of the track, where THE David Bailey and Broc Glover further refined my cornering technique and body position!  David Bailey even told me I had "Good Skills", I am thinking about having that printed on the back of my jersey!  ;D

After a short break to get some water and eat a little bit the final section for me was starts with Scott Burnworth and Warren Reid. My starting technique is reasonably solid but I still gained some valuable refinements from them nonetheless.

We also got to ride a bunch of free laps before and after the instruction. That really helped my confidence on that track.



The next two days were a full schedule of races. I raced one class on both days and for the first time ever on that track I actually felt like I rode to my potential.

Now I just need some more practice time to fully cement what they taught me.

It was an all time epic weekend.





2
General Two Stroke Talk / Sad Day.
« on: March 04, 2019, 12:30:42 PM »
Hello everyone.

I just got the sad news that our TSM friend Coop has lost his battle with cancer and passed away.

We had sincerely hoped that he would beat the cancer and get back on a bike and that we would have a chance to get to know him better.

When we put the site back up Coop was the first one to reach out to me and offer to help.

Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

In the days to come we will find a way to honor his memory here.

--Ron.


3
General Two Stroke Talk / Beta Ride Day at Washougal 10/20/18
« on: October 22, 2018, 07:23:40 PM »
Saturday we made the 3 hour trek down to Washougal for a chance to ride (almost) all the new Betas.

Unfortunately the new 200 wasn't available yet, so despite it being on the punch card, it wasn't actually there.  :(



This is the first time I have ever done a demo day with any brand. It was pretty damn fun getting to ride so many different bikes back to back like that.



After the riders meeting we were turned loose on the bikes, they disappeared fast!



The weather was very atypical for Western Washington in that is was dry, sunny and warm. None of those things we usually expect to see this time of year.

The course started at the National starting gate where they punched the plastic card with the bike you were riding, went through the first two turns and up and over Horsepower Hill then into the trees and down a moderately difficult but fun trail that winds its way above the track and eventually dumped you out behind the staging area.

Everyone got a chance to ride any and all bikes they wanted with the only limit being how fast you could get around the loop and how well your fitness held up.

I ended up riding 9 different bike and making 10 loops. I rode the 250RR Race a second time, not because it was my favorite, but because I wanted to make one more loop and it was available.

My favorite was the 300RR Race. It wasn't as "racey" on the short bit of the track we rode as the 250, but that engine is magic in the tight single track that is off-road in Western Washington.

The primary difference between the race and the non-race is the fork, and I will say that it would be worth the extra money. Universally across the whole product line the Race Edition fork was noticeably better.

I also rode several of the big 4Ts for comparison.  I could never find the right gear on the 430, the 390 was too heavy, the 480 wasn't suited to the tight trails we were on and I passed on the 500 all together.

The 350 was the best of the 4 strokes, but it wasn't nearly as much fun, nor as easy to ride as the 300RR Race Edition.

Nanci stretched herself a bit and rode several of the full sized 2Ts along with the latest version of her XTrainer and the new 125 (which is fun but way under powered for someone of my generous size.)

Here she is on my favorite the 300RR Race Edition.





All in all it was a great time and I am looking forward to getting a chance to do the Yamaha and KTM ones next time they come back to our neck of the woods!

--Ron.

4
General Two Stroke Talk / New Two stroke piston design.
« on: October 04, 2018, 08:55:34 PM »
This is very interesting.



We need our resident engine dynamics guru to weigh in on this.

Flettner?

--Ron.

5
Questions, comments, criticism?  Here's your place.

http://www.twostrokemotocross.com/articles.php?id=655


6
Open Forum / MOVED: Help please
« on: July 17, 2018, 11:22:15 AM »

7
General Two Stroke Talk / Beta jumps in where KTM left off.
« on: June 22, 2018, 08:49:13 AM »
Looks like Beta is after the market segment that KTM abandoned when they discontinued the 200XCW.


8
General Two Stroke Talk / Red Bull Straight Rythm is Two Stroke only!
« on: June 14, 2018, 05:45:41 PM »
Since it was clearly the highlight of last years race I guess they decided to go all in this year!

"Four piston strokes. Electronic Fuel Injection. Slim headers without an expansion chamber. Sleek, non-clunky, space-age plastics. This is a list of things you won’t see at the 2018 Red Bull Straight Rhythm. And when the event returns to Fairplex in Pomona on October 20, you’ll hear it coming. From, like, miles away. Because there will be only two-strokes racing. Ring-a-ding-ding. That’s right, the event will step back in time to an era where gear sets were mostly pink, Fresno was smooth and a nac nac was totally rad (kind of still is). Riders will leave their fancy factory four-strokes at home and will run what they brung as they tackle the ½-mile-long straight rhythm track on nothing but two-smoke power."

https://www.redbull.com/us-en/events/straight-rhythm

9
General Two Stroke Talk / New 2-Stroke?
« on: June 07, 2018, 11:46:02 AM »
Hmm, I had never heard of them but our local Beta dealer just picked up this line.

Stand by for more details. I have a tool to pick up from that dealer so I will be getting more info.

GPX Moto
TSE 250R
Availability: In Stock
$5,599.99




https://gpxmoto.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=5&product_id=73

10
YZ Project 2018 / 122hrs on a top end?
« on: June 05, 2018, 06:59:24 PM »
Ever wonder what would happen if you just never did the top end?

According to the hour meter on this bike, and confirmed by the previous owner as being the actual run time, this bike has 122.7 hrs on it.



He admitted that he had never done the top end on it in all that time.

I can't really dispute that...



The rest of the top end looks good.

Modern coatings are pretty amazing


As you can see there are still hone marks in it.

The head looks good.

I can tell by the wash pattern (and the erosion on the piston crown) that it has been running a bit on the lean side for a while.



I am surprised it held together for 122+ hours honestly.

--Ron.

11
YZ Project 2018 / Expected "surprises"
« on: June 03, 2018, 04:13:09 PM »
I dug into the YZ project a bit more and tackled some of the expected issues, namely bad bearings.

I could feel the roughness in the steering head bearings in the handlebars so by extension I figured all the rest would be the same.

Steering head bearings:


As expected the rear suspension bearings are in bad shape.


Dry and rusty:


The complete carnage:


Not a single good bearing in the bunch.

I have seen a lot of debate around the need to take your brand new bike apart and apply grease to all the bearings. I think the answer to that is clear. If you live in the desert, never ride in the wet and only hand wash your bike maybe you can get away it.

For the rest of us, it is time well spent pulling it apart and putting some high quality waterproof grease in it when everything is new and shiny.

12
YZ Project 2018 / First Look
« on: May 21, 2018, 08:42:41 PM »
We picked this good looking used 2013 YZ250 up to document the process of inspecting and refreshing a used bike.

Longer term it is going to be a "test mule" for product tests and will be part of a really cool, but as yet to be announced, series. 

Stay tuned.



--Ron.

13
General Two Stroke Talk / 125 "All Star Series"
« on: April 18, 2018, 04:05:31 PM »
MX Sports announced a 7 race 125 two stroke race at the following rounds:

Hangtown, Thunder Valley and Washougal in the west,
High Point, The Wick and Budds Creek in the east,
with a showdown at the Ironman finale.

Could this be the beginning of the return of the 2T to the mainstream?

"The resurgence of market interest for two-stroke based motorcycles, and our recent experience with two-stroke support classes at national events presents us with opportunities for developing a more formal program for these products for 2018 and beyond," explained Roy Janson, Director of Competition for MX Sports Pro Racing.

--Ron.

14
General Two Stroke Talk / RV on a YZ125
« on: March 12, 2018, 05:11:35 PM »
He starts getting the hang of it after a couple of laps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moPLN1dOCK8

15
General Two Stroke Talk / Premix 2
« on: December 16, 2017, 01:10:01 PM »
I'm going to guess most of you have seen Transworld's  Premix movie.

Premix 2 is out and we watched it last night. It is really cool to see current factory pro's (Adam Cianciarulo, Phil Nicolletti and many more) wringing out a 125. I swear AC never lets off!

Well worth the $10 it cost on Amazon.

The basic theme for the interview portions are a topic near and dear to all of our hearts, namely the return of the 2T to the main stream. Interesting to hear some of the pro's perspectives.

--Ron.

https://motocross.transworld.net/news/premix-2-official-trailer/

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