EXR Pick-up on 9/22/18 - what to look for?

[Philip]

 

[strider]

Ha, love how this has devolved into pics and videos of jumping roadracing bikes. Let's just say I'm not THAT good. Though it's interesting that so many road racing tracks on which bikes lose contact with the ground are in the UK (Cadwell, Isle of Man, etc). Straight nutters they are.

Anyway, I am no stranger to having one wheel or the other come off the ground, but if both wheels do then something has gone horribly wrong.

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I have a private lesson scheduled for next Tuesday. I plan to stay on the trails for the time being

 

[strider]

Hi everyone. Just to follow up on this thread. The pick-up went great. Shout out to Ajax Motorsports in OKC. Also, my son and I had our first lesson on Tuesday. The facility had an XC track and we spent most of our lesson there as it had a nice variety of terrain and turns and such for the instructor to get a feel for where we were.

One amazing thing about ebikes. There's one section where there's a gently hill then a short flat then steep hill. Invariably my son would stop after the first hill and stare at the steep one. I would stop next to him to encourage him up the hill. Without fail the bikes would start from a dead stop and just motor up the hill (he's on a Kuberg Cross). I also liked that I could creep to nearly a stop and just keep going again.

We caused a bit of a stir at the track. I let the track owner and his son ride my bike around a bit. Both came away very impressed and it was still in Map 1.

Things I'm struggling with... On the roadrace track I cover the front brake with 2 fingers at nearly all times. This allows me to adjust my line if something changes in front of me. Is that necessary on a dirt bike? Should I be covering the rear brake or not at all? Also, I'm having a hard time looking through corners. The corners on a dirt track are much more "interesting" than on ashpult and I REALLY want to look down at the front tire to make sure I'm not going to get caught on a rut or whatever.

It's fun to get back to basics like this and have the thrill of improving almost every lap vs on the road race track where my focus is on not making a mistake.

 

[Philip]

Great! Thank you for sharing!

Things I'm struggling with... On the roadrace track I cover the front brake with 2 fingers at nearly all times. This allows me to adjust my line if something changes in front of me. Is that necessary on a dirt bike? Should I be covering the rear brake or not at all?

On dirt you maximize the use of your rear brake. If something happens in front of you, you do not want to be squeezing the front brake, only the rear, if at all. You use the front brake either in ruts, or together with the rear brake when braking hard.

When braking hard, you can almost lock up the rear brake, and then use the front hard to stabilize the bike, in this order.

Many guys cover the front brake and the clutch, but I think this is mostly for comfort.

Here is from my favorite MX coach Gary Semics:

Also, I'm having a hard time looking through corners. The corners on a dirt track are much more "interesting" than on asphalt and I REALLY want to look down at the front tire to make sure I'm not going to get caught on a rut or whatever.

Do not get into that trap! You have to look ahead, just like you do in road racing. Especially in rutted corners.

 

[leeo45]

It sounds like you have already started with some formal training and that is a great idea for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is to avoid locking in bad habits and incorrect techniques. A number of your roadracing techniques and the automatic reactions you developed with experience on the track (or road) will not carry over to riding in the dirt so you will need to adopt new and different riding techniques. Some of these you might never discover on your own.

If you are primarily focusing on riding in the woods and on trails, I can highly recommend the series of DVDs by Shane Watts. He is a multi-time world enduro champion and the DVDs instruct on all aspects of bike control, beginner & advanced techniques, terrain, bike setup, etc. I have also taken his multi-day advanced riding class which takes the basics from the DVDs and extrapolates them into drill after drill for advanced enduro racers. If you plan to ride mainly on motocross tracks then I am sure there are similar instructional courses from equivalent experts.

 

[Rob41]

Thanks Leeo45 for the tip on Shane Watts Enduro DVD's. I was hoping for something like this myself.

 

[Rix]

Hi everyone. Just to follow up on this thread. The pick-up went great. Shout out to Ajax Motorsports in OKC. Also, my son and I had our first lesson on Tuesday. The facility had an XC track and we spent most of our lesson there as it had a nice variety of terrain and turns and such for the instructor to get a feel for where we were.

One amazing thing about ebikes. There's one section where there's a gently hill then a short flat then steep hill. Invariably my son would stop after the first hill and stare at the steep one. I would stop next to him to encourage him up the hill. Without fail the bikes would start from a dead stop and just motor up the hill (he's on a Kuberg Cross). I also liked that I could creep to nearly a stop and just keep going again.

We caused a bit of a stir at the track. I let the track owner and his son ride my bike around a bit. Both came away very impressed and it was still in Map 1.

Things I'm struggling with... On the roadrace track I cover the front brake with 2 fingers at nearly all times. This allows me to adjust my line if something changes in front of me. Is that necessary on a dirt bike? Should I be covering the rear brake or not at all? Also, I'm having a hard time looking through corners. The corners on a dirt track are much more "interesting" than on ashpult and I REALLY want to look down at the front tire to make sure I'm not going to get caught on a rut or whatever.

It's fun to get back to basics like this and have the thrill of improving almost every lap vs on the road race track where my focus is on not making a mistake.

Awesome Strider, I just picked up my EXR earlier this week. Saying these are fun machines is an understatement. Probably the best thing you can do right now is just make sure your suspension is dialed for you. I,m not sure what Alta recommends, but setting rear sag around 107mm, and adjusting your rebound speed is a good starting point. Because off road machines generally have 2-3 times the travel of road machines, you will probably have a slower rebound setting than your road race machines setups. My EXR is really soft for my weight, 245#, will be re-springing it. Probably not going to revalve though, the stock suspension is sweet for my kind of riding, mostly woods and desert riding at medium speeds, which I consider to be a middle of the pack B Rider pace. I know others have commented on it, just look where you going, not where you are at, I usually look 1 to 2 seconds in front of me on average.

 

[Slayer]

Don't forget the gear oil, that is stated for replacement at 2hrs. (In the 2017 manual).

 

[Rix]

Don't forget the gear oil, that is stated for replacement at 2hrs. (In the 2017 manual).

I am going to Amsoil 80/90W after my next ride.

 

[snydes]

Don't forget the gear oil, that is stated for replacement at 2hrs. (In the 2017 manual).

That interval has been revised several times now. I don't recall what the latest recommendation is but it was definitely a two digit number.

 

[snydes]

Here it is;

FYI, our recommendation is to change the gearbox oil at 10 hours (any particles from the build will be flushed), then every 100 hours or once a year. Use an 80w-90 gear oil, what you would normally use in a ICE bike gearbox. Any 80w-90 or 80w-85 lubricant will be fine. It's basically a splash lubricant for the gear reduction.

 

[Slayer]

Did mine at five, plenty of sludge, kind of surprised. Glad to have it out of the way.

 

[strider]

Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement everyone. I don't yet know what kid of rider I'll be. The idea of jumping is scary to me at the moment so I don't think I'll be going straight into MX. During our lesson we spent most of the time at what was labelled as an XC course and I really liked that. There were some elevation changes, a couple places to get a little air, but it was mostly a variety of corners, on and off camber, up and down hills with minimal trees. We did some single track trails also and those were fun but we were crawling along. The idea of going faster and possibly hitting a tree is unnerving. Of course that's related to my desire to look down and not up. It's funny that I'm doing the things I've been coaching my RR students not to do for years. I have forgotten how powerful that feeling is to look at your front wheel.

Suspension is something I'll need to work on as I'll need to learn what the bike should and should not be doing, as I can on a road bike. The dealer set the rear sag at 100mm with gear and said the front wasn't adjustable (which is weird to me as all modern road racing forks have a way to set preload). I then messed around a bit with the settings to get front and rear balanced. It's on the soft side but since I'm not jumping it's working fine so far. But of course I am not going fast at all. I'm 193# without gear.

Thanks for the reminder on the gear oil. I'm sure I have some Amsoil gear oil around for my Jeep diffs.

 

[Bionicman]

look no further than Aarons Cornerspin school for skills - tell him Rick sent you