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grantzilla

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Posts posted by grantzilla

  2. Posted

    Anyone attending the Malcom Smith No Whimps ride 14 November starting from Glen Helen raceway??

    It's a great ride with very technical hard splits. There is also a good chance you can chat with Malcom.

    Attended a couple of years ago and had a good time. I'll be on a bigger dual sport with dual sport tires so probably be taking the easy splits.

    The ride has gps and roll charts, depending on what you prefer.

    Hope to see some folks out there!

  3. Posted

    And you can find deals like the other one I posted where its only 45 bucks for a day but I have never seen that cheap before. My experience with cars is that investing in riding time on a track is one of the best things you can do for your safety as well as being fun.

    Grant I have not really ridden on the street in anger on my bike so I don't know how I would do. Did you setup the suspension for being on pavement at all?

    $45 is crazy cheap. Yes you can find deals. I usually go with Veloce at Buttonwillow and they have an early bird discount online.

    I run a pretty stiff suspension set up, so I don't change anything for the track. After going to the track I do very little street riding on my bike. The things you can do at the track safely make riding the street seem a bore and very dangerous.

  4. Posted

    Isn't it 300$ for a track day or something insane?

    Nope. I go with Veloce to Buttonwillow and it $155 or $125 with the early bird special. No ridiculous rules, no crazy bike prep (if it's good enough for street legal it's good enough for the track) regular street riding gear requirements. 15 min sessions every hour all day long with an hour lunch break. There is also a photographer that takes great shots for around $50.

  5. Posted

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    Now you guys just need to meet me up at Buttonwillow for a track day! Most fun you can have on our kind of bike with street tire set up. Safe, fun and not too expensive.

    LOL you took your dual sport to buttonwillow? I want to do a a track day but figured more or less that supermoto tracks (gokart tracks) which are tighter would be more suited. Horse thief mile, or adams gokart track etc.

    I smoked 90% of group 3 riding liter bikes on this old DR350. You can out corner most guys on the big bikes, unless they are really good. The straight at Buttonwillow is not that long, I max the bike out at about 90mph (about 105 on a big bike)and in the corners carry way more speed than I did on a big bike. You can also take the long back curve (Riverside) at 80 mph hard over and keep up with the bike bikes in the Esses after Star Mazda turn. Tellin ya, it's the most fun you can have with your pants on!

  6. Posted

    Which group did you go with Grant?

    I go with group 3, most organizations recommend group 3 for small displacement bikes. I get held up alot by the new riders on big bikes and would rather ride in group 2, but so far have stayed in 3. In group 3 you are only supposed to pass on the outside, but as long as it's safe, I'll sneak up the inside (not right at the apex) if I'm being held up for a while.

    I have textile top and bottom I use with no problems at the track. Just put on an FMF pipe and steel braided brake lines and am itching to hit the track soon.

  9. Posted

    So- your 800GS will be left unattended somewhere?

    The GS800 has been out of my stable for a while now. Turns out I'm never going to do the long way round and German engineering and expense was not agreeing with me. Got almost what I paid for it, so I got to try it for around a year for a few hundred bucks. Not my cup of tea after all. Great bike, just not the kind of riding I want to do.

  10. Posted

    Hitting Hungry Valley tomorrow. Should be good weather. 54 and sunny. Probably ride all day and may spend the night. All parts of the park are open and I plan on taking the trails in to the Los Padres too.

    Want to try out the new DR 350 set up of new shock, FMF muffler, rebuilt forks and other goodies.

    Hope you have a fun ride.

    *Hey how do you like those fork protectors??? Did you have to take the forks apart to install (obvious I'm sure). Do you have zip tied in place?? What brand??

    I have the full length neoprene Seal Savers on. Had the short ones on before, but after a few years they needed replacing. I put em on when I changed out the fork oil and springs, so yes you have to remove the forks to install. They are zip tied at the bottom and go all the way up to the top where the fork meets the triple tree. They work great! Keep the fork clean and prolong seal life.

  11. Posted

    Hitting Hungry Valley tomorrow. Should be good weather. 54 and sunny. Probably ride all day and may spend the night. All parts of the park are open and I plan on taking the trails in to the Los Padres too.

    Want to try out the new DR 350 set up of new shock, FMF muffler, rebuilt forks and other goodies.

  12. Posted

    They also close part of I-5 up there when the weather is really bad, so if there is too much snow or ice it may not be feasible.

    Years ago I took short sections of the Tejon and Frazier trails from the park up to Los Padres and the riding was amazing. Hope that is still open.

    I'll keep an eye on the weather and figure out the best day(s) to go for max riding.

  13. Posted

    Have not ridden Hungry Valley in a few years and plan on doing a ride out there the first week of January.

    Have some vaction from Dec 28th - Jan 10th and will for sure hit Hungry Valley at least for an overnighter. Just throwing it out there in case anyone else is up for some cold weather riding. If all goes well there should be no crowd and maybe snow on some trails.

    Grant

  20. Posted

    A couple of people have been asking about the new BMW F800GS. Here is a very extensive video review. The scenery is great too- Moab and Southwestern CO.

    http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=455509

    The videos are kind of long...I fast forwarded through part of them.

    The bike got a good review and I know where you can get one.

    I have about 2K on mine and can give an ok review of the bike so far. Had it on the street, race track, moto-x track and many of you saw me wrestling it around on the X-plane ride. Have not done an epic long ride yet, but can answer some concerns/questions. Tons of info on this bike on AD rider site, but I find that site bike and ego overload. As always....depends what you really want a certain bike to do for your idea of riding.

  23. Posted

    How did it go for you Grant? How much was the day did you ride there or truck it?

    I trucked it out there. I'm only an hour and a half away, but wanted to have gasoline and all my gear and stuff for the day. It was awesome! My first street track day of many to come I hope. I can see why now people get addicted to track riding.

    Highly recommend it. You can push yourself and machine to the limit in a safe fun environment. I got some good tips from the racers there and learned a lot about cornering and far I can lean and how fast I can go.

    The price was good and the guys put on a well organized and pressure free event. It was $155 or if you sign up early $135.

  24. Posted

    Got up to Gorman around 2pm on Thursday. Plenty of time to set camp and still get a good afternoon of riding. The SVRA has tons of trails to explore and since we had the whole place to ourselves we decided to stay in the park on Day 1

    valleyshot.jpg

    I found this hidden trail that led to this stream. We went up it for a couple miles until it became impassable

    streamshot.jpg

    Typical Gorman trail, a mix of loose rocks and great dirt shooting through the trees

    tejon.jpg

    Day 2 we headed up into the Forest. The Tejon trail is a connector that gets you back there where there are several choices to head up from. You can see the trail winding up in the distance.

    tejon1.jpg

    Through some nice valleys and meadows

    tejon2.jpg

    This trail heads straight up into the forest. We stopped for some shade and a drink of water

    tejonbrad.jpg

    We got sidetracked on this trip and went looking for Frazier Mine. We found it at the end of this abandoned trail.

    fraziermine.jpg

    Pretty intense stuff. We were taking our time and having an absolute blast!

    fraziermine2.jpg

    If you look real closely at the hillside you can make out the trail as it winds down the mountian. That is where we are headed. One of the few Black Diamond trails on Frazier. That switchback right there, and 3 more right after it are not for the faint of heart! Sorry, the zoom on my little camera is broken.

    arrastaview.jpg

    Riding in the LPNF is always rewarding with some great views. Even if its hazy out.

    hazyshot.jpg

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    All in all an awesome trip! We ended up with 4 families. The weather was steller although a little warm around camp in the middle of the day but perfect on the trail. We had a couple minor "get offs" but nothing serious.

    I would really like to get back up there soon for a camping trip before it gets too hot. I'm thinking maybe the first weekend in June. Anybody in?

    One last shot

    sidehill.jpg

    Good report. I have been to Gorman a few times and loved it. Great single track, hill climbs and cool little moto x track. I should be able to do at least Sat June 6th. Please let me know if this firms up and you end up going, I'll meet ya'll there.

  25. Posted

    Veloce put on an awesome track day at Buttonwillow. Good instruction and time management. Plenty of Rock Star and water to drink. Spectacular fun and I plan on doing many more. There were all kinds of bikes there and the GS was a ton of fun on the track. Good job guys.

    Do you have the website for the photographer that was there??

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