McCain 11/29/09

[dirt dame 561]

No, I didn't ride the mini....it's just a small write up about a last minute decision to go for a nice trail ride on the wet dirt. Ya never know when the next chance may be.

I got out there after 11 in the morning after witnessing all the desert toy haulers streaming homeward in the other direction on I-8. At one point near Alpine, they got all backed up behind some guy that managed to flip his hauler onto its side and the whole rig blocked both lanes of traffic. It was a big mess, but didn't look like an injury sort of thing.

Not many people at the staging area. Nobody from SDAR appeared to be there. As usual, the people who were there spent all of their time roaring back, forth and round and round near the vehicles leaving the trails empty for me. I took the TE and rode around for two or three hours, enjoying all the traction, a few water puddles and a small amount of mud. Sunny and cold weather with some wind made for a nice day. Didn't see any rangers. Brought my camera, but never touched it during the ride. Too busy riding and having fun all by myself out there. Stopped at the Candy Cottage for some goodies on the way home and was glad to finally have something to clean off the bike after a ride besides dust and bug guts.

[robertaccio 412]

DD,

No see um??,,,, kato 300 or YZ250???? at least 2 of our crew were doing the final training session prior to Tecate HS this Sat, plus they also saw 2 CRF450 riders out on the small trails.

Glad you had a no dust day!!! word was great traction with mixed puddles but actually had some dry stuff by PM time with dug up dust in the sand berms???

SDAR crew please Pray for a little more rain this week,, for us THS racers, no dust = more safety and more comfortable=more fun!!! And that is really what it is all about!!!! FUN factor!!!! Enjoy the ride R

[dirt dame 561]

DD,

No see um??,,,, kato 300 or YZ250???? at least 2 of our crew were doing the final training session prior to Tecate HS this Sat, plus they also saw 2 CRF450 riders out on the small trails.

Only saw one other bike out there, a Kawasaki, and it was on a small trail.

[bikeslut 1]

ride report coming soon... trophy and I were out there... we started the same time as the two CRFs, saw the KTM down near a campground and saw a YZ out on the trails (twice)

we were out of there before 10... trophy was rockin the place, traction was awesome, temps were perfect and we had no head-ons... AND back in town in time for brunch, then band rehearsal...

[dirt dame 561]

I finally blew the left fork seal on the TE on that last ride, too.

[robertaccio 412]

I finally blew the left fork seal on the TE on that last ride, too.

dont want to hijack but ,,

remember to bleed the air out,,,and lately I strap down the bike to the trailer then bleed the built up pressure out, then upon unload and place on stand I bleed as usual, to balance to ambient pressure.

[robertaccio 412]

ride report coming soon... trophy and I were out there... we started the same time as the two CRFs, saw the KTM down near a campground and saw a YZ out on the trails (twice)

we were out of there before 10... trophy was rockin the place, traction was awesome, temps were perfect and we had no head-ons... AND back in town in time for brunch, then band rehearsal...

great stuff!! Hmm YZ250 you must have seen our teammate, the French enduro ace,,,,he better have been railing!! no slacking about!!

[dirt dame 561]

remember to bleed the air out,,,and lately I strap down the bike to the trailer then bleed the built up pressure out, then upon unload and place on stand I bleed as usual, to balance to ambient pressure.

I don't go to that length, but do bleed my forks on all my dirt bikes.

[bikeslut 1]

ride report coming soon... trophy and I were out there... we started the same time as the two CRFs, saw the KTM down near a campground and saw a YZ out on the trails (twice)

we were out of there before 10... trophy was rockin the place, traction was awesome, temps were perfect and we had no head-ons... AND back in town in time for brunch, then band rehearsal...

great stuff!! Hmm YZ250 you must have seen our teammate, the French enduro ace,,,,he better have been railing!! no slacking about!!

he was NOT railing... IF it was him, you need to have a talk with him... both times he was going the opposite direction as us, and was not on the main trails. Maybe he saw us, and we set off the "hack-meter" so he exited the throughfare, and just let us tromp on by...

[Zenosan 2]

remember to bleed the air out,,,and lately I strap down the bike to the trailer then bleed the built up pressure out, then upon unload and place on stand I bleed as usual, to balance to ambient pressure.

I don't go to that length, but do bleed my forks on all my dirt bikes.

Is the purpose of bleeding air pressure only for the tie down?

What pressure do you use when riding? My Husky manuals recommend a front fork air pressure of 10-12 lbs for normal dirt riding but not to exceed 17 lbs. No air pressure would be pretty soft.

[dirt dame 561]

What pressure do you use when riding? My Husky manuals recommend a front fork air pressure of 10-12 lbs for normal dirt riding but not to exceed 17 lbs. No air pressure would be pretty soft.

All modern dirt bikes are designed for running zero pressure and the caps are designed to only let air out. They do not come with shrader valves, just little screws that have rubber o-rings on them.

[Zenosan 2]

What pressure do you use when riding? My Husky manuals recommend a front fork air pressure of 10-12 lbs for normal dirt riding but not to exceed 17 lbs. No air pressure would be pretty soft.

All modern dirt bikes are designed for running zero pressure and the caps are designed to only let air out. They do not come with shrader valves, just little screws that have rubber o-rings on them.

None of them?

Even my Honda XL's and Yamaha XT have schrader vlaves in the frnt forks for adjusting preload, granted they are from the 80's.

[dirt dame 561]

None of them?

Even my Honda XL's and Yamaha XT have schrader vlaves in the frnt forks for adjusting preload, granted they are from the 80's.

Newer bikes suspension has become more sophisticated and dialed in, so that the spring rates, preload and damping systems should all be able to be dialed in without resorting to air pressure. I doubt that you will find one example of a major serious offroad machine made after the 90s, anywhere that actually has a shrader valve other than the one that's on the rear shock reservoir.

We used to add them to our forks in the 70s. Then they came stock on bikes in the 80s. Even then, it was better to dial in the spring rate and preload than to try to fudge with air pressure. Even back in those days, I used the valves just to get rid of built up pressure and used different rate springs and preload spacers to get the right ride height and resistance to impact.

I had really good luck with air shocks though, and used to run dual chamber Fox air shocks on my racing bikes. I loved being able to go to the track and dial the exact type of pressures that I needed for the type of track and how aggressively I was riding for that particular day. I used to carry a little air compressor that could go up to 150 psi and a t-bleeder gauge, so that I could dial the shocks in perfectly. Most of the time I ran 115 psi in the high pressure chamber and 65 psi in the low chamber on my KX250.

1979 KX250 seen here with Foxairshox. And, yes....it had shrader valves on the front forks too.

[robertaccio 412]

my 08 zoke 50s have a mini shrader valve covered by a rubber plug. I always worry about sucking air in so I leave the plugs in and have a system of popping them off and bleeding with a twig usually.

Run ambient pressure in your late model forks that is pretty much the standard, also I hit mine during the rides as well, when bouncing around as the heat builds the pressure rises,, after a blast around there always seems to be some excess pressure and the suspension change is noticeable after bleeding. Oh yeah fully extended is the standard, but sometimes on the trail I just pull the bars up and hit the bleeders.

As for the YZ guy if he was alone it was not "our" guy,,,,,our guy was tight in tow with a kato300 and for a while with 2 CRFx riders

[Zenosan 2]

That KX was a nice bike!

And I like those great looking boots too.

I am still in the habit of tweaking the air pressure in my front forks to adjust to the type of terrain I am in. I use a tire pump to add just a couple of pounds of pressure when needed. Also made most of my own preload spacers out of pieces of pvc pipe cut to whatever length I (or the weakened springs) needed. I didn't ride tracks, just open desert so the terrain varied greatly. I tended to run springs as long as I could by preloading them up with longer and longer pieces of pvc. I don't recall blowing seals that much. When they leaked they were usually worn out.

[dirt dame 561]

And I like those great looking boots too.

I'm pretty sure that those were Vendramini boots built for Kawasakiwear.