Motu
9th January 2005, 22:11
On another thread I'm muttering to Oscar about the rear shock I got for my bike,I'm not happy about how it's setting up,so figure I'll just go for a ride and see what it feels like....so I set it so the 'sproing' factor is sorta about right.I've also got a new rear tyre to try out,a Cheng Shin C755
My route is as follows,just a short ride - up the NWestern then to Riverhead,down through the forest and right at Ararimu Valley rd,follow Blackridge road to the seal,turn back and down Ireland rd to Forestry rd and on the main rd to Waitoki,turn right at Waitoko and head to Wainui,turn left at Haruru rd and head to Makarau,coming out on SH16 just by the white arch bridge,up SH16 and turn right on Kaipara Hills rd,onto the Kaipara Flats,then to Hoteo and Tauhoa - oops,I see seal at SH16 and head back the same route I came,ending up at Rosebank Speedway for the afternoon to watch the internationals riding.About 200kms worth.
The shock feels ok on the seal,and going along Ararimu rd on the forest side 4x4s dive along the large verges,and sometimes I do too,but they really cut it up and you end up in big trenches full of mud,fighting to get out of them - ok on a small bike,but the XT is a drag doing that.But I give it a go to see what my shock does - I can go along in 3rd,2nd with street gearing....hitting things I don't have time to avoid in the long grass and seeing what happens.Nothing too bad,didn't bottom,didn't send the rear wheel flying into the air,all in all it feels not too bad back there.
But this bike is mainly for me to ride gravel roads,it's what I do,so I concentrate on that,pushing the bike hard on all the gravel roads I can find in a short ride.I actualy had no problems with the old shock,I just wanted some dampening adjustment - I like to be soft on sealed back roads so the bike will float over dips and bumps at higher speeds,but firm on the rough sometimes just tracks I find in my travels.It's a TT shock that Peter had built up for his XT,apparently using YZ internals,has a dampening clicker and remote resivour,but he never used it...until he found some sucker to take it off his hands.So it did pretty well for a rough set up - a couple of times I did feel it almost toss the back up,and a couple of times it firmed up real quick,I'm thinking it may have just touched the bump stop.But it kept the wheel in contact with the road at all times,taking corrugations,pot holes,dips and everything else capably.
How about the tyre? I'm pleased there too - the Kenda K760 was ok,but lost performance very quickly,towards the end it had almost no brake control at all...it didn't slide on seal,but on big lean angles it would walk out on the knobs - each knob bends,then picks up the next knob,which bends,and so it walks out.On higher speed corners the whole bike would dance on the knobs,shaking and wobbling - these things never bothered me,but when you got to those points it was time to stop pushing,I had to be gentle.
The C755 is NHS...um that means illeagal,but my bike got a WoF they day before I fitted it,it's much rounder than the K760,feels much better on seal - actualy it's awesome on seal.This is a soft compound tyre and doesn't walk on it's knobs,I can take it right down,no chicken strips on this one,I had it sliding,so with more practise I'm gunna have fun.I couldn't hit the gas with the Kenda when the knobs walked,but this one can take lots of throttle,real early.On gravel it's even better,I can just push as hard as the bike can go,brake slides into corners...I can come up to an intersection with the rear wheel locked and sideways,checking out my options,nice and stable.That's normal,but the Kenda would take me into the ditch.The bike was looser,much more sideways,but not from loss of traction,just going faster I reckon.I was getting on the gas so much earlier,speedway style,toss it down and on the gas at corner entry,moving the bike under me,MX stlye - push the bike down,inside arm straight...even getting a bit like a rally car - a flick of the bars before corner entry to unsettle the rear so I can slam the gas on hard as soon as possible.The tyre is nearly totaled already,I've taken about 3mm off and all knobs are stressed.Yeah,I had fun.
I really had a fun ride,really pushing and getting almost all the bike had to give - ok,some young gun on a modern bike would clean me up,but I've been doing this since the early 70s and my pace on these roads is pretty good for an old fulla.I feel on top of the game,but you have to be really careful on these roads,sometimes it's just luck.Put up a black hawk,that was a nice looking bird,put up a hawk almost at my elbow,the road side vegetation was so close I was taking it across the face.The one thing that worries me that I can't control - is some wanker going fast and sideways in a car and meeting them mid corner - and today I met one!
At Makarau Station is an intersection with a river bridge and a rail bridge - as I come up to the corner some young clown in maybe a VL Commodore comes around sideways...then loses it! stuffing it into the bank on my right,he was still going into the bank as I went past,I didn't even slow down as I had it all sussed before I got to him.He had some mates in a Subby behind so didn't even stop.I hate to think if we had met somewhere else.
The Speedway was good,but was late starting because the boys rode at Gisborne last night - second race and the lap record was broken...under 59 sec,it had been held for some time too.So the new track is pretty fast,the infield had been moved out about a metre,so really it's longer.Had some quads there too,they were good to watch.All in all a good day - I could go on,but my fingers can't.
My route is as follows,just a short ride - up the NWestern then to Riverhead,down through the forest and right at Ararimu Valley rd,follow Blackridge road to the seal,turn back and down Ireland rd to Forestry rd and on the main rd to Waitoki,turn right at Waitoko and head to Wainui,turn left at Haruru rd and head to Makarau,coming out on SH16 just by the white arch bridge,up SH16 and turn right on Kaipara Hills rd,onto the Kaipara Flats,then to Hoteo and Tauhoa - oops,I see seal at SH16 and head back the same route I came,ending up at Rosebank Speedway for the afternoon to watch the internationals riding.About 200kms worth.
The shock feels ok on the seal,and going along Ararimu rd on the forest side 4x4s dive along the large verges,and sometimes I do too,but they really cut it up and you end up in big trenches full of mud,fighting to get out of them - ok on a small bike,but the XT is a drag doing that.But I give it a go to see what my shock does - I can go along in 3rd,2nd with street gearing....hitting things I don't have time to avoid in the long grass and seeing what happens.Nothing too bad,didn't bottom,didn't send the rear wheel flying into the air,all in all it feels not too bad back there.
But this bike is mainly for me to ride gravel roads,it's what I do,so I concentrate on that,pushing the bike hard on all the gravel roads I can find in a short ride.I actualy had no problems with the old shock,I just wanted some dampening adjustment - I like to be soft on sealed back roads so the bike will float over dips and bumps at higher speeds,but firm on the rough sometimes just tracks I find in my travels.It's a TT shock that Peter had built up for his XT,apparently using YZ internals,has a dampening clicker and remote resivour,but he never used it...until he found some sucker to take it off his hands.So it did pretty well for a rough set up - a couple of times I did feel it almost toss the back up,and a couple of times it firmed up real quick,I'm thinking it may have just touched the bump stop.But it kept the wheel in contact with the road at all times,taking corrugations,pot holes,dips and everything else capably.
How about the tyre? I'm pleased there too - the Kenda K760 was ok,but lost performance very quickly,towards the end it had almost no brake control at all...it didn't slide on seal,but on big lean angles it would walk out on the knobs - each knob bends,then picks up the next knob,which bends,and so it walks out.On higher speed corners the whole bike would dance on the knobs,shaking and wobbling - these things never bothered me,but when you got to those points it was time to stop pushing,I had to be gentle.
The C755 is NHS...um that means illeagal,but my bike got a WoF they day before I fitted it,it's much rounder than the K760,feels much better on seal - actualy it's awesome on seal.This is a soft compound tyre and doesn't walk on it's knobs,I can take it right down,no chicken strips on this one,I had it sliding,so with more practise I'm gunna have fun.I couldn't hit the gas with the Kenda when the knobs walked,but this one can take lots of throttle,real early.On gravel it's even better,I can just push as hard as the bike can go,brake slides into corners...I can come up to an intersection with the rear wheel locked and sideways,checking out my options,nice and stable.That's normal,but the Kenda would take me into the ditch.The bike was looser,much more sideways,but not from loss of traction,just going faster I reckon.I was getting on the gas so much earlier,speedway style,toss it down and on the gas at corner entry,moving the bike under me,MX stlye - push the bike down,inside arm straight...even getting a bit like a rally car - a flick of the bars before corner entry to unsettle the rear so I can slam the gas on hard as soon as possible.The tyre is nearly totaled already,I've taken about 3mm off and all knobs are stressed.Yeah,I had fun.
I really had a fun ride,really pushing and getting almost all the bike had to give - ok,some young gun on a modern bike would clean me up,but I've been doing this since the early 70s and my pace on these roads is pretty good for an old fulla.I feel on top of the game,but you have to be really careful on these roads,sometimes it's just luck.Put up a black hawk,that was a nice looking bird,put up a hawk almost at my elbow,the road side vegetation was so close I was taking it across the face.The one thing that worries me that I can't control - is some wanker going fast and sideways in a car and meeting them mid corner - and today I met one!
At Makarau Station is an intersection with a river bridge and a rail bridge - as I come up to the corner some young clown in maybe a VL Commodore comes around sideways...then loses it! stuffing it into the bank on my right,he was still going into the bank as I went past,I didn't even slow down as I had it all sussed before I got to him.He had some mates in a Subby behind so didn't even stop.I hate to think if we had met somewhere else.
The Speedway was good,but was late starting because the boys rode at Gisborne last night - second race and the lap record was broken...under 59 sec,it had been held for some time too.So the new track is pretty fast,the infield had been moved out about a metre,so really it's longer.Had some quads there too,they were good to watch.All in all a good day - I could go on,but my fingers can't.