Nelson Beach races are on Sunday 3 January 2011 - The adv class.

[warewolf]

at about 150km/h, & headshaking violently

Like I said, do everything you can to set it up for stability DAMHIK

if the KLR can pull 150km/h in 800 metres on sand then I will go away a happy chappy. Come to think of it 150km/hr is hard to achieve on seal.

The 200 was maxing out at 140-ish within 200m, hard to say, it didn't seem like much of the length, but even using the last 100-150m for braking it'd still spend a heckuva long time at max speed. It will definitely be interesting to see how the big beast/s behave. I'd be curious to see if, due to wheelspin, they'll hit top speed sooner (and lower) than on the tar.

Take along a few different sprockets if you have them, so you can experiment. You may want to gear up if you are redlining in top, or gear down if you can't.

[JATZ]

I really should stop reading this thread....... I'm almost tempted

But I know how far I could get if I spent the entry fee on gas and went for a ride

[Padmei]

Like I said, do everything you can to set it up for stability DAMHIK
.

Apart from lowering or increasing tyre pressure & getting a steering damper what else could you do? Slow the rebound right down?

I really should stop reading this thread....... I'm almost tempted

But I know how far I could get if I spent the entry fee on gas and went for a ride

You could ride out there & cheer us on. (& bring an entry fees worth of gas for us to burn doing something absolutely meaningless, potentially dangerous & hopefully fun)


I reckon I'd max out easily at 145 -150 by halfway down the straight. The pick up is a lot better after the mods. I was keen on having a drag race from standing start along Anatori beach just to see how the different bikes compared but everyone looked meekly away.

[NordieBoy]

The 200 was maxing out at 140-ish within 200m, hard to say, it didn't seem like much of the length, but even using the last 100-150m for braking it'd still spend a heckuva long time at max speed. It will definitely be interesting to see how the big beast/s behave. I'd be curious to see if, due to wheelspin, they'll hit top speed sooner (and lower) than on the tar.

I'd expect the DR to hit 150 in around 400m in perfect conditions.
With the same gearng I'd expect about 130 on the sand. Plenty enough for me.

[Padmei]

Actually I think I'll be quietly shitting myself & not looking at the speedo

[NordieBoy]

I won't be quiet.

[dino3310]

I really should stop reading this thread....... I'm almost tempted

Go on mate ya know ya wanna

Apart from lowering or increasing tyre pressure & getting a steering damper what else could you do? Slow the rebound right down?

fill the tyres with water, thats what farmers do with there tractors

[Woodman]

800 metres (eight hundred). There was me visualising 80 (eighty) metres.

You won't regret it Jatz. The adrenalin buzz just waiting for the flag to drop will make it worthwhile, not to mention passing someone.

[warewolf]

Apart from lowering or increasing tyre pressure & getting a steering damper what else could you do? Slow the rebound right down?

Lengthen the wheelbase & rake out the forks: remove rear spring preload to make the rear squat, lower the fork tubes down the triple clamps as far as possible, add links to the chain to get the rear axle sitting as far back in the swingarm as the adjusters allow. Replace floppy high front mudguard with low firm one - or shorty supermoto one.

As far as suspension damping goes, I'll have to consult my notes (and Colliedog - he made dramatic improvements to Wazza's G450X last year) and get back to you.

[cooneyr]

MattsDakar and I had a drag on hard pack gravel with a loose sandy top over the weekend. From the GPS on my 950 I got two segments of interest. I reckon that Matt on his XR650R wasn't far behind.
Length 54 m Time 0:00:03 Average Speed 65 km/h
Length 59 m Time 0:00:02 Average Speed 106 km/h

It seems to me that your likely to be well over 100kph in 5 sec and will only have travelled about 100m. I'm sure somebody can work out the accel rates from this but I can't be naffed. I had a a half worn E07 and was spinning it up for most of that. Matt had a new E07 and was also spinning for a fair bit of it and wasn't too far behind. No wheelies for either of us so traction not that good. On wet sand with a good knobblie I'd have though that you could easily better that if you can keep the front wheel down.

[NordieBoy]

The Nordie did a 14.1 standing quarter at the drags with a terminal speed of 145kph.

[Woodman]

Lengthen the wheelbase & rake out the forks: remove rear spring preload to make the rear squat, lower the fork tubes down the triple clamps as far as possible, add links to the chain to get the rear axle sitting as far back in the swingarm as the adjusters allow. Replace floppy high front mudguard with low firm one - or shorty supermoto one.

As far as suspension damping goes, I'll have to consult my notes (and Colliedog - he made dramatic improvements to Wazza's G450X last year) and get back to you.

Ok, maybe I am overthinking this but here goes.

Can we run with no front mudguard?

My theory re damping is that as little as possible would be best for better grip. If my klr has too much damping the rear is all over the show presumabely because it is taking longer to get back on the ground again, so in a straight out race on sand I need as much of the weight (me and bike) going through the shocky onto the rear wheel. Same with preload, surely if the spring is softer then the wheel is more likely to lift off the ground. e.g. if the rear of the bike squats then theoretically the rear wheel is more prone to moving towards the bike and not the ground.
So in conclusion I need max preload and minimum damping, and as long as I can hang on this should be quicker.

Of course i could be wrong, but am going to run this combination at least for the first race.

Also if I put lots of air in my forks then this should have a tendency to lift the front wheel off the ground under acceleration therefore putting more weight on the back. Sorta like how drag cars are set up.

[Padmei]

Man this is getting really techy now. I just gonna plead ignorance & hang on like fcuk

[NordieBoy]

Ok, maybe I am overthinking this but here goes.

Can we run with no front mudguard? - Yep, but there's going to be a lot of sand coming off the front wheel at you then.

My theory re damping is...
Of course i could be wrong, but am going to run this combination at least for the first race. - Yes and go for it

Also if I put lots of air in my forks then this should have a tendency to lift the front wheel off the ground under acceleration therefore putting more weight on the back. Sorta like how drag cars are set up. - But they have a leetle more horse power...

Drop the back end a bit via preload adjustment and that's about all I'd change.
On the DR, I'd just move the shock to the lower position. It'd only take 2 mins. Just to make it a bit more stable.

[Padmei]

Does anyone in Nelson have a spare set of 22mm bars lying around that I could borrow for the race. Mine are bent with a crack so may not pass scrutineering.

I have tried to get some Renthal enduro high bars but there are none in the country so I will have to wait for the new year or more probably get from OE. i tried some others but they aren't as high as I want & I don't want to spend money on low bars.