The anything thread.

[blitz11]

I hope to never experience target fixation on the street. I'm very fortunate to have more off road experience than paved. Your eyes are constantly looking for the clearest path to get through. On the pavement there is a lot less obstacles to worry about. That video was disturbing.

Also I used to tape the bottom of the kids goggles so they were forced to keep their eyes up when riding. My wife though it was nuts until she saw them riding faster. They were only 8 and 10 at the time and only needed it the first season of riding. By the time they moved into a KX 65 and KX100 they were much faster than most other kids that were still riding the "front fender".

Dang it! The tape at the bottom of the goggles is brilliant. I'd ride behind my daughters and remind them "Head Up" 'cause i could see them looking down at the ground. They became sick of me reminding them (ok, yelling through the helmet) and then started looking up.

That was a great idea.

 

[Sierra1]

the first and third rider, they have it ..... but the second rider, if only he had released the rear brake a second earlier, it was to applaud him

View attachment 77946

Amateurs.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Dang it! The tape at the bottom of the goggles is brilliant. I'd ride behind my daughters and remind them "Head Up" 'cause i could see them looking down at the ground. They became sick of me reminding them (ok, yelling through the helmet) and then started looking up.

That was a great idea.

Thank you it was passed on to me by an article I read years ago in MX Action magazine. . It really does work.

Whatever you do don't give the kid a bike, put it in first gear and remove the shifter. I saw a guy that did that and by the end of the first hour the poor boy was screaming his XR100 around with the throttle pinned.

I am pretty darn good at setting up dirt bikes for beginners. I drop the countershaft sprocket 1- 2 teeth, heavy flywheel, a few larger on the pilot and raise the needle on the carb where it runs super rich at the top end. It puts the power into mellow mode. Those little KX 65's and KX 100's can go over 50 mph with a little one on board.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Here is an oldie but goody!! I laugh so hard every time I watch this!! The kid: "Get out of here they're going to beat our......"

 

[Sierra1]

And, I reiterate.

 

[VRODE]

I hope to never experience target fixation on the street. I'm very fortunate to have more off road experience than paved. Your eyes are constantly looking for the clearest path to get through. On the pavement there is a lot less obstacles to worry about. That video was disturbing.

Also I used to tape the bottom of the kids goggles so they were forced to keep their eyes up when riding. My wife though it was nuts until she saw them riding faster. They were only 8 and 10 at the time and only needed it the first season of riding. By the time they moved into a KX 65 and KX100 they were much faster than most other kids that were still riding the "front fender".

I wish I knew this trick when I was younger. Bad habits learned in the dirt took a long time to break on the street.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Here is an oldie but goody!! I laugh so hard every time I watch this!! The kid: "Get out of here they're going to beat our......"

That's the reason I am done riding Tail of the Dragon. Just don't trust the guy coming the other way to hold his line.

 

[ballisticexchris]

That's the reason I am done riding Tail of the Dragon. Just don't trust the guy coming the other way to hold his line.

Thank you for that advice. I always wanted to ride that road but was wondering how spooky the oncoming traffic is.

 

[Tenman]

learning to ride in the dirti first. Can be a hide saving bonus.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Thank you for that advice. I always wanted to ride that road but was wondering how spooky the oncoming traffic is.

Plenty of equally fantastic (and nearly empty) roads in that area. Riding the Dragon on a weekend is far beyond my comfort level. Tuesday morning before 7am is fine. Otherwise this tourist road gets downright scary.

 

[Sierra1]

learning to ride in the dirti first. Can be a hide saving bonus.

Haven't most of the pro superstars started in dirt? I think I remember reading that decades ago. . . . was surprised at "who", and how many.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Haven't most of the pro superstars started in dirt? I think I remember reading that decades ago. . . . was surprised at "who", and how many.

Kenny Roberts comes to mind.

learning to ride in the dirti first. Can be a hide saving bonus.

How very true. A typical street rider is relying on 100% traction. In low traction or traction loss situations dirt training comes in handy.

 

[Checkswrecks]

That's the reason I am done riding Tail of the Dragon. Just don't trust the guy coming the other way to hold his line.

The Dragon once was a great road but is now just painful s-l-o-w with the traffic volume, Harley cruisers, cars, whahoos, 1-2 inevitable patrol cars . . .

As Dirt_Dad said there are plenty of other great roads in the area though and then you can stop at the store for stickers, T-shirts, see the bike collection, what's new on the Tree of Shame, and lunch.

 

[EricV]

If you want to experience the Tail of the Dragon, just do it mid week and early morning and it's fairly empty. I find no appeal in that road myself, but the BW has done it in the last year or so on a solo trip. She had a positive experience riding it mid-week around 9am. The weekend is when it gets really packed with the dumbass crowd and most of those don't get up early since they were drinking late the night before. The mid-week crowd is mostly older tourists from what BW said and not the younger riders.

In all honesty, that road is more fun on a smaller bike than on a larger one. The speed limit is 35-45 for most of it and it's just as boring as interstate on a big bike since you can never really get up to speed and there isn't anything to see besides the trees. I've ridden many roads in that area that are much more scenic and enjoyable w/o any crowds.

 

[blitz11]

Kenny Roberts comes to mind.



How very true. A typical street rider is relying on 100% traction. In low traction or traction loss situations dirt training comes in handy.

Nicky Hayden had some dirt-track skills, as do his brothers and sisters.

I ride dirt bikes, but what keeps me "sharp" is bicycle commuting in the winter here in Bozeman. Roads are often icy, and even with studded tires, you don't have very good traction. The biggest weirdness is with a rigid fork and rear triangle; you feel every loss of traction / slide. (That's often masked by the suspension on the dirt bike.) Going from winter riding to dirt/street is easy, and you don't have to "relearn" how to ride. It also helps keep me fit.

 

[PhilPhilippines]

Thank you it was passed on to me by an article I read years ago in MX Action magazine. . It really does work.

Whatever you do don't give the kid a bike, put it in first gear and remove the shifter. I saw a guy that did that and by the end of the first hour the poor boy was screaming his XR100 around with the throttle pinned.

I am pretty darn good at setting up dirt bikes for beginners. I drop the countershaft sprocket 1- 2 teeth, heavy flywheel, a few larger on the pilot and raise the needle on the carb where it runs super rich at the top end. It puts the power into mellow mode. Those little KX 65's and KX 100's can go over 50 mph with a little one on board.

I agree wholeheartedly with the others. The tape is an excellent idea. As I've said before, my biking ability is suspect but invariably I have found when coaching drivers that they get immeasurably better as they put their eyes on high-beam. One of the single greatest safety tools is a well-developed visual scanning process.

 

[fac191]

The Racers who were from a dirt track background really came into their own riding the big 2 strokes as they were steering with the rear wheel.

 

[Sierra1]

Found this song the other day. It's mainly for my US brothers. But, the song's sentiment, loving one's country and those that have defended it, is international.

 

[ballisticexchris]

"You can’t ride slow and out of balance at the same time, you will fall over. Riding slower forces you to be in balance. Speed masks balance and bad things happen."

JLR Off-Road requires that all bikes used in the class have knobby tires. That means an open block design that is not a “round” or so-called 80/20 tire. This is for your safety because no matter how good of a rider you are if you can’t get traction, you will crash.

Jimmy Lewis

 

[MFP]

Nicky Hayden had some dirt-track skills.
View attachment 77979

And so did Bubba Shobert:

Flat Track, Superbike, Grand Prix....