Gymkhana

tell us more about the dr ! imy buddy swapped a 435cc into his dr350 yesterday, and its a freaking HOOT !

the rear brake does a great deal of stability control (for me). try it, you'll like it, if your gearing is too high. if gearing is low enough, engine braking works great to smooth out entries.

if you want to take cones with you, toss some dixie cups in a napsack. ;-)

http://www.citybikerblog.com/2009/06/low-speed-trick/

More control.

I use the rear brake a lot. I used to roadrace 2-strokes as well as race a 2-stroke in the woods. But as for using it versus the clutch is going to be a learned technique. I do have to say that after watching Vulfy and his boiling rear brake I think there needs to be a balance. But what do I know this was my first time trying it and I was sloppy as hell and have no idea what I am doing.
I have a semi-ratty DR I built from a junk pile. With that it has some good parts on it. I bought a DR from someone who used it on a farm and had no papers it was rough. Rusty leaking fork seals, no front fender, headlight, gauges, and side covers. A friend was selling his modded DR so we swapped some parts and cash and I got from him, forks with springs and emulators in them, rear shock with emulator and spring, Keihin FCR-MX41, and some happy-trail luggage mounts. I found a titled stolen recovery frame and put it all together, and then Ebay and on here I got the rest of the parts. Only things I bought new were a seat concepts cover, Shinko 705's and an Acerbis tank that I got for half-price through an enduro racers discount.
It smoked really bad at startup and I needed to do valve seals. While I was in there I decided to do a piston. I worked for the JE distributor so I paid less than dealer cost for one.
After Saturday's session I tore it apart, changed the valve seals, and gapped the piston rings. Sunday morning when it was cold, I put it all back together and rode it a bunch. It rides good, but not insane.

I have a DR650 too and I have played around in a local parking lot. Avon Gripsters are great and you will reach the edge on the front before the rear. Regarding the brake, using it well with a heavy boot on is an acquired skill. At a certain point the DR seems to want to turn in by itself. Incidentally, a barbeque rack and bar end thingys will keep the blinkers from getting broken off if the bike falls over.

Regarding boiling brake fluid, it may have had moisture in the system. The correct silicone fluids don't appear to have the same moisture absorption or seal compatibility problems.

Yeah.... rear brake....

Well don't take me as an example. If you browse through this thread, especially the beginning posts, you'll see that I've had boiling issue on rear brake for quite a bit of time on my Triumph.

After a while I finally was able to ride without boiling it. It was a combination of better brake fluid and pads, better control of the bike, and augmenting rear with front brake, to take off some load.

So yes, it is definitely a skill related issue first, and equipment second.

In my own defense I must say that I'm still getting to know the SV650 so I am still a bit ham-fisted with it. Most of the time I'm reving it too high for the turns I'm negotiating, and I'm dragging the rear almost ALL the time, which I know I shouldn't be doing, thus overheating it much sooner.

I'm also really disliking front brake on this bike. It fades really quickly and just very spongy in general, plus I have to squeeze the lever almost 2/3 of the way before brakes start to bite in.

So in the end, on my part its a combination of skills and equipment. Need more time on the bike to be really comfortable on it (Gymkhana riding that is, on street its fine) and also need some minor upgrades such as better brake fluid, pads and maybe braided lines.

Rear brake is your friend in Gymkhana. Taking away power from rear wheel with the clutch is not very good, and makes bike feel limp. Rear brake tightens up the whole thing like a wound up spring, and when you do it right, it springs you out of the corner.

I had the same brake lever pretravel issue on my SV. Assuming you've evacuated all the air from the lines, calipers, and master, what is happening is the caliper piston seals retract the pistons too far back away from the rotors once the brake lever is released. From my research, this only affects some bikes, so asking around for help online was a huge exercise in frustration for me.

On most bikes, this is usually rectified with a new set of seals and/or a thorough cleaning, but my problem returned shortly after doing this. I can only assume some calipers have tolerance issues with the grooves that the piston seals reside in or maybe a funky run of seals is to blame.

A temporary fix is to "massage" the pistons in and out a few times to "reset" the seal grab point on the pistons. I finally got fed up with mine and installed a set of calipers off a CBR with adapter brackets. ZERO problems since. I'm super anal about brake feel so I just bit the bullet on this one.

Setting aside the pretravel stuff I mentioned above, the stock SV brakes shouldn't be mushy or fade all that quickly. My lever was solid once you go through the silly take-up zone. I'd make sure all the components check out first before doing aftermarket add-ons like braided lines to chase down a problem.

Hey, Vulfy

If you need performance parts (brake pads, braided lines, etc.) for your SV650 give Blair at svracingparts.com/ a shout. I've bought all the brake parts I've used on my DL650 from him, and his customer service is second to none.

i gave my vfr a full major service upgradin gall teh fluids to high end motul stuff, the dot 5.1 brake fluid is ment to have the highest boiling point of brake fluids. along with the 60% mix motul extreem coolant, i shouldnt have any heating issues

Thanks, just sent him a message.

After a few "kisses" of the knee to the asphalt a few sessions back, finally got to properly knee drag on both sides. Right side was much harder to get the knee down for some reason, but I persevered.

This pavement I'm on, just eats up the knee pucks that came with the pants.
I've been having so much fun, half of them already ground away.

Riding home chuckled at the idea that thinking to yourself, that you need new knee sliders after you just learned how to drag a knee, is about as cool as thinking that you need a box of condoms after you just lost virginity...

Pics or it didn't happen...



Now back to your regular Gymkhana programming.

Dirtkhana Up at my camp and hard to find a lot to play. There it's a gravel out in the back which is pretty packed down so I set up two courses and played in the dirt. Fun and a lot if sliding and drops. If I do it later pics this time.

More proof, not that it is kneeded, of the skills motogymkhana brings Vulfy. Nice.

My G/F was heading off tarmac straight towards a ditch recently. She had just done her first powerslide & was grinning at me rather than looking ahead. Uh oh, I thought, gonna be feet down turn struggling to hold the bike or a messy stop with the same consequence. Um, no. To my amazement she spun her head around like something from the Exorcist, dropped the bike on it's ear & did a perfect full lock u-turn with zero hesitation or drama.
Struck me as something your average joe rider would not be able to do. To be honest, something I probably could not do.

i have a particular skill set ive developed over a long time

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/B0hZ1KKpV54" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I see what you did there

"Back in the day" before knee sliders were invented we had to use duct tape to stop the leather from wearing right through, here is a shot of me at Brands Hatch taken longer ago than I care to remember, what a great bike that was



Now back to your regular Gymkhana programming. :d

Hope this rain goes away I cant wait to get back to another training session

Session this Saturday 07.06.
8am - 1pm

PM me if you plan on going, and I will send you the location and details.

Elsie!!

Great job today guys, great session, great fun.
For those of you who are not on Facebook and want your timed laps video, PM me here and I'll send you a Dropbox link.

A few photos of guys riding.


P1080280


P1080281


P1080288


P1080291


P1080293


P1080304

Thank you for putting this toguether, can't wait for next time