It's called the "dB Snorkel" - reduces noise output by 3-8 dB, depending on how loud it was to begin with. http://www.thedbsnorkel.com/ Just got back a little bit ago - the bike ran great, I didn't have any real problems with it. I went down a few times, just little mistakes. I felt like I was riding pretty good, but my results don't show it - I got 16th place, out of 20 something, I think. So, I'm not real pleased with that, but not too unhappy, like I said I felt like I rode OK. If I felt like I rode badly and got that, I'd be more upset. I kind of felt that by the 3rd lap, I was starting to get the hang of the 2-stroke thing. I moved over for a faster rider and tested myself to hang with him as long as I could. Surprisingly, I was right there for a while - carrying more speed around turns and flowing better as I followed his lines. At that point, i was thinking too bad I couldn't have rode like that the whole race. I felt like I was able to control the light 200 XC-W much better than the heavy and turn-resistant 450. The little 200 turns on a dime, almost like it knows what I'm thinking. The 450 feels like it has to be bullied into turning. On the flip side, the 450 soaks up a lot of stuff on the trail that you never feel, but the 200 transmits a lot more that into the steering and it feels more twitchy. Overall, I feel like I have the potential to ride the 200 2t faster. I need some more practice on it, though. I'm still figuring out how to stay in the power, I know I was lugging it in a number of places, and I could really feel it when it got on the pipe. It's a hoot! There was one real long uphill that I thought was going to go on forever, that thing was steep and long and claimed a number of victims. Never got me, though, so I felt good about that. It was an awesome uphill, I loved it! I had to really work the 200 to get up it, though. I'm sure the video won't do it justice.
Glad you had a good race. Can NB Jr ride the 450 yet? U need to bring the 200 down to the Farm before U set it back up for Jr. That'll get ya used to it.
I knew you'd like the 200. For the vast majority of people, a 450 in the woods just takes too much concentration to not let the power get away from you.
Guys in my club love the 200 ! With my substantial girth, a 300 does me just fine. PS...ran my first race in 2 years a few weeks ago. It was an enduro, so racing more the elements than the fellow racers. I'll be doing the HS series this fall with my daughter, so can't wait !
My pleasure! There will be some photos coming, and the video as well. Unfortunately, all this video of late has chewed up a bunch of disk space, and I'm in the middle of adding more space and transferring the system to the new drives. So it may be a day or two before I get this train back on the rails, then get the video downloaded from the camera, converted, edited, uploaded, and finally posted. I hope it turned out well and I don't look like too big of a spode.
I remember you mentioning that, did you post up a report? I don't recall seeing it. If so, please point me to it, I enjoy reading about others' racing experiences as well.
here, just go get this and be done with it if you dont have at least a Terabyte nowadays, yer just messing around http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154426 im not saying to use this to run your machine on, but its great for backups. I have a few of these, they are great.
Whoa, don't do that EP. Keep at it. Within a few rides, you'll learn to pay just enough attention to it to: 1) turn it on 2) hit the start button 3) occasionally and almost by reflex reach up and wipe the lens free of roost But other than that, I'm now totally oblivious to it even being there. Most definitely DO NOT ride thinking about getting good video, that's the quickest way to crash. It's the helmet cam equivalent of a continuous "hold my beer and watch this." Seriously, though, keep at it, I'd really like to watch - I love the helmet cam perspective.
if there was so way that I could just start it while I gear up or something then I would just forget about it, but because it only records for about an hour Im constantly trying to start it at the last minute bla bla bla. Plus the Go Pro I borrow isnt the fisheye version, so not only is it more zoomed in, it appears more shaky so its not even that fun to watch - it makes you car sick! im just going to worry about getting grip for awhile....
To say I was a little concerned about the race conditions for the day is a bit of an understatement. This was the weather as I was driving to the race venue, not 10 minutes after I left the house. Thunder, lightning, wipers on the high-speed setting just to be able to see ... was not looking good. But I kept going. This is hare scramble racing, after all - the elements are part of the experience. But as I got closer and closer to the venue, patches of blue started to appear. And as I neared, the beautiful blue sky dominated, dotted with wispy white clouds. This was a welcome change from the conditions I left this morning. I got there and unloaded. I was alone this trip. My buddy Jeff who rode with me at Brushy stayed home, said he had to work early on Monday and couldn't make it. Turns out he actually bought a new bike. Tarheel Wheeler who went with me to Flat Rock, stayed home as well. I went to sign-up and got checked off the list, got my handlebar punch card, helmet stickers, etc. Then settled in and watched the Pro/AA/A rider start, and took the opportunity to walk the track a bit to get an idea of what was in store. This is a shot of the start area from above on the MX track which would be incorporated into the course. The start is near the treeline and parallels it, running directly toward the trees in front to make a hard 90 degree turn there, and where the channel then narrows to 1.5 bikes wide and you have to duck under a bridge, make another sharp rutted up right hander, and then off into the woods after passing through the scoring tent. We bypass scoring at the start, but are routed through on subsequent laps. This is Alan Champion, President of the series, counting down the starts. "15 seconds!" The first few turns are always harrowing. Getting a little sideways: I think this is my favorite shot: Near the end of the lap, the trails criss cross, and at that junction they have a bridge to go over. This is the same bridge we have to duck under at the start, and on subsequent laps. After that, we enter the old-style MX track, then get routed back around through the scoring tent, and on for the next lap. Post race. The 2-stroke was interesting. Like I mentioned before, I feel like I could be faster on it, but like anything, it would take some practice to get used to the differences. I felt like I was starting to figure things out by the 3rd lap. I felt more in control, better able to place the front wheel where I wanted, better able to turn it on demand without having to have previously set up for it. With the heavier 450F, it seems like I need to plan further ahead and already have to have my body in position well before I make a maneuver. With this light bike, that setup time was reduced, it seemed, I felt like I could make it do what I wanted much more quickly. Being lighter made it a bit more twitchy, though, and I felt every bump and jolt, every braking bump, rock, rut, and log. It was a pretty rough ride. But I give it a thumbs up. Oh, I think the throttle cable is a bit too tight, on the rough downhills where I would like to be standing on the pegs, the bike would be bucking around underneath me, and as I gripped the throttle with the front coming up and down over the rough stuff, it was blipping the throttle each time and really freaking me out! It felt like I was going to whiskey throttle off into the trees. That forced me to slow down to avoid that. Definitely need to adjust that cable. Neat clouds on the way home.
To prove I actually did race this race, and didn't just drive up there, unload the bike and take photos , here's a couple shots of me by one of the local photographers during the race: This one is just coming out of the woods after going over the bridge and just getting on the MX track, this was on lap 1, I think: A little later a ways around the MX track portion, I think this was around the 3rd lap of the race:
While it was not as wet, some places were still very slick. But it was really chewed up and very rough. By and large, though, the conditions were good - I'll race a track like that any day, no problems here. It's taking my computer forever to convert the video format of this new camera. I'm not sure this is going to work out in the long run. The first clip is converting in Final Cut Express - it's been running for several hours already, and is claiming 14 hours to go. I have three of these clips, so ... it might be a while. I may have to abandon FCE, it really kind of sucks in this regard. And there doesn't appear to be anything I can do to speed it up, short of dramatic loss of quality, which would eliminate the whole point of getting the new camera in the first place. If anyone has any recommendations for video editing software on the Mac that will take High Def MPEG4 natively ...
That's North Carolina clay - it's great dirt! Slick as all get out when sloppy wet, but when just a little damp, finer soil for dirt biking cannot be found.