Michaux DS Aug 15th

[Bucho]

Bruce was out doing important scouting and trailwork for the upcoming dualsport. I was lucky enough to tag along and make sure he made it out of the woods.


This will be a cool section. Once a few loose logs are clear will be much more fun than the dirt road.

So much fun to legally go around the gate

[Bucho]

We scouted another section that may not make it into the official route, (unless its an option). There is a short spot in the middle where the trails disappears it gets a little sketchy for dualsports.

Was fun though

[smdub]

This was fun. Weather was great! Got to meet Megs Braap. Saw Sam before the start and said hello. Saw him again after and he said he had some bike problem part-way through. The BBQ at the finish hit the spot!
I had two fairly good wrecks in the last A section. Who put those two trees so close together? The 500 is too much bike in the annoying small rocks. Been a while since I've ridden it and geez does it have strong engine braking in 1st/2nd!

[Laoch]

I talked with SJ and his better half at Big Flat. Good weekend of riding. Graves Ridge (rock slabs) was good fun, as was Rattlesnake Ridge.

[smdub]

Shoot, missed you and SJ.

Graves Ridge were the (only) big rocks we climbed? (2nd to last A section?) Boy, there were a LOT of people spectating there as I turned the corner and looked up I made it up and across clean but stalled at the exit. WTF. I groaned at my stupidity and so did a lot of the onlookers. haha.

Which was Rattlesnake ridge?

Got the bars off the bike tonight to inspect the damage. The bar clamps/risers are fubar and the top triple will need to be machined flat again or replaced. I'll post pics soon.

[smdub]

Here is what happens when you try to ride through the V of a tree (hey, the trail went through there!) and its a bit too narrow for your bars to fit. My right bar clipped harder and send me down on the left side. This is the left bar riser/clamp (right side is also bent but much less). It got knocked back hard enough to extrude the aluminum down into the other triple clamp bolt hole. The bolt stretched at least a millimeter as there was a big gap under the front of the clamp when I picked the bike back up. As expected, this similarly 'dented' the triple clamp mounting surface and its no longer flat.

[Laoch]

Yup, Graves Ridge was with big rocks. I was probably one of the spectators. It was in my section, and we were up there watching and helping a good bit go the day. I run flag hand guards, they help me to slow down for tight trees.
Rattlesnake was the long downhill, C option, fun stuff, that popped out on pavement.
Looks like you hit hard.

[Firebolter]

I had two fairly good wrecks in the last A section. Who put those two trees so close together? The 500 is too much bike in the annoying small rocks. Been a while since I've ridden it and geez does it have strong engine braking in 1st/2nd!

Two words-
Auto Clutch

Makes the power useable anywhere, tames the engine breaking and you use less energy-

[smdub]

Two more words:
No thanks (somewhere SJ is cheering)

Rekluse doesn't stop engine braking until the engine is already at low rpm (where it doesn't have much braking anymore) or you blip the clutch (which is then inconsistent.) I've ridden a Rekluse. It's neat tech but not what I'm after. The slipper clutch in the 701 works better. Having been riding the 150 and 701 most recently I was actually surprised jumping onto the 500 again how different it is from the other two. I had not realized how good it must be in the 701 (though they could also be doing some e-throttle trickery to limit it too.) Wonder how a Hinson slipper would fare. Designed for supermoto but it's fully adjustable and doing the same function. I'm not likely to try anything though this was really the only ride its annoyed me. I just need to go a little faster right? I should probably dial in a more mild map in the GET ecu too. Forgot I could even do that. I just haven't been riding that bike enough to remember to fool w/ it.

I'll try to remember to mess w/ it before the Shen500. And install OGI Rogue grips. The stockers suck.

[Wingfixer]

Uhh, SJ has a Rekluse on every bike he owns...