I have always been fascinated with MX tracks, mostly watching dirtbikes race on espn before I actually got into riding. I finally had the chance to ride a REAL track (not the half-crap ones you find in some riding parks lol) We rode at sunset ridge mx in walnut IL yesterday. It was a great experience, but damn those little 350 lb 450's are so much easier to toss around the track (especially nicely suspended/lowered ones!). There were only a few good riders there yesterday, two of which are my buddies who actually race A class (and one women who raced at nationals). I took out some stock honda 450's, but anyone with any experience put a pretty good whomping on me.

They are building a flat dirt oval at sunset, and I think the fat pig might make another trip to try that out (but def not MX again unless its a different track to try out!). I am more sore today than I have ever been in the past from riding, and that inclues week long trips to the dunes out west and florida.

I know a few of you in here race mx, and I really wish you the best of luck against those squirrely little 450's!

 

you cant expect to keep up with other racers on your first time....mx is hard..

practice and learn how to throw that beast around and get your gears straight and you will do fine.

dont get me wrong those little quads are alittle easier to move around but you should still be right there!

 

I love mx and agree this pig is out of it's element there. I have footage clearing tabletops and doubles and you can hear the people in the crowd making comments as I am going around. Usually it was something like " Holy S--t! Look at that guy!" "What is that?"
I was bottoming out a lot. Out of the turns I was wishing for much more low end torque.
15 minutes on an mx track is enough to make anybody who is not used to it, puke. Do it four to six times in one day and you are whipped.

 

whipped is what I am my friend... I could hardly turn off the alarm this morning, felt like I was coming out the deep freeze.

It was practice day and it was 15 mins per class (a/b/mini/quad) so we got to do 6 runs of 15 mins each = a LOT of work for someone out of shape!

I had no intention of keeping up with the guys (and gals) who actually raced, but knew I could at least keep up with the slower quads or the 450's with newer riders (which I did and was proud of, but im sure I had to work a lot harder to keep the same lap time they did!)

I really just did this for the experience, as I had never done anything close to this (except on small home-grown style tracks which dont amount to much, and it was usually just a few play laps at a time).

I heard they were making a dirt oval, so I am very excited for that, as I have my new lowering setup that would be perfect for that (thanks bellracing!)

 

would you be able to post any of this? There isn't too much ds jumping footage here, so more is always nice.

 

I wish I had pics of me from yesterday...I was nice enough (and tired enough...lol) to volunteer to lose 2 laps one of the rounds to take pics, but nobody else offered while I was riding!

 

If you remember back in April I totaled my DS coming off a triple into some giant whoops. If you look at 2 and 3 in my pictures that is taking off for a double and landing a small double. I cased a couple of times and it was not as ugly as I thought it would be. Some of the guys in here have really launched they're machines.

 

Trying to corner on the DS is a pain! It is so hard to move your butt around the seat. I have only MXed a few times and I have much more respect for the MX guys!

I just happaned to stumble upon this video the other day when searching for DS videos.

Seems to be all stock too from the sound and looks of it. Pretty impressive for a stocker and the size of the jump. Not bad.


https://http://www.gigashare.com/fil...20Apr%2005.wmv

 

^^ Link dosnt work. I think the majority of my problems would be solved with some elkas...but I cant afford new, and there are never any good used aftermarket parts for the ds on ebay (unlike the yfz/trx where there are tons of options for used). If I could have ZPS and lower the quad some, and be able to adjust the fronts I would be able to get the thing to corner a bit better.

 

Good suspension always helps a ton! Especially compared to the DS soft suspension. Roost, I would suggest either just biting the bullet for suspension or be patient and wait for some to pop up. Another cheaper alternative is to send your stock shocks to a good builder and have someone re do them. It depends what you want though, a machine that can handle with stiffer suspension, or a trail bike that is a caddy and will be very comftorable. You can not have the best of both worlds.

Oops, here is the video.

http://www.gigashare.com/files/embed...20Apr%2005.wmv





DS VIDEO (GOOD LINK)

I also found some decent pictures of a DS jumping, I will have to look for them again and post them later. I did not save those.