Topics

46

General Two Stroke Talk / On Vital yesterday, someone said, "Today, Glen Helen just became... Nostalgic.."

« on: September 12, 2010, 12:34:20 PM »

Nice Try....

Pala looks like it has a great trampoline, a conveniant parking lot, and a nice grandstand, but there is no way it compares to a real shrine of motocross like Glen Helen, course wise...

They have bulldozered up some pretty good mounds for guys to ride over along with many more solid improvements and the track looks like the product of a lot of hard work, but there's just nothing about this track that really sets it apart... No signature feature. It lacks the singular quality of distinction.

The present face of pro motocross racing is graced by tracks with unique and storied features like Larocco's Leap, Henry Hill, Gravity Cavity, The Sky Coaster, The Sand Whoops, Carmichael Catapult, and so many more. It's not a hop skip and a jump from the population centers to many of the present rural tracks, but that is because most of their locations were chosen with the quality of the terrain as the #1 priority. There's just no way you can lay eyes on the likes of Steel City, High Point, Glen Helen, Broome Tioga, Millville, and even Unadilla and not recognize that fact immediately.

Unless I am mistaken, there seems to be a trend underway that points toward an increased focus on the quality and vastness of parking lots, routes of ingress and egress, and other kind of soul-less things that mean more to the business viability of the racing than the quality of the racing and fan experience itself.

"Change is good" is always on the lips of a salesman. What other choice does a salesman really have? But people have to be careful as they move and really understand where they are coming from, and where they are likely to end up. Think for yourself and don't rely on the salesmen for your opinions, whatever you do. That salesman has his own agenda and a list of motivations he'll never even hint at which have NOTHING TO DO with whats best for you, or "The Sport".

I'm sure there were many proud new owners of the Cadillac Cimmaron who swallowed the slick sales floor talk and glanced at their neighbor's Caddy from the year before with superior distain, maybe for a very short while...

As we trade Glen Helen for Pala, and also get set to possibly lose some other very important tracks of the outdoor series, I would sincerely suggest that we all take a careful look at what we're trading in and what we're driving home...

Thanks,

Jim

47

General Two Stroke Talk / Europe gets a jam packed fun to watch 125cc Class. Here we get the CRF150R Cup..

« on: September 08, 2010, 10:19:58 AM »

Several people on the Vital Forum were really shocked when MX sports announced the Honda CRF150 Cup Race. They wanted to know why? Why, with so many fans dying to see something like the the 125 class which has been so successful in Europe, we instead get something added to the race program that almost NO ONE is interested in?

The response from DC was along the lines of: "Get over it guys, it's just a 2 event exhibition class.."

After being at Steel City last week and getting a sense of the bull**** for myself, I wrote the post below to try to shake some of the bull**** loose and lots of people have gotten behind it. I dont' know why we are lied to and manipulated constantly instead of just getting a moment of sanity and reason from DC and some of the others behind the curtain, but it's coming to a head and people everywhere are getting sick of it! 

"AMA Mowercross! wrote: Yeah... That race was pretty lamestupidslowcastratedboring but at the same time... Maybe it was a stroke of GENIUS on the part of MX Sports...

It all boils down to profit and bladder control... Not working against each other like they do in a bar, but working as a team.

When MX Sports took over and began improving Motocross by doing things like eliminating the Glen Helen race and threatening to eliminate High Point and maybe even Steel City, they also realized that peope needed another bathroom break or two in the course of the race day program. They tried to give those bathroom breaks to the fans last year by staging the 2 stroke exhibition races, but it didn't work. People loved the 2 stroke races and lined the fences during those events cheering for John Dowd, Ricky Carmichael, and all the other great riders who participated. Because of all that fan enthusiasm, hardly anyone sprinted for the bucket booths as MX Sports had hoped, and the bathroom break plan for 09 failed...

Also, and perhaps worst of all, those 2 stroke races had the opposite effect on people than what was apparently desired. Instead of being a nostalgic goodby wave, they turned out more like a call to action and fanned the flames of a resurgence that was already underway. More and more people started checking out 2 strokes again after seeing those fast guys out there on those fast, light, and dependable bikes. Even with the announcers mentioning the word "Vintage" as many times as they could fit it in during the races, no one listened and the attempt to put a "Vintage" spin on the 2 stroke races failed... You can bet that most of the people who pony up the major money to keep the traveling show on the road didn't like that... not one bit. ***If you don't believe me just check into Fred Andrews Racing, who had it's Yamaha support pulled because it chose to compete off road with YZ250's intead of WR250F's to lower it's expenses. Yamaha pulled all support for the team despite race winning performances. It's not enough to be out there winning on a Yamaha, it had to be the 4 $troke Yamaha or nothing.***

So now, back to MX Sports and what to do about the perfect Bathroom Breaks?.... Maybe they thought about a lawn mower race.... No, that might be too redundant given the rest of the day's program... Then some guy asked about a 125cc support class for the up and coming racers, but we already talked about what the money bags in the industry think of things like that. And unfortunately it's those industry money bag people whose boots are planted on the necks of the guys who make these decisions and besides, if they put a full gate of 125s out there, not a drop of tinkle would sprinkle until it was over! Something like that would not make for a good bathroom break... What to do... What to do???....

THEN, along comes Honda with an idea... and they're carrying a fat wad. (No, not the CRF150R, I mean a fat wad of money!)

Here's MX Sports's chance to get payed not played homie! And they go for it of course.

Everyone involved gets a piece I guess, and the little baby elephant bikes parade down vendor row past the race fans on their way to the track. The commentary from the announcers is a cookie pie love fest as they talk about "The Future of MX" and all the glowing attributes of almost every kid's least favorite bike. (Paid Homie!)

The genius of this move by MX sports is that they gets PAID! homie.... AND the bathroom break problem is finally solved!

So, MX Sports gets Paid, we fans get 2 nice bathroom breaks one during qualifying and then one after the 1st WMX Moto, and Honda get's to run it's live infomercial, secure in the knowlege that ANY mechanical failure witnessed by people waiting in line for the bathrooms will be called a "Flat Tire" by the announcers. (Paid Homie?)

Every race is a bike commercial, we all realize that. This new Honda glaze just makes it painfully obvious, that's all.

Thanks,

Jim"

48

General Two Stroke Talk / OK, all set for a great race tomorrow at Red Bud! GO Project 250!!!

« on: July 02, 2010, 06:58:31 PM »

Hello Everyone,

Alright! Here I am at the Holiday Inn Express in South Bend, Indiana! The track's just about 15 miles up the road, and the weather is supposed to be absolutely perfect!

If I can get into the pits tomorrow without it costing an arm and a leg, I'll try to get some video of the Project 250 scene straight from the pits to share. If I don't go into the pits tomorrow, I'll still try to get all the footage I can get of Mike and the best bike on the track, bar none!

If there are any other "Project 250/www.TwoStrokeMotocross.com" fans going to the race tomorrow, reply to this email and let me know!

Thanks,

Jim

49

General Two Stroke Talk / To all who will be at Mount Morris... Let's pick a place and meet there!

« on: June 06, 2010, 10:09:23 PM »

Hey Everybody,

We may as well try to meet up to support Project250, and Brian Shuckhart if he's there.

Do any of you guys who'll be at the High Point race want to meet up?

I think it would be symbolic for us to arrange a time and meet up near the finish line jump!

Then again, it's probably more befitting my lifestyle to meet near that truck that sells the great steak fries in a cup!

Can any 2 stroke fans who will be in attendance at High Point reply to this post? We'll arrange to meet somewhere at the start of the first 450 Moto.

Thanks,

Jim

50

General Two Stroke Talk / 2010 2 Stroke Invitational?

« on: June 03, 2010, 11:25:21 AM »

Let me guess... It's not happening this year...

Anybody know for sure?

Thanks,

Jim

51

General Two Stroke Talk / Fellow Americans, treat yourselves to American Motocross presented by Europeans!

« on: June 02, 2010, 09:56:37 AM »

Don't get me wrong, that Luongo guy sounds like a real ****. But what kind of ass holes are WE, and the people who organize and present our national series???

It's just a week after the Hangtown round, the presentation of which can only be described as "Moe" streaming the video content to the internet, "Larry" running sound, and "Curly" struggling for the better part of a week to put some resuts up for people to look at.

Why can't our national series be presented this way? The GP series is a treat to watch! Sink your teeth into these delicious full-length motos, presented for free, and then wonder along with me why our national series comes off more like a garage sale than a national top level sanctioned racing series.

Maybe Alli Sports can show fans some mercy on this next round. Just cobble together whatever camcorder and camera phone footage they can and present it on YouTube. Nothing fancy, but at least we'd get to see it that same day!

Just follow the link below. All the Glen Helen USGP races are available to view.

http://extreme.com/mx-gp-2010/1012223/mx-gp-of-usa-mx1-race-1-replay

Thanks,

Jim

52

General Two Stroke Talk / Hey Guys, I need help over at Vital MX.

« on: May 28, 2010, 12:52:15 PM »

I posted over there about Sleeter and Hangtown, and 2 minutes after I did, Guy B is all over me already!

http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/MotoRelated,20/250-2-Stroke-Fails-To-Measure-Up-At-Hangtown,941529

Thanks!

Jim

53

General Two Stroke Talk / Four Sale.... Somebody?... Anybody..... Please?.....

« on: May 22, 2010, 08:58:43 PM »

You're right, JETZ.

Instead of copying and pasting the Vital MX thread, here's the link to it:

http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/MotoRelated,20/What-the-hell-is-wrong-with-used-bike-prices,933726

Thanks,

Jim

54

General Two Stroke Talk / The MX Media Hustle, The Soft Sell Technique, and the Hidden Agenda...

« on: May 12, 2010, 09:21:23 PM »

Hello!,

I recently found a WEALTH of great SX races on YouTube! I'll be posting a bunch of them here at the forum when I'm done with this post, but I wanted to put this up first because I was in stitches laughing at this stupid **** while enjoying all the great footage of Ricky, Chad, and some other greats like Hamblin! Lot's of fun!

But anyway, to the point! I could not help noticing the VERY heavy pro-4Stroke spin dripping off nearly every second of the programming... I wrote down most of the places in the video where I noticed a pronounced bias toward 4 stokes. These clowns are pretty slick and slimey, and the art of the spin is as much in what they don't say as what they do say, but in some places it's so blatant that you have to laugh. They're like buffoons on some dealership floor.

Check out how many times they praise the 4 Strokes, and completely ignore the 2 Strokes, no matter what kind of smack down they're putting on the field. There are SO many examples of it in just this short piece of video!

YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS BULL****:

What kind of corporately leashed goons do we have feeding us this bull**** river?

1. First of all, it's very interesting that ALMOST NOTHING that anyone does on a 2 stroke earns a mention of THE BIKE.... Yes, they blabber on and on about Chad and Ricky, (I mean how could they avoid doing THAT???) but, NOT ONCE do they name the BIKE Chad, Ricky, or any other 2 stroke rider is on....

If Ricky or Chad do something incredible and take the lead, for example, maybe the annoncer says something like "WOW! What an INCREDIBLE MOVE by Carmichael!" but any mention of his machine will be conspicuously absent. On the flipside, any mundane move by a 4 stroke rider seems to provoke the commentators to drape on all sorts of praise, and of course they also "Dutifully" recite the entire complete model name of whatever baby elephant the rider is suffering. "WOW!... Heath Voss just folded the kickstarter back out of his way on the BIG Yamaha YZF450!!!"

They carefully say things like "Honda C-R-F- 450 - R Four Stroke" and "Y-Z 450 - F Four Stroke" a few times.... but NOT ONE TIME do you hear anything like "Honda CR250R" or "Two Stroke" They never really acnowledge the 2 stroke bikes at all...

Does anyone else think it sounds weird? I think something was up, and I'm not afraid to say so. These ****s make it sound like the two stroke guys were doing well IN SPITE of their bikes, and anything that went well for a 4 stroke guy happened BECAUSE of his bike. It's ****ed up and totally unbalanced.



2. At 3:55 or thereabout - Ricky dusts off Heath Voss with ease going into the 1st turn, and the announcers go into some bull**** making it sound like Ricky was "Lucky" to come out in front of Voss.... Are you serious??? Of course they continue gushing about Voss, the 4 stroke rider, using the words "Big 450" and making references to all the horsepower the 4 stroke has as Charmichael buries the thing like a putrified baby elephant. They even make a nice little excuse for why the 4 stroke got dusted off, saying it was Charmichael's "Desire" that put him out front. Of course it WAS that, and his HONDA C-R- 250 - R Two Stroke ... Come on guys, they still have to pay you even if you name the bike, you just might not get the extra palm grease somebody must have been tossing around back then, that's all.... Why do you seem incapable of reciting the full model name of anything that's not a fart fifty? Seems a little fishy guys. What kind of cheese pile does a merchant have to drop to get an announce-a-tard to spin everything exactly as he's been instructed? Ahhhhh... Nothing like the smell of corporate slime....

3. At 5:00 or thereabout - Larry Ward, riding a Honda 4 stroke, gurgles lethargically into 3rd place, overtaking a guy on a yamaha who looks like he's on his sighting lap as he rolls the whoop section. The announcer's dutifully snap to attention and enthusiastically recite "Honda C - R - F - 4 - 40 - R" as they talk about the rider, and mention that he get's great starts. The whole time they are on the subject of this 4 stroke guy, both announce - a - tards have that sickening tone of fake enthusiasm that you sometimes hear from a drive through window attendant as they recite "The Specials..."

But then it get's BETTER!

At 5:09 - Clark Stiles, riding a Honda 4 Stroke, dumps the thing in a corner. After he drops a nut trying to get the thing stood up again without a chain hoist, he settles into the routine of trying to restart the baby elephant.

Nowadays, with the blessing of the 4 stroke era flatulating into it's second decade, the tv people have gotten a little more sophisticated. They all seem to know how to avoid showing the desperate struggle of a rider trying to restart a 4 stroke after a fall, a corner, or an incident of pulling the clutch in and having the thing just peter out when throttled off idle... But back when this was filmed, they didn't have that trick down good yet, so we see poor Clark kicking, and kicking, ..and kicking, ...and kicking, ..and .... kicking... We all know the sad sight of a poor 4 stroke rider trying to start his bike after a tip over... Quite often it's a desperate, sad, and  unrequited struggle that could tug some empathy from the hardest of men, kind of like an old person rocking on the bowl, trying to have a bowel movement.

They never do show him get the thing started but one of the announce - a - tards, desperate to keep talking about how 4 strokes rule and apparently thinking people are to stupid to notice the difference between a 2 and a 4 stroke, finally breaks in and says something like, "Clark Stiles # 47 on his Honda 250"....

Once again you have to ask, ARE THESE IDIOTS SERIOUS???  Anyone can see that the dead piece of **** on the track that can't be started is the much touted, raved about, Honda 4 stroke...

Do you guys think there is extreme bias present in the way these races are presented? I do!

Conspiracy.

Thanks,

Jim  



 

55

General Two Stroke Talk / What do you guys think about Steel vs Aluminum frames?

« on: March 15, 2010, 07:38:28 PM »

Hey Guys,

Over on the Vital MX forum where John and Dr. Sweden are discussing some things, I saw his most recent post where he seemed to feel that KTM may be remiss in not using aluminum for it's frames. I wanted to write to him when I saw that because I've been thanking god that not everyone uses aluminum yet. It has bad fatigue traits that are well known to engineers and really quite alarming. I tried to do my best to explain my point of view about it to Dr Sweden in the post below.

I'm curious about what you guys think of aluminum and steel frames.

Thanks,

Jim

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Dr. Sweden,

Don't be uneasy about a steel/chromoly frame. KTM is the last manufacturer offering you a frame that you will be able to count on for the long haul as long as you take care of it... There has been a lot of discussion about how the modern 4 stroke engines, which must run quite close to their failure thresholds in order to perform acceptably, are like time bombs. How much time is on the clock before the engine goes to pot depends on many variables, but inevitably in the end, damage and wear resulting from multiple repeated stresses will result in a sudden structural failure of one or more parts and quite often the engine fails in cascading fashion, just like a card house.

Aluminum is just one more pie in the sky for the manufacturers, kind of like an overly inflated and stressed 4 stoke engine. It is like a stopwatch ticking every time you ride or even sit on your bike, or do ANYTHING to apply a stress to the frame. Aluminum's lack of an "Infinite fatigue life" guarantees that after a certain number of stress cycles, your frame will fail.

The reason to be glad if you've got steel results directly from the characteristics of Steel vs Aluminum as they endure repeated loading below the point at which either will fail initially. "Fatigue Life".

Any bar of material has a "Moment of Failure" threshold, a limit load which will break the material in question immediately when applied. All of our motocross frames, no matter what type, are designed well beyond that point. Even Travis Pastrana shouldn't have to worry about that type of failure. He can rest assured that his head tube will stay where it should be, at least while he is doing anything even remotely concievable by the people who designed his bike. But if he's got an aluminum frame, that confidence would only be warranted while his bike was fairly new .....

I'm going on real long about this I'm sorry, and it's complicated, but let me try to explain it this way:

Say we have 2 brand new, equal, fully charged car batteries. One battery, we'll call "Steel" and one battery we'll call "Aluminum". A "Dead Battery" equalls a broken frame.

A "Dead Short" would be the equivelant of a single huge jump with Fat Albert riding, where the frame broke as soon as he landed.

For all of us smart enough not to "Dead Short" our battery with one huge application of force, our normal usage of our bikes could be likened to drawing different amounts of current from the batteries, and making different demands on them, to do different jobs.

Riding down a smooth straight for example, might be like... running the map and dash lights in the car. Blitz the woops = maybe, headlights or wipers or both. Make the doubles, = maybe same or maybe same plus you turned on the radio. The big stresses that are easy to see are like when you come up short and land on the upside of something you were trying to clear, or go too far and flatland, or things like that. Their draw on the "Battery" might be like if you idled the car and played a car stereo system like you see on "NJ Shore" as loud as it would go, with big amps drawing a lot of power..

At some point, as the demand for current increses a point of balance is reached where the demands placed on the battery and the recharging power from the generator are equal and the battery's potential remains static and constant as a buffer, further demand can surpass the ability of the generator to replenish the charge. After this point is surpassed, the battery will be drawn down by the excess demand until it's dead as a doornail.

Steel is great because it behaves kind of like a car battery with a generator recharging it. There is a level of stress at which it will break immediately, and you do your best to avoid that, (Don't ride off a cliff) but the GOOD news is that steel ALSO has a level of stress under which it aquires NO damage from cyclical stresses. A level of demand under which it does not lose any charge. This spectrum of demand is where steel has what's known as "Infinite Fatigue Life".

The reason why Aluminum is a little scary to me as a motorcycle frame material is that it has NO level of stress below which you are not damaging it. It's like using a car battery without the generator. If it takes 100lbs in the middle of a bar to break it, and you apply a relatively small fraction of that load numerous times, it will break after some number of load cycles.

If you had a very beefy steel frame, it would be quite possible that nothing you ever did on your bike would ever cause any stress cracking, and your frame could last you as long as you wanted to keep it. The break bomb theoretically never has to go off...

On the filpside, beefing up an aluminum frame would only add some length to the fuse.

And they're making it worse by trying to add some flex into those aluminum frames. By adding those highly touted points of flex to the frames, you concentrate the stresses and expedite the failure.

Maybe it's just me, but it just don't seem right.

Thanks,

Jim

56

Technical / To Ford328 or others who may know. Can anyone help with KTM oil injection?

« on: February 27, 2010, 09:21:15 PM »

Hello Ford or others who may know,

I'm really interested in fixing myself up a KTM dual sport machine based on a 200EXC, 250EXC, or 300EXC. Most of the process is surprisingly easy, but oil injection is VERY important to me when it comes to my ultimate 2 stroke dualsport machine.

I'm contacting you because I saw your post where you said you had been supplied with parts fiches including the part's to install oil injection systems when you purchased your own KTM's. I am extremely interested in finding out more about this.

In the past, while searching for info on Oil Injected KTM models, I found a post on a blog from some guy in eastern Europe who said he had a new 200EXC that came from the dealer fully Dual Sport capable, with all the necessary lighting equipment and oil injection. I know most of the world goes the opposite way where it comes to this, preferring to premix, but all my experiences with my older machines lead me to believe that volumetric oil injection is vastly superior at least for my intended usage. 

I was just at a local KTM dealer today, and I asked them about those parts but they said they didn't know anything. Then they hinted that I may possibly be able to find more about this kind of thing if I looked outside the USA. I wasn't surprised!

Can you help me?

Thanks,

Jim

57

General Two Stroke Talk / Is this a "Real" warning about malicious software? Or is it horse ****???

« on: February 09, 2010, 02:43:26 PM »

Hello All,

Today, I recieved an email message informing me that this forum's administration had sent me a personal message here on the forum. I logged in, checked my personal messages, and recieved the following message.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ForumTeamSupports
Novice

Posts: 0


 
   Important message from the forum administration!
« Sent to: Suzuki TS250/185 on: Today at 02:05:57 PM » Quote Reply Remove   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear, Suzuki TS250/185!

A virus alert was noticed on your computer.
We highly recommend you to check your computer and perform online virus check at our site immediately: http://security-tool2010.org/Suzuki TS250/185
----------------------------------------------------
Forum Administration twostrokemotocross.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have never been advised of malicious sofware this way before. I know Simple Machines is a GREAT system, but I don't think it could be catching things that my computer's considerable security software missed!

What'ya guys think? Is this legit or is it some auto-registration bot thing that going through the member directory and sending out bull****?

Thanks

Jim

58

Photos & Videos / Daytona Supercross 05 Advanced Technology 4 $trokes holding down the rear!!!

« on: January 03, 2010, 07:36:01 PM »

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/sports/watch/v6299261P5755fMp#