[Big Pappy]

Shockingly, the races were "on" on Sunday, so I got to take her out for the virgin race.

Ice condition not great since the lake had thawed and refrozen a couple times over the last weeks.

Results-

Oval Practice- Ran the front swaybar with no preload, mid-stiffness. Bike worked GREAT, could run high or low, passed people inside / outside. Felt really good.

TT practice- bike was AWFUL on the TT- pushed straight thru each corner was downright scary- even got passed by a guy on a 3wheeler. Decided not to run the TT since I didn't want to be a hazard to others / mess up their raceday.

Oval Open Quad class heat race: 5 of us, standing start. I didn't hit the start hard, but again bike was great, finished 2nd in the heat.

Pro quad- only three in this heat, again eased into it on the start, ran ok 2nd of 3. started to notice a push in the corners as the ice conditions worstened.


Went back in the pits- took some of the negative camber out of the RR, (was -5 changed to -2 to try to loosen up the bike- less bite on the rear), also preloaded RF tire with swaybar- didn't have scales, so loaded it 9 full turns and went one setting stiffer.

Open quad Feature- Wanted to get a better start so decided to go in 2nd, but killed it. Once it got it going seemed push was worse than ever. Instead of crossed up in the corners, I was still turning left, but bike wanted to go straight.

Pro Quad feature- didn't kill it, but missed the 2-3 shift AARRGGHH! Bike was terrible anyways with the push so likely couldn't have contended.


Observations-
1- bike was GREAT on clean ice.
2- awful on TT and on the chips/powder (tt track was not as fresh as the oval track).

I don't think that the push I'm having is necessarily unique to the ice conditions as the bike has always pushed- grass/gravel/dirt doesn't matter- even with the big layton swaybar. Any ideas? I was thinking of going wider on the front- will that cure it?

 

[traitor08]

Have adjustable front a arms?

 

[Big Pappy]

No, stock A-arms, lowered the bike with blocks that relocate the lower shock mount. I'm thinking that being narrower in the front is not good. The bike is 50" wide in the back with the ice tires and only like 47-48" in the front (I have to re-measure).

 

[Baxter]

You need differant settings for TT and Ovals. The TT races you need softer shock settings.
I have never used aftermarket swaybars front or rear ,so guessing that you made the xx too rigid. You need a little body roll to get the best out of the xx.
IMO !

 

[Big Pappy]

makes sense to me when I think back. Couple of times changing from right to left turn it almost popped me off the seat- was really wierd. Almost like there was so much stress on the swaybars as soon as wheels turned other direction it released all the energy.

Any thoughts on the front vs. rear width?

 

[Baxter]

The popping of the seat maybe due to either A) having the front end too low or B) Too much negative caster. Too much negative caster with me tried to throw me over the bars ,going into the corner.

As for width on the front compared to the rear . You can go +/- 2" and not have a problems. I raced the xx with 44" front and 49 1/2" rear widths in my first year of racing and never had any problems.