cOoTeR

The one on mine is definitely a golden bronze color on the outside and silver inside.

When I rebuilt my 05 crf450x I don't remember seeing any coating inside of there. I might not have paid aby attention to it but I'm pretty sure it was the same color inside and outside. Did someone powder coat it?

I've started racing supermoto recently. I'm planning on doing some races out of state this year in addition to racing in the local series here. I really want to go and race at the AMA race in Sturgis South Dakota. Some of the guys I race with use hookit and I've heard mixed reviews. Some claim it's the best thing ever and others say that most of the discounts you get off it don't beat regular online prices. So is it just a waste of time or can it actually help offset the cost of racing some?

One thing that can help with pushing rounds low and away is to put a spent case balanced on the front of the slide while dry firing. If it falls off you haven't been smooth enough. Another thing you can do is place a piece of tape on the wall and aim in on it while dry firing. At the range a nice drill that works is putting postage stamps or small stickers on something spread out by about 5-6 inches. Starting about 5 yards out try to shoot them. As you get proficient move the distance out. It'll improve sight alignment and smooth trigger pull. If your flinching you won't hit them.

The 2017 AMA supermoto schedule has been announced. April 8 Kern County Raceway Bakersfield CA May 6 Musselman Honda Circuit Tucson AZ August 5-6 GP3R Trois-Rivieres Quebec Canada September 16th Downtown Sturgis SD October 7 Five Flags Speedway Pensacola FL. I'm 100% doing the Tucson race and I'm really wanting to do the Sturgis race. It'd be pretty cool to meet up with some of my old Ohio cohorts. I live 40 min away from the Musselman Circuit so if anyone is coming out I might be able to let you use a spare room as long as your not a complete douchebag. The Sturgis race is literally 1 mile closer to my old house in Ohio than it is to my current house. This is my first year doing any real motorcycle racing and I'm having a blast. At our last local series race one of the pro supermoto racers came out. It was pretty impressive to watch him lap everyone. I can't wait to see more of these guys racing first hand.

We had another race today. During practice I tried working on the advice given and the things Ken Hill talks about in the podcasts. My goal for the day was to improve and get more comfortable on the bike. I worked on where to release the brakes and get on the throttle trying to minimize my time at neutral throttle. I worked on trying to improve my exits. I worked on telling myself to move my eyes (a lot, I was surprised how many times I had to remind myself to move my eyes more). I tried to work on smoother inputs and the first and last 5% but I often forgot that. But I could tell that I was getting better and more smooth with each lap. Everything I was working on took less and less thought with every lap. Before long I feel I will become a lot more competitive. I was able to move up to 2nd in the points today as well. My friend that was sitting comfortably in 2nd had been giving me shit after the practice rounds for being significantly slower than the experienced riders even though I had just gone to the socal supermoto school. During the heat race I was still working on improving and not focusing on trying to push myself to go faster. He took a different approach and tried chasing faster riders. He crashed out 4 or 5 laps into the heat race. He hurt his leg and broke the reservoir for his front brake fluid. He couldn't even start his bike because his leg hurt to bad to kick it over even if his brake fluid wasnt leaking. He wasn't able to make the main race and didn't get any points for the day. After he realized I surpassed him in points he didn't have much more to say. Hopefully I can keep improving and hold him off for the rest of the season.

I checked out the sportbiketireservice.com website. Doesn't look like they have supermoto tires in stock. I also checked out the Michelin RS tires there because im building a set of street rims to use on the street. But when I click to add the tires to my cart the price doubles when I select the size. Hopefully it's just a glitch with the pricing because I'm not paying $300+ for a tire with a msrp of $200.

The series I race in as well as the ama supermoto series allow motocross gear. Most road race style gear is designed for long high speed slides as the priority. The leather race suits have really good impact protection but the boots are lacking impact, bend and twist protection if your doing any off road or improper leg out riding. With the leather suit that is designed for elbows in and leaned forward riding position once you start getting tired you'll notice how much you're fighting the suit to be in proper supermoto body position. Overall leather suit offers more protection but will wear you out faster. The boots are just the opposite motocross style boots are more protective but less flexible so you lose comfort. (I wouldn't recommend taking brand new motocross style boots to the track either. Especially if you aren't used to them. When new they are really stiff and hard to shift and use rear brake.) About 90% of the guys I race with wear motocross style gear to race in because on the small kart tracks you move a lot on the bike and aren't going as fast as on an open track. The MX gear is sufficient and more conducive to proper body position. A majority of the AMA supermoto racers also ride in MX style gear. I'm currently racing in my leather suit and road race gloves with an MX helmet and boots. My street helmet wasn't comfortable with going over the jumps. My shoulders get really tired pushing my arms forward against my leathers to be in the proper elbows out position. So I'm in the process of buying MX gear. All I need now is the outer layer. Basically it boils down to track requirements and what your comfortable with. When I ride street I'm going to wear leathers with MX boots and an adv style helmet. If you want some pointers check out the YouTube videos of socal supermoto school. The ones about instruction are basically what they teach at the school.

Awesome I'll check him out. Thanks.

Ok I'm in need of some new race tires for my supermoto. I'd like to go with a set of Michelin power supermoto race tires since they have the supermoto tread for dirt sections on front and rear. My second choice is the metzler racetec supermoto although the front doesn't have the supermoto tread. I'm not aware of any other supermoto specific race tires other than these two. Ive only been able to find 1 guy selling the metzler and can't find the Michelin in Stock anywhere. I checked with riders discount but they don't sell race tires.

It might not be a bad idea to get a hold of the organizers and let them know your going to be on a supermoto. Maybe they can pair you up with a control rider that has supermoto experience. Also that way the control riders can have a heads up that your going to be out there on a supermoto. It shouldn't be a problem at every track day there is someone there that's slower than everyone else and everyone works around everyone else to keep it smooth and safe. The only trophy your going to bring home from a track day is your bike in the same condition you brought it there in and that has nothing to do with being faster but everything to do with being safe.

Let me know how it goes?

Ok thanks, the way he was talking about it seemed like it was the corner itself that determined the type it was. What does he mean when he's counting out numbers 1-5 and 5-1 when describing the first and last 5% of braking? I understand getting on the brakes initially at 5% of brake contact to settle in the suspension. I'm assuming the last 5% is also referring to brake contact to unload the suspension in a smooth manner and not the last 5% of braking distance correct? I'm at a loss when it comes to the numbers he's counting out is it the speed the brakes are applied and releases or how the pressure is applied?

I've been listening to those ken hill podcasts but some of the terminology he uses is beyond me. The 2 biggest ones that get me are the corners (entry and exit) and when he's talking about first and last 5% braking and discribing them as being 1,2,3,4,5 (quickly for first 5% braking) then 5,, 4,,, 3,,, 2,,,,,,1 (slowly for last 5%). I jumped to the later podcasts about the entry and exit corners. He talks about identifying them by "what they have to offer" more deceleration zone or more acceleration zone. I don't understand how to identify that. Also he mentions picking a point to get off the brakes and work backwards from there. How do I identify the off the brakes marker? Can someone dumb this stuff down for me a little please?

Thanks guys.

What size/model ktm do you have? My biggest concern would be if the motor could handle being as high in the revs as it would be on a track like midohio if it's one of the dirtbike supermotos. My crf 450 supermoto tops out at 90 mph and would be topped out pretty quick on the straight of Mid-Ohio. Might be an issue coming into that turn at the end of the straight with other bikes doing almost double that coming up on you. The top of the bike leg out style seems to work best with a slower later entry and early gas tighter exit type of line to get on the gas earlier on tight low speed tracks. While sportbikes tend to run a fairly 50/50 line to keep speed up. So people on other bikes might not understand the lines your running if they've never been around supermotos and you'll look very unpredictable to them. With that being said if you watch the European supermoto races they run on bigger more open tracks like mid ohio. The European riders don't really do the leg out or knee out style on the fast paved areas. They kind of do a mix of both and ride in a neutral body position with legs in, feet on pegs, butt cheek off seat towards the inside and leaning towards the inside slightly forward and upright over the bars. They run a more sport bike style line as well. I just started riding and racing supermoto a few months ago so take my experience with a grain of salt. I've found when riding on the street or in the more open corners on the track the above style is more smooth/stable and faster for me. Even hanging off the side knee out is a little faster than leg out but with the dirtbike style suspension and high bars make it feel a little unstable which affects speed. I just went to socal supermoto school. The guy running the school Brian said that the track style and what works for you dictates riding style more than anything else. So I'd say go to the track day if your confident your motor will handle it. Try different styles to find what works for you. What works in one corner might not work in another so don't be afraid to try different things. Be prepared for people that are slower than you in the corners blowing by you in the straights only to hold you up in the corners. No matter what style you choose people are going to tell you your doing it wrong. But as long as your being safe, doing what works for you and having fun they can screw off.

Sorry about it getting cut off at the end I don't know what happened. But what I was saying was when I ask the faster guys they just tell me to brake later. I find myself rolling off the throttle earlier as I chicken out heading into the corner. I'll have to go out and find something to use as references for brake markers. I've just been either using the skid marks on the track or just kind of guess where to get on the brakes. The tracks we run on are kart tracks and most have "drift" days so skid marks are all over the place. Thanks guys.

I've recently started racing supermoto in a local series out here in Arizona. I'm currently running 3rd in the points but that's only because I'm one of the few guys that will show up when it's raining. I still come in last but I get tons of points just for completing the race lol. But being Arizona hopefully we won't have too many more wet races. I need to get faster to be more competitive so that i can still get more points when we have a full grid. The areas I think I have the most room for improvement are braking later and entering the corner at a faster speed. When I take my ZX10-R to the track I don't have much trouble braking later and getting on the brakes hard. The problem I have in that bike is I often slow down too much and enter the corner slower than I should. On my supermoto (crf450x with a big brake kit and race slicks) I find myself getting on the brakes way to soon before the corner, not using the brakes as aggressively as they can be used (using more time and distance to slow down than needed) and then on top of that I'm slowing down way too much for the corners. I need to build my confidence in braking closer to the turn, braking harder and increasing my confidence in corner speed especially at corner entry. I've asked some of the faster guys at the track and they've

Todd are you going to be at Cota this year then?

I haven't been on here much since I went to the Tail of the Dragon. I recently picked up a crf450x supermoto setup. I've done lots of miles on the street and several track days on my sportbikes but this supermoto is totally different. I don't have a lot of time on it so I'm still learning how to ride it right but it's a blast. Even though it's not as fast as my 1000 it's just as fun. I started racing it in a local winter series out here in doing alright in it. It's a good thing that crashes don't hurt or cost as much. I'm planning on running in a national event out in Nevada at the end of March. I have a street setup for it as well so it's just a matter of switching wheels/tires and throwing the headlight assembly on and I can go rip it up on the street. I still have my ZX10-R for my Ricky Bobby moments when I wanna go fast as well. If you've never ridden a supermoto I highly encourage you to give it a try sometime.

Paddock passes is $250 plus you have to buy 3 day ticket. Limited quantities. http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/2017-motogp/find-a-seat/paddock-pass

I've been there for the 2013, 2014, and 2015 races. The first year I bought tickets for the turn 1 grand stand. They were pretty good seats but the next year I just did general admission and felt like the turn 1 seats were way over priced. Turn 1 grand stand is awesome for the start of the race and the early stages with a decent view of the start finish and the pits. But as the race goes on there's not a lot of action other than a couple low sides and I ended up watching most of the race on the big screen. The view from the grandstand isn't much better than the lawn in front of it. 2014 we sat near turn 19. It was a great place for practice qualifying and moto 2 but the main race didn't have a lot of action there. I watched most of the race on the big TV they had set up. 2015 we sat near turn 6 it was a pretty good spot my favorite that I've been at so far for the actual racing. It's a cool spot watching the racers fly through the fast corners. I got a little pissed that year because they set a TV up that blocked the view of the back straight going into turn 12 then they didn't use it to show the racing. They just had a circuit of the Americas logo on the screen. I wouldn't have minded the view being blocked if the screen was showing the rest of the race but we ended up only being able to see what was going on where we were at. I would have moved but by the time racing started and I realized they weren't going to use the screen all the good general admission spots were full. Another reason I wasn't a fan of the turn 1 grand stand was except for race day they didn't check tickets up there. They had workers standing there but no one asked to see tickets so every time we went back to our seats we had to ask people to move out of them. Then during qualifying a group of the stereotypical squid douchebags sat in front of us. They were drunk and obnoxious as hell. Every other bike that would come into turn one would scare one of their girlfriends bad enough that she would yell "oh my god" in a panicked voice before blabbering on that she thought they were crashing for sure that time or how she can't believe how far they lean over and still don't crash. If that wasn't annoying enough they were trying to figure out which racer was Josh Hayes. Then on race day some foreigners sat in front of us and to the left (between us and the start finish). The three of them had umbrellas that they felt they had to have open even though it was a perfect day. They'd close them for about 15min when ever someone said something to them but they'd open them again. Then for the main race they decided to pull out a homemade Rossi banner. That didn't go over well with anyone around them. They put it down after several people yelling at them but overall not the environment you want to be in after paying over $350 for two tickets. That year we also fell victim to the meet and greet autograph session with the "stars of motogp". We waited in line for 2 hours then they brought out the bottom 6 riders no factory riders. They came out sat at 6 tables divided into 3 lines and you couldn't see whose line you were in until you were committed to it. Uou were able to get 2 riders autographs, not allowed to stop for a picture then got rushed out. Everything is insanely expensive there so be ready for that. Parking is expensive if you pay each day. I suggest getting a pass. Motorcycle parking is the closest to the gate. Everywhere else is a long walk to get in and out. Most of the upgrades are a waste of money. Not sure about the paddock passes but the track walk is definitely a waste. In 2015 during practice I was able to go up into the turn 15 grandstand and scout seats out. The seats from the middle to about 3/4 of the way to the left side (left if your sitting in the seat facing the track) and about the middle up and down looked like the best option for viewing. I'll probably get seats there for this year's race. Every year the other grandstands have less people sitting in them and the turn 15 has more people. In my opinion the multi seat pass is a waste. The main grandstand has no real view other than start finish and the pits. Turn 1 is decent but other than race day in the past you can get up there and sit without a ticket. Not because it's general admission or the way it is supposed to be. It seems the ushers/security are just hired as basically day labor and aren't really confident or caring enough to check tickets. Turn 15 is a little better secured but if you watch before walking up you can see which ones are not checking tickets. Then just walk up like you own the place and walk by. General admission is the best value but you will miss out on the best view in turn 15 on race day. If you do general admission I suggest bringing a chair or blanket/ tarp mainly to mark your "territory". You can find a great spot but once qualifying and racing starts if you walk away someone will fill it in. But if you have the money for it the piece of mind of having a reserved seat is worth it. Problem is the experience is effected by those who buy seats around you and your view. You don't know if it's going to be good or not until your there. SUMMARY: Turn 15 is in my opinion the best option. Gen admission is the 2nd best option. Be prepared for long lines for food, drinks, bathroom and the side entertainment. Everything is expensive. Overall its a fun time.

I started looking into the Yamaha Superbike school or Yamaha riders school or whatever the F their name is because they run at a pretty decent local semi private local track out here. Then I saw the price tag of over 2 grand and decided to stick to the track days and what not. There's a track over in Demming NM near me that isn't super nice but is pretty cheap to ride. Occasionally they do riding schools there with some pretty high level riders and it's under $300. I haven't been able to take advantage of it yet with getting time off of work but would love to get out there one day. Basically I don't think that at my level of riding I will gain enough at the high dollar big name schools over the small track days with instruction to justify the cost. Even if I did gain enough knowledge to justify the cost I'm not a racer so it's hard for me to justify the investment of the big name schools over the small stuff. I'd rather invest in a few days of instruction at a lower level (closer to where I'm at) than in one or two days of a high level school. But if you come out this way for one of the schools your liking at your welcome to crash at our place.

1800 miles of slabbing it just to get to the dragon and ride 1200 more there before slabbing it 1800 miles back home while carrying everything I'll need for the trip? No thanks, heck i'd go through a set of tires just on the round trip there and back. Not to mention if something went wrong on the trip it's a long way to carry the bike home. I think I'll call the insurance and talk to them.

I was between the truck and the bike when it fell. The canyon dancer hung down too low for me to be able to use my ratchet straps so I was trying to loop them over the lower triple tree. I got the outside one on and had the bike leaning towards the truck. I started fishing the strap through but it needed two hands to get it through without damaging anything. I kind of bumped the carrier with my leg which was enough to cause it to rock which put the bike past the balance point. I tried to catch it but I was only able to slow the fall. Then the bike was stuck upside down laying on the strap that was holding it to trailer. It was a bitch to get back upright. Here's a couple pictures of the worst of the damage. I used a few zip ties and was able to track down a mirror to get me through the trip.