Sage Riders Enduro

[rholbrook]

I think I'm going to end up missing this race...unfortunately.

I think I busted my foot at Wendover on Saturday, about half way through the 2nd special test-I dipped my foot down to shift up in one of those narrow washes and a rock reached up and grabbed it and pinched it between the rock and the foot peg (which is the main issue)...and the other issue is that I ended up DNF'ing because about half way through the 4th test, my bike kept stalling and then about a mile from the end of the test it stalled and wouldn't re-start (as a side note I experienced the one negative of the reKluse clutch...I can't bump start my bike). I'm thinking valves...so I've got to get that all looked at/fixed and I'm not sure it will be done by then.

Bummer. That hurts when you do that to your foot.

Actually, there are two bad things with a Rekluse. The first you mentioned. They are harder to bump start but you can adjust them out to a point where they say you can bump start them. I have not found that adjustment. I have always adjusted them out and just as I go to bump it, I hit the e-start or kick it at the same time. That wont happen in lose dirt or sand though. Second, is you do stall on a hill, just dump your bike because they will roll backwards on you.

 

[Tonkaman]

Bummer. That hurts when you do that to your foot.

Actually, there are two bad things with a Rekluse. The first you mentioned. They are harder to bump start but you can adjust them out to a point where they say you can bump start them. I have not found that adjustment. I have always adjusted them out and just as I go to bump it, I hit the e-start or kick it at the same time. That wont happen in lose dirt or sand though. Second, is you do stall on a hill, just dump your bike because they will roll backwards on you.

The roll back just drives me crazy

 

[djgardner]

Bummer. That hurts when you do that to your foot.

Actually, there are two bad things with a Rekluse. The first you mentioned. They are harder to bump start but you can adjust them out to a point where they say you can bump start them. I have not found that adjustment. I have always adjusted them out and just as I go to bump it, I hit the e-start or kick it at the same time. That wont happen in lose dirt or sand though. Second, is you do stall on a hill, just dump your bike because they will roll backwards on you.

I've only stalled it on a hill a couple of times...but each time, I've just kept my foot on the rear brake (so it doesn't roll back on me) while I get myself situated so I can re-start. So that hasn't really been much of an issue for me. And until Saturday, the no-bump start, thing has never been an issue for me either.

 

[Gravy]

I've been able to adjust mine out to bump start it.

That foot thing sucks! Seems like everybody is having that issue lately! Get better fast!

 

[djgardner]

I've been able to adjust mine out to bump start it.

That foot thing sucks! Seems like everybody is having that issue lately! Get better fast!

I've done it before (never this bad), so I'm always very careful about keeping my toes above the foot peg (usually riding on the balls of my feet). In this case, it happened when I dipped my toe to upshift. Crappy luck!

When you adjusted your reKluse to be able to bump start it, did you give up any performance anywhere else?

 

[Gravy]

It is useless until you adjust it back. basically you turn it all the way out so it will bump start then turn it back after you get it going. sucks bad but it works

 

[djgardner]

It is useless until you adjust it back. basically you turn it all the way out so it will bump start then turn it back after you get it going. sucks bad but it works

So you have to do it on the trail? I thought there was a way to adjust it permanently that would allow it to be bump started. Good to know...

 

[rockreligious]

It is useless until you adjust it back. basically you turn it all the way out so it will bump start then turn it back after you get it going. sucks bad but it works

I lost my kick starter out to cherry creek last year, and I tried every adjustment possible to get it to roll start with no luck on my KX. Im sure Yami's react different. only time I thought it was inconvenient to have a rekluse. as far as hill climbs, the roll back doesnt bother me, I just get positioned (turned)so I can use my brakes before coming to a complete stop. usually I make it over hills that I might not have made without a rekluse because its more forgiving to regain your forward movement and momentum after losing a line or balance up the hill. Its also easier to maintain traction in hill climbing, you can lug it out more in your climb. with a conventional clutch you may have to shift down early because of a bad spot on the hill, then lose all your traction spinning out.

 

[Gravy]

We did it on Jon Moore's CRF450X also. For whatever reason we couldn't get it to kick start and his starter battery was too low on juice.

To my knowledge there isn't a way to allow you to bump start it and have the auto clutch still work.

When I say you adjust it all the way out, I mean you're basically taking all the slack out of the rekluse so it is fully engaged. (Zero free play, clutch is fully engaged).
Then: rolling it, in neutral, down a hill and shifting into gear. Then, while staying in first, and rolling around without being able to use any clutch, adjusting the cable back out...
Like I said, it sucks, but it WILL get you home.

It would only work if the barrel adjuster is in the middle of it's travel when the rekluse is set to 1/8" free play gain (in other words: if when the rekluse is adjusted to work correctly you at about the middle point of adjustment on you clutch cable).

I had to play around with shimming the pressure plate to allow this on mine.

(On an unrelated note.) I found that at one extreme end of the shim thickness I could have a broken clutch cable and still be able to ride.

YouTube it maybe.

 

[Caleb]

I was able to adjust out my 450X too. It was a Dyna Ring, but same difference.

 

[Gravy]

I'm so dang excited for this race I can hardly sleep!

 

[anderson750]

Here is the race information sheet.

View attachment Race Information.pdf

 

[rholbrook]

I am not racing because of a little league football game on Saturday but I think Harrison and I will be able to go to Yost to race. I am intrigued by the type of race format, though I don't understand how you are penalized for completing a test section early. Are you saying if you finish early you should sit at the test end area and wait for your time to come up then roll across it? This race sounds like a ton of fun and the Chimney Rock area is so much fun to ride in.

 

[rockreligious]

I am not racing because of a little league football game on Saturday but I think Harrison and I will be able to go to Yost to race. I am intrigued by the type of race format, though I don't understand how you are penalized for completing a test section early. Are you saying if you finish early you should sit at the test end area and wait for your time to come up then roll across it? This race sounds like a ton of fun and the Chimney Rock area is so much fun to ride in.

penalty is for starting the first section of loop 2 early or later than the exact minute you started loop one, you can show up early or late for each test otherwise. also each test section starts a rider every 15 seconds in order that they line up, if you leave at 10 seconds instead of 15 second then you will get a penalty.

 

[rockreligious]

Your racing the clock, so once you are in your test you want to finish as soon as you can, you can mellow out in the transfer sections, but you dont want to mess around too much. save your waste time for repairs or other problems...also you still have to finish loop one in a decent amount of time(I believe 2hrs) or you will not get to go out on loop two...DNF

 

[Gravy]

We are posted up. Ready to go!

 

[rholbrook]

Have fun and be safe

 

[anderson750]

Glad to see everyone that came out. I wish I would have had more time to bs with everyone. It was especially good to see that we were as to push Greg beyond what he thought his limits were and prove that he can do a race and see that mythic figure Vonski appear.

 

[Cascadia]

Awesome race! Sage Riders know how to put on a race. Thanks for everything Paul and James.

 

[Greg]

That was a blast.... brutal, but a blast! Early into the first test on the Loop 1 I ran off the trail, dropped the bike and tweaked the bars pretty good. I did my best to straighten them out, but they were still off... I rode the rest of loop 1 with bars tweaked and ended up crashing 5 or so more times. Most of my trouble was in the deep sand entering and exiting the washes... I had one get-off where the bike fell, but I ended up on my feet and ran another 20' trying to slow down my momentum... it was pretty funny! Riding thru the whoops and jumps with tweaked bars wasn't easy either, but I did my best. About 1/2 way thru Loop 1 I learned to just get on the throttle in the deep sand and ruts and just power thru them.

I had about a 40 min break between Loop 1 and 2, tried to rehydrate and eat some food. Also did my best to straighten the bars... the time to leave for Loop 2 came way too fast and as I was leaving the pits, my bars were still off. I took a minute to slam my front wheel against the Land Cruiser and got the bars just right... I hauled ass to the start line and ended up leaving just a little later than I should have, but the start wasn't timed so I was good! Loop 2 was difficult for me, I was spent and my body was hurting... I had a hard time standing up, which caused me to ride sloppy. At one point I ran into a large cedar tree branch and caught it with my right arm. There was another steep drop into a wash, with a large off-camber rock... I came in with a lot of speed, hit the brakes and the big rock caused the bike to slid out from under me. That was my only wreck on Loop 2, but I had plenty of close calls.

The last 10 miles of Loop 2 were everything I could do to just finish... I was done... exhausted, sore and beat.


I got a few pics, thought I filmed Loop 1 with my GoPro... but didn't have it recording... Too much going on to make sure it was filming. I did record all of Loop 2 so hopefully I'll get working on that later and share it here too.