Starts

[pwisz]

Help, my starts suck. I go about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle open, dump the clutch (is this my problem???) and the bike will bog till i back off and re apply the gas. Once in a rare while i seem to hit it and i am untouchable. I am running a thunder alley pipe, bk mod with suggested jetting (168 main and clip lowered one from stock) and the bike runs awesome throughout the rev range but my starts suck. What are you fellas doing??? Where is your throttle set at while waitin for the gate to drop and how do you release the clutch. Should you be worried about the revs you hold waiting for the gate, is it hard on the motor or clutch if you release slowly??? Worst thing is the CRF 450 starts are better than mine so it really hurts. Help!!!

[freestyle111]

i have news for you "Racing is hard on motor and clutch"First you need to decide if you want to get good starts or want to be nice to your motor.now that you have made that decision you can either pin the throttle and feather the clutch. or you can pack a lunch then take a ride on a nice scenic trail to go have picnic.

[DethWshBkr]

pwisz, if you bog the engine, clutch it.

You don't have to red-line the bike to get a holeshot. You're fine @ 2/3-3/4 throttle....don't quite DUMP the clutch, but do let her rip. If you bog,tap the clutch with two fingers, just like 1/4 of the way in. You won't burn the crap out of your clutch, nor will you fry your motor.

With the rev-limitter, you won't really be able to toast your motor, as long as you're not sitting there in red-line for like 10-15 seconds. 5 seconds seems like am eternity to be on red line, but it won't really hurt it, but yeah, it's not good for it.

I am a lugger. My 520 loves this type of riding, and so I usually run at least a gear higher than most people. When I come out of a turn, and she's bogging, I will just snap the clutch really fast. It should be in the blink of the eye. You will set the wheel spinning, and as soon as she grabs (which being a 4 stroke, happens quickly), you will launch...just be sure you don't go over backwards! ?

[ May 18, 2002: Message edited by: DethWshBkr ]

[NoFiddyPilot]

Originally posted by pwisz:

Help, my starts suck. I go about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle open, dump the clutch (is this my problem???) and the bike will bog till i back off and re apply the gas. Once in a rare while i seem to hit it and i am untouchable. I am running a thunder alley pipe, bk mod with suggested jetting (168 main and clip lowered one from stock) and the bike runs awesome throughout the rev range but my starts suck. What are you fellas doing??? Where is your throttle set at while waitin for the gate to drop and how do you release the clutch. Should you be worried about the revs you hold waiting for the gate, is it hard on the motor or clutch if you release slowly??? Worst thing is the CRF 450 starts are better than mine so it really hurts. Help!!!

I wonder how Doug Dubach does it? Click to find out...

[ May 18, 2002: Message edited by: Bryan Bosch ]

[thumper4life]

me: 2nd gear, 1/2 throttle, about 4 inches behind the indent in the ground where the gate drops, as soon as something moves, take off. i put my left foot on the ground and right on the peg and move up as far as i can. once going i "feed" the clutch out, let it out slowly and then once its out about 7/8 of the way and im positive i dont need the clutch anymore, i let it go out. you should be pinned that whole time. the start area at my track is about 200-270 yards long and i can stay in second that WHOLE stretch, it very sweet. but if you do need to shift, dont let go of the gas, just feather the clutch and shift and let go of the clutch. thats IF you want a holeshot. and if youre not first to the corner, stay on a split second longer once you cant hear anyone elses machine...use your engine braking and once out of the corner get back on it as soon as you can. i seem to always be in the front on my starts but i attribute that to me being the only 426 and not having to shift. maybe its me too ?

[freestyle111]

thumper4life,exactly!when gate drops the throttle should be pinned.use clutch to control traction and keep front end down.

[pwisz]

if youre not first to the corner, stay on a split second longer once you cant hear anyone elses machine...use your engine braking and once out of the corner get back on it as soon as you can.

-this means that you're not clutching during the first turn while on the brakes. Does the engine braking help that much??? I have'nt been on two strokes much since my 426 but this means that you're just hard on the brakes in the first turn, any worry of stalling??? Another thing, my local track is a cement start, this is probably gonna ches up the rear tire pretty good right!!!

-(not sure if I did the quote thing right, hope I get my message across)

[thumper4life]

well my first turn is a 90 degree right hander so you dont need to be hard on the brakes. what kind of turn is your first corner, that would help to know that info. and if its a cement start, sit either neutral or a lil bit farther back on the gate then so you spin so much and just sit there

[thumper4life]

OH! and dont use the rear brake so much...downshift if necassary and grab the front, lol that should almost send you over the bars ?

[pwisz]

We've got a 180º left hander so I usualy go hard (after the bobble), clutch and jam on the brakes and try to roll the power on as I come around and straighten out.

dont use the rear brake so much...downshift if necassary and grab the front

is this the preferred method of slowing down, and only rear brake for sliding around corners. I'm guilty of lugging, granted the bike can handle it, but I never use the top end much so I just gotta get used to downshifting and revving her.

[thumper4life]

thats an excellent 2stroke method of cornering, problem is its a 426

downshift if necassary, grab the front and drag it a tick going into the corner, move all the way up on the tank, let go of the brake and power all the way through the corner and then once youre pretty sure you are gonna be on the track and not off in the bales when you come out of the corner, give it all shes got and hang on ?

[kfrosty]

pwiz,

Give this a try, I had always been able to get decent starts on 250's but moving to the 4 strokes, I seemed to have more problems getting off the line. I'd either popup or spin. Then I watched this pro on a 4 stroke who always seemed to start up front. I noticed that when the card went side ways, he wasn't even hardly reving his bike up. So I asked him, and he said the key was not to rev these things up like you do a two stroke. Basically you may be on the throttle about a 1/4 of the way but not too much. Then when the gate drops, when you extend the clutch enough for the bike to start moving, then you roll the throttle on. It was hard to get myself to trust the concept but when I do it right and to where my bike hooks up it's like a rocket.

The only downside I've found with this is that the 2 strokes sometimes get the jump on you in the first 5 to 10 feet. If they don't come over on you, then you'll get them shortly. However, if I'm racing with people like that I usually tend to get away from everybody as much as possible. I may have to go a little farther to the first turn but I know I have a good chance of getting there first. Most of the time I get on the side of the gate that gives me that gives me a good angle through the first turn. A lot of the riders around here don't realize that getting to the first turn isn't the most important thing in a lot of cases, it's getting to the 2nd and third turns in first. Lining up on the outside, a lot of times even if I don't get a good jump I can still end up in the top five. Reason is everybody is trying to fight to be first to the first turn that a lot of the times they get into it too fast and over shoot it somewhat. What I do in those cases is just back off and set up for the first turn to where I can hug the inside and usually cut off a lot of people that way. (Course it all depends on what the first turn is like.)

Good luck.

[pwisz]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I've just got to put all this to the ground!!!

[twej]

Most of the guys I talked to and read about use a 2nd gear start. At 240lbs, I was having a real problem with 2nd gear starts, too much lugging. So I went to 1st gear starts. Which turned out to be a great way to learn how to start. You can't pin it or you'll loop out. So you have to go with less, I was using about 1/3 to 1/2 and sitting way up on the tank to keep the front end down. Any time you have to use the clutch or get off the gas to bring the front end down, you are slowing down. So 1st gear starts really taught me good technique. I also got my first 2 (ever) holeshots.

Then one race we had a cement starting pad. I didn't have a clue how I was going to start on it. I decided to give 2nd gear a try. It worked so well I haven't gone back to 1st gear. And it continues to work well because I carried over the techniques I had learned from using 1st.

Gate position is also important. I have a hard time carying alot of speed thru turns, so the inside line generally works best for me because it's most likely going to be the slowest.

Also look for things on the gate that move before the gate drops. We have a track where the guy who drops the gate actually has to lift a heavy pole up, then drop it down on the mechanisn which drops the gate. So the trick is to line up near the guy and as soon as he starts his movement up, ya know when the gates going to drop.

My $.02

Good Luck

Wej

[pwisz]

Thanks twej, I hope to cash in that $0.02 this weekend. I'll try the first gear starts, see what I can learn that way and see if that helps.