What kind of trails or riding does eveyone do?

[gawarrior]

I to my WR426 out this weekend up to North Georgia to ride some ORV trails. The smaller more technical trails were not a whole lot of fun on this bike. But the more open trails and the water breaks were more fun. In my opinion this bike is better suit for a more open trail. But would like to see what other people are riding. This is the first good ride I have done with this beast. And man, this thing has a ton of power! I have an R1 for the street and this is like the R1 just on dirt. But when you get on the small rocky tight technical trails it was quite tough. I think I need to find some more open trails. BTW, this thing is fun to jump!

[CISCO]

I ride Desert to Single track tight woods on my DRZ with a few other WR riders. It works well in the woods, you have to learn to manouver it. Try lower gearing it helps in the tight stuff. My DRZ is equivelant to a 426 WR and I fly through the woods. It just takes a technique that you need to learn from practice. And yes the WR shines in the open stuff ?

[lewichris]

i love the tight rocky technical stuff. that is what i learned to ride on. So i dont have alot of trouble on it. You just need to practice that stuff like the guy before me said.

[Pooley]

All I ride is trails/woods. In Michigan there is a good variety of tight stuff and wide stuff. I wind up banging the barkbusters a lot some weekends and only a couple times on other trips. It took a while to get the feel of the bike in the skinny stuff but I'm much better than when I started. Compared to most of the guys who pass me I'm still a snail though. I guess starting to ride at 27yrs old will never keep up with someone who started at 6.

[oldbones]

Sure, you could get a smaller, lighter bike, and dice up the tight sections of the trail pretty quickly, but wouldn't it just suck when you get to the only wide spot in the trail, and that big ole WR just rips past you like you where going backwards, and then you get firehosed with the roost only a big bore 4-stroke can blast? Or when you get to a big ole root ball, you would actually have to "try" to lift the front wheel over it, instead of just a little blip and the bike just jumps over the obstacle? C'mon, there's nothing that can compare to these bikes. Just hit the trails more, and you will catch up to it, I almost have! ?

[gawarrior]

Yeah, I just need some practice. I just installed my Bark busters so hopefully now I won't break anymore brake levers. Once I get used to this bad boy I think I will be fine. I know one thing, you better respect it! And I do.

[wrooster]

bark busters? did someone say bark busters?

click on the link in my sig...

jim aka the wrooster

[Pooley]

I know one thing, you better respect it! And I do.

You hit the nail right on the head. With this much power available the throttle can be your best friend or your worst enemy! The bike can be way down the trail (or off it in the bushes) in a hurry. If you don't already, learn to ride with at least one finger on your clutch lever at all times. In a panic most people squeeze the bars and if your not on the clutch its almost impossible to unclench your fingers and pull in the clutch lever in time to avoid that huge tree or rock. This has saved me countless times, unfortunately I took many trips off the trail until I got used to covering the clutch.

My first real trail ride was the CCC of Michigan Color Tour in 2001 and it was when I learned to cover the clutch and respect the power of the bike. I wound up snapping my handlebar off right past the clutch lever. I stupidly grabbed the front brake coming down a little 12" ledge, almost went over forward, as the rear came back down I accidentally applied lots of throttle and the bike was dancing on the rear wheel about 6 feet in front of me, got itself airborne and landed on the end of the bar. Luckily I was 1/8th of a mile from a major road. I got a ride back to camp, made it to the local dealer with about 30 seconds to spare, bought a bar, did the change by lantern light later that night in 35degF while it was sleeting and rode the next day. Rides since then have been less eventfull.

[live_to_ride]

You need to set your race sag. Get all of your gear on and set the sag between 9 and 10 cm. Measure the distance between the rear axle and a spot on the rear fender when the wheel is just hanging in the air. Then get all of your gear on and have someone measure the distance from the rear axle to the same spot on the rear fender while you are standing on the pegs. The difference is your race sag. Your owner's manual has instructions too. Then get a yz seat/tank combo that will allow you to sit further forward. Sit as far forward as possible in the tight stuff. I ride the tightest stuff I can find and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I'm a little bigger than some people though, so that helps throw the wr around a little more. hth

Chris

[Anthem]

We've got all kinds of tight and twisties here and I couldn't be happier with this thing! I'm a returned-to-the-sport-15-years-later type newb and I had a couple scares this weekend by not respecting the throttle and getting the front out of touch with the ground, but just as much as the gas needs some restraint, I'm constantly amazed by the what surprises the shocks and clearance will cover for me. I get a lot of fallen trees and ugly 15" deep ATV "roots scoops" that I swear are gonna kill me, but suddenly they're behind me and I know I'm not dead 'cuz I feel so alive!!

[Sylvain]

Raise the fork about 1/4 inch in the triple clamp. It gives you faster response but you may get slight wobbles on very fast trails. It depends of your riding style. Also less ground clearance. But not much.

And ride to get used to the awesome power of that 4 stroke ?

[Fryboy]

Hi gawarrior,

I ride every possible kind of terrain you can think of short of a MX Track. Not that it isn't capable I just haven't ridden one.

I have found raising my forks and going up 2 teeth in back sprocket helped with the tight stuff. I used the same chain but had to push my rear wheel forward to accomadate the bigger sprocket. Like Cisco said above, you will get faster and better with more practice. I am still slow... but a lot faster than 1 year ago.

Keep riding ?

Fryboy

[gawarrior]

What kind gear do you all wear when riding the trails and ORV roads?

[Fryboy]

I wear it all! Anything for safety is a must

Helmet

Jersey

Pants

Raptor knee guards

Fox elbow guards

Gloves

Chestprotector

MX Socks

Monkeybutt shorts

Alpine Star Tech-8's

Camel-Bak Mule 100oz

Fryboy

[lewichris]

well you see sonny there is two ways, the safe way like fryboy here or there is the redncek way, Now when riding the redneck way always remember your flannel, ciggarete lit and hanging out your mouth, fingerless lifting gloves backwards copenhagen hat, missing three front teeth and most importantly your beer holder mounted to your three wheelers gun rack. you know i am seeing more of these jokers everyday. ?

[jwriott]

I wear everything. I wreck too much at high speed not to. ? I just got done fixing my Enduro Engineering hand guards this past weekend since I snapped it off at the bolt from hitting a tree.

I ride everything but there are times when this bike is a handful for me. Mostly because I'm vertically challenged. I did pull the forks up 10mm and set the sag and those two things helped me a lot. It rails in the corners but I do notice a little head shake in the deep sand.

I'm going to try some softer front fork springs that I bought to soften up the bike a little more. Right now, it's pretty damned stiff in the nasty rocky sections.

[TORTURECHAMBERS]

i love the tight rocky technical stuff. that is what i learned to ride on. So i dont have alot of trouble on it. You just need to practice that stuff like the guy before me said.

So do we! ?

Click here for your dream riding area Mr. lewichris...

[Bamster]

YZ seat and tank was the best investment I made.

Really helped in the tight stuff.

[beezer]

Some of the trails I ride on are so tight you almost never get out of first gear. The WR is really hard to handle there as the bike is so tall. The bike is much better when the trail opens up. The e-start is really nice to have. Gearing it down would help alot.

If I got a smaller bike it would suck on the open stuff.

You can't have it all I guess.

[gawarrior]

Yeah, I found that the tight stuff is ok. Not really all that fun though. Would rather have big hills instead of big rocks and a little more open area. I am 6'1" and it is pretty tall for me also. I just want to be riding instead of crawling over rocks on very small trails. But it gives you something different. Plus I am sure it makes me a better rider in the open. I am ready to get back out and ride somemore!