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Everyone talks about dirt bike training and how good it is for road biking and in general. A couple of weeks back, I finally got dirt bike wheels for the WR250X from Warp9 Racing. The wheels came in startlingly quickly, and since I’m already geared way low (12/45 — or -1/+3) converting was a snap — or at least I didn’t need a new chain, just to drop the wheel in and crank it.

Steve over at Moto-Authority got me set up with Dunlop D606s, rim-locks and tubes and the bike was ready for some desert riding. Woods are still out, since there’s no spark arrestor on the Graves exhaust that that bike has and I’m not spending $450 just yet on the FMF that is apparently the solution.  That said, it was off to the desert where Scott Cloninger offered to show me around:

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In an effort to keep honest, here’s the 2017 plan. The new bike is a Daytona 675; it’s a former WERA race bike so came fairly well prepped, and is even sprung close enough for my weight. It’s got a number of the race kit bits on it, has some upgraded boingers, a great sounding but terrifyingly loud set of FMF pipes and the obvious race bodywork. A quick trip around the neighbourhood was enough to assure me I’d get properly nicked if I sue it on the street, and I apologise to the neighbours for that!

I’ll get pictures up, because this is all useless without it.

Thanks to Scott Cloninger over at Desert Desmo we’ve got the valves done (slightly tight) and installed a UK Race Support billet oil cooler to get out of the way of the occasional exploding cooler that plagued Kim Prichard in her first season on her 675. Spare wheels came with the bike, so I’ve slung some Q3s on there to kill while I familiarise myself with the machine (and to avoid the costs of race tires and tire warmers in the process). Moto-Authority is SMRI’s new tyre supplier, so I availed myself of their services here! (THANKS STEVE!). Also added me some GB Racing frame sliders and case covers and a set of Driven Racing axle block sliders for some peace of mind.

If I can get my brake service done without screwing up anything more (some people shouldn’t be trusted with a spanner, and I may be one of them) I’m hoping to break it in at the Arroyo Seco track day March 11th and then off to Inde March 21-22nd for some rider education time.

More details on the bike after the jump

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First, I guess I should get a team name. I’ve failed at that, because I’m just not sufficiently creative

However, I did manage to race a little in 2016. Unfortunately, nowhere near as much as I wanted, and my times didn’t get close to where I meant to. I had more bike issues than I was happy with, however, and mechanicals cost me a few days of racing. Between both radiators dying, shock rebuild, and the water pump seal letting go the bike spent a lot of time up at Speedin’ Motorsports . (Big thank you to Brian and the crew up there for all their support)

Added to this the RC51s penchant for overheating made itself clear when I tried to do back to back races and meant I didn’t get a shot at least one Superstreet podium. (For values of ‘superstreet’ and ‘podium’). All that said, I’ll be racing a different bike this year. I get to do the first year race bike thing all over again! (In fact, with Steve Brown acquiring the VTR250R, the garage is once again Honda-free. Sad panda!)

Best result was a third; somewhat tempered by the fact that there were only three runners in that race.

First, the good — all my gear worked well. I’m happy with it, even though it’s been selected as a hodge-podge and at different times and for different reasons. Some of it may be coming to the end of it’s life and need replacing soon, but so far, so good!!

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