1977 Suzuki RM370 Resto
41 - 50 of 50 Posts
Joined
·
510 Posts
Bruised my ribs along my back, sneezing is too much fun, being allergy season is even better. My leg is black and blue from knee to anles and both my big toes are black and blue.
After 2 mad rush days of getting the 370 together and all the little adjustments and torques done I found that you couldn't get it to shift past 2nd gear...very disappointing. So I take the bike to the race to show it off anyway and the guys decide to do track side surgery on it but still a no go as impressive as that was...would only go into 1 after that:grin2: So I guess it's internal and I'll have to get the cases split and have a look inside.
My friend decides I should ride the race school but can't get his old YZ250 started so he lends me his 2011 KTM 250. Long story short, WAAAAYYYYY to much bike for a noob. The track was like a mini supercross course, big jumps(to me), tabletops and whoops. Very different from a vintage course which is a hare scramble, more road course with some smaller obstacles. Keep in mind I have never been into motocross, the last dirt bike I owned was probably 1980 and I didn't ride it much.
On the second leg of 10 we were practicing starts, I thought I did really well on the first few. Then in my excitement I accidentally started in first gear, gave it more throttle and less clutch...and immediately went skyward and looped it straight onto my back, landing on the starting gate. Thankfully I was smart enough to buy the best Leatt body armour I could find, I initially thought I broke my back, once I caught my breath and had some time to move about it seemed painful but OK to continue.
3 legs later we get to the whoops section, a 180 degree corner immediately followed by 4 seemingly huge whoops. I remember hitting some of these when I was younger and was a bit nervous about them. After a couple of miserable attempts I decide to do as the instructor said and gave the bike a healthy dose of throttle in 2nd leaned back and let the suspension do the work. All seemed well till the 3rd whoop when the impact and my body positioning caused me to pin the throttle and you guessed it, loop the bike, this time at a decent rate of speed. From my injuries I'm guessing that my toes, then knees and finally face (wear helmets kids) impacted the last whoop. This is where I ended my day. On a bright note the instructor said it looked pretty spectacular.
Welcome to motocross, next race in 21 days assuming my ribs let me go. Most of the swelling and bruising took till Monday night to really come out. I'm on some good anti inflammatories till then.
My wife got some good pics, I'll just post my favorite.
Attachments
Joined
·
510 Posts
Unless you've rode one of these you can't believe how explosive the power is, the power band hit is unlike anything I've ever ridden. There is actually 3 pictures in this set, the last with me almost on my back and the bike still on top of me. If you look at the guys beside me they've barely moved from where they are, it happened that quickly.
Once my wife had the pics she immediately came running to see if I was OK:fact
:cheers
Joined
·
308 Posts
It'll be lovely if you keep doing it to the same standard throughout
Well done so far, looking forward to seeing the finished article
Well done so far, looking forward to seeing the finished article
Joined
·
308 Posts
Beautiful:cheers
Yea I rode plenty of them..That's why I ride K3..like an RM465 with twice the power lol.
Was there someone operating the gate or down for practice?
Took me years to figure out how the experts hammer through the whoops so fast.
how ya feeling..rib injurys are tough.
Joined
·
510 Posts
Thanks it was a lot more work than I was expecting, I thought it would be less work than a street bike but really it was just less parts to source.
We started gate down, I believe this happened when the gate was up.
I hear you have to be very careful with the throttle on the liter bikes, I owned a ZX12 for a few years, huge power but only caught me off guard once in first gear, you had to work it to get the front end up usually, same with my RZ500. Could be the way the knobbies hook up too, different kind of power. I knew you could flip these over easy but I guess until it happened I didn't realize just how they react. If I had no experience on bikes it might have been easier as I think I would have eased my way into this a little slower.
The ribs are coming slowly, not sneezing really helps. Doc said about 3 weeks.
It must have been a fresh tire cause the only way to flip straight up like that is with the knob slotted in to one of the gate supports pipes. The you dumped it in first and the tire did not spin at all. Were there further frames of the complete flip lol. ?
Motocross bikes are like riding a wild animal..the ultra lighweight makes them so.
Hey Solo, I know it's been a couple of months. Did you do a you tube on the shock rebuild? I've got a pair for my RM250 C2 that I would like to rebuild. Also, did you go with Eastwood or Caswell for you plating kit?
Great bike and fantastic article. Thanks for sharing. Ray
Great bike and fantastic article. Thanks for sharing. Ray
41 - 50 of 50 Posts
