MOTOCROSS ACTION MID-WEEK REPORT

Hello MXA,

I started with a 1999 RM250 I brought for $1500 barely running and in terrible shape. I had a set of triple clamps and Showa SFF spring forks off my 2016 RM-Z250 race bike and they bolted straight up to the 1999 frame. Secondly I didn’t realize that Suzuki actually changed their shade of yellow in 2001 so I had to fit a 2002-2008 RM125 tank with current shape tank shrouds. The rear end is all 1999. The hardest part of the build was making a custom seat to fit the newer tank but also fit the old rear subframe. The suspension from the RM-Z works a treat with the old steel frame. The engine was fully rebuilt with all genuine parts and soda blasted. The rim set was custom made using a billet 1999 rear hub and a 2016 front hub. Even the 1999 brakes bolted straight up to the 2016 forks! The build ended up costing more than a new bike but there’s not many RM’s in this kinda shape with the modern suspension package. I also had the stock pipe sand blasted and gave it my own works treatment, with a heat gun and some sump oil from my truck. A brand new Keihin carb and Pro Circuit R304 silencer. Also I had 2017 RM-Z graphics printed to a 2008 RM250 template to give it the modern look as well as a 2013 RM-Z stock seat cover. I love the classic rear end mixed in with the modern front and it’s more than just a re-style when you factor in the modern suspension.

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Ken Roczen: “Today was a lot better for me. I’m still not 100% with whatever is going on with my body, but the feeling that I had on the bike was good all day. It was the same for the races—I just tried to go out there and have fun, and I rode really well. I had a good heat race with the win and then got a good start in the main. The track was super technical, especially with the whoops, which were very tough. I had a good battle with Marvin [Musquin] for a second. He jumped on the red-cross flag, which opened up the gap for a bit, but overall, going from where we were the last two weekends and not feeling great to racing like we did today and feeling a lot better, it was a huge step in the right direction. I think we’re all pretty happy with how it ended up this weekend; it’s a big monkey off our back!”

Jimmy Decotis: “I had a solid night in Seattle. I rode great all day, had an awesome heat race, and finished third in the main event. My Suzuki RM-Z250 is amazing, and I feel like I’m riding so well right now. I didn’t have the best main event, but to finish third on a track that difficult is a positive. I’m excited to keep things rolling in Houston.”

Justin Hill: “I really struggled all week and on race day with food poisoning. Honestly, the main event was one of the worst 20 minutes of my life. I’m thankful that I got through the night without major problems, because I am going to regroup and come back healthy!”  

Adam Cianciarulo: “I had a couple sections I was faster and maybe others that were slower. Right in the middle of the race I got messed up by a lapper and it took me a little bit to overcome that. It was a tough track but I felt like I could have been better overall. We’ll go back to the drawing board for next week and hope to have a good triple crown in Houston.”

Dean Wilson: “Overall, it was a pretty good day. I was the fastest qualifier, which is always a good way to start the day. I’ve been working really hard during the week and I would say today was a pretty good improvement. I fought to the finish and was very close to a top-five, so overall it was an improvement.”

Josh Grant: “The bike was great all day. The track conditions were difficult to adjust to though, and there were some really slick spots and we struggled in the whoop section. I’m going to head home, work on a few things and come back to Houston with a little more riding under my belt. Everybody has bad days and looking at that main event, mine still went better than most.”

Marvin Musquin: “I really enjoyed the track and the riding, I was super happy about everything today. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in not seeing the red cross flag. I saw a lot of yellows and I slowed down to make sure I was safe but I did jump, and the rules are ‘no jumping.’ It’s a big bummer, hard to swallow, but it doesn’t take anything away from a big win today.”

Cooper Webb: “It was an up-and-down result today. It was a good charge back in the Main Event but I definitely wanted to be on the podium, so we’ll work hard this week and try to be back up there in Houston.”

Between the 2019 Daytona Supercross and Amateur day local hospitals had 106 patients come in with injuries between the two days of racing. Which was a huge increase from the 71 riders they saw in 2018. Ages of the riders ranged from 9 to 47 years of age.

 

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“What’s up Motocross Action. Test rider Brian Medeiros here bringing you part two of the RM-Z250  suspension test. For this test my goal was to see how the RM-Z would react with the right spring rate’s for my weight. My purpose for this test was to give you a base line to go off of because let’s face it, you just spend a good chunk of change on your new motorcycle  and maybe you aren’t ready to spend the money on getting a full re-valve right away. So, will getting the right spring rate help? Let’s go over some data.

To clear up some of the confusion on the BFRC rear shock, it does not have the rebound adjuster in the conventional location (on the shock shaft) because there is no valving on the shaft itself. It is located all up top where the high-speed and low-speed adjusters are located on a conventional shock. On the BFRC shock the high-speed and low-speed adjuster are one adjuster measured in turns. The rebound adjuster is also measured in turns.

For my weight I went with a 5.2 kg/mm shock spring, and .47 kg/mm fork springs. With the correct shock spring I was able to get my sag to 106 mm which in turn made the bike feel level. On the compression adjustment I was able to run a stiffer setting compared to having the stock shock spring on. After riding the bike my final shock settings where 3 turns out on compression (1 turn is stock) and rebound was 2 turns out (1 turn is stock). With this setting I had good squat and traction on acceleration as well as good rear end stability on the entrances of corners. This setting also gave me a nice plush feel on hard landings, while still keeping good bottoming resistance.

As far as forks go, the correct springs gave the me ability to really feel the valving characteristics of the forks As the stock valving Suzuki did a great job. The initial part of the stroke was plush and also had great bottoming resistance. I ended up at 12 clicks out on the forks opposed to 14 clicks out with the standard springs. On rebound I ended up at 10 clicks out opposed to my 9 clicks with the standard springs. I felt that speeding up the rebound helped the front wheel tracked better.  I could feel the action of the front tire which in turn really helped with being able to know how hard you can push it before losing traction.

So does getting the right spring rate help? The answer is yes. Remember if you don’t have the money to get your RM-Z250 suspension revalved, just get the correct spring rate for your weight and that will help you out a lot, especially if your a light guy like me.”

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Kevin Windham after winning the 2005 Supercross season Anaheim opener mud-fest race.

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Moto Trivia answer: Jeff Alessi.