WEB LETTERS AND ANSWERS–MAY 29

Daniel Matis [[email protected]] wrote:
I am looking for employment in the motocross industry. I have worked in Aerospace for 18 yrs at Northrop and Boeing. I am very close to earning a bachelor’s in Management from U of Redlands. I love motocross more than anything, but job and family are keeping me away from the track. I’m going crazy. I have very good writing skills, and I have a pretty good knowledge of Moto-X history. I raced as a kid at Dunes, Saddleback, Racing World, Cycle Haven, etc. Now I am an OTHG member who wants to start racing the REM races at Glen Helen. Hannah was my hero, but RJ was the one I got to see develop at Saddleback. Anyway, what about a job? I can move to Valencia, travel, whatever, just let me work in the field I love! Please help. Thanks, Jody, Roland, etc.

MXA Response:
Daniel keep up the good fight. Unfortunately we don’t have any openings at the moment, but drop by and say hi next time you’re at the REM races on a Saturday.

Rob Richards [[email protected]] wrote:
I can’t believe that Shaun Palmer gets a TroyLee/Factory Honda ride for being a crossover rider from Snowboarding and Mountain Biking. There are a lot of true privateers who are more deserving of factory support than a thirty-something year old skier who’s best racing accomplishment was barely qualifying for a supercross. Will we see Tony Hawk or maybe The Rock at a couple of nationals this year riding a factory Honda? I’ll be rooting for the true privateers who would put a factory bike to better use than Palmer.

Rob – Former Privateer
San Mateo, CA

MXA Response:
With just the sheer amount of Honda stickers Palmer had adorning his body at the Winter X-Games he deserved a Factory ride. At the time it was more publicity than Honda had gotten out of Lusk and Tortelli all year.

Rick Neatherlin [[email protected]] wrote:
Dirt bike june issue there was a write up on pg 14 about the ttr125. Bored to a 150 inverted forks ect. Mike Alessi was the rider.I took it too our local yamaha shop to show them. i have a 2001 125ttr and would like to do the same type of work to ours But smokey point cycle barn arlington wa. could not help me. any info PLEASE help!!!!!!I have 4 boys that race and need all the help i can get. Thankyou

MXA Response:
Don’t do it. While the TT-R 125 is a great play bike, your boys will be far more competitive on a two-stroke YZ80 or Yamaha’s YZ150F when they get around to releasing it.

tom calvin [[email protected]] wrote:
I have just purchased a yz 250f and it is my first four stroke. Every time I twist the throttle at low rpms it just wants to die, even in first gear. What carb adjustments do I have to make. I can’t figure it out, please help me. Thank you very much for your time.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Tom

MXA Response:
Tom we didn’t have to do a thing to the carburetor on our YZ250F. Sorry.

tom murray [[email protected]] wrote:
Provided you are in good shape, how old is too old to start racing motocross? Also should a person in their 40’s start out in the beginners class against kids or in the vet class against people their age but with years of experience?

MXA Response:
You are never to old to race motocross regardless of your shape. We do recommend if you are over thirty and you plan on racing start with the beginner class in the correct age category.

Geoffrey Douglas [[email protected]] wrote:
hey there,
a friend of mine just got a bike that he had never heard of nor had i, so i was hoping you might be able to retrieve some info on it or tell me where i may find some. it’s a circa early nineties Cagvia 125. it starts up with the first kick and runs like a gem. it has great power band in 1st,2nd,3rd and in 4th gear.
i just didn’t know how much it is worth or know where to get replacement parts for it.
thanks,
Geoff

MXA Response:
We feel sorry for your friend. Good luck finding parts, we’d try your local Husqvarna shop.

chip johnson [[email protected]] wrote:
I just purchased a 20″ front wheel for my 2001 cr 250, which tire do you guys run for intermediate to hardpack??

thanks
Chip

MXA Response:
Chip we almost always run a Dunlop 739.

You may intrested: Exotic Cars has in the space of over 16 short years, evolved into the largest and most client preferred distributor of collectable automobiles in the Middle East.

Colt [[email protected]] wrote:
I have two questions. The first one is on every picture of Travis Pastrana’s bike he has a material that looks grip tape from skateboards on his frameguards and airbox. What is it? The other question is, is it just me or are those Honda CR front fork guards on Ricky Carmichael’s bike that is on the cover? If you could answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it.

MXA response: The material you see on Pastrana’s bike is clear skateboard grip tape and yes Carmichael does use Honda fork guards. That’s how he routes his KX brake line like a CR. However, since Ricky runs works forks, he is able to use Honda forks guards–they will not fit on a stock set of KX forks.

Shannon [[email protected]] wrote:
I’m Lost. I’ve searched your March 01 issue and can’t find how to make my own MX video for under $500.00. What am I missing? Does Jody still go to Carlsbad on Saturdays?

MXA response: That cover line was for Actionstar’s $595.00 helmet cam. It’s perfect for making first person motocross movies.Jody still goes to Carlsbad wheever they run a race, but Carlsbad races are far and few between. You can always find Jody at the weekly REM race at Glen Helen on Saturday.

Ryan [[email protected]] wrote:
I have a 2001 cr250 on the way and have emailed you guys repeatedly ! you haven’t anwered me! whats up? I need some info! The dealership in my town cant find a 5.0 slide I want to jet my tmx 38 to your test bike specs! how can I get a 5.0 slide?? Their list only says info for 125 slides.Also is it better to break in my motor with the stock jetting or can I replace them with your suggested jetting for breakIN ?? please reply! Thanks, RD

MXA response: If you dealer can’t get you a 5.0 slide, you can your 4.0 slide into a 5.0 slide. The how-to was in the December 2000 issue of MXA on page 202.

Lawrence C. Colvin [[email protected]] wrote:
GREETINGS,
The Euro’s have given up the 2 moto format for their outdoor World GP Motocross races? They have decided to run a single 35 minute plus 2 lap moto because it suits TV better – so they say.This is the end of any hope for another Jean Michele Bayle to come to America and dominate. Its over – USA will rule the MX De Nations for years to come. And you heard it from me first. What a bunch of losers. Bob Hannah needs to go over there and kick their “one 35 minute Moto” butts! I bet DeCoster is glad he’s managing the American Suzuki motocross efforts. AMA National Motocross will always have a 2 moto format. It’s better! Now if we can go back to 2 – 45 minute moto’s Mike LaRocco will be National Champ! In fact, I bet LaRocco is laughing right now. 1 – 35 minute moto? What are those guys – a bunch of fashion models? I can’t believe it. Now instead of motocross racing being one of the most physically demanding sports in Europe their going to have to deal with the stinkin’ synchronized swimmers and rhythmic gymnists stealing their women! Where are the hero’s going to come from over the Pond? I feel sorry for any Dad whose got a son in Europe. We need to bring the Troops home from Europe right now. No American should be fighting next to any Euro who can’t go 2 moto’s.

MXA response: What’s with all the pent up anger for the European GP circuit? At least they are trying sonmething different (remember a few years ago they went back to the three moto format. The funniest thing about the whole one-moto situation is that the promoters did it so they could get better TV coverage and in the end the TV station Eurosport pulled their coverage of the motocross GP’s!. And for the record, we’d dominate the Motocross des Nations anyway.

mark [[email protected]] wrote:
I hope in an upcoming issue you guys bag on McGrath for his dismal performance at Daytona.I can recall you pointing your old, biased fingers at everyone but MC two years ago. Yeah right, you guys don’t have a strong enough back bone for that.Maybe in an up coming issue you can tell me more about electric bikes that no one cares about, instead of being fair, objective, and honest in your race reports.I wish I had in front of me what you said about 6th place 2 years ago. I dare you to say something even remotely close about mcgrath.

MXA response: It’s amazing how quickly fans switch their alliegences. Jeremy has dominated Supercross since 1993. He deserves more slack than a rider who never trains, never tries and never wins. McGrath is a solid rider–even if Ricky Carmichael is faster–McGrath is still faster than everybody else.
We don’t think that Jeremy rode with any heart at Daytona and that is exactly what we will say.

John Means [[email protected]] wrote:
In the latest issue the battle of the minis where is the RM80 info? Because
Iam just 2weeks away from making a purchase for my son!

MXA response: John depending on the size of your son go out and buy a Kawasaki KX85 or a Yamaha YZ80. They are the two best mini bikes on the market. We didn’t feel the need to test the RM80 since it hasn’t been changed in a long time (and wasn’t the best mini when it was introduced over a decade ago.

Herb Smith [[email protected]] wrote:
i know you guys run pump gas for your test bikes, but would there be any benefit in using race gas (either 100% or 50/50 blend) in a stock 125cc engine. if so, what would you recommend. the manual recommends a 95 octane gas, which is not available at the pump.

MXA response: Herb, the manufacturers design their bikes to run at peak levels on 92 octane pump gas. If you have a stock bike you don’t need to mess with race gas.

Jason White [[email protected]] wrote:
Dear MXA, Can you give me some good suspension settings for my 98 Yamaha YZ125. I’m 150 pounds 5’4″. I ride hard packed dirt & grass. I’m a novice rider, but I want to start jumping. Also any other tips for that bike would be helpful. I heard I could get past issues of MXA, but I didn’t know if I could go back that far. So if you could give me some info on how get the test issue for that bike, it would be extremely helpful.

MXA response: Jason we had our best luck running .43 kg/mm fork springs with the oil level set at 135mm. As for the fork clicker settings we ran the compression at 10 out and the rebound at 13 out. On the shock we ran a 4.6 kg/mm shock spring with the race sag set at 95mm. As for the shock clicker settings we ran the compression at 15 out and the rebound at 15 out.

Josh House [[email protected]] wrote:
I was wanting to know why you guy’s never change the riding tips or just add some new one’s. I was also wanting to know if a pipe off a 2000 CR125 would fit a 2001 Cr125. Thank you.

MXA response: We update the stories on the MXA web site all the time. Just keep checking back. We are currently working on several how to ride on the best way to ride ruts and how to prep your bike for mud. As for the 2000 CR125 pipe on a 2001 model it will fit, but we wouldn’t suggest it as the stock porting has changed.

Jon [[email protected]] wrote:
Hi, I just have one question to ask. I am 19 years old and I’m looking for a 125cc motocross bike to start racing with. I am about 5’7″ in height im 140lbs. I was wondering what would be the best 125cc bike for my size, new or used. Thank you so much!

MXA response: At your weight and height we’d buy a Yamaha YZ125. If you don’t want to buy a brand new one any of the models from 1996 on are good.

daren [[email protected]] wrote:
Thanks!,
You guys have saved me a trip (or two or three) to the hospital with six words. Several months ago you were discussing safety equipment and you said “if they make it, wear it” I thought about it and went out and bought everything (knee pads, chest prt, neck collar, elbow pads etc..) as I am an over 30 racer who has to work on Monday, no excuses. I have had several high speed get offs and have shredded pants, jerseys, cracked knee pads, etc but thanks to that advice, have not had a major medical incident. I have sacrificed a lot of equipment and replaced it. You think it’s expensive? Have you been to the E.R. lately or had a bone pinned together? I love the insurance of great equipment. Thanks again for making safety “cool” and the right thing to do.

MXA response: Daren glad we could help. Just because the superstars of the sport don’t wear all the protective equipment out there doesn’t mean as regular racers we shouldn’t.

MN, Rider [[email protected]] wrote:
On the back cover of your March 2001 issue you have a picture of a supercross track. Can you send me an overhead view of the track. It looks like a fun track and I am building a new one on my land this summer and I would like to mimick this one. So if you could please send me one it would be greatly appreciated.

MXA response: You’re talking about the Renthal ad on the back of mag. The picture is actually of the US Open held in the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas and not one of the rounds of this years Supercross series. Sorry though we don’t have an overhead shot