RUST Magazine: RUST#34
PASTRANA EXCLUSIVE – RUST talks to Travis Pastrana about backflips, school runs and other parental responsibilities GENERAL-LY SPEAKING – RUST goes Ice Cold in Katowice in Polaris’s General SSV. An SSV? What’s that? WILD WOMEN – no, Wildwood, the women aren’t wild, maybe mad, but they’re not wild STILLWELL – Alan Stillwell, the legend of US dirt bike suspension, writes exclusively for RUST… plus, of course, lots more As ever, wishing you happy riding and reading.
PASTRANA EXCLUSIVE – RUST talks to Travis Pastrana about backflips, school runs and other parental responsibilities
GENERAL-LY SPEAKING – RUST goes Ice Cold in Katowice in Polaris’s General SSV. An SSV? What’s that?
WILD WOMEN – no, Wildwood, the women aren’t wild, maybe mad, but they’re not wild
STILLWELL – Alan Stillwell, the legend of US dirt bike suspension, writes exclusively for RUST…
plus, of course, lots more
As ever, wishing you happy riding and reading.
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TECHNICAL<br />
w<br />
Fast forward to 6pm that night, and<br />
your mood has changed. How could<br />
this be? How could this image of perfection,<br />
the bike of your dreams, this<br />
latest and greatest EXC/CRF/YZF/<br />
RR/RMZ/KXF be this bad, right out<br />
of the box? It dived, kicked, swapped,<br />
under-steered, over-steered, steppedout,<br />
bottomed, jarred your teeth, felt<br />
harsh, felt mushy, rode high, rode low<br />
and generally made your day suck.<br />
As you sit there on your stool, nursing<br />
a Guinness, you realize that the bike<br />
just didn’t feel good. Whatever it was<br />
doing or not doing, you know it could<br />
be better, much much better. But where<br />
do you start?<br />
The scenario above plays out quite<br />
literally every weekend. We know this<br />
because we field the phone calls and<br />
emails from guys and gals just like you,<br />
looking for help, especially on Monday<br />
mornings. So here are some tips that<br />
will help you take your ill handling<br />
bike – new or used – and turn it into<br />
a machine that will have you grinning<br />
ear-to-ear.<br />
REALITY CHECK<br />
The bike<br />
Let’s start with some realities about your<br />
bike. When it rolled off the assembly<br />
line, the engineers did their best to select<br />
a suspension setup that was suited<br />
for a wide variety of riders and terrains.<br />
While this is true, this also means that<br />
certain compromises had to be made.<br />
Spring rates, for example. Most manufacturers<br />
target a weight range of 170-<br />
180lbs (75-80kg) and a valving spec<br />
that suits both this weight range and the<br />
bike’s intended purpose. The manufacturers<br />
use a totally different set of tuning<br />
parameters for a motocross bike and an<br />
off-road bike, for example. If you have<br />
ever tried to ride a supercross track on<br />
an EXC, you’ll get what I mean. In general,<br />
here in the States, KTM SXF’s are<br />
moto specific, XCF’s are GNCC/Enduro<br />
spec’d while the XCW’s (your EXC’s) are<br />
generally singletrack and more relaxed<br />
in their suspension setup. So understand<br />
that and think of your terrain and<br />
how your specific model was (or was<br />
not) targeted for what you ride.<br />
w<br />
44<br />
www.rustsports.com
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