Went for a hard ride with a mate and his son in Aberfeldy in Victoria Australia. This area doesn't have any flat areas except the rivers at the bottoms of the killer hills. This video is from the start of the day and is the easiest part of the day. This is where it gets harder and i start crashing... The hardest day ever on a dirt bike for me.
Sweet video! You one tough customer! Looks like a burnt forest with some gnarly hill climbs on those roads! Its probably just the camera angle, but your bars look like they are pushed way-forward in the clamps ... This makes the grip area look like they are pointed upwards towards the sky and maybe your elbows are straight in the riding position? ... This would be a very awkward riding riding position for me ... -- On those downhills, like that first one you fell over on, you gotta just let gravity carry you down and control your speed from the very top with the front brake initially, then just roll down it ... The rear brake can used also, ESP on the bottom part but the front will control the speed from the very top and keep the bike from going too fast at the top. Too fast at the top and by the time you are at the bottom, you will be doing ama speeds at the bottom. Or just kill the engine and put the bike in 1st or 2nd and use the engine as as brake with the clutch used to release the rear tire from time to time. You gotta be careful not to bump start the engine in with this method. -- You might wanna get up on the pegs and off the seat on those big climbs also and let that 449 hog eat on the way up ... Cover the clutch lever as a safety measure in-case that big 449 takes a weird bounce off the road... -- Nice bar pad action and you almost had your camera shooting from under the bar a couple times on that climb... That's taking camera skills to a new level and not a skill we all have in our riding bag. -- Is that a gopro mirror on the bars?
Thanks for the tips, Ray_Ray. I keep telling myself all those things on the way down each time, but I find the rear brake very easy to lock. My mates 450 with a Rekluse auto clutch and left hand rear brake lever that replaces the clutch is very easy to ride on these steep hills. Up or down. I just got a quote from EFM and I reckon this is the next update for me. The mirror is just a plastic cheapie from a mountain bike. It's just there to make it road legal in Oz.
Coming up that steep hill it appears you were looking too close to the front wheel-big mistake look 40-60 feet ahead in the steep stuff. One rule of thumb for down hill, go down about the speed you would go up. This extra speed creates a spinning top effect from the wheels that keeps the bike upright,
Yep. Too true, ghte. Momentum is king on these steep ones. The video never does it justice as to how steep it actually is. I've softened off the compression damping front and rear to try and reduce the wheel stands as well. It's in for it's 1000k service now, so I might need to get the old XR400R out to tide me over... We've got a big weekend of dirt bikes in NSW on the Australia Day weekend at a mate's 2000 acre property coming up, so I've asked them to add race map 3 as well. Can't wait.
I could see how steep they are Jamie. Have not ridden Aberfeldy to date. Get to Noojee and Neerim and Bright a lot with my brother from Melbourne (originally from the Mornington Peninsula). Maybe when standingand going up hill put more weight over the front end. draw an imaginary line from your chin, it should drop through the steering head. Perhaps consider raising the forks a quarter inch to alter the front rear weight axis a tad. Where are you riding in NSW BTW
Up around Coolah. There's gonna be a heap of us up there riding, shooting and generally misbehaving. They're putting in an MX track as well. I might take the XR as a spare bike just in case. We usually ride around near Noojee too. Some good fun tracks up there. Fifth Dam and Worleys are my favourites.
