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Sonora Rally 2018


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So stock CRF450X stator is 40w ac/20w dc and three reliable sources are saying this is sufficient to power the RMS nav kit I have, so no stator upgrade necessary.

Still tracking down a tank.  Safari may help us (still waiting to hear for sure) and I have a lead on two loaner tanks from local friends.

I'm pitting with Garrett Poucher (5th at Baja 1000 pro moto unlimited; 1st at Baja Rally) and he says he has a Pro Circuit exhaust kit I can use, a Scotts sub-mount damper w/riser and we'll re-jet the carbs and plug a few emissions hoses.  He recommended I change gearing to 15/47 too.

@SeaWolfe is gimpy now but said he can help me hook up the RMS nav kit from my 990.

This is really the magic of the whole story is how folks like you and Garrett, etc... come together to help each other.  I'm very thankful for that.

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So stock CRF450X stator is 40w ac/20w dc and three reliable sources are saying this is sufficient to power the RMS nav kit I have, so no stator upgrade necessary.

Still tracking down a tank.  Safari may help us (still waiting to hear for sure) and I have a lead on two loaner tanks from local friends.

I'm pitting with Garrett Poucher (5th at Baja 1000 pro moto unlimited; 1st at Baja Rally) and he says he has a Pro Circuit exhaust kit I can use, a Scotts sub-mount damper w/riser and we'll re-jet the carbs and plug a few emissions hoses.  He recommended I change gearing to 15/47 too.

@SeaWolfe is gimpy now but said he can help me hook up the RMS nav kit from my 990.

This is really the magic of the whole story is how folks like you and Garrett, etc... come together to help each other.  I'm very thankful for that.

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So stock CRF450X stator is 40w ac/20w dc and three reliable sources are saying this is sufficient to power the RMS nav kit I have, so no stator upgrade necessary.

Still tracking down a tank.  Safari may help us (still waiting to hear for sure) and I have a lead on two loaner tanks from local friends.

I'm pitting with Garrett Poucher (5th at Baja 1000 pro moto unlimited; 1st at Baja Rally) and he says he has a Pro Circuit exhaust kit I can use, a Scotts sub-mount damper w/riser and we'll re-jet the carbs and plug a few emissions hoses.  He recommended I change gearing to 15/47 too.

@SeaWolfe is gimpy now but said he can help me hook up the RMS nav kit from my 990.

This is really the magic of the whole story is how folks like you and Garrett, etc... come together to help each other.  I'm very thankful for that.

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So stock CRF450X stator is 40w ac/20w dc and three reliable sources are saying this is sufficient to power the RMS nav kit I have, so no stator upgrade necessary.

Still tracking down a tank.  Safari may help us (still waiting to hear for sure) and I have a lead on two loaner tanks from local friends.

I'm pitting with Garrett Poucher (5th at Baja 1000 pro moto unlimited; 1st at Baja Rally) and he says he has a Pro Circuit exhaust kit I can use, a Scotts sub-mount damper w/riser and we'll re-jet the carbs and plug a few emissions hoses.  He recommended I change gearing to 15/47 too.

@SeaWolfe is gimpy now but said he can help me hook up the RMS nav kit from my 990.

This is really the magic of the whole story is how folks like you and Garrett, etc... come together to help each other.  I'm very thankful for that.

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So stock CRF450X stator is 40w ac/20w dc and three reliable sources are saying this is sufficient to power the RMS nav kit I have, so no stator upgrade necessary.

Still tracking down a tank.  Safari may help us (still waiting to hear for sure) and I have a lead on two loaner tanks from local friends.

I'm pitting with Garrett Poucher (5th at Baja 1000 pro moto unlimited; 1st at Baja Rally) and he says he has a Pro Circuit exhaust kit I can use, a Scotts sub-mount damper w/riser and we'll re-jet the carbs and plug a few emissions hoses.  He recommended I change gearing to 15/47 too

Rich is gimpy now but said he can help me hook up the RMS nav kit from my 990.

This is really the magic of the whole story is how folks like you and Garrett, etc... come together to help each other.  I'm very thankful for that.

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so the rally electronics isn't going to have all that much to do with the stator.  Odds are its 12v DC and youre just going to pull power straight from the battery.  your not plugging straight into the 20w leg of the stator.  That leg, in stock form, probably just charges the battery and nothing more.  You have to figure out what your final draw is going to be now, with ANYTHING else you think your going to put on.  If youre not a good deep sand rider, just plan on going down a lot and using that estart a lot and using more juice.  Multiple crashes, carb flooding, deep sand just making getting up and going again more difficult, and more falling over is going to put a strain on that battery the more and longer you hold that button.  Any chance of riding in low light or dark?  40w is nothing for a halogen race light.  Halogen is what your limited to with AC from the stator. 

Seems like you have a lot of faith in that stock electrical system.  A stator upgrade is pennies compared to what your paying for entry, what sponsors are giving you to perform, and nothing compared to actually finishing everyday.  After watching your issues at the Baja rally, it was simple "little" things, lack of experience, know how, and race prep that took you out.  This is one of those "little" things that might cause big problems later on, and you really don't have time to properly test and tune before the actual event.  Racing is expensive, no way around it.  You cut corners and you will pay for it in other ways.       

 

Edited by AdvRob
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That's good feedback but I've had quite a few people I know from rally raid racing tell me I'll be fine.  And I'm a good sand rider too.  I fell twice one stage at Baja and once on two other stages but it wasn't in sand.

As for Baja Rally, what slowed me down (I did complete it) was a rear rim too wide for mousse, too thin a 2nd mousse and not enough mousse (should have had 5 and changed rear daily).  My front mousse worked great.  My right side fuel filler cap didn't seal well and leaked out too much gas in a fall early in the day and that had me run out 17k short of a gas stop.  That's fixed but I'm not running the 990 this time.

I'm not putting anything else on the bike either.  Four stages; 95% finish before dark.

I'll run the training class w/o a stator upgrade and see what my classmates and Sonora staff think before I commit.

 

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Just tossing it out there.  want to see you make it to the finish line on all stages this time. 

Prep is all about risk mitigation and testing.  In your write up on the Baja Rally you mentioned 3 DNFs due to tire failures and fuel issues.  These are the little things.  I good long weekend running the bike in race trim would have shown some of these shortcomings.  Granted one of your tire failures was you putting a 120 mousse in a 140 or 150 tire, so no way to really dodge that one except pre race inspections. 

Fortune favors the prepared.  There is still 5% in the running in the dark.  Glad to hear your going to get a good solid couple days on the bike before dropping the chunk of change for race registration.

while the bike is sitting on the stand with no suspension, get out those wrenches, locktite, and get a paint pen and start going over EVERYTHING.  With the amount of time you will be spending on the bike each day things loosen.  Ive seen everything from seat bolts, axle nuts, even shock mount hardware come completely off a bike and leave people stranded.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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So here at the hotel in San Luis Rio Colorado for the training class and already some issues.

Garrett said he’d loan me a pipe but we do t have the ability to re-jet the carbs and I left the stick pipe at home. I may ride his bike then he’ll donthe stage after me. It’s a short stage and he’s super fast but a bit nervous about riding another dude’s bike.
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So today pretty much made up for all the crap I’ve had to deal with in the last week

Garrett did his run in about an hour and a half. I took... considerably longer

But I had a huge smile on my face even as I ran out of gas at 92k. I only had 200 pesos to fill the tank and it was a bit short.

So much fun riding the dunes though on a 450! I have a lot of great video I will post up when I get home.

Made me feel much better about my riding abilities and how much fun it can be. There’s no way in hell that can be done on a 990.

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Today didn’t work out as well as yesterday. Garrett went out first again but came back 20 min later with carb or ignition issues. We waited for some other riders to finish then headed back to hotel. I’m anxious to get home but caught a ride with someone leaving tomorrow.

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So what did I learn?

This class had more riders and with more experience.  There was still a half day of instruction but it wasn´t the fundamentals but more advanced stuff.

I really came for the dune riding experience and got plenty of that even though I didn´t get to ride the second day.

I learned how to crest a dune and which areas to stay away from.  I also learned to pick a point on the horizon as a reference although that´s something I already knew how to do.  It´s tough if you have 20k of dunes to cross on one heading to hit that 800m circle at the end so you need to have a basic idea if you´re generally to the left or right of it based on which direction you typically would veer.  With all the veering you´re going to come up long on mileage so when you hit that 20k you expected, chances are you´re not really there yet.  That gives you an idea of the angle you need to turn to to hit that waypoint.

And of course the best lesson is experience so there was nothing like simply getting out there and riding.  There are a lot of soft spots to avoid and you have to be cautious with your speed because there are many near vertical drop offs.  You will see on my video (soon) some of those.  Think I compressed a few disks a bit on one of them :lol:

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4 hours ago, Eric Hall said:

So today pretty much made up for all the crap I’ve had to deal with in the last week emoji23.png

Garrett did his run in about an hour and a half. I took... considerably longer emoji23.png

But I had a huge smile on my face even as I ran out of gas at 92k. I only had 200 pesos to fill the tank and it was a bit short.

So much fun riding the dunes though on a 450! I have a lot of great video I will post up when I get home.

Made me feel much better about my riding abilities and how much fun it can be. There’s no way in hell that can be done on a 990. emoji23.png

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You tackled and conquered those dunes on one of the best bikes for the ride ! Way to go eric !! 

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