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169
Joined
9/16/2014
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
1/7/2015 2:01pm
sand riding tips, please help
Maybe he could help you out?
The Shop
The US riders tend to be over aggressive in the sand and over ride the bike to hard.
When it comes to sand we talk pourcel smooth and dont ride the berms to hard.
use your legs (not hands) and throttle to keep the front end light.
even on braking keep the gas on a little. control the clutch on braking. be smooth on braking.
keep your weight back. let the bike to move around and dont fight it.
dont rev the engine. you need as much traction as possible.
stand up on your pegs as much as possible.
be creative with your lines. sand track is changing after every lap. be ready for new lines. look far ahead.
remember - fast is smooth. smooth is fast!
good luck practising!
I love riding on sand!
At Dunkirk last week (very cold, about 5deg C & sea level) it's very deep and on a completely standard YZ125 we used a 470 main and it was spot on with 32:1.
We stuck a sand tire on, steel sprockets and it was fine. I wouldn't make any drastic changes to the suspension and balance of the bike until you've spun a few laps & depending on what the track is like.
Stand into the corner and sit as you turn in tighter turns where you have nice smooth berms. Play around with where you sit on the seat. On the little 125 you'll be sat fairly far back to get the back end to drive.
If its whooped-out sweepers then standup and keep it wide open. Grip with your knees when you are stood.
If you have stuttery braking bumps, play around with dragging the rear brake into the corner, keeping some throttle on.
Thanks for the reference JB
All the posts before me pretty much have it covered but I might add one tip that sometimes works in racing situations. Braking bumps can grow large going into 180 degree corners with the largest braking bump being the last before the main berm on the outside of the corner.
Try swinging wide out of the main line out in the smooth stuff entering the 180 degree corner then arc back across the track to use that LAST braking bump as a berm. If there is a rider in front of you this will work well to pass him as your momentum after using that last braking bump as a berm will carry you to the exit point of the turn in front of him for a clean block pass as he huck a bucks into the main berm and tucks his front wheel loosing momentum.
I had Dan Moore pass me in practice one time doing this move and I NEVER forgot it. Such a smooth energy conserving move.
brake earlier and get back on the throttle before the apex of the turn .... power through the turn
Pit Row
First off you almost never wanna use the front brake because to my experience it locks the front wheel way to easy.
Standing up, really while riding sand you should almost never sit down except for thight turns. Try to use putting pressure with your knees on your bike so you have lots of control over the back end of the bike while being really stable. Keep in mind you do wanna keep a certain 'looseness' to let the bike automaticly flow into 'straight ruts' to prevent cross rutting.
I mostly rode 2 strokes and depending on how the sand is you do wanna kinda rape the clutch to keep the high rpm's going through corners. For the rest it's really just getting used to a soft surface to race on you will start to get a feel for it and start to like it the more you ride it. A big plus is that crashing hardly hurts in the sand so you have that
Stay on the gas longer than you think, deeper into the turns
Sand does move when you hit it, so don't be afraid to bust through random bumps
Go faster than you would on dirt, because you can stop so much faster and bumps are smaller than they look.
Stand more
Put more gas in the tank, you'll use more.
Sand is my favorite surface!
Oh, and my favorite sand riding tip, is to find another place to ride...I hate the sand...
its my home track and im still working out how to water it so its really sapping all my power through deep turns
dont give up. I promise you will like the sand more and more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7610sYWn78U&feature=player_detailpage#t…
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