Trail Riding w/ MX Bike

GregC
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7
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9/26/2020
Location
Center Line, MI US
10/22/2021 4:34am
Wondered if anyone has or does trail ride with an MX bike? I'm in Michigan and have a stock fuel injected 2013 YZF 450 that has seen an occasional mx track practice day but for trail riding the off idle throttle response seems to abrupt for me. It's either on or off.

My friends carbureted 2008 KLX 450 was 10 times easier to ride on trails and scramble areas. The throttle response seemed so much more linear down low. The response was like turning the volume knob on a radio. Very linear and predicatable and could fine tune for about any situation. It still had a hard hitting mid range if you wanted to twist the throttle. I do understand the KLX is a trail specific machine, but the differences couldn't be more different. Which i understand the intent is completely different. Just wondered if anyone has "made an mx bike work" on the trails with possibly different fuel mappings or flywheel, etc. Thank you. Greg
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Titan1
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8592
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2/3/2010
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Lehi, UT US
10/22/2021 9:08pm Edited Date/Time 10/22/2021 9:09pm
I raced MX 450’s in the desert and trail rode them in the mountains for years (that’s a 2015 KX450 in my profile pic)…the off idle throttle response is an issue on them…2nd gear is your friend…and use some clutch, so you don’t stall…I seldom used 1st gear ever (and rarely do now on my YZ450FX). 2nd gear on 450’s is almost like cheating (if you’re half way competent with a clutch).

Or…if you’ve got an extra grand laying around…Drop a Rekluse auto clutch in…that makes them work perfect…just leave it in 3rd gear and let the torque do its think with very little tire spin is the slow techy trails.

Fly wheel weights help…though I never saw any reason to use them.
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GregC
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7
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9/26/2020
Location
Center Line, MI US
10/23/2021 4:38am
I think you raise a good point. I've ridden 2 strokes all my life with no issue. When i made transition to a 450 quite never felt as comfortable but I think getting additional trail time along with your suggestions would be of great help.
10/23/2021 6:51am
You should be able to tune a lot of that abruptness out with a power tuner. If you do a little research you should be able to find info on maps that others have used for taming the 450. I think this is where you'll get the best bang for the buck.

If you don't have one might try hitting this guy up here to see if he still has it for sale.

The Steahly flywheel weight was pretty popular on the earlier 450 EFI.

Most often the big differences in MX and enduro models is simply FWW and mapping, or a little lower compression which is similar to adding FWW.

And as Titan1 said, riding up in the gears is a good thing, or you can gear it up. Try adding one tooth the countershaft for a cheap test to see if it helps.

And as he also mentioned there's the Rekluse, but those things are way over priced, IMO. I'd try all the above way before I went there.

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blusmbl
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1283
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3/19/2012
Location
Plymouth, MI US
10/23/2021 8:11am
I've done flywheel weights and throttle tamers before. I didn't notice as much of a difference from the flywheel weight but a throttle tamer with a slow cam in it definitely calmed the bikes I've had down.
1

The Shop

Titan1
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8592
Joined
2/3/2010
Location
Lehi, UT US
10/23/2021 2:17pm
You should be able to tune a lot of that abruptness out with a power tuner. If you do a little research you should be able...
You should be able to tune a lot of that abruptness out with a power tuner. If you do a little research you should be able to find info on maps that others have used for taming the 450. I think this is where you'll get the best bang for the buck.

If you don't have one might try hitting this guy up here to see if he still has it for sale.

The Steahly flywheel weight was pretty popular on the earlier 450 EFI.

Most often the big differences in MX and enduro models is simply FWW and mapping, or a little lower compression which is similar to adding FWW.

And as Titan1 said, riding up in the gears is a good thing, or you can gear it up. Try adding one tooth the countershaft for a cheap test to see if it helps.

And as he also mentioned there's the Rekluse, but those things are way over priced, IMO. I'd try all the above way before I went there.

I’m a HUGE fan of the rekluse auto clutches…I haven’t had one on my last two bikes, but only because I’ve been working on being better with the clutch…but I’ll use them again for sure.

For racing…I’m not sure there is any one thing an amateur off road racer can do to improve their results (not technique, not speed, but improve results my eliminating mistakes) more than a rekluse. Eliminate stalling, eliminate even thinking about the clutch, focus on line choice, etc…major improvements in results! Now, faster guys won’t see the improvement in results that slower riders will (because they don’t stall,use the clutch automatically without thinking, have good line choice)…but a rekluse clutch can cover a lot of mistakes slower riders make.

For trail riding, I don’t know that they are worth it…unless you’re riding incredibly technical stuff…but even then, not sure I’d get one.
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10/23/2021 5:03pm
No offence intended, I've had several myself. They have their place, but they have just priced them out of my league as well as most of the guys I race with.
Titan1
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8592
Joined
2/3/2010
Location
Lehi, UT US
10/23/2021 7:45pm
No offence intended, I've had several myself. They have their place, but they have just priced them out of my league as well as most of...
No offence intended, I've had several myself. They have their place, but they have just priced them out of my league as well as most of the guys I race with.
Yeah $1000+ now for their top of the line stuff is spendy…especially for a luxury item…and though I’m on the bottom end, I consider myself fast enough where I don’t see huge gains in results from them (Im pretty good with the clutch-it’s basically second nature to me, seldom stall)…but, for racing, if it would eliminate one stall, it’s worth the price…but I can afford them and not lose sleep over it…so I see those that feel the cost.
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