Ice racing tires

[SULLY0556]

  Here's the difference between summer and winter riding.   I run +2 LT arms in the winter with stock shocks which lower it down nicely and still give me great suspension.   

[SULLY0556]

  Another problem I had was sore arms from constantly pulling myself back up on the bike.  I have a lot of torque and I was always sliding off the back of the seat.  I bought another complete seat, removed the cover, and cut the foam down to the shape of my ass.  Now I sit lower and never slide back so my arms last much longer before I get pumped up. 

[SULLY0556]

Another issue I had was my wrists were getting twisted up in the corners with the bars turned all the way to the side so I needed a different angle on the bars for a better grip.   I remove my grip protectors in the winter and put 2 short bar extensions on the ends of my grips so I can grab them in the corners.  I point the left one straight down and hold on to that in the left hand corners so my wrist can turn naturally.   I use the right one to keep my hand from sliding off the bars.
   I run gauntlets on my grips to keep the wind off my hands and I installed hand warmers in the grips so I can ride in -20 degrees with just summer riding gloves.  I'm a wimp but I can also do more laps because my hands aren't frozen, my arms aren't pumped up, and my bike rides smooth. 

[SULLY0556]

  One last trick I did...    Since we're riding in very cold weather we often have to jump and charge batteries.  Getting to the Rappy's battery is a pain so I ran a set of extension studs to the rear of the bike under the seat.  Now I can jump and charge the battery easilly.

  Also is a pic of my hand warmer switch and my speed sensor cut-out switch.

[SULLY0556]

  Now some current pics of the beast.  Pics and videos can be seen at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Badwater-Ice-Racing-Iron-Mountain-Mi/142792215754000


Please add your tricks, tips and info as we can all use the help!!


Sully

[Krandall]

Freaking sweet man!!! how much do you figure you have into each tire for studd cost?

I saw one other person on here do something cool w/ his tires. Not a racing solution, but...

Hefe used snowmobile studs on the tires. I think they were 1.5 inches long, and stuck out maybe 3/4" out of the tread. I've been looking at doim somthing to my old YFZ tires. don't have any ice races around me, so don't need anything crazy, but it'd be nice to have something a "little more".

Always a blast running on the river in the winter after the snowmobiles track it down and give you a nice hardpack to run on

[SULLY0556]

  I've got about $600 into all 4 tires complete + a lot of time.  Cutting lugs takes about 3 hours per tire, then another 3-4 hours to stud and nut each one including mounting and dis-mounting.  Studding should be done on an inflated tire.
    Snowmobile studs are sweet but they also create a lot of drag at high speeds.  They'd be cool for river-riding and hitting the slop though.
   These tires are only good for relatively clean ice.  I cut the knobs to give me a smaller foot-print in the slop and it helps the knobs to cut thru and push down to clean ice. 

[Peelz]

FYI-to new guys....When I first did mine, I had no clue about this sport. I spent MAYBE 15 minutes on the job LOL

I bought 3/8 hex head machine screws and stuck em in the stock 660 tires. I didnt want to ruin my stockers. THis does not work Fronts will stay in but the rears will go bye bye. Screws have to go all the way in the tire, and even have a nut hold them on inside the tire.

FAIL. one lap around the track i was sliding all over. But I could steer like muthafuka!

[SULLY0556]

  It's suprising how many peole come out with just that on their bikes!  Then they bitch when the plow the banks.  All they need to do is ask someone and they'd save a bunch of time and $$.