Rear Axle / Front End Question for Ice racing

[SULLY0556]

  Are they pretty tight?  Like summer riding gloves?  I have a hard time fitting a bigger glove between the clutch and the hand guards when I'm reaching for it quick...

[Krandall]

They aren't thin as summer riding gloves. but they are pretty thin. They aren't super padded like your typical winter gloves. Snowboard gloves in particular are thinner because you have to be able to strap your boots in on the hill so they make them so they are thinner, flexible, and still warm.

[SULLY0556]

Cool!  I'll check them out tonight at the sport shop.  I need to drop my front tires off to get ballanced, too much wheel hop at high speed.  :wootwoot:

[Peelz]

Sully, have you tried those handwarmers that go over the bars? They allow you to ride with normal atv gloves. Ugly, but effective. I was skeptical, but they work great. Just slide your hands in like you would a sheep's a$$. 

Plenty of room to operate clutch, brake, etc.

[Bert]

Hey Sully I bought my winter gloves from DennisKirk.com  I shopped in the snowmobile section & went with a Nordic glove.  Tight fingers & very warm. They were around $40. Yes I would buy them again.

[SULLY0556]

  So I'm 4 weeks into ice-riding this year and I'm still having troubles hooking up in the rear.  The fronts are amazing.   I've tried tire pressures, sway bar adjustments, stiffening the rear shock, flipping the rear shock bracket to lower the back.  Still not enough weight in the rear for a good grab on corners. 

   Last night I removed my "winter" shocks and put my stock shocks back on which are 4" taller.  I maxed out the springs, then strapped them down about 2-3".  I can't use my piggyback shocks because the sway arm would hit the reservoirs.
    I also want to lower my back end even more so I removed the dog-bone and made a (temporary) replacement which will drop me another 2-3".  I'm going to cut my dog-bone in half, drill & tap threads in it and install threaded rod so I can lengthen it as needed.
   Tonight I'll put scales under all 4 wheels and see where I'm at for weight on all 4 corners so I can adjust my heights accordingly.
   Any more suggestions (short of a shorter swing arm)

Sully


P.S.
    Badwater ice rally is in 9 days!!!

[SULLY0556]

1 more trophy for next weekend...

[SULLY0556]

   You can find pics of our track and riding on Myspace "Badwater Ice Racing".   Good stuff!   

[Krandall]

those are some awesome trophies.

I was reading in...... dirtwheels I believe. they said running extra studs on the outside edge of the tires helped in cornering as well as help clearing snow/ice from the treads. Have you thought about doing that?

[SULLY0556]

 I don't have the room,  I shaved my knobbies and the Kanadians have a big head on them.   I noticed one of the guys running a KFX was cornering pretty well and they have a short wheel base and are a wheelie machine.  That means the trick is likely more weight to the back of the bike.  I'll weigh each wheel tonight to see where I'm at and adjust from there.  I have 2-3 days of riding before the rally to get better set up.  I'm not expecting a trophy but I'd like to at least run well.

  I also narrowed my bike 4" overall,  that did help a bit. 
   

[SULLY0556]

Pics from last weekend

[Peelz]

studs sticking out at a slight angle on edge of tread? When the tire starts to roll over, the stud wil dig in. IDK. maybe less studs? Sometimes a smaller footprint = more bite. Make rear studs not linear like I see people doing alot. ALign them a little staggered. you guys have a alot more experience than I do though. good luck

[SULLY0556]

a few more

[Krandall]

Hmmmm, weight....

I forgot you shaved the knobs on them. Is it lack of tracktion or do you think your skating a little bit w/ the ammount of larger headed screws? Maybe MD will be on, he's an ice racing expert.

As for weight.. this is all I could come up with.
What about stuffing the tires w/ that hot water tube insulation stuff?

[SULLY0556]

studs sticking out at a slight angle on edge of tread? When the tire starts to roll over, the stud wil dig in. IDK. maybe less studs? Sometimes a smaller footprint = more bite. Make rear studs not linear like I see people doing alot. ALign them a little staggered. you guys have a alot more experience than I do though. good luck

  The C/S tires are automatically staggered,  They grab when I hang my ass off the bike but I can't drive it that way.  I need to transfer more weight (or gain 100lbs)