Author Topic: Slapping lights on an MXer  (Read 3744 times)

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Offline Marc.com

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Slapping lights on an MXer
« on: February 05, 2009, 07:31:18 pm »
Remember the good ole days when a lot of the field were made up of hastily converted MXers with dubious lights and number plates nicked off old trailers.  ;D

These young kiddies now days don't have to blow up their tank with hot water and a bicycle pump....spoilt. I have no idea how my YZ125 survived Enduros but it did.  ;D
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Offline Graeme M

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2009, 10:43:38 pm »
Indeed. But I have even fonder memories of the days when the first halfway decent Jap enduro bikes appeared. When fields at enduros were all IT175D/E mounted, or every PE20 suddenly turned up with a decompressor and all you could hear through the bush was phshht phshht phshht phshht... Or how about those TT500s with TY headlights that blokes tried desperatley to punt through the rocks and gullies?


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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2009, 10:48:56 pm »
These young kiddies now days don't have to blow up their tank with hot water and a bicycle pump....spoilt.

Marc,

That is crazy talk! Blowing the tank up with boiling water and a bicycle pump!
How many litres in capacity was gained through this exercise?

Jock

Offline LWC82PE

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2009, 11:19:45 pm »
i have a couple articles that tell you how to do this . you can gain about 1-2 liters roughly? i might scan them and put them up on a site for people to look at.
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Offline Marc.com

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2009, 10:45:45 am »
yeah this was the subject of ADB technical articles ;D, along with advice on not carrying your spare tube looped about your shoulder. The West Australian version of blow up your tank normally involved sitting bike sitting on the trailer in summer with a full tank of gas.

You could pick the guys on the converted MXers in the Parc Ferme or controls, they were clustered about trees or any vertical object that meant not lying your bike on its side. I seem to remember Dave Armstrong doing OK on a converted KX at the 4 day/
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Offline NSR

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2009, 10:14:54 pm »
I had a CR125 in 88 with a CB125 complance plate on it and a blowen up tank, from memory i think i got an about another 2l in.  The distance between fuel dumps could be up to 80Ks, so it was worth the effort.
Had a fair bit to do with david leading up to the 88 4-day I think his tank had the hot water treatment as well.
That 4-day was tough, I dnfd on the morning of day 2, blew the clutch up out the back of the Conondale ranges.  When i finaly got back to Geen park where we had a cross test & fuel stop, I got to see Dave blow away the whole field on the cross test, even the euro's could'nt beleve his time. 
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Offline Marc.com

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2009, 11:20:38 am »
Yeah at the time Dave was major MX star and then switched to Enduro and gave everyone a riding lesson on a KX250.  ;D

I think in most conditions an MXer will get the job done. Tough breed the guys who took on the 4 day on 500cc 2 strokes.

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Offline Colin Jay

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2009, 07:06:07 pm »
I think Preston Petty made it easy for a lot of us to register MX bikes for enduro use in the late 1970's with his enduro headlights and rear mudguard/taillight combos. 

In 1979 I fitted a PP headlight number plate, PP rear mudguard taillight combo, bulb horn and mirrors to my 1978 390 AMX Husky and got it through a NSW rego inspection with the std Husky MX pipe. The inspector told me that as they had no records of Husqvarna models ( the pre-computer database era was good for that), he would pass it, but I could get a letter from head office in Sydney any time in the next couple of month cancelling my rego. I never got a letter, and keep the Husky registered for 3 years, riding it in quite a few enduros, including three 4-days. From memory an awful lot of the Huskies ridden in enduros back then were CR's, and only a dedicated few rode WR's.

It was always interesting doing the noise tests at machine examination, I never once had a problem getting the 390 through with the std MX exhaust, but saw an awful lot of Suzuki PE175's with their pipes wrapped in sound deadening lagging tape and using the ADR restricted baffle fail the test. The theory was that the Vibratachs that they used to measure the engine rpm could not handle the "strange" fin rattle of the huskies and would indicate a far higher rpm than the engine was actually doing, meaning that you barely got the rev above idle when that told you to stop. It may of helped that I always did the noise test with the choke on, and stood on the left hand (exhaust side) of the bike to sheild the engine noise from the sound meter, or maybe it was just that there were a lot of official who liked Huskies riders and didn't like PE175 riders!

Not that riding a Husky helped me a lot, as I DNF'd every 4 day I entered, with the transmission generally throwing in the towel towards the end of day two. The most frustrating DNF was the 1981 4-day in Broken Hill where the tranny died on the transport section back to the main control at the end of day 2. I had learn my leason from the previous 4 days, and had borrowed a spare transmission, with the plan being to do a complete tranny swap during the work period at the start of day 3, I even had it down to under 8 minutes to do the swap, but alas never made it to the final control, let alone the start of day 3.  That was the last time I rode the auto in competition, as I fitted the engine from my SR500 into the frame  a few months later and campained it in the 4 stroke class for a few years.  The auto engine still sits in a box in the shed, and hopefully I will rebuild it and put it back into it rightful frame again one day.

CJ
Why do things the easy way, when with a bit of effort you can really make it difficult for yourself!!

Offline Marc.com

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Re: Slapping lights on an MXer
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2009, 04:38:04 pm »

Not that riding a Husky helped me a lot, as I DNF'd every 4 day I entered, with the transmission generally throwing in the towel towards the end of day two. .

CJ

yep maybe the PE175 riders were on to something. I remember someone trying to kick start their auto which did blubber into action after 30 minutes at a control only to have it stall immediately when they engaged gear.....priceless ;D
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