sandpuppi101
02-15-2007, 01:08 PM
First off I just wanna start this by saying that I am by far slowly getting educated on the ice racing scene,LOL !! I have along way to go before I can ride with the experts.. Anyways I wanted too get a post started on tips and tricks you guys do to your machines not for just racing but riding on the ice in general . I 've been doing the ice race thing now for 3 years and every year I learn alot more,setting up the machine mostly.For the previous 2 year's I ran a '85 250R and this year I ran the '86 350X,that alone is worth talking about.This is all based on a 1/4 mile oval I mite add..
Here are some simple mod's I did to the seperate machine's.With running the R ,I deffintally had to dump the gearing,I am a big guy 6'1" 230..so me getting to the corners faster than a 450 was a challenge.My first year I just grabbed a old set of OEM 9" rears and studded them like crazy.Bad idea,corners became a big issue,sure I could hit the powerband,but all I did was spin.I never lowered the rear end so I had to back off on the corners or go wide leaving the other machines room to get inside.Another thing I did'nt do ,was too have enough studs on the frt! Steering was useless with the gas on.
This year with the 350X was like nite and day even though I am comparing it to the R,it was way easier because of the way I set the trike up.On the 350X I went with rear axle spacers on douglas Blue labels,which gave me 52"s of outside width.On the rear end I also dropped the rear as far as I could ,down to 18" at the rear bar without me on it.On the frt suspension,I raised the forks at the tree as far as possible,and althogh not good on the fork seals I shot a spec of air in them,Make it pretty rigid but not solid !! The tires were a complete different set from the 1 year I ran..I went with a set of Nankang 18x11x8 tires and used a awesome pattern of stud's,90% carbide cold cutters and 10% sheet metal screws.On the tires I studded every knob but what I did different ,someting I learned was on the outside /right and inside /left I put the coldcutters in on the furthest knob.Reason being is running the counter clockwise oval and powersliding the tire's cover more surface area.That worked awesome I mite add !! On the frt ,I went with a worn out OEM tire and studded 80% of the tire using cold cutter rite up the middle and used 20% screws.From the right of the middle knob to the side wall I went with the studs,facing a 45 Degree angle ,as the tire stays uprite,reason being when you go into the corners in a powerslide you have optimum coverage on the ice and steering is on the money...All the studs wer turned sideways at a 45degree angle to have full coverage on the slide..
Like I said ,I am by far any pro at this ice stuff but I never had anybody tell me these things on how to set up my machines ,I wish I would have ,it would have been alot easier,LOL. Maybe what I do is'nt what you all do but it work's for me,just thought I would get this thread started and get some idea's and suggestions on how you guy's set up your machine's,not just for me but so we can all get educated..I know personally I don't like to get beat up by a quad just cuz my machine ain't set up properly;) .. Lets get educated !!!
Here are some simple mod's I did to the seperate machine's.With running the R ,I deffintally had to dump the gearing,I am a big guy 6'1" 230..so me getting to the corners faster than a 450 was a challenge.My first year I just grabbed a old set of OEM 9" rears and studded them like crazy.Bad idea,corners became a big issue,sure I could hit the powerband,but all I did was spin.I never lowered the rear end so I had to back off on the corners or go wide leaving the other machines room to get inside.Another thing I did'nt do ,was too have enough studs on the frt! Steering was useless with the gas on.
This year with the 350X was like nite and day even though I am comparing it to the R,it was way easier because of the way I set the trike up.On the 350X I went with rear axle spacers on douglas Blue labels,which gave me 52"s of outside width.On the rear end I also dropped the rear as far as I could ,down to 18" at the rear bar without me on it.On the frt suspension,I raised the forks at the tree as far as possible,and althogh not good on the fork seals I shot a spec of air in them,Make it pretty rigid but not solid !! The tires were a complete different set from the 1 year I ran..I went with a set of Nankang 18x11x8 tires and used a awesome pattern of stud's,90% carbide cold cutters and 10% sheet metal screws.On the tires I studded every knob but what I did different ,someting I learned was on the outside /right and inside /left I put the coldcutters in on the furthest knob.Reason being is running the counter clockwise oval and powersliding the tire's cover more surface area.That worked awesome I mite add !! On the frt ,I went with a worn out OEM tire and studded 80% of the tire using cold cutter rite up the middle and used 20% screws.From the right of the middle knob to the side wall I went with the studs,facing a 45 Degree angle ,as the tire stays uprite,reason being when you go into the corners in a powerslide you have optimum coverage on the ice and steering is on the money...All the studs wer turned sideways at a 45degree angle to have full coverage on the slide..
Like I said ,I am by far any pro at this ice stuff but I never had anybody tell me these things on how to set up my machines ,I wish I would have ,it would have been alot easier,LOL. Maybe what I do is'nt what you all do but it work's for me,just thought I would get this thread started and get some idea's and suggestions on how you guy's set up your machine's,not just for me but so we can all get educated..I know personally I don't like to get beat up by a quad just cuz my machine ain't set up properly;) .. Lets get educated !!!