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Cutting down your seat foam (REVISED!)
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FREESTYLE
BIKE SETUP
Bike setup, whether it be for freestyle or motocrossracing, is a very personal business. Its hard to saywhat the correct setup is for any one person. BIKE SETUP OVERVIEW
CHOOSING A BIKE Some people think the type of bike you're on is a big deal. I don't fully agree. Two stroke, four stroke, 125, 250, 426, etc, is purely personal preference. There are claims that four strokes' smooth power delivery will help with controlling the bike while approaching the ramp, but if you can't control the power band of a powerful two stroke dirtbike, be it a 125, 250, or 500, you shouldn't be jumping big ramps to begin with. No matter what bike you have - a brand new cr250, or a beat up kx125 (check out some of my old pics...) you're goal is to get into the air and get off the bike. Now keep in mind, you have to stay comfortable, confident, and safe while you are up there. Thats where setup comes in as an important aspect in freestyle. If you plan on doing competitive freestyle (more than just riding and throwing down with your buddies) a fresh 250 two stroke is the most common dirt bike on the pro fmx [freestyle motocross] circuit. This is because a 250 two stroke is undoubtedly the best combination of power and manueverability, making it perfect for fmx. Of course, nowadays we are in the era of the four stroke, so things have changed alot in the last few years. I am a holdout. I will ride my ratty two strokes as long as I can, mainly because I enjoy how they respond. My point here is that it doesn't really matter what you're on, as long as you can control it and get comfortable. MOTOR
Nothing
special here. Whatever suites your style. The more experience riders
may want a faster bike, and the most common and easy bolt-on mods to
dirtbikes these days are: Pipe and silencer combos, high quality reed
valves, and a thorough jetting inspection (which usually means
leaning your bike out a little). After those fairly simple mods are
finished, your stock bike should run pretty well. For an average
local freerider, that should be adequate. If you're going big time,
maybe some procircuit or other reputable mod company should take a
good lookin' at your motor. On my 2003 KX250 I ran the needle all the way down (top notch for the clip) with the air screw 2 1/2 turns open. I ran a pro-circuit pipe with stock silencer and used silkolene comp-II premix at 40:1 with a 50/50 race gas/pump fuel mix which ends up at about 98 octane. My elevation is around 800 feet. In FMX, you can get away with running a leaner main jet with pump fuel because you let the motor load up while you travel back to the ramp, then it cleans out on your approach. The real trick is - well, there is no trick. It's all just taking the time to adjust your carb and ride the bike to see how those settings work. It becomes a trial and error process. SUSPENSION Freestyle riders tend to like their suspension stiff. However, don't confuse stiff suspension with expensive suspension. For some riders, stock suspension is perfect for 80 foot gaps. It depends on your personal riding style, preference, and weight. Getting a custom suspension setup these days is easy, just check out a motocross magazine. Pro Action, rg3, and pro circuit just to name a few of the big name suspension companies. If you and your suspension technician aren't sure of the specs for a freestyle suspension setup, a good starting point is to set your bike up for "Pro Supercross." Some suspension techs refer to this setup as a "slow" suspension setup. The technician will follow the spring and valving specs for your weight as if you were a pro supercross rider. If you hit extemely big jumps (+100 feet) in addition to your freestyle ramps, it would be a good idea to have the technician add some extra damping to the bottom 1/3rd of the suspensions' stroke. This is because pro supercross suspension setups aren't designed for impacts that great, but the sixty foot long supercross triples have small, flat landings in comparison to the landings of 70-80 foot freestyle jumps, so pro supercross suspension settings generally work well as a starting point for a freestyle suspension setup. ERGONOMICS AND GRABS
Most
freestyle riders use handlebars with out a crossbar, and cut their
bars down more narrow than stock. In order to get around better
on their bikes, fmx riders will get a high-rise bar so that they have
lots of room between their arms for barhops, etc. Kenny Bartram uses
handlebars made for 80cc bikes. These bars come narrow out of the box
and already have a high rise. Most top freestyle riders cut
down the protaper style bar pad to give them even more room through
the handlebars. Cutting
down the seat foam down (to about an inch thick) helps with the
process of moving your feet over the bike. A
shortened rear fender can also help with sissor kick moves (indian
airs), by allowing the feet to extend where the fender would normally
rest. Holes in the sidepanels and airboxes give the rider a
place to grab when doing "supermen seat grabs".
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Some
bikes require frame modifications or metal grab handles due to
complications with subframe design. Grab handles made out of
tubular steel are also popular above the rear fender, and also
slightly above the handlebars. These are used
during superman seat grabs and 'rodeos'. Pastrana once
experimented with a dry brake fueling system (what those weird
enduro guys use for fast refuels). This got rid of the conventional
gas cap and shaved almost two inches off of the tank height. Whatever
your needs, be creative, and don't cut yourself with the saw. By the
way, dont forget to file down the rough edges and line the plastic
with tape or automotive trim, it'd suck to cut your hands on some
sharp plastic while doing a trick. (we'll leave that story for
another day)