Gobbler Getter Enduro 11/6/11

[Robby45]

This was my 4th run at the Gobbler and the best conditions & course layout yet. The Perry Mountian m/c club does a great job! The course was a nice mix of high speed harescramble/jeep road type trail and really tight pine sections. Some tough climbs caught some people out and made you have to pick some creative lines around downed bikes. It was much sandier than I remembered, but the soil bermed up real nice even on row 9.

I've been off the bike and unable to train much for about 4 months due to an injury. My last race was the Rad Dad back in May, so I was a bit rusty and definently out of shape. It was a struggle to finish, so the last section and a 1/2 was mostly spent trying to survive, but I had a great time all day.

I've had this bike for about a year now and this was the first race I felt like it was really dialed in. The main stuggles have been the carbueration and front fork. Kind of a comedy of errors on my part kept me from figuring out what was throwing off the jetting. First - the choke cable was binding (unknown to me at the time), causing the bike to run rich. Once I figured that one out, I was chasing a lean condition which I finally figured out was a slight air leak caused by the carb boots not lining up just right. My subframe came new with a slight tweak to it, which I think is causing the airbox boot to be slightly misaligned. My solution is to hold the carb in position on the cylinder side first, tighten down, and then hold it so the airbox boot is lined up and tighten. If you don't secure the carb in this manner, it allows just enough leak to throw off the jetting. All the while, I've been reading about the 36 vs. 38mm carb arrangements and trying to sort out the optimal jets/needles. Got that sorted out to my satisfaction and now the bike runs like a champ. Best enduro motor I've ever had the pleasure to twist the grip on.

Somehow I came to terms with the fork this weekend as well. I had my tuner go through them this summer and still wasn't quite happy with them. I had the same complaints that many on here have had about mid-stroke harshness, too quick rebound and hydraulicly limited travel. Oil level and spring seat modifications fixed the bottoming issue. Valving helped out on the rebound and midstroke but it still was harsh. All I have done since is play with the rebound adjustment to try improve the feel and finally seem to arrived.

One observation I had this during the race was the bike seem to be flexing a lot. The course had some high speed whoops where you had to turn the bike while it was skipping over and g-ing out. That and some nice berms where you could really throw it in and wind up the frame. I noticed under these circumstances it would deflect in a slightly unpredictable way, at least more so than my old KTM. I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this. I'm not complaining about it as I realize any bike is going to get wound up and act funny when it really getting thrown around. That flex is probably also the reason this thing so damn planted in the slower, tighter stuff.

All and all, I'm getting along with this thing quite nicely now and really enjoying racing it.

[bukwheat]

Robbie,

What row were you on? What bike were you riding? I was on row 5. I try to get as early row as I can so it not so whooped out when I go thru. Sure seems to help me. But one thing about Perry Mtn, there will always be some whoops and there were some big ones that I went thru. Excellent event but I was sure glad when it was over.....

[Robby45]

I was on row 9, I remember another gasser up in front at the resets. There were quite a few there actually. I was on an '11 ec300.