Ask Ping!
Friday, March 15, 2013 | 6:00 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintPing,
I have been wondering about this for some time, and as a former SX racer, perhaps you can shed some light on this for me. It doesn't happen all of the time, but from time to time, I will see some guys that are in a close battle go over a double or triple together, and, this being current generation SX racing, scrub or whip big in an attempt to get an advantage. These guys are often so close to each other that if one guy scrubs right, and the other scrubs left, a mid-air collision is definitely going to be the result. But invariably, they always seems to scrub the same direction, or, not at all. Is this dumb luck? Instinct? Some sort of rider code? I would be quite interested in your thoughts on this.
Thanks, and keep up the funny stuff,
Peter
A large group of riders at speed throwing their bikes sideways just feet from each other. What could go wrong?
That’s a great question, Peter. Fortunately I didn’t have to worry about it back when I was racing but it needs to be in the back of your mind now. Most of the time riders are going to scrub a jump in the same direction based on where the obstacle is in the track. If it’s a triple out of a left-hand turn riders will ride up the transition aiming slightly right and then scrub to the left. This allows them to carry more speed through the turn and not worry about getting completely straight for the jump. As they turn down off the lip the gyroscopic effect of the engine and wheels will bring the bike back to the left and also send their trajectory forward instead of up. So, if the track sends every rider toward an obstacle at a common angle most of them are going to scrub the same direction. The tricky part comes when the jump being scrubbed is at the end of a straight or the riders are hitting it straight-on. At that point it could go either way and that is really scary. Have you ever seen the video of this going badly for Malcolm Stewart and his buddy? It is sketchy.
There is some situational awareness that the racers have and they can often times predict which way the other rider is going to scrub based on where they are on the jump face. We’ve been really lucky so far and haven’t had any big crashes in pro racing with this but I think it’s only a matter of time until it bites somebody.
PING
Dear Ping,
I have recently taking a predilection to Supercross and I'm glued to the set every Saturday night. I'm also an avid reader of literary satires. Why would an established and successful actor such as Ryan Gosling, aka Will Hahn, take a leap of faith mounting that dangerous motorbike every weekend? My girlfriend and her hairdresser Stephan loved Ryan in the Notebook and feel like he's jeopardizing his movie career as well as his dapper appearance racing Supercross. Your input would be greatly appreciated as we are perplexed regarding this matter.
Warmest,
Jake Montrose
He’s fast, he’s a good guy and he looks like Gosling? Triple-threat guy!
Wow, I know Wil is currently leading the East Region supercross points chase but this might be the best thing that has ever happened to him. While being compared to Ryan Gosling by another man could be construed as super-weird, the same compliment from a woman is the highest honor a man can receive. According to every gossip rag and just about every single woman who has ever seen The Notebook a simple glance at Gosling can very nearly bring a woman to climax. So if Wilbur can tap into that vibe he’s going to be just fine, championship or otherwise. From the pictures provided I would say Wil is a good haircut, a v-neck shirt and a necklace away from being a Gosling Doppelganger.
PING
Dear Ping,
Perhaps you can shed some light on why some of the top pro motocrossers roll up their sleeves while racing. I'm not sure if it is a problem with the jersey being too constrictive on the wrists for some of the guys. In the past we have seen some riders cut the cuffs from the sleeves. I've seen recent pictures of Jeff Ward, Mike Alessi and Ryan Hughes with the sleeves up to the forearms and thought that you may be able to give a reasonable explanation to this question.
Also, any word on the all but forgotten low emission Honda EPX 2 two-stroke that was being developed years ago?
Eternally grateful,
George
Wardy’s last year. How awesome is that helmet… had every number he ever raced with on it.
Eternally grateful seems a bit exaggerated. How about we shoot for being thankful for a week or so? The most common reason is that some riders think having something around their wrist causes arm pump. Keep in mind these are guys who are probably going to get arm pump no matter what they do to their sleeves. If you have something really tight around your wrist it could impede blood flow and exacerbate an arm pump issue but it would have to be extra tight. Some older jerseys from the 1990s had tight cuffs at the wrist and a few guys cut them off [Wardy, Ryno, etc]. The AMA implemented a rule that riders cannot cut their jerseys so you won’t see much of that anymore. Doesn’t matter; it would be a more effective arm pump cure to just cut your arms off at the elbows.
I haven’t heard anything about a Honda two-stroke but I know that Suzuki has a very successful two-cycle FI engine that they use for marine applications. Honda chose the direction they wanted to go and it doesn’t include premix, sadly.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at [email protected].
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Great scrub question/answer
Wow that video is sketchy alright! Hope the rider who got tapped is ok!
Didnt that Boogle kid (whip into each other) in one of his 1st E coast Rounds right before he made a complete Jack@ss of himself???
Barcia looks Just like that Ryan Goslin when he has his nutduster shaved off.Will Hann is not even close.Time for a new girlfriend dude.
Whoa! That Malcolm video is bad! It looks like he stops the other riders rear wheel and give him a little tap. Yikes, that could have been a game ender.
The blinder my wife gets, the better looking I get! Pretty soon I'll be George Fuggin Clooney.
@BD25-Hey, did you get the letter I sent you?
Yes sir..Thanks..check your email....
Ahhhhhhhhhhh this shall be be good.
.BUCKY!!!!! Where the he!! ya been???
Nice! Good read Mr. Ping.... Very informative, genuine answers. How bout do me a favor, and get back on the sx review shows now, and make them a little more interesting. I never miss them, but in your absence, those guys are not keeping it nearly as interesting...
Ping should do a minimum of 5 questions. Good stuff.
I think that EPX was about 30 years ago. I think Honda build it just to show they could build a 2-stroke with clean emissions. I think it may have been raced in the Japanese nationals at that time.
Bubba didn't invent the scrub but he did certainly revolutionize taking it to the next level. Speaking of Bubba, did he scrub into Kyle Partridge in 2010 causing them both to crash hard?
Ping, catch up on the lingo. The gyroscopic effect is now known from the Carmicheal dictionary of awesome racing terms: "gyrosy" pronounced jy-row-see
I have gotten into the habit of pulling my sleeves up and now am not comfortable unless they are up, and I don't know why. I can't stand big cuffs on jersey sleeves. Most gear now uses very thin ones. Thor was the last one to get with it and change them. Velcrow on gloves is annoying too.
That helmet is awsome! I wish I could see Wardy ride again. He should come up to southwick and race a local event. Him and Dowdy in the 40+A!
Maybe the sleeve rolling up comes from the idiom "roll up your sleeves and get to work". People do it by habit.
Or maybe "nothing up my sleeves".
Us riders are not the most collectively gifted in the mental department. "cuffs" dont interfere with pump since I believe the supply and relief veins are mid-muscle, not way down in the hands. Arm pump happens when the muscle retains too much blood. Some arm pump is not pump, but carpal tunnel syndrome which is actually in the hand, not in the wrist, and it is caused by constricting the nerve that goes through the carpal tunnel area by a thickening of the sheath around the tendon or a general wear on the nerve sheath. Wearing a tight cuff may cause issues, but it is more a misdiagnosis on the part of the rider than reality, IMO.
Here is a link to an article about the Honda EPX -
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/honda/honda-exp2-14293.html
Wonder if Honda will ever release this of if it is too complicated in practice to run reliably in the hands of us backyard mechanics?
From the article...
Compared to Honda's current NXR780 four-stroke twin rally race bike, the EXP-2 has very similar performance with several advantages. While the single cylinder EXP-2 produces 54hp to the big NXR's 71, they both make 58 lb-ft of torque, but the EXP-2 is 118 pounds lighter, giving it a slightly better power-to-weight ratio. What all this boils down to is that the EXP-2 has about the same real-world performance as the 780, but with substantially better fuel economy and lower emissions.
Sorry, the EXP-2 was/is a 400cc 2 stroke
Preston ....James didn't invent the scrub....That title, my friend, belongs to Jo Jo Keller....http://www.racerxvt.com/images/content/article_photos/jojo_keller.jpg
Ping Ping You got to see this music video about Motocross/ride in the sand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oCues_BW4
There were two guys that scrubbed in to each other in the Lites Supercross last year. Really it was more like one scrubbed in to the other guy. I think it was Bogle who did the offending scrubbing. I can't remember who the other guy was. I want to say Wharton but I'm not sure. They both came down together in an ugly heap.
Get real. We were scrubbing in the '70s.
Good points by Ping, let me add to that. If one guy is ahead of the other by any amount, the leader does whatever the hell he wants. The other guy's job is to work off of the leader, and he can do it with 1/1000th of a second timing because he can see what the other guy is doing on the jump face, even in his peripheral vision. If they're totally side by side, they can see each other, hear each other and feel each other and are aware of each other. They'll keep their distance from each other, even if that distance is two inches.
"a simple glance at Gosling can very nearly bring a woman to climax" - Hold it. Show's over. That was the phrase of the week right there! Ping, thanks for ruining my keyboard again. Awesome. Dam that was funny. lol
Sleeves up seems cooler as long as it lasts. Which for me was about 2 seconds. If they stay up, arm pump is an issue. Always seemed to me to just be nervous energy - things guys do on the starting line. JoJo did not invent the scrub. Heck, he may have done one - who hasn't? James turned it into an art form and made it stick. Victors write the history. JS7 gets it. lol
Although the photo of a certain rider #101 above (Ping's name not mentioned here to protect his flawless rep) seems to show him laid over flat in the turn with his forks horizontal, the pole in the background that is leaning left at 16.1 degrees (along with the weed also leaning in the libtardian direction like Diane Feinstein bending over to pick up Harry Reid) tells the truth. The photo is rotated and cropped 16.1 degrees clockwise, then the cropped portion is rotated 16.1 degrees counterclockwise, so it appears that the bike is laid over flat. In fact, his bike has 16.1 degrees more to lean in order to get flat with the forks horizontal. I like using this technique myself, it makes the picture more crit and rad.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Regarding sleeves that are cut off...there was a time frame in the early '80s when some pro riders were cutting off the lower half of their jerseys to expose their abs. Although some people might think, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" it actually looked pretty cool. I never did it, but I rode against riders who did.
Wardy: Want to see Wardy ride again? Go to Mammoth mx on vet weekend. The dude still shreds! Very fast
Ward is one gift rider. Born to shred. He really found his calling.
On arm pump and sleeves, maybe the shirt collars are giving riders brain pump.
CR500AF : Honda sold many thousands of the CRM250AR - a production version of the EXP tech. in 97 /98 - and, perhaps a bit longer than that.
Some idiots refere to it as a dog - but, compared to the other DS bikes available at the time, like XRs/ TTs/ DRs/ KLXs, it was a hell of a lot better. Especially if you fitted the power up kit, of a head, pipe and jetting. Pro Circuit made pipes and mufflers for them - they were a big seller in Japan / Asia.
In the UK, they were quite the favourite for a lot of clubmen level enduro riders - use it as a legal street bike during the week, race it at the weekend.
A modern version, with another 14 / 15 years of development, would have been quite a thing. Especially if the whole AR concept was used on a lot of other 2ts.
But, it's Honda we are talking about = "All 4 stroke, All the time".