Motard & the vertically challenged

[xxaarraa]

It's really knee to footpeg length that is at issue when hanging off.

Yeah, makes sense.

I am going to just run regular street tires on this and will probably ride it one group down in intermediate for a while. I have never ridden a motard and my dirt bike experience is limited as well. So hanging off aggressively in corners may not happen for a bit, but I am going to see about higher pegs anyway.

[xxaarraa]

It's really knee to footpeg length that is at issue when hanging off.

Paul,

I spoke to one of the SXV gurus (the guy who ran Aprilia's supermoto team as crew chief) and he shared a tip that CRF450 pegs will be compatible with slight grinding of the stops. I'll be picking these up, told they are ~10mm taller than the stock billet aluminum pegs: 02 13 Honda CRF450R DRC Motard Motorcycle Foot Pegs w Sliders D48 02 932 | eBay

Thanks for the tip!

[Paul_E_D]

nice

[Petorius]

I found your solution! Stylish, for the kind of guy who will ONLY ride the finest Italian steeds. Extra safe with all those sliders, too.

[xxaarraa]

I found your solution! Stylish, for the kind of guy who will ONLY ride the finest Italian steeds. Extra safe with all those sliders, too.

I secretly like it. Do they have a carbon fiber version?

[Paul_E_D]

Uh, your secret is out, dude

[SVRACER01]

you could always put a milk crate on pit road so you can put one foot on it when youre waiting.

[number9]

I found your solution! Stylish, for the kind of guy who will ONLY ride the finest Italian steeds. Extra safe with all those sliders, too.

Aren't you worried those are going to damage the chassis if you fall?

[Kurlon]

Aren't you worried those are going to damage the chassis if you fall?

With attire like that his chassis is already suspect.

[number9]

With attire like that his chassis is already suspect.

[sxlova07]

xxaarraa you arent far from me. if you want to try out a sxv550 drop me a pm and you can feel free to take mine for a spin. its probably the funniest bike I've owned and with seacoast close by plus a little tlc owning one isnt nearly as bad as people make it out to be....and DEF worth it!

[dankatz]

Daytona M-Star GTX Boots - RevZilla
This could make many more bikes accessible...just under 2.5" rise in boot

[carsick]

2.5cm = 1".

[isaac_]

2.54

Don't get sloppy

[dankatz]

I am aware. Google these boots - what does 6 cm translate to???

[carsick]

2.54

Don't get sloppy

Link used the 2.5cm measurement, thus my conversion.

I am aware. Google these boots - what does 6 cm translate to???

That'd be 2.36 inches. The Revzilla link said 2.5cm in more than one place, thus my first post.

[dankatz]

Fair enough - I should have put the link to Daytona's web site. In any case, excellent hand made boot that adds some extra height and can be carried from one bike to another ;-)

[xxaarraa]

xxaarraa you arent far from me. if you want to try out a sxv550 drop me a pm and you can feel free to take mine for a spin. its probably the funniest bike I've owned and with seacoast close by plus a little tlc owning one isnt nearly as bad as people make it out to be....and DEF worth it!

sx, thank you for the very kind offer, nice of you man. I already bought one! My buddy is picking it up today in Jersey for me, so good, bad or worse, I am in for it now!

[xxaarraa]

OK, I ran the SXV for the first time this past weekend at NYST. I know that's not the right track for it, but it was fun. Here are some of my impressions (must be common knowledge, but my first ever ride on a motard so it was all a revelation for me):

• I was able to do the one foot thing like all of you were saying. I was very surprised, but yeah, the running start maneuver wasn't needed.
• In the beginning, I had a very hard time getting any sort of feedback on how fast I was going. I mean, I couldn't tell if my lines were good, if I was braking well, exit drive, etc. Just had no reference point. I kept passing a bunch of people but I was riding in a large intermediate group, so that didn't mean anything. Till well into the second day when Penguin's motard coach (Eric Block?) and I fenced back and forth one session and he then pulled me aside and gave me some feedback. Till then, I really had no idea since my senses weren't calibrated to a motard.
• The brakes are astoundingly good. I know its a combination of the really good brake setup on the SXV, very low mass and my relatively low speeds. But I didn't bother letting off and was braking at the 250 mark at NYST and found myself still over braking for Turn 1. In comparison, on a super bike I would let off before the 400 and start braking at the 400. I am not sure if using the rear brake on a motard is an advanced skill or not, but I didn't bother. I just rode it like a sport bike and never touched the rear.
• As you guys predicted, knee to footpeg length is too long. Going into the bowl at Turn 5, leaned all the way over to the left (was regularly scraping the pegs), my right/outside leg comes right off the peg. At first I tried hard to keep it on the peg and was thinking of peg risers, but talking to other motard owners there including a guy with an SXV, they all said even peg risers wouldn't really help. In fact, the advice was to "just let it hang bro." The next couple sessions, I didn't bother keeping the outside leg planted and didn't notice a difference to stability or speed.
• The back end was out of control for most of the time. It's been a few years since I have ridden a bike on a track without traction control, so I am not used to the back end misbehaving. Maybe it's a motard thing, maybe its the shitty 5 year old street tires, but this thing was moving around all over the place. Slow corners, fast corners, downshifts, the rear end was drunk.
• It's been a few years since I have had no slipper clutch, and had to get used to the back end chattering on downshifts. I do like to downshift early so it may just need an adjustment to my style.
• I was very apprehensive about going back to regular shift and no quick shifter as both my other bikes are GP-quick shift. This bike already has enough reasons to blow a motor without being told to do so, that I didn't want a mis-shift to be the reason. But surprisingly, muscle memory kicked in and I rode it fine.
• Stock gearing is ridiculous. 16-46, I am told. I topped out at 105-108 half way up the straight and just sat there getting bored. Waving to the track marshal as I passed didn't keep me entertained enough. I have a 42 rear sprocket coming. I am told that should allow a bit more, up to 120.
• The rear swingarm is massive. The rear stand I have for the RSV4 works on it, after I moved the arms OUT just a bit. Seems like there's plenty of room for a 190 tire, up from the current 180. I plan on throwing a 190 on there, as that would mean an unlimited supply of free 'take offs' from the other bikes.

I am taking it to Thompson next Monday and I think that, along with Loudon would be more of a natural home for this thing. Maybe this thing will give me a reason to start liking Loudon for the first time.

Thanks for all your thoughts and encouragement guys,

[Paul_E_D]

Nice! Yeah, my outside foot would lose touch with the peg sometimes as well. I'm not sure I'd like to ride that way every lap though. The high pegs might still be worth trying.

Most motards are done at 104 mph, but teh advantage of you SXV is the extra motor. Definitely gear taller. My 690 had the exact same advantage. 120mph lap after lap. It takes a while to get there though, but at least you are accelerating all the way down the straight.

[xxaarraa]

...The high pegs might still be worth trying.

...Definitely gear taller....

OK so an update on the motard situation.

1. The thing hasn't blown up yet. Two track days in now.
2. Regeared to 16-43 and rode Thompson. Much better. I saw an indicated 115 on the straight. Have a 17 tooth front on hand, need to put it on before next day at NYST (my gf is doing a rookie day on this thing). I moved the rear wheel farther back in the swingarm and it worked well, it didn't chew up the chain slider like I was expecting.
3. The tires on it are from 2006! Must be the original tires that came with it. Dang. Will be throwing on some take-offs before I ride it again this weekend.
4. I put on some Acerbis hand guards, frame and axle sliders. Should be able to pick it up after a crash and keep riding, hopefully. I was prepared to drill out the handle bar ends, but they bolted right on, so assuming previous owner already had hand guards on at some point.
5. The peg situation needs to be addressed. Eric was coaching me and noticed that despite me trying, I couldn't get any sort of leverage on the tank with the outside leg. So I installed both peg riser brackets and higher motard pegs. Combined, this setup should offer about ~10-15mm of rise over stock. The CRF motard pegs bolt right up, but mount at a slight angle, since I haven't ground down the stops yet. I may ride with it and see how it feels, the upswept angle may actually be in my favor. Fitting the peg riser brackets was a bit more complicated. The stock hex head bolt interferes with the foot peg stops once these risers are mounted, so I went looking for allen bolts that would sit flush with the riser. But I could only find imperial allens near me even at fastenal, so I ended up retapping both the imperial allen bolts as well as the frame itself to M12 x 1.5.

[Paul_E_D]

That footpeg setup looks sweet. I'd leave em upswept. Gives a little more height. How did they feel on track?

[xxaarraa]

That footpeg setup looks sweet. I'd leave em upswept. Gives a little more height. How did they feel on track?

I haven't ridden it since I put on the new pegs. Just standing next to the bike and looking at it, the pegs look a bit awkward since they sweep up and sweep back just a bit. So it looks crooked. But I am going to ride it and see if it works. It might actually be better for them to sweep up and be rear-set more than normal. The pegs are also a bit 'shorter' but wider than stock pegs, so that might change how they feel too.

[nhbubba]

Looks like huge fun!

4. I put on some Acerbis hand guards, frame and axle sliders. Should be able to pick it up after a crash and keep riding, hopefully.

Definitely. Best thing about a motard in my book : how they crash. Sliders and hand guards are where its at. $0 crash repair bills are great. Liked having them on mine so much I sprung for the woodcraft guards for my SV.

So far the only damage I've done to mine is when it hooked a curb at Thompson.

[tls25rs]

I went looking for allen bolts that would sit flush with the riser. But I could only find imperial allens near me even at fastenal, so I ended up retapping both the imperial allen bolts as well as the frame itself to M12 x 1.5.

Did you choose the M12X1.5 thread pitch for a reason? Typically M12 standard hardware is a 1.75 pitch.

Had you tapped the frame to the M12X1.75 pitch then you could have found any number of DIN7991 (flush top/countersink) hardware https://www.fastenal.com/products?r=~|categoryl1:%22600000%20Fasteners%22|~%20~|categoryl2:%22600039 %20Sockets%22|~%20~|categoryl3:%22600042%20Flat%20Socket%20Cap%20Screws%22| ~%20~|sattr01:^Metric$|~%20~|sattr04:^%22M12%20-%201.75%22$|~%20~|sattr03:^%22Alloy%20Steel%22$|~%20~|sattr03:^Steel$|~%20~ |sattr03:^%22Stainless%20Steel%22$|~%20~|attrlength:161500|~%20~|sattr07:^% 22Class%2010.9%22$|~

Not that these bolts are going to see a ton of stress in the axial direction but chasing the imperial thread bolt with the M12X1.5 die took a good amount of the material off of the bolt threads. You may consider installing some type of insert, helicoil, timesert etc. into the frame at the M12X1.75 pitch and then buying new bolts.