AMA East Hare Scrambles final round.

[foytix]

Raced the 230 this past weekend in the final VXCS / AMA East Hare Scambles race at Lake Sugar Tree.  Pulled a 4th in Vet B and was gaining strong on the leaders by the end of the race.  Always seem to need another lap or two.  Here's a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure.  I've only raced the 230 twice this year in vet B and came home with a 3rd and a 4th.  At all the other races I've been on my '00 CR250r and have finished no better than 3rd,  usually in the 5-7 range actually.  I finished out the season for the VXCS Vet B in 3rd.  I'm seriously contemplating only running the 230 next season.  Winter build project may be in the works.  Plus I always have a grin on my face passing the more modern bigger bikes on the little 230 hahaha.

Short 3 min vid of sloppy section (most of the course was primo,  see full lap video)

https://youtu.be/VtcHuDZVV0A

Full Start and Lap 1 video

https://youtu.be/Mr3eUQ-C-Kk

 

[VortecCPI]

Many years ago I rode with my buddy a Brushy Mountain Motorsports Park here in NC.  He was an experienced rider on a five-valve Yamaha YZ250F and he could not believe the little CRF230 was always right there with him.  He could easily put distance on me when the going got straight but that was not often and at the end of every straight I made up the distance very quickly.

The CRF230 picks up nicely where the old XR200 left off.  It just takes a little time and work to make it right for the job.

Edited November 20, 2017 by VortecCPI

[foytix]

This above is so true.  The other guys in my series hate it when they hear the lug of my 4 stroke coming up on them in the woods.  They know they're in for a battle.  When it opens up to fields they will walk away till about halfway across the field, and I'm closing the gap again.  My engine is stock sans exhaust and jetting though.  I'm seriously considering some top end mods this winter to hopefully help close that gap a tad more.  I have yet to ride Brushy Mountain,  the past 2 years I've sooooo wanted to do the Battle of the Goats.  Hopefully this year it will work out for me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgC4ezOLaDY

[LeftTurnOnly]

That's awesome foytix. I rode my 230 with a coworker, he on his '17 KTM 500, in single track here in N Idaho a couple months ago. I kept right on his tire in the tight stuff, he'd pull away on the straights, I'd catch him again. Had mine pinned in 3rd & 4th most of the way. Now with some recent suspension work by Bruce, I'm chomping at the bit to take him on again [emoji51]

[foytix]

Bruce's work is top notch IMO.  Night and day difference with the suspension.

[VortecCPI]

12 hours ago, foytix said:

Bruce's work is top notch IMO.  Night and day difference with the suspension.

Bruce's work and his experience with vintage suspension is nothing short of amazing.  His customer service is also top notch.

He is a great guy and has helped us turn this bike into a woods weapon with solutions that fit just about every budget.

[CaQCRider]

This above is so true.  The other guys in my series hate it when they hear the lug of my 4 stroke coming up on them in the woods.  They know they're in for a battle.  When it opens up to fields they will walk away till about halfway across the field, and I'm closing the gap again.  My engine is stock sans exhaust and jetting though.  I'm seriously considering some top end mods this winter to hopefully help close that gap a tad more.  I have yet to ride Brushy Mountain,  the past 2 years I've sooooo wanted to do the Battle of the Goats.  Hopefully this year it will work out for me.
 

Put a HC Wiseco piston and 1.5 ST cam and procom box, and i telling you...you gone hit rear tire of the 250 competitor.I have this set up on my 230 and i ride sometime with 250 and drz 400 and no fu....problem to push both on the back!

[foytix]

1 hour ago, CaQCRider said:

Put a HC Wiseco piston and 1.5 ST cam and procom box, and i telling you...you gone hit rear tire of the 250 competitor.I have this set up on my 230 and i ride sometime with 250 and drz 400 and no fu....problem to push both on the back!

Thinking hard about the HC Wiseco and 2.5 st cam since I pretty much only race.

[RidingWithStyle]

The 225-250 bikes like these are great because they are bulletproof and low to the ground usually so you can really fly through stuff in the woods on these things. I wouldve have gotten a ttr250 over my yz250f but the suspension is what put me towards the 250f.

[ricky racer]

2 hours ago, foytix said:

Thinking hard about the HC Wiseco and 2.5 st cam since I pretty much only race.

I went with the ST2.5 even on a 223cc mill it was very lively in the mid to upper mid. Now with much more compression and 251cc it's a small monster ? I told Terry how I like to ride when I'm on my (girls) lol bike and he suggested the 2.5 plus it gives some room to grow as you WILL want more later. We always do.

[daled]

super fun looking track, big grass track, flowing woods....I wanna run it !

im surprised at you start however, ive noticed that my 230 gets out front pretty well, and I can hold position unless there is a long start strip. Are you launching in first or second ?

been scrambling my 230 since '09 and i have proof that its faster than my kx250 and my wr250 on most tracks, tracks with long grass, or MX sections will give an advantage to the bigger bikes, but that is very rare in my area. nothing as open as your video...!

i personally would not drop a dime on the motor until the suspension is exactly where you want it. I see that you have had fork work done, and that is great (but i think the stock tube diameter is just too small and flexy) invest in the rear shock next. get it dialed in just right, then go for motor changes if you like.

 

[foytix]

6 hours ago, daled said:

super fun looking track, big grass track, flowing woods....I wanna run it !

im surprised at you start however, ive noticed that my 230 gets out front pretty well, and I can hold position unless there is a long start strip. Are you launching in first or second ?

been scrambling my 230 since '09 and i have proof that its faster than my kx250 and my wr250 on most tracks, tracks with long grass, or MX sections will give an advantage to the bigger bikes, but that is very rare in my area. nothing as open as your video...!

i personally would not drop a dime on the motor until the suspension is exactly where you want it. I see that you have had fork work done, and that is great (but i think the stock tube diameter is just too small and flexy) invest in the rear shock next. get it dialed in just right, then go for motor changes if you like.

 

I agree on the start.  The bike wasn't fully warmed up yet (it was below freezing during the start).  My ballistic battery (lithium) doesn't like cold weather and is a tad sluggish.  

The suspension is better than what's on my CR250r and it's been re-valved as well.  The forks are old XR250 forks 38mm not the 41 like the newer (still more stout and travel than stock) and I have the most recent Fox offering on the rear shock which is SWEET.  I do plan on upping the fork game,  just for the sole aspect of tracking and holding the line a tad better.  As far as soaking up the bumps she's primo.  I've got a thread started on for options on forks.  I'm seriously leaning towards newer XR250r forks with Bruce's Terrain Tamer work.  Bruce is quite the suspension guru.

[mx4god]

Cool to see these 230's in competition. I'm already planning on doing harescrambles for the first time next year on my 230. Already have the best shock, but I'm planning on installing my cr85 forks and getting them tuned in. The stock forks with Tripplett mods have been great for the price, but I think that I'll like the USD forks more. It's sad that our off-road riding season is basically done here.

[sneaky98gt]

On 11/19/2017 at 0:04 PM, foytix said:

This above is so true.  The other guys in my series hate it when they hear the lug of my 4 stroke coming up on them in the woods.  They know they're in for a battle.  When it opens up to fields they will walk away till about halfway across the field, and I'm closing the gap again.  My engine is stock sans exhaust and jetting though.  I'm seriously considering some top end mods this winter to hopefully help close that gap a tad more.  I have yet to ride Brushy Mountain,  the past 2 years I've sooooo wanted to do the Battle of the Goats.  Hopefully this year it will work out for me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgC4ezOLaDY

I rode my 230 in Battle of the Goats this past summer (2017).  That's me there in that video on the far right at 1:30.   While I sucked pretty badly (just had a bad day all-around), it was an incredible amount of fun.  I will DEFINITELY be signing up for the 2018 race, as this is the kind of riding I really enjoy.

That said, a couple things to know before you commit to it:

1.  When they call it an "extreme" enduro, they are not kidding.  At all.  Regular enduro races and especially hare scrambles don't even remotely compare.  I know of more than one A-class HS racers that quit after just a few miles.  It is the nastiest, steepest, off-camber-est, most ridiculous, most challenging stuff you will ever ride on a dirt bike.  And that's just in the first mile or two.  I'm not sure if you ride at Brushy much, but if you do, just to give you an idea of level of difficulty, the absolute hardest posted trails that they have are not even close to as difficult as the race lines.  If that's the challenge you're looking for, then you'll have a blast.  But I think a lot of people got more than they bargained for in the race this summer.

2.  If you decide to ride your 230 in it, you will learn a few things about your bike very quickly.  Namely, that even with a lot of mods, a 230 has several big shortcomings when you really push it on this kind of stuff.  

First is the suspension.  Mine has the full Triplett treatment front and rear, plus some modifications of my own, and it just isn't up to the task of extreme enduro type riding.  It's no fault of Bruce's, and his modifications are fantastic, but there simply isn't enough travel there.  I'm bottoming mine dozens of times per day of riding, including many times when it really shouldn't be (like on a rough downhill, or in little divots/ruts in the trail, or on medium sized trail-trash like logs), yet it's still harsh on smaller stuff.  There just isn't enough travel there to have it both ways.  Later model forks with some speed sensitive damping will probably help, but if you're still going to be shortening the travel, you're gonna have the same problem.

Second is the ground clearance.  Again, you don't realize how much difference being 2-3" lower makes until that 2-3" is the difference in just rolling over an obstacle, or having to drag the skid plate and push it over.  

Lastly is the power.  I have forever been an advocate for lower powered bikes, as they're just easier to ride, and I didn't used to see the honest need to have much more power than a well-running 230 makes.  Well, that race showed me that I was wrong.  When you have to do a 90+ degree pivot turn into a hillclimb, that has less than a bike length of run-up, you realize that even a heavily modified 230 isn't going to have the power you need to get some momentum built up, and then keep it up, up a hill like that.  There's a reason all of the really good extreme enduro riders ride 40+ horsepower bikes:  it's because you need that much power to explode up an obstacle like that.  I rode the snot out of my 230 for 6+ months and never once complained about a lack of power, until I was in a situation in which more power, a LOT more power, was the only solution out of the pickle I was in.  

Don't get me wrong; I love, love, LOVE my 230.  It is one of the most fun, and definitely the easiest, bike I've ever ridden.  For general trail riding for an average rider, I think you'll be hard pressed to beat it for the money.  But I'm pretty sure I'll be upgrading sometime this winter.  I just don't see a way to significantly improve my bike from where it is now without spending a LOT of money.  

As a side note, if any of y'all east coast folks want to come join for a ride at Brushy, let me know.  I've recently become a member, and try to ride at least 1-2 times a month.  If you like singletrack, it's got some of the best on the entire east coast.  I've already met one TT-er out there, and we've had an absolute blast riding.

[foytix]

2 hours ago, sneaky98gt said:

As a side note, if any of y'all east coast folks want to come join for a ride at Brushy, let me know.  I've recently become a member, and try to ride at least 1-2 times a month.  If you like singletrack, it's got some of the best on the entire east coast.  I've already met one TT-er out there, and we've had an absolute blast riding.

I've been meaning to just ride at Brushy for awhile now.  I'll have to try to hit you up sometime to go for a ride.  I've got a CR250r that's set up for harescrambles that would work pretty good.  I still want to try it on the 230 though,  I'm hard headed hahaha.

[sneaky98gt]

On 11/29/2017 at 8:12 PM, foytix said:

I've been meaning to just ride at Brushy for awhile now.  I'll have to try to hit you up sometime to go for a ride.  I've got a CR250r that's set up for harescrambles that would work pretty good.  I still want to try it on the 230 though,  I'm hard headed hahaha.

For sure.  Let me know.  Assuming the weather works out, I'll definitely be riding some around Christmas / New Years.

The 230 works quite well on the posted singletrack there.  The CR250 would be a blast on some of the more open doubletrack.

[RidingWithStyle]

For sure.  Let me know.  Assuming the weather works out, I'll definitely be riding some around Christmas / New Years.

The 230 works quite well on the posted singletrack there.  The CR250 would be a blast on some of the more open doubletrack.

Are you going tomorrow? Ill be up there all day most likely.

[RidingWithStyle]

I've been meaning to just ride at Brushy for awhile now.  I'll have to try to hit you up sometime to go for a ride.  I've got a CR250r that's set up for harescrambles that would work pretty good.  I still want to try it on the 230 though,  I'm hard headed hahaha.

Have you ever been before? If not Brushy Mountain isnt "easy" by no means. They have a youth family (definitely not for a newbie little kid) loop that is difficult in some spots even for some really good riders.

[sneaky98gt]

48 minutes ago, RidingWithStyle said:

Are you going tomorrow? Ill be up there all day most likely.

I wish.  But no, heading to the beach with the gf this weekend. 

I'm hoping to head back up next weekend, though.  Let me know next time you're going.  Always up for riding with new peeps.

[Jeremy Foytik]

I race Harescrambles, but much prefer the harder technical riding.