Motocross Mania

Welcome to the Weekly Dirt, the best place on the Internet for all your off-road info. It’s officially the off-season but there’s still plenty of racing to go around. We feed your dirt bike cravings with some scheduling news, and a trip around the world to check in on a few of the top one-off races… and all in less than 80 days.

Photo Gallery: The Weekly Dirt: November 30th, 2011 – Dirt Rider Magazine

Photo Gallery: The Weekly Dirt: November 30th, 2011 – Dirt Rider Magazine

Tommy Thomson / Belfair, WA

A dirt bike’s brake bleed screw rubber caps have a habit of being torn off or damaged. This allows water (then rust) and crud to get inside the bleed screw, thus making it impossible to bleed your brakes without first removing them to clean the stuff out. My solution is to remove the brake bleed screws, throw away the rubber thingy, tap the end of the bleed screw with a No. 6-32 tap and then install a screw about 3⁄8 inch long, and the problem is solved forever. It isn’t fancy or super trick, but it is very effective.

Photo Gallery: Long-Term Brake Reservoir Fix – Dirt Rider Magazine

Current dirt bike engines are truly mechanical marvels that offer extremely high-end performance to every dirt rider. These engines push the limits of performance and weight with complex castings and assemblies that require careful adherence to all factory torque values. Nowhere is this truer than with the four-stroke top end and valvetrain. Actually, the necessity for using a torque wrench existed when we all rode two-strokes, but most garage hacks simply trusted in the “calibration” of their elbow. It’s extremely easy to warp reed blocks and cylinder heads, and it’s even possible to warp a cylinder base when correct torque values and procedures are not used. In aerospace applications torque wrenches are calibrated virtually before every use; and if a wrench breaks or otherwise loses calibration, every fastener touched by that wrench must be done over, and those do-overs can run into the millions of dollars! The price tag for ignoring torque values on a dirt bike aren’t of the same magnitude but can be very expensive. There are quite a few choices for torque wrenches today, so we’re describing the various options available and providing some simple care tips that will keep your wrench working as it should.

Photo Gallery: Using And Caring For A Torque Wrench – Dirt Rider Magazine

If you’ve ever tried to remove a grip that is molded into a throttle tube, you know what a huge chore you’re facing. Some manufacturers (Kawasaki and Suzuki in particular) sell bikes with the throttle-side grip basically impregnated into the tube, and without the proper tools and know-how you could be up against with quite a mess. However, if you are good with sharp blades and confident in your mechanical ability, then removing a stock throttle grip from a Suzuki RM-Z or Kawasaki KX-F will not be that hard.

Photo Gallery: Get A Grip! – Tech Tip – Dirt Rider Magazine