1. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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    Mike And Augie (Previous Owner Of My DR-Z250)

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    Shawn (Husaberger) And Ian (Wow Signal)

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    Bill (BillO) And Son Pat

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    Graham (grahamm) & Daughter Megan And Don (DonWR450F) And Brian (3BeeJay3)

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    Shane Watts And Burhan (binsel)

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    Shane Watts (We Got Hit With A Brief Shower)

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    Shane Watts (Showing Us How It's Done)

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    Megan Striking A Pose (Only Female Who Should Have Been Listening To Shane)

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  2. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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    Brian (3BeeJay3)

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    Pat And Steve (Owner Trail Tours School) And Shane Watts

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    Brian (3BeeJay3) And Shane Watts

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    Brian (3BeeJay3)

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    Shawn (Husaberger)

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    Unknown Rider (Sorry)

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    Burhan (binsel)

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    Graham (grahamm)

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  3. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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    Dave (millicat)

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    Dave (millicat)

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    Mike (Friend Of Dave millicat)

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    Shane Watts (Demonstrating Uphill Without Much Run Up)

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    Funniest Thing To Happen At The School Happened Just Seconds Before This Pic..
    Since Shawn (Husaberger) Is A Nutjob.. Shane Did Something Special To Shawn :lol:

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    Shane Watts (After The Dirt Wise School Wrap-up)

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    Pat Accepting His "Certificate".. Pat Did An Amazing Feat (Video Coming Soon) =D>

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    Ian Accepting His "Certificate" (Wow Signal) =D>

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  4. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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    Brian Accepting His Certificate (3BeeJay3) =D>

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    Graham Accepting His Certificate (grahamm) =D>

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    Shawn Accepting His Certificate (Husaberger) =D>

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    Tony (me) Accepting My Certificate Complete With A Head-Lock From Shane =D>

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    I Had A Great Time With A Great Bunch.. It Was An Amazing Experiance :cheers:


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  5. DMignon

    DMignon Ride Organizer

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    Sorry I couldn't make it :-(
    Well - next year.
    So - how was it? how much do you guys feel you learned?

    (I just got his video because I couldn't make it to the school....but he looks like a great teacher)
  6. Randy_K

    Randy_K Limited User

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    Great photo's. How about a report now?

    See you at the shack tonight Tony !
  7. Husaberger

    Husaberger Limited User

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    For those who attended (and those who didn't):

    When I got back, I made some basic notes so I wouldn't forget Shane's teachings.

    For those who attended, if I missed some key techniques, please add to the list.

    Shane Watts Riding School. July 23 2008



    Stop and Go.
    Make sure you lean with the head over the bars during acceleration to prevent having to hold on with your arms. All the weight is transferred to the legs and down into foot pegs. On braking, lean back, ass on back of seat.

    Front brake skid.
    Drive in 2nd gear and intentionally skid the front wheel so you get to know that feeling of washing out. Then let off the front brake to regain control. Skid, release. Skid, release. Natural reaction is to grab more brake when panicking during front washout, but you have to release the brake to get the wheel rolling.

    Wheelie 1
    Left foot (or right) on ground. Thottle only slightly above idle (maybe 2500 rpm). Let clutch out quickly, but don’t dump it. Only 1-2 fingers on clutch (at all times, but especially here). Front wheel should get 2-3 feet off ground while bike only moves forward a half bike length. No need to power wheelie. Just using the clutch will pop the front wheel up very high (even loop it). Right foot on rear brake when possible to prevent looping.

    Wheelie 2
    Same as 1, still sitting, but with both feet on pegs and moving very slowly (about 5km/h). All clutch, very little throttle. Shane proved power was not needed (KLX250 came up no problem).

    Wheelie 3
    Same as 2, but standing. Compress the front suspension just before lift off if necessary. It will help the front end come up easier.

    Wheelie 4
    Same as 1, but pull the bike around 180 degrees and face the other way. Start with increments of 15 degrees, the 30, 60, 90 until you get it around. You may even be able to do a 360 with back wheel pivoting on the ground. Most will find it easier going counter clockwise since you can keep your feet on the rear brake then.

    Stoppies
    Go about 15-25km/h. No need to go fast. Just first gear. Sit on the front of the seat (near gas cap). Pull the front brakc in slowly, but aggressively. The first bit will take up the free play in the brakc, but keep squeezing (only 1-2 fingers needed). The rear will come up. If you go too high, release the front brake and the bottom will come down again.

    Hard Braking
    At any given speed, using the rear brake only to come to a complete still will take twice as far as using only front brake. Let’s say it’s feet (at about 70km/h). Rear only would be 100 feet, front would be 50. But combined, just at the point before they lock up will take about 35 feet. The front brake is way more effective.

    Flat land cornering
    Do your braking first into the corner (not while bars are turning). Lean the bike in with your ass on the outside the seat (not inside like road racer style). Weight the outside foot peg for “90 degrees of traction”. Both feet on pegs. Weight the front wheel a bit by leaning a little forward. The back end should not be sliding out (drifting). Nice and smooth, no counter steering required since you shouldn’t be sliding out the back. Start accelerating about half way out of the corner. Slow in, fast out. Coming in too fast will save you a half second coming in, but will lose 3-4 seconds coming out.

    Rut Cornering
    Do all your braking first. Not while in the corner. Come in standing, but at the last moment, sit down…nuts on near the gas cap. Line both wheels into the rut on the base of the rut where it’s hard packed. Not near the top of the wall where it’s soft and will push out. This little base of the wall is so solid, it’s like the circus globe of death. And to stick to the wall, you need to be moving fast – centrifigul force will keep you stuck. Inside leg drags along the ground, toe up and is kept up near the shrouds. Shane did this so will, his handguards were only 2-4 inches above the ground…he was near horizontal. Unlike flat land cornering, you don’t need to have your ass on the outside….just dead center and balls up at the gas cap. Keep on the gas around the corner and as the corner is finishing and the bike is standing more upright, you can start giving it hard acceleration.

    Big Logs and Rock ledges (about as high as front wheel)
    Come up to log and and stop 2 feet before log. Do wheelie #1 to get the front wheel on top (not high over) the log. Then stop. If you go too far forward (and you will), most people just try hitting the gas with back wheel spinning. Instead, sit near gas cap and put both feet down on the log (you could balance that for hours). Then push backwards (yes backwards) so your back wheel moves as far away from tree as possible. This gives you 4 feet to get traction and speed. Then a little gas (barely any) and let the clutch out smoothly and aggressively. The momentum, not the traction on the log, will get you over. Most advanced riders can do this all in one step without putting feet on log, but when doing it in two stages, all 24 riders (of all levels) did it successfully. Looks scary, but easy as hell in two stages.

    It’s possible to do this using wheelie 4 as well at a 90 degree angle. Just put your inside leg on the log for added stability and height.
  8. Randy_K

    Randy_K Limited User

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    Sounds way above my skills.
  9. KnightRider

    KnightRider Limited User

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    Nonsense, those are the skills you LEARN there not the ones you need!

    Wish I could have made it!!!!
  10. grahamm

    grahamm Ride Organizer

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    Hey all,

    Great couple of days for Megan and I, I hope I entertained you all with learning the skills and getting used to the 2 smoke husky :oops: I showed everyone how to setup your bike to inspect wheels and skid plate, I did it with real style and managed to keep the engine running =D> I prefer riding my KLX... seems to be alot more predictable! The husky is nice and light but wow when that power hits... hang on. Getting use to the 2 stroke is a more than I banked on... but I will working on it.

    I was worried about Meg, but in the end I think it all worked out, she had a real blast and it kept the swearing to a minimum in the Group. She had a great couple of days and built her abilty to tackle my technical skill with determination.

    Shane is an amazing rider, very good teacher and very patient.

    I think all levels will get something out of his course.... I feel like I got hit by a Mac truck :roll:

    Graham
  11. 3BeeJay3

    3BeeJay3 ODSC Past President

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    As you can see in the pic 9th from the top I'm really railing the corner just like Shane :lol: :lol: :lol:
    Gawd, that's hard to do

    The Shane Watts class was an incredible amount of fun and I had a truly great time.

    He made every thing look so easy and like it takes very little effort.

    For those that couldn't make it, Jeff Morgan from Inside Motorcycles covered and participated in the course and will be doing an article on it soon.

    Also, TSN was there on Thursday getting footage for one of their shows, (I'll get the name in a bit), to be aired in Jan.09.

    There are a bunch more great pics out there that can hopefully be added to this thread.

    BJ
  12. OrangeKoolaid

    OrangeKoolaid Ride Organizer

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    I took quite alot home with me from this course and not just the footbal size bruise on my thigh :oops: :oops: .... Unfortunately wont be till the end of the week before I can bend my legs enough to sit on my bike and try this stuff out again.

    I think that someone should mention that young Mr Patrick Oneil was only 12 seconds behind world class racer Shane Watts on the single track course that was set up. That is certainly something to be proud of for Pat and dad Bill. :D

    14 year old Jed certainly has some talent showing up his father on the log crossings.

    Husaberger certainly seemed to master the Wheelies, each one of them. You'd think that 450 was part trials bike the way be was going over obstacles.

    I think the show was to be called "Motorcycle Experience".

    Thanks to Augie for letting me try that neat little KTM 250XC W, who knew a little four stroke had that much power.. now I'm even more confused on what my next bike will be.

    There certainly was lots of "Entertainment First Safety Second", I'm sure I was entertaining on my first log attempt, Graham certainly was with his end over end on the Stoppie and I know Mark (Imnasty) was certainly entertaining on the HIll Attempts..

    In my opionion well worth the monies, hopefully it will happen again next year. :D
  13. 3BeeJay3

    3BeeJay3 ODSC Past President

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    This is the show on TSN:

    http://www.motorcycleexperience.ca/

    ImNasty definitely had the '180 degree wheelie turn' down pat. He did an excellent demonstration of one when he was doing a the hill climb. :lol: :lol:

    Husaberger has been rendered 'sterile' thanks to a small tree and precision front wheel placement courtesy of Shane. :lol: :lol:

    One of the things I liked about this course is that Shane would stay with each segment until each person had tried it - even if they felt too intimidated or had all kinds of other 'excuses'. It was great seeing everyone make it over the big log, especially people that had very limited experience.

    Comparing & hearing all the stories along with all the laughter = Priceless!

    BJ
  14. maguireb

    maguireb Limited User

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    This school seemed to be a great idea to get involved in and I seemed to have missed out not knowing about it. But I do appreciate the tips that were outlined in the thread by Husaberger (sp???). Thank you for those notes. :D
  15. Husaberger

    Husaberger Limited User

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    For anyone interested in learning the "theory" and hearing a verbal lesson verbatim, I'm sure between Tony, Brian and myself, we'd be happy to put on a day lesson. Although we can't show you how to execute it properly 100% of the time, if you listen to theory and apply that, it might be beneficial.

    Brian, Tony: would you be ok with that some time in August or September?

    Of the 10-15 techniques we learned, we all got better at different things. For example, Brian can show railing the ruts which he was really impressive at, and Tony nailed the hill climbs. Maybe I can show the log crossings.
  16. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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    Basically the story goes like this.. For the Shane Watts School a 1-1.5 km practice loop was set
    up for the students to use (our goal was to do the complete loop all standing).. Very similar to
    the Ganny with some wider stuff, some tighter stuff with some trees to weave, some hairpin
    turns, some off camber, couple of ruts etc..

    One of the student asked "Shane about how long would it take you to do one lap of the practice
    loop, about 45 seconds".. Shane replied "probably more like about 2 minutes, later someone can
    time me doing it"..

    During a break the students grouped around and Shane did a lap I believe timed at 1 min 13 secs
    After the lap I asked "Shane was that all standing up".. Shane replied "No but I will do another lap
    all standing" which was done I believe in 1 min 14 secs..

    Shane was to do another lap and someone said "Pat go race Shane.. You will never have another
    chance".. Pat hesitated for one second smiled and took the challenge.. As you can see from the
    video below.. Shane crosses the line (tree) at ~7 seconds.. Pat crosses same spot at ~19 seconds
    about 12-13 seconds later.. Keep in mind Pat started behind Shane.. Very impressive indeed!! =D>

    Shane Watts Versus Pat O'Neill Video

    Another Video

    Shawn (Husaberger) Big Log Video
  17. Fat Tire Flyer

    Fat Tire Flyer Ride Organizer

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  18. millicat

    millicat Ride Organizer

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    Hey, Mike has posted about 12 videos from our 2 days on YouTube, just search Shane Watts and you'll find them all, he posted them under the handle msigmundt.

    Dave
  19. millicat

    millicat Ride Organizer

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    hey guys, Mike has put all of his pictures from the 2 days online, here's a link to them.

    http://www.midac.ca/pictures/080724/

    You have to check out IMG_2769.JPG which is a great shot of Husaberger getting a bit more from Shane then he bargained for, thanks to a tree he thoughtfully moved out of the way.

    Enjoy,

    Dave
  20. LouS

    LouS Limited User

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    RE: SHAWN'S OFFER FOR A DAY LESSON

    Where and When? - After seeing Tony's videos - Looks awesome....

    You guys provide the Lesson and I'll supply the food....

    Deal?