Baja Build - Brake light?

[Rslhc]

Getting parts rounded up to start building a race bike for this years 1k. Building up a gen 1 450x. I plan to use the DRC drop in tail light as it’s way brighter than stock and I love it on my prerunner. Question though, this has an option for a brake light. Should I add a switch to the rear master cylinder and have brake and tail lights? Does anyone run a brake light?

I like the idea of having a brake light for the night sections, but the pressure switch replacement banks bolt concerns me with a potential failure there. Thoughts?

 

[joshmx88]

no brake light, adding weight and complexity to a motorcycle especially in baja is not a great idea.

 

[Rslhc]

Weight is a non-issue. Talking a few ounces to add a pressure switch. It will already have a taillight installed that can already be a brake light. But yes, I do tend to agree with the complexity concern

 

[BajaboundMoto]

no brake light, it's extra junk.
you're already going to have enough electronical stuff, no need to add more.

 

[Rslhc]

no brake light, it's extra junk.
you're already going to have enough electronical stuff, no need to add more.

Yeah, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to since posting this and thinking on it also. I plan to use the JCR speed shop fuse block to try to clean up and simplify power runs. It can quickly get out of hand, and our team learned last year that electrical issues on a race bike can be a nightmare.

thanks for the feedback guys. Bike tear down will start next week with suspension going to AHM, swingarm to Raceco, stator to BD, and probably carb to JCR speedshop.

Tim, if you’d be open to it, I’d love to pick your brain on the phone and hear what has worked and not worked with bike prep to avoid and rookie blunders. Don’t feel like I’m a complete newb, but I think I still have the ‘i don’t know what I don’t know’ syndrome. let me know if you’d be open to this sometime.

 

[Dustino81]

no brake light, it's extra junk.
you're already going to have enough electronical stuff, no need to add more.

Out of curiosity, you guys running a fan during the hotter races ? Trying to decide if I’m gonna mount one or keep things simple .

 

[Rslhc]

Out of curiosity, you guys running a fan during the hotter races ? Trying to decide if I’m gonna mount one or keep things simple .

I ride a 450x year round in Lake Havasu City, AZ (summer temps regularly are 120+ in summer) and I have never had any overheating issues. I make a habit of not riding tight single track in the afternoon summer days, but I ride tight 2nd gear single track in summer mornings with 100-105*~ temps with no issues. Of course YMMV, but I have never found a need for a fan for desert riding in 5 years of being on a 450x. I would imagine that race speeds would further reduce the need.

 

[Dustino81]

I ride a 450x year round in Lake Havasu City, AZ (summer temps regularly are 120+ in summer) and I have never had any overheating issues. I make a habit of not riding tight single track in the afternoon summer days, but I ride tight 2nd gear single track in summer mornings with 100-105*~ temps with no issues. Of course YMMV, but I have never found a need for a fan for desert riding in 5 years of being on a 450x. I would imagine that race speeds would further reduce the need.

Solid info , and makes complete sense . I live in WA, summers are only 85 but the tight single track on my practice bike ( Ktm 525) my fan is almost always running . Definitely gonna keep it simple then . Thank you !

 

[Rslhc]

Yeah, I ride with guys with KTMs that have the fans on when riding, so makes me wonder if they kick on a bit earlier than ‘needed’ to preemptively control temps.

 

[Dustino81]

Yeah, I ride with guys with KTMs that have the fans on when riding, so makes me wonder if they kick on a bit earlier than ‘needed’ to preemptively control temps.

You mentioned at the 1000 your team had electrical issues , I did as well . What issues did you have ?

 

[MTPyle]

I can't imagine needing a fan during a race. Your average speed is high enough to keep good air flow. I have a good friend that races on a 19 450X in BITD and does not have a fan and told me they never have a over heating issue.

My 450x has the therm delete, 1.8 bar cap, and the res delete. Its never gets hot and we just road in 95 in the sand on single tracks. Our stock 450 x was over heating that does not have the mods that mine does.

Mike

 

[Rslhc]

You mentioned at the 1000 your team had electrical issues , I did as well . What issues did you have ?

We traced it to a short somewhere in the main wiring harness in the e start circuit. Whenever you’d press the start button it’d blow the main fuse. Ended up swapping full wire harness from my prerunner over to the team racebike the afternoon before the race. That solved the issue. Needless to say we were thankful for the rain delay. We ended up losing the top end at RM673 and ended our race.

 

[TecateRay]

Yeah, I ride with guys with KTMs that have the fans on when riding, so makes me wonder if they kick on a bit earlier than ‘needed’ to preemptively control temps.

I changed the thermostat on my ‘07 KTM to a higher temp one to prevent the fan from running so much. I believe it was a BMW part.

 

[cynicwanderer]

I changed the thermostat on my ‘07 KTM to a higher temp one to prevent the fan from running so much. I believe it was a BMW part.

fan/thermostats ? are those are necessary on a desert bike ? firm believer in KISS.

 

[cynicwanderer]

I agree no brake lights. you don't want the guy behind you to get any clues about what you are getting ready to do ;-)

 

[AZ7000']

I agree no brake lights. you don't want the guy behind you to get any clues about what you are getting ready to do ;-)

If you are "Riding" the 1K then maybe not a horrible idea as you will get caught. If you are "Racing" then I'd follow the advice here and skip it.

 

[Rslhc]

Planning to be in the middle of riding an racing. Haha
But definitely leaning on skipping it and keeping it simple. Thanks for the feedback, guys!

 

[3 Amigos Racing]

I have not checked out a SCORE bike in years.. what do riders do now for navigation and tracking?

 

[Rslhc]

I have not checked out a SCORE bike in years.. what do riders do now for navigation and tracking?

SCORE requires us to use the STELLA for tracking. For rider navigation, there's a couple options. First common option seems to be a handheld GPS ala Garmin Montana RAM mounted to the bars. The second option is a cell phone on a bar mount running LeadNav or another gps navigation app.

 

[mxben]

SCORE requires us to use the STELLA for tracking. For rider navigation, there's a couple options. First common option seems to be a handheld GPS ala Garmin Montana RAM mounted to the bars. The second option is a cell phone on a bar mount running LeadNav or another gps navigation app.

Do not use a cell phone. Use a Garmin Montana. Hook up a power lead to the bikes battery and have it charging with the screen brightness on 100% the whole time during the day, night time you may need to adjust brightness.