Parts tip for a 79 up Suzuki RM

[Britt Boyette]

I found in riding my 79 RM400N, I have a problem with the original tiny foot pegs. My boot won't stay on and sometimes after a turn, it's hard to find the sweet spot. The solution, 2001 Suzuki DRZ-400 pegs. They go right on with no mods and make all the difference in the world.
Another tip, don't take your early RM to an Arena Cross style race. They just don't like it but I am a little better at jumps with it now.

 

[redrocket190]

Take it to a true historic motocross race and ride on the tracks it is suited too. http://www.ahrma.org.

 

[Britt Boyette]

I have a race this weekend in Woodland, WA that's being put on by Vintage Dirt Racing NW. My goal was to get more seat time doing the hard stuff. Anyone can turn and hit the gas in the straights. The RM400N model does some very strange things on jumps which you need to practice. It seems to be rather nose heavy and if you jump it like any other bike you'll land hard on your forks possibly pounding your nads. You need to keep you speed up, weight back, and use the throttle to maintain flight attitude. It seems to be a hard bike to loop out, I hope I never learn how hard though. The other thing I needed to get use to was the light flywheel. It doesn't take much to stall it out if you try to lug it. God help you if you stall it out on a busy section of track since they don't have primary kick starting, you must find neutral before you can kick it over. If it weren't for the Arenacross track, I would have no place to try it out. Easy choice, but I won't be going back with that bike.

http://www.siegecraftnw.com/VDR.htm