400 Tips & Tricks | Part 15

To loosen bolts with threadlocker on them, heat them with a heat gun or propane torch first.

A Keihin FCR carb's accelerator pump has two adjustments: squirt start time and squirt duration. Both are adjustable—start time with the internal timing screw and duration with a leak-jet swap (open the carb to get to it). Also, some companies offer externally adjustable accelerator pump covers (for the leak jet).

A shim kit goes a long way to making sure you have the shim you need once you have your four-stroke's head off.

Roger DeCoster's advice for corner practice is, "A lot of the top guys do what they call a turn track. They set up maybe in a flat area and do just turns. But you need more than one turn because you need to connect the two. If you just do one same turn, you're not going learn as much as if you do the string of turns back to back and go from one into another one."

Before you wash your bike, push in the brake calipers. The wheels will spin more.

When getting to any MX track, take the first lap slow; there might be changes or surprising conditions.

Stand on the pegs on the balls of your feet for better control and to help absorb impacts. Some big jump landings are better done on the arches for maximum ankle protection.

To bring the front end down in mid-air, pull in the clutch and hit the rear brake to lock up the rear wheel.

When checking your chain adjustment, check it at multiple places (spin the chain).

You can be easy with a heat gun or spastic with a hair dryer to remove crusty, old stickers.