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Christini entered 5 pre production AWD bikes to help prove the reliability of the system.
Three Christini machines made the 35 man cut off at Joshua tree; Ryan Dudek was in 5th at Joshua
(although they never mention him in the show) Chris Smith & Geoff Aaron were further back. Ryan ended up derailing a chain
& wadding it up in his shifter & lost an hour fixing it. Chris & Geoff left Triple threat together in 11th &
12th place. Geoff blew the motor a mile from the finish. Chris made the night show in 11th place. Ryan fixed the chain &
still came in around 14th or 15th, but was not allowed to run the night show. The other 2 bikes did not make the cut off;
Adam Booth made it to Joshua Tree around 45th, and Joe Giordano had a countershaft sprocket bolt back out & disappear.
There was absolutely no mechanical issues with the Christini system during the event. Chris Smith
called it a night at the first gas stop when things were getting dangerous & he had accomplished more than could be expected
of him. he was in 8th place at the time.
Was it an advantage to those who rode it? here are some quotes from them:
"I
came away impressed. In loose, rocky, sandy uphill situations, it's magic, a real advantage. There's a reason four-wheel-drive
cars rule the off-road world."
Ryan Dudek,
Cycle World, April 2007
"My restarting problems aside, the Christini bike worked really awesome on the muddy, icy, and rutted climbs. I just kept passing riders
and taking harder and harder lines, looking for an opening to get by."
Geoff Aaron,
RacerX, March 2007
"Without
the Christini it would have probably taken me at least an hour longer, and I would have had to
take multiple tries at some of the climbs. The two-wheel drive saved energy and worked flawlessly."
Adam Booth
Dirt
Bike, March 2007
Braking is not affected. the front hub uses a one way sprag clutch that allows the wheel to spin freely in one direction
& drive in the other. You could back up the system by grabbing the front brake while under power, but there is a failsafe
clutch built into the system to handle such an event. keep your eyes on upcoming issues of Cycle World, Dirt Bike, & Dirt
Rider for some tests on the Christini. I am also attaching a clip from a rider (RIDE) on a TT
forum that does a great job of describing our system & the benefits:
Here is the cut-n-paste from my other post.
I think this thing is the future, NOT a gimmick by any stretch of the imagination...
So here is the scoop in the Christini. I will state right now I had mixed thoughts about what it would be like to ride and what
real world benefits other than climbing hills it would bring. It took about three fast sandy corners to realize this could
and may revolutionize dirtbikes as we know them. I'm guessing it will have a similar affect on SM and street.
To begin
with this particular Christini is based on a CRF250X and is E-start. It had a 270cc kit, pipe
and I'm sure other goodies. Motor wise it was no slouch but really not a rocket ether. So i hop on and take off and the first
thing I realize is nothing. If feels and rides like a well setup CRF250. Absolutely NO learning curve. OK, hit the first small
track jump, it jumps and flies like a well set up CRF250. OK. Now 20 seconds into this ride I'm thinking, well this 2wd thing
does not seem to do much at all. Then the first real corner comes up and I'm taking it easy as this is not my bike and pretty
rare, I notice it corners like it is on rails. Hummm? next corner I push it a little harder and WOW, it goes exactly where
you point it regardless of the foot deep loose sand or ruts. About 5 corners later I'm about pooping myself dreaming about
how i can corner like Wattsy on this sucker. The kicker is I never really liked how CRF's turn so this is saying a lot for
me. I got one good lap on a small GP style track and I have to tell you I'm absolutely sold. This is the next big thing to
me because of the way it goes around a corner. pick any line, inside, outside, heck jump out of the inside rut and move to
the outside one mid corner. Or, like I found make a new rut inside the inside line as it tracks like nothing i have ever ridden
period. As amazing as the FBF CR125 cornered this thing made that bike feel all over the place. It's really not something
i can find the words to describe but the front end never pushes, it predictably pulls the front end around the corner. It
is a liberating experience and I fully believe given 3-4 laps to acclimate myself to the advantages and starting the exploit
them I would turn lap times faster on it than any other bike i have ever ridden. You can get on the gas much earlier and much
harder and when you do it just corners better. Keep in mind this is on a basically flat track with no technical hill climbs,
on that it would be even more of a advantage.
There were a few mud holes and one muddy corner with deep mud ruts and it
went through those like nothing I have ever tried. Instead of fighting the bike to maintain a line you could point and shoot
it in the slick stuff and it went exactly where you pointed it.
Yeah, $7000 seems like a mighty big performance mod but
I have friends who drop 5-15 thousand a year on sleds and have seen many a billet $20,000 quad for the sand. If i had money
to throw around I'd be all over one of these. It's that good.
I think that sums it up well.
Scott Wynn
Director
of Sales and Marketing
Christini Technologies, Inc.
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