Messages

61

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: Weekend ride 5/28/18

« on: May 29, 2018, 08:24:46 AM »

Sounds like a great weekend.

It was a motorcycle filled weekend for us as well. Saturday was my wife and I's 6th year doing a poker run put on by a local club who has exclusive access to thousands of acres of forest land.

They call it the Shelton Family Fun Run, and every year I say that once again it has lived up to its name. This year was a bit dusty which was in stark contrast to our first year when it was super muddy!

It was also our vintage mx clubs double header. We didn't race this year but went out to spectate and socialize.

Monday was spent at my buddies house who has a private track and freshly cut trail section, swapping bikes back and forth. I rode the Project YZ250 for the first time (more on that soon.) I also rode his Lectron equipped and ported 94 Honda CR500, 2016 Husky TE300 and incongruously a 2006 CRF270.

That last switch was interesting to say the least and absolutely underscored that 2Ts are more fun to ride and in the case of the tight single track, much easier as well.

--Ron.

62

YZ Project 2018 / Fork Service Surprise

« on: May 21, 2018, 09:09:17 PM »

I started on the tear down and evaluation. No surprise the fork seals were leaking, I noticed that when we were evaluating it.



This was a bit disappointing but not surprising,  the original owner said he never serviced the forks.


This on the other hand was a completely unwelcome surprise.


From what I learned exploding free pistons aren't all that uncommon. Supposedly they fixed this after 2009, but this is a 2013 so draw what conclusion you will from that.

The upside to this is that a couple of different companies makes aluminum free pistons for it that are open on the sides to prevent the over pressure that causes this failure.


Next time I will show you why it is important to take your brand new bike apart before you ride it.

--Ron.

63

YZ Project 2018 / First Look

« on: May 21, 2018, 08:42:41 PM »

We picked this good looking used 2013 YZ250 up to document the process of inspecting and refreshing a used bike.

Longer term it is going to be a "test mule" for product tests and will be part of a really cool, but as yet to be announced, series. 

Stay tuned.



--Ron.

64

General Two Stroke Talk / 125 "All Star Series"

« on: April 18, 2018, 04:05:31 PM »

MX Sports announced a 7 race 125 two stroke race at the following rounds:

Hangtown, Thunder Valley and Washougal in the west,
High Point, The Wick and Budds Creek in the east,
with a showdown at the Ironman finale.

Could this be the beginning of the return of the 2T to the mainstream?

"The resurgence of market interest for two-stroke based motorcycles, and our recent experience with two-stroke support classes at national events presents us with opportunities for developing a more formal program for these products for 2018 and beyond," explained Roy Janson, Director of Competition for MX Sports Pro Racing.

--Ron.

65

General Two Stroke Talk / RV on a YZ125

« on: March 12, 2018, 05:11:35 PM »

He starts getting the hang of it after a couple of laps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moPLN1dOCK8

66

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: It's Back

« on: December 22, 2017, 08:17:30 AM »

Thank you racer x. I will try to find some sources for race coverage.

I wonder if the old Cycle News approach would work where they paid people for article submissions. I'd much rather have original content than stealing content from other sites but I am certainly not in any position to be able to travel to all those races.

Anything not race related anyone?

--Ron.

67

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: It's Back

« on: December 19, 2017, 09:05:17 AM »

Let's try a different question:

What would you like to know about two strokes that would make you want to come here more?

--Ron.

68

General Two Stroke Talk / Premix 2

« on: December 16, 2017, 01:10:01 PM »

I'm going to guess most of you have seen Transworld's  Premix movie.

Premix 2 is out and we watched it last night. It is really cool to see current factory pro's (Adam Cianciarulo, Phil Nicolletti and many more) wringing out a 125. I swear AC never lets off!

Well worth the $10 it cost on Amazon.

The basic theme for the interview portions are a topic near and dear to all of our hearts, namely the return of the 2T to the main stream. Interesting to hear some of the pro's perspectives.

--Ron.

https://motocross.transworld.net/news/premix-2-official-trailer/

69

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: It's Back

« on: December 01, 2017, 04:51:53 PM »

Welcome back!

While I have a couple of ideas on how to get things moving I am very interested in hearing any ideas you guys may have.

Free time to work on this has been at a premium for far to long now but if I can come up with a clear direction I will carve out the time to make it happen.

--Ron.

70

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: Lectron vs. Smart Carb, vs Keihin

« on: October 02, 2017, 04:52:43 PM »

This past weekend I fouled a plug...  1st time in many, many years...  Now most of the day I was riding behind my son's 5 year old as we escorted him to and from a safe riding area.  But when I fouled the plug, I was hauling arse through the woods... I've been running Amsoil Dominator for quite a long time...  but recently my supplier retired, and I've not found it locally.  After some extensive research, I've decided to switch to Bel-Ray MC-1. 

Since the switch I've not been happy with the bikes jetting...  I now have a rich bog at 1/2 to throttle, more smoke than I'm happy with.  I've always been running 3 ounce's to a gallon (43:1)  The BellRay seems to be much thicker, and doesn't want to mix like the Amsoil.  After trying the 43:1 mixture I went to 2 ounces to a gallon (64:1).  The bike seemed to respond better, but fouled a plug...  So I am officially on the hunt to two things...  A new Amsoil dealer, and I'll be seriously looking at the Lectron & Smart Carb as a future upgrade.

So something to keep in mind: Less oil (leaner) = more fuel going through the jets (richer.)  Going from 43:1 to 64:1 is going to make your jetting richer across the board and potentially lead to fouled plugs if it was borderline rich to start with.

--Ron.

71

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: Lectron vs. Smart Carb, vs Keihin

« on: September 29, 2017, 08:09:14 AM »

I have a Lectron on my 2015 KTM 300xc, it was worth every penny of the $400.

I often ride with a group of guys who really love super tight twisty trails so it isn't uncommon for a 4 hour trail ride to be 90% on the pilot jet. I tried everything to get the Kiehin to carburet cleanly at the 0-1/8 range and never could tune the burble out of it or the tendency to load up when spending an extended period in that range.

I was already using the smallest pilot jet available for the PWK, I tried different needles, and even the next leaner slide and the next half step leaner slide than that. It was better but still not what I would call good.

The two options I considered for solving this problem were replacing the head with a high compression version that several engine builders believed was the root problem or, for about the same cost, installing the Lectron.

The Good:

• It completely solved my low opening richness problem.
• The carb comes preset to your your specifications and only fine tuning is required. I ended up going 1/2 turn leaner on the metering rod and 1/2 turn richer on the power jet. Both of which are easy to do without removing the carb from the bike.
• Throttle response is greatly improved, especially 0-1/4, to the point I almost tossed myself off the back of the bike on the first ride by not being prepared when I wicked the throttle.
• Once it is set up to your liking it really is very indifferent to altitude and temperature changes. I ride off road mostly in the winter which in Western Washington equals near sea level and temps from 30-70F. I have taken it east and ridden in the spring at around 2,000ft and temps in the upper 70s to low 80s with no noticeable change in performance.
• The see through float bowl is cool and lets you eyeball the float level

The bad:

• The carb body is longer than the Keihin and required cutting the clamp grove off the rear air boot. I bought a spare just to be on the safe side. Without the retaining grove for the clamp you have to be very careful to make sure the clamp stays straight when you tighten it.
• The choke knob is on the pipe side of my KTM and the only option they have for moving it is a cable. I would like a lever instead like Mikuni does.
• The cap is held on with phillips screws which makes it harder to get off to adjust the metering rod. I switched them for alan head.

Overall I am very happy with it and consider it well worth the cost.

--Ron.

72

Vintage Two Strokes / Re: 1986 CR250 Build

« on: September 28, 2017, 01:59:53 PM »

And then there were 3....

The guy who was going to buy the last one sold me the one he was building.

Now I have 3 almost complete 86 CR250s. Now what do I do?

--Ron.

73

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: Changes in riding groups selection of bikes

« on: September 28, 2017, 12:04:02 PM »

My story is fairly similar.

After a long hiatus from dirt bikes my wife wanted to learn to ride. Knowing that I would spend a lot of time at low speeds following her, I knew my 90's era 2T race bikes were not going to be the hot ticket so I bought a 2011 WR450f.

It did the job, but it was heavy and felt heavier and was really not that much fun to ride.

Once she got faster I traded in my WR on a KTM300xc. During the first ride I couldn't stop grinning. This is what is was supposed to be like! For lack of a better way to describe it the KTM felt "alive", it was light, it was responsive and it had a power delivery that just made it more fun to ride.

Where the WR plodded down the trail with a grunt in a predictable but uninspiring fashion, the 300 sings and dances, it really just makes riding more fun.

I can't say it was less expensive though. Other than springing it for my weight, one failed counter shaft seal and multitudes of oil changes, the WR cost very little more than what I paid for it.

The KTM on the other hand needed $1500 worth of suspension work and a $400 Lectron carb before it was perfect. 

--Ron.
 

74

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: 125 Race at the 2018 Nationals.

« on: August 17, 2017, 07:41:03 PM »

The original 125 Dream Race is next weekend and we will be in attendance.

I will hopefully find out some more then.

--Ron.

75

Vintage Two Strokes / Re: 1986 CR250 Build

« on: August 05, 2017, 09:23:18 PM »

A funny thing happened at the vintage races today.

I picked up this mostly complete 86 CR250 and the guy who declined to buy it wants to sell me another mostly complete one too.

I went from one to two and likely a third.

Now the question is how many do I build??

--Ron.