CR250 trail/enduro mods
Matt Barney
and would appreciate some help:
1) Not having a kickstand is a pain. I can't find one in the
Chaparral catalog. Does anyone know where to get a good bolt-on?
2) This thing is loud! (No kidding :) It has a Pro Circuit pipe
and stock silencer, and since I ride in the woods a lot, I need to
have a spark arrestor and a much more socially-acceptable exhaust
note. Dan Masys has mentioned the Answer Sneaker system a few times
in his postings, but according to Chaparral, they don't make one for
the '87. :-( Any other ideas? My dealer doesn't like the Sneaker
-- he says it robs too much power, but for the trail riding I do,
sacrificing a little hit for less noise is an acceptable trade-off.
One of my hesitations in buying a 2-stroke was that I thought they
had to be loud, but after hearing KDX's and RMX's, I knew it was
possible to have a very quiet 2-stroke. Will a Sneaker or similar
system make a motocross bike as quiet as, say, an RMX or KDX?
3) Has anyone tried a Wonderspring? As I understand it, you
replace the stock power port spring with a less-stiff one so that
the port opens sooner to give you more power at low RPM's.
4) Flywheel weight?
5) Larger gas tank. I believe they are available for this model
from both IMS and Clarke. Any opinions on either?
Thanks in advance.
----
Matt Barney '85 XR350R '87 CR250R
q...@inel.gov
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Jeff Dunham
|> 5) Larger gas tank. I believe they are available for this model
|> from both IMS and Clarke. Any opinions on either?
|>
I have purchased tanks from both IMS and Clarke in the past.
I purchased an XR600 tank from IMS a couple of years ago. I just
purchased a 4.7 gallon tank for my XR650L from Clarke. It
is *very* nice and I would judge it has being of *much* higher
quality than the IMS tank with a much lower price. I believe
the IMS tank is over $160 while the clarke tank was $115.
The service and attitude at clarke is very good also.
I broke the petcock mount that they supply with the tank,
I called and said it was my fault and would like to
purchase another one - the guy on the other end of the phone
sent one free of charge, I got it in the mail two days later.
Nice folks!
Jeff Dunham
jdu...@mentorg.com
'93 Honda XR650L
White Power Suspended '87 XR250R
Honda 650 Hawk
Honda Pacific Coast
Eric Murray
>I would like to make my newly-acquired '87 CR250 more trail-worthy
>and would appreciate some help:
[..]
>2) This thing is loud! (No kidding :) It has a Pro Circuit pipe
>and stock silencer, and since I ride in the woods a lot, I need to
>have a spark arrestor and a much more socially-acceptable exhaust
>note. Dan Masys has mentioned the Answer Sneaker system a few times
Another thing to try is to wrap the pipe with heat tape (a' la' roadracers)
to reduce the clanging.
[..]
>3) Has anyone tried a Wonderspring? As I understand it, you
>replace the stock power port spring with a less-stiff one so that
>the port opens sooner to give you more power at low RPM's.
That sounds backwards to me, you want the port to open later for
better low-end (or mid-range, depending on the design of the powervalve).
Try shimming the spring to increase it's pre-load. On Yamaha RZs
(cable-operated powervalves) I've put slack in the cable that opens
it so it'll start opening later.
--
Eric Murray er...@microunity.com
"Archiving the net is like washing toilet paper!"- Leader Kibo
icsi...@msu.oscs.montana.edu
>I would like to make my newly-acquired '87 CR250 more trail-worthy
>and would appreciate some help:
>
>1) Not having a kickstand is a pain. I can't find one in the
>Chaparral catalog. Does anyone know where to get a good bolt-on?
>
I think that Malcom Smith use to carry bolt on kickstands (now I think
tucker-rocky owns the Malcom Smith stuff).
>2) This thing is loud! (No kidding :) It has a Pro Circuit pipe
>and stock silencer, and since I ride in the woods a lot, I need to
>have a spark arrestor and a much more socially-acceptable exhaust
>note. Dan Masys has mentioned the Answer Sneaker system a few times
>in his postings, but according to Chaparral, they don't make one for
>the '87. :-( Any other ideas? My dealer doesn't like the Sneaker
>-- he says it robs too much power, but for the trail riding I do,
>sacrificing a little hit for less noise is an acceptable trade-off.
>One of my hesitations in buying a 2-stroke was that I thought they
>had to be loud, but after hearing KDX's and RMX's, I knew it was
>possible to have a very quiet 2-stroke. Will a Sneaker or similar
>system make a motocross bike as quiet as, say, an RMX or KDX?
>
Try an Answer SA-PRO sparkarester (many areas require a sparky and the SA
is reasonably quiet). One of the dirt rags was reporting that these new
fiberglass pipe protectors reduce the sound output quite significantly.
If you can't find one for the CR it would be easy to make one. I am concidering
coating the UP-TITE racing pipe on my hysky with mold release and laying up
some glass to see how well it works (maby carbon fiber and kevlar later if
the results are good and the walet allow). Since the RMX uses a double walled
pipe I don't think that you will get that quiet.
>3) Has anyone tried a Wonderspring? As I understand it, you
>replace the stock power port spring with a less-stiff one so that
>the port opens sooner to give you more power at low RPM's.
>
>4) Flywheel weight?
>
One of my friends added a moose flywheel weight to his '87 CR 250 and really
loves it. I rode the bike before and after and the results where good for off
road but I don't know how it would be on a MX track.
>5) Larger gas tank. I believe they are available for this model
>from both IMS and Clarke. Any opinions on either?
>
The clarke tank seems to be good quality (Since Jerry got his clarke the CR500
will go almost as far as my 250XC no more bumming gas on the trail).
One other thing you might want to put on your list is a steering stabilizer.
The '87 CR250 can get real head shaky (SP?) off road. The words CR and
stability are mutualy exclusive.
>Thanks in advance.
>
>----
>Matt Barney '85 XR350R '87 CR250R
>q...@inel.gov
>Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
>Idaho Falls, Idaho
Greg ggb...@trex.oscs.montana.edu Prefered
icsi...@trex.oscs.montana.edu
'87 Husquvarna 250XC
I type three correct words a minute the rest are spelled incorrectly.
wrig...@kscdl1.ksc.nasa.gov
>
> 2) THIS thing is loud! (No kidding :) It has a Pro Circuit pipe
Congrats on your wise purchase, fellow '87 CR250 owner!
Sometimes just repacking the silencer can make a _world_ of difference.
I've never had a problem with headshake either. hmmm...
Lynn Siddoway
Matt,
Bill's Cycle in Idaho Falls knows some things about trail riding the CR250.
(If you hadn't alreday talked to them)
I like the Clarke tank the best on my CR500. It fits the best and the color
matched the best. The tank was large enough and still felt slim.
I would expect you to want the flywheel. I had it made at Egan Machinery
in Idaho Falls and it was copied after the Moose flywheel. My '91 CR
didn't seem to require the flywheel so I didn't install it.
The Sneaker silencer is very quiet but, most people think it robs too
much power. I use the Answer SA Pro and it has the spark arrester but,
has little silencing. It doesn't restrict the power and I think they make
it for the Pro Circuit pipe
You'll probably have to gear down 1 tooth on the counter sprocket or more.
This will cut your top end speed down but, thats the breaks if you want to
ride a CR on the trail. You can buy the tranny gear kit but, it costs quite
a bit.
I'd be interested in any thing you find out about making your CR trail worthy.
It would also be adviseable to attach an over-flow bottle on the radiator
because it will boil on long slow trails uphill and on other tough slow
sections.
There is a pretty good kick stand available that will bolt on to your
swingarm. I have one but, don't remember the brand. It has some
metal well nuts that you have to install on the swingarm. They do loosen
up after a while and have to be replaced will inside nuts or something.
lynns
.
.
ride that kind of a bike on the trail.
Dr. Daniel R. Masys
>and would appreciate some help:
>
>1) Not having a kickstand is a pain. I can't find one in the
>Chaparral catalog. Does anyone know where to get a good bolt-on?
>
1/2" holes in the swingarm to mount 'Threadserts", then the sidestands
just bolt into the threadserts and can be removed when not needed.
My Moose sidestand removed itself, however, a couple of weeks ago,
due to a couple of the bolts backing out; remember that LockTite...
Sidestands make a big difference for trail riding and are worth the
expense, but if given the chance again I would try to find one which
clamped around the swingarm instead of bolted into it.
>2) This thing is loud! (No kidding :) It has a Pro Circuit pipe
>and stock silencer, and since I ride in the woods a lot, I need to
>have a spark arrestor and a much more socially-acceptable exhaust
>note. Dan Masys has mentioned the Answer Sneaker system a few times
>in his postings, but according to Chaparral, they don't make one for
>the '87.
We now reserve the Sneakers for situations where riding quietly is
better than not riding at all; they really do sap the power noticeably.
>3) Has anyone tried a Wonderspring? As I understand it, you
>replace the stock power port spring with a less-stiff one so that
>the port opens sooner to give you more power at low RPM's.
>
It actually causes the actuation mechanism to delay opening until about
1000 rpm higher than stock; increases the low end power according to
the ads; haven't tried one.
>4) Flywheel weight?
>
I have a Moose flywheel weight on my CR; it is the perfect accessory
for the thumper pilot transitioning to the two smoke. It makes the
bike relatively lug-able at low rpm and helps keep you from looping
when you twist that thing in your right hand a little too fast. :-)
The Moose weight is welded on and spin balanced; you have to send them
your flywheel.
Welcome to the ranks of CRitter CRazies :-)
Dan Masys
ma...@nlm.nih.gov