300cc Kit

[rjmorel]

Originally Posted by Meloman

“Oil rings slipped in easily but be sure you fit the wave part butted together no over lap
Be sure you fit each ring next to wave ring not on it”

Tako, can you post pictures of the right and wrong way to position the oil rings ?

Question, if you overlap the oil ring instead of butt it together , would you even be able to get the wiper rings on either side of the oil ring and still be able to get it into the cylinder? Seems like tolerances would get to tight and not be able to go into cylinder???? Just wondering ,rj

[sqwert]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Same here. I'd end up off a canyon or eating a pine tree. i don't think my bikes been WFO in top gear for any longer than 5 seconds. Could be why I experience no heating issues.

Sometimes not enough time available to take the 4 hour pleasant route. I have to run 61 miles (98km) each way to send business papers in to office to get paid. 70mph (113kph) speed limits all the way. Other vehicles pass at 80-90mph (129-145kph) constantly, 100+mph (161kph) occasionally. Quite often such self-righteous and rudely inconsiderate criminals are as close as 10 feet (3 meters) to the speeding vehicles in front of them.

Riding at high speeds with lightly loaded luggage while being passed by large vehicles 20-40mph (32-64kph) faster than you are going on an open highway with cleared shoulders and sustained 40mph (64kmh) cross winds is a blow job you'll never forget.

Already did 5 days of coma from being launched into flight on a RX3 by a speeding truck once. I no longer ride friendly on major highways. I have also added a number of parts, fluids, and tools to the luggage and significant mass to the front of the bike in the form of headlights, air horn, brake upgrade, billet guards, and a few other things. The RX3 is still too light to be stable in such highway conditions for the amount of surface area upon which evil winds can blow.

So, I try to keep up to avoid becoming a rolling road block, and the bike overheats. Other than that one abusive condition, temperature is never a problem. Consider yourself blessed if you never have to criminalize yourself to get along with your neighbors.

[sqwert]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Same here. I'd end up off a canyon or eating a pine tree. i don't think my bikes been WFO in top gear for any longer than 5 seconds. Could be why I experience no heating issues.

No idea if things will physically fit that way or not. Ring gap is there for a reason. Reengineering such as you ask about messes with thermal expansion rates of at least two different materials and such. Asking question such as yours indicates a lack of knowledge and/or tools to make some determinations for oneself, but you are not alone.

I've seen the remains of a piston and cylinder when someone else put your question into practice to try to reduce blow by to enhance power on a GSX-R 600. Expensive mistake. Second time around same someone else ground the ends of the rings to about half thickness to overlap in same space. Another expensive mistake. Sure am thankful us poor boys have brainless rich boys around to give us answers.

[rjmorel]

sqwert, I feel for you in those conditions.
If I'm going down a major freeway where 65-75 mph is the norm for the cars, I try to find a big truck to safely ride behind that normally have to run slower 55 mph and let the world go by. If no truck available then I'll ride speed limit or 5 mph less and the caggers usually see me ahead and pull over into passing lane and blow around me without much ta do.
I stay clear of riding in front of a truck because I've seen cars come flying up on the truck ,whip out into passing lane then dive back in front of the truck prematurely and hit a motorcycle who is just cruising along safely in front of the truck. The car sees a big truck as the threat, doesn't even see a little cycle until to late.
If I'm on my cycle on a major freeway , I'm usually on vacation and being in a hurry at my age is no excuse cause I want vacation to last as long as possible.
My daddy use to say just because everyone else goes and jumps in the lake doesn't mean I have too. So just because everyone else wants to drive like they want to meet their Maker today, doesn't mean I have to.
Besides I already have met Him and know Him as a personal Friend. rj

[StevieUT]

Originally Posted by sqwert

95-100*F (35-38*C), WFO, 75-80+mph (125-130+kph), slowly heats up enough after 12-15 minutes to boil over.

If that's the case, I'll likely have problems with the 300cc kit. The long sustained uphill climbs out here require extended periods of time at WOT on the stock RX3 to maintain appropriate speeds. I ride on interstates with this bike as little as possible but even on the state highways (89 for example), I'm stuck awkwardly behind trucks, RV's and trailers on climbs. I hold up average traffic on uphills even wide open. It certainly gets hotter than 95-100F for a good portion of the summer where I ride. My hope was that the 300cc kit would give the bike just enough to be tolerable. The bike hasn't run noticeably hot in the stock configuration in the summer, but it very well may with the 300cc kit.

[Meloman]

I told my wife how excited I was to get the 300 kit and the plan to install it and better brake pads to get a little more power and a little better braking. What she said next blew my mind and this is a direct quote.
“YOU HAVE TO BUY AN RX4”. Hate when the wife makes all the decisions in the family and who am I to argue. Her logic is since I wanted a little more power and braking then the RX4 offers a lot more of both.
So I’ll either sell the kit separately or include it in the sale of my RX3 when I eventually put it on the market. With the used market for RX3’s being so soft, (especially a 2018 model), I may end up keeping it and stripping the bags and bars off of it, throw on some TKC80’s and just use it for off road. Who knows what the future may bring. I’ll just ask my wife. 😀

[calvarez]

Yeah, they do depreciate very quickly, and don't sell easily. I paid $1260 for my 2016 with 11k on it, Tourfella bags, and many of the OEM options already on it. I had been watching one closer to me for $2250 with fewer extras, but in nicer condition with less miles.

And this one, with 80 miles on it, has been for sale for half of last year... https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/m...761436094.html

[StevieUT]

Originally Posted by calvarez

I had been watching one closer to me for $2250 with fewer extras, but in nicer condition with less miles.

And this one, with 80 miles on it, has been for sale for half of last year... https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/m...761436094.html

Calvarez...This guy near me has been trying to sell his for forever. I've watched his price drop quite a bit, apparently without much action. But one you might consider, if it's not too far. I'd be willing to sell mine for around that price also. Mine only has 1k but she does have the fading orange paint.

https://classifieds.ksl.com/listing/54011612

Some thread creep here...but I'm not sure we want to start a new thread on how much our bikes depreciate.

[NzBrakelathes]

% wise it’s a big number
Dollar wise compared to a big brand you might find the time of ownership not to be all that bad

[calvarez]

Oh, I'm not considering buying a second one. At guess at the price I got it, I stole it.

[Working_ZS]

Originally Posted by NzBrakelathes

% wise it’s a big number
Dollar wise compared to a big brand you might find the time of ownership not to be all that bad

A good point to remember for those concerned about resale value.

The RX3 is so low in cost that the bikes total, all in price, is generally less than or equal to a more expensive bikes depreciation hit after a year or two. As an example, my 2015 Kawasaki Versys 650, with Givi side cases, a Motowerks lowering link, Givi handguards and Givi rear tire hugger cost the original owner well north of $10,000 US dollars for the bike brand new, plus all of the extra equipment that he installed. I bought it off of him for $6,150, with only 4,300 miles on the odometer. That's a $4,000 hit right there, which is exactly what I paid for my 2015 RX3. So basically, I can give the RX3 away for nothing when I'm done with it and still come out even versus where I would be if I had bought a European or Japanese bike brand new instead and sold it.

I think that for anyone considering a RX3 or any of it's similarly priced competition, the plan from the start should be to buy it and keep it. For a $4000 - $5000 brand new bike, resale value is pretty much nonexistent. The primary reason being that many prospective buyers will reason that for another one or two thousand dollars above the price of a used bike, they can get a brand new one instead. And they would be right. Better to buy new for a couple thousand more and get the warranty, zero miles on the odometer and the new, shiny paint job.

My two cents worth.

[Working_ZS]

Originally Posted by calvarez

Oh, I'm not considering buying a second one. At guess at the price I got it, I stole it.

Yep, you sure did. Go to jail, straight to jail, do not pass Go.

I paid $4075 for mine and have not regretted it once.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by Working_ZS

Yep, you sure did. Go to jail, straight to jail, do not pass Go.

I paid $4075 for mine and have not regretted it once.

I bought two (barely used) RX3's and don't regret it at all, as in any of my CB's.

%-wise, I've done better on my CB resales than on any Japanese bikes I've owned.

[pyoungbl]

When you consider the price new of just about any other motorcycle and factor in a couple years worth of depreciation the RX3 is a fantastic bargain. Heck, I could give mine away next year and still be better off than the depreciation I faced with the last few new bikes I have purchased. No regrets about any of the bikes, that's just the cost of riding.

The calculus changes when the buy in gets to about $6K, which is what a RX4 is going to cost.

[sqwert]

Originally Posted by StevieUT

If that's the case, I'll likely have problems with the 300cc kit. The long sustained uphill climbs out here require extended periods of time at WOT on the stock RX3 to maintain appropriate speeds. I ride on interstates with this bike as little as possible but even on the state highways (89 for example), I'm stuck awkwardly behind trucks, RV's and trailers on climbs. I hold up average traffic on uphills even wide open. It certainly gets hotter than 95-100F for a good portion of the summer where I ride. My hope was that the 300cc kit would give the bike just enough to be tolerable. The bike hasn't run noticeably hot in the stock configuration in the summer, but it very well may with the 300cc kit.

Stock turns slightly more horsepower the last 1000rpm before redline. 300 turns more horsepower improvement than stock's advantage way up there about everywhere else. The 300 probably makes less peak horsepower, but way more torque from idle to almost broken-rod-through-the cylinder-liner.

If the stock engine is not turning within 1000rpm of redline up a hill wfo, the 300 will turn the same rpm at part throttle and not overheat. Same amount of power is required either way. Same amount of heat. Only place I have heat issues is 4-6mph faster than the stock bike would go up a particular hill. So cooling is adequate if you watch your uphills and don't go any faster than you already do. I've had similar problems with cooling systems, air and liquid, when modifying most anything, from 0.020cid R/C model pylon racers to 600+cid t-bucket roadsters to 164cid Corvair engines fitted to homebuilt aircraft to the ISX15 (916cid) in my '67 Freightliner--~650hp, ~1850pds/ft.

STOCK SUCKS!

On the other hand, I'm considering adding or swapping radiators because the system on the bike is a bundle of excess complexity asking for trouble and very difficult to service without stripping other parts off the bike. Just try taking the stock fill cap off with hands as arthritic as mine. Now, put the cap back on. OUCH!