Mods began on the Venom X22R 250
 

The mods began on the Venom X22R 250 this morning. I started by stripping her down naked.:hehe: First was to remove the ehaust. Really easy once all the fairings were removed and that was easy also. I located the cat using a long stiff wire. Once located I used a cut off wheel on my grinder and cut around the cat. The cat itself was actually installed backwards according to the big flow arrow stamped on it. The cat came out easy compared to the one on my Hawk. I welded it back with my mig welder on the lowest setting so I wouldn't burn a hole through it. Anybody who has welded on this Chinese steel know exactly what I'm talking about. Lol after grinding the weld and painting I wrapped it with header wrap then reinstalled. I also had to grind the welds down inside the header pipe. Defiantly some restriction there. The bike comes with a good free flowing muffler so no need to replace it. Bike was no louder than it was before and still has that deep tone rumble.:D

More pics....

Congrats on cat removal, I wish I had a welder! I noticed today after one minute of running my TBR7, that the cat was glowing red. Is that normal?

The bike comes this a pz30 pumper carb which really has good throttle response. This carb didn't have the usual tamper proof screws but regular Phillips head. It came with a 98 main installed so I installed a 110 for starters. I didn't change the pilot as it was running fine with whatever was installed. The idle mixture screw did have the tamper proof cap so I drilled it out and actually came out with the drill bit. The idle mixture screw was barely open maybe 1/8 turn. I just set it 1 1/2 turns out from lightly seated. It started right up and idled smooth so didn't touch it. Later after I did all the other mods I took a little ride. Huge difference in throttle response and power. I'll have to change to a 115 main as it bogged a little around 7000 rpm's. Still need to break in before I beat on it. I did get up to 71mph briefly and wasn't full throttle. I'll have to check the accuracy with my GPS.

If you haven't tuned the carb yet it will glow red because it's running super lean from the factory.

After the carb tuning and replacing the plug with a NGK I installed the oil cooler while I had the fairing removed. I had plenty of room for the install unlike the Hawk which was kind of limited on space to install. I didn't take pictures but did take video that I'll post tomorrow or Monday. You can see the cooler in the previous picture I posted.

I also installed LED headlight while it was naked. I did have to take my rotary tool to make the hole a little larger to make them fit . so much brighter than stock. I installed my alarm then put all the fairings back on. I had a wedding to go to so I'll finish up the rest of the mods tomorrow. I did take the bike to go to the wedding.:D
Her she is all buttoned up ready to go.

A sportbike is a great way to arrive at a wedding.

I think the bike got more attention at the reception than the bride and groom. Lol

it really is a very nice looking bike!

Thanks, out all the colors I think the black looks the best. :thanks:

Congrats! Sweet ride, I am jealous! You have to do some speed testing when it is broken in I am so curious. 90 mph in the add!

I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and bought the Harbor Freight "Titanium" flux welder. It's routinely on sale for $170.


I'm not a complete muppet at metalwork; I can solder and braze quite well, and I have done a small amount of oxyacetylene welding but I have never worked with any kind of arc welder before. With no instruction other than what's in the manual and fooling around with it for an hour or two, I was able to jump right to patching a big-ass hole in the exhaust pipe of my friend's SSR dirt bike, and replacing the welded on nuts that hold the heat shield on. It weren't pretty, but it's holding.



The HF welder is definitely capable of doing exhaust work, especially if you don't care what the weld looks like! No gas, no tanks, no hoses, nothing to worry about with the flux core model. If you only use it twice a year (as it looks like I will) it'll be sitting on the shelf waiting for you when you need it, ready to rock and roll...

I wish he had broken it in BEFORE modding it to get baseline numbers.

Here's the automatic version. albeit not broken in. Interesting no shift revs direct drive it appears and seems to work pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4RCxyWB-8

It might do the 90 mph indicated on the speedometer but it might be more like 80. Confirmed today with my GPS app that the speedometer is off 10 mph at 71 mph indicated and was doing 61 GPS. I'm checking now if there's a way to calibrate it. The same speedometer is sold on eBay and Amazon. There has to be some instruction somewhere. If not there is a inline calibrator for $70. I installed the 34 tooth sprocket this morning and took a ride after the rain stopped. Cruising 55 to 60 mph GPS with ease. I think I have just over 70 miles on it.

Today started off to a bad start. I woke up this morning to pour down rain. When it finally slacked off to a drizzle I headed out to the shed to finish up the mods. I took lots of pictures and video of the whole process on replacing the sprocket or so I thought. When I took a break for lunch I pulled out my phone to look at them. Wtf all the files were curupt. >:( was I pissed. I pulled the memory card out the phone then stuck it back in and now it fine. So I shot some pics and video just explaining what I did. Me and cameras don't get along. Always something getting messed up. I'll try to put it all together tonight and post tomorrow.

The 80's are most likely in play and at that speed will be much more comfortable and controllable than the HAWK or similar. Is that a CG engine?

Sorry to hear about the video. Look forward to seeing the mods.

This is way more comfortable and controllable than the Hawk but then again I wouldn't take this bike off road. Lol It is a CB engine.

Finally had time to edit and upload to YouTube. I lost a good bit of video and pictures from yesterday because of a memory card issue with my phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8p0-_GgW_A

Excellent. The braking hardware looks massive, just what you need for the street. Looks like a 520 chain. What was the stock sprocket tooth counts and what did you mod too? I'm sure your looking for some new buffing wheels for your WEN!

Brakes work great. Lots of stopping power. It has the 428 chain but looks heavier than what had come on my Hawk. It was even well lubricated. When I checked the wheel bearings they were also well greased. Not typical of most Chinese bikes. The stock sprocket was a 42 tooth which I found was too low geared for a street bike. I installed a 34 tooth which puts it just slightly higher gear ratio than my Hawk.

What aftermarket sprockets does this use? Usual model found for old Honda dual sports like found on most every Chinese bike?

I do wish you had kept the bike bone stock for the first few hundred miles to get baseline figures. Oh well, it will be nice to see what a slightly modified bike can realistically do.

jerry just may be the first to change out the rear sprocket on these. :clap:

The JTR242 Sprocket will fit but only comes in 50 and 53 tooth. I had one custom made for $31 shipped. I didn't get it with the holes drilled in it because I wasn't sure of the bolt hole size as I ordered it before the bike arrived. You can get anything you want made here fairly cheap.
https://shop.pbisprockets.com/product.sc?productId=503

I recommend a swingarm stand for such repairs and mods.

"I recommend a swingarm stand for such repairs and mods."



How true ! Somebody send JerryHawk250 a plastic milk crate ! :)

I already have a center stand planned for it. It has the mounting tabs for it. I'm looking into getting one for the X22 125cc. It should fit because the frames are almost identical. If not I'll fab one up. Piece of cake. :) Besides the swing arm stand and milk crate are a little bulky to carry around on the bikes if I needed it on side the road. :lmao:

I'm not crazy about the muffler. What was the shipping weight and how does it handle the twisties and does it feel stable at higher speeds?

The muffler is actually a good free flowing one. No baffles. You can see straight through it. Shipping ticket said 265lbs. Box it came in stated 285lbs. I'm going to weigh it when I get a chance. This bike handles the twisties way better than much Hawk and I lean that one over pretty far. I wore the tits down on the chicken strip so yeah it handles well. ;) I've only gone a little over 60mph GPS and feels so much more stable than the Hawk. I've only got just a little over 70 miles on it so still breaking it in. I was going to ride it to work today but something about mid 30s temps changed this southern boys mind. lol Saturday and sunday look real nice so i'll rack up some miles over the weekend.

It's Mardi Gras here in South Louisiana so had a day off. I installed the SpeedoDRD speedometer calibrator. This device is awesome. Speedometer was 17.2% off and I got it dead on accurate. I put 138 miles on it today. The engine is starting to loosen up. I hit 73mph and still had a little throttle to go. I only have about 335 miles on her. I also swapped from a 110 to 108 main. I was getting a slight miss around 7000 rpm's. With the 108 I hit the rev limiter at around 8000. 75 to 80 mph should be no problem. I'll put some more miles on her this weekend and try to do a top speed run. When I got home I decided to do a partial fender delete. That was way too long for my liking. Also relocated the reflector because the local PD are anal about it. Easy fix with my Wen rotary tool.;)

We had our Mardi Gras parades on Saturday, so no day off for Texas Cajuns. It was a beautiful day, none the less.
- You jetted down from 110 to 108 after ditching the exhaust baffle?

Stock jet was a 98. I installed the 110 after the exhaust mod. 110 was just a tad rich.

I ordered a set of Plate lights like these to get rid of that huge light hanging out the rear.

kewl beans!
the wires are very thin and takes a surgeon to splice them. you wont think they will conduct electricity bc they are so thin, but they will work. the only catch to them is either install quick disconnects or plan on cutting them every time you change the plates or relocating the plate mount. that's in case you were actually using them to mount the plate. some peeps use these on the body paneling too.

I'll probably install bullet connectors and hook into the original connectors on the bike. Plates are permanent in Louisiana. We just replace the sticker when expired.

Jerry...just catching up here on your X22R purchase,..and posts. That's a great looking bike for sure..good luck with it.

I finished up the partial fender delete. I removed the existing licence plate light and installed the two LED lights. Looks much better.

I also installed a helmet lock. One from a M-07 fits perfect.