Took a plunge... trying a PP LXR250 EFI - Page 23

ben2go · 01-15-2018, 07:27 PM

My 2014 Honda CB500X don't even have roller bearings in the steering. It has some really shi!!y ball bearings like the head tube of a bicycle.

GlennR · 01-15-2018, 10:29 PM

Chonda,
Thanks for sharing all the things you're doing on the bike. It's great to have so much info & pics about our bikes.

I noticed that the ebay Big Bore kit supplier is sold out. I don't need one now & figure Pitster or the ebay seller will have them again soon. Being curious, I decided to see if I could find another source. I figured that the NC250 is so popular that parts shouldn't be too hard to locate.

I found a Chinese supplier that seems to have a large stock of the BB kits. They offer them for $344.82 shipped to the US.

Link: https://www.yoycart.com/Product/555980556187/

GlennR · 01-21-2018, 11:04 PM

I've finally ridden my bike.

I was very happy with its street-worthiness. The engine & bike was smooth and seemed to have plenty of power to cruise at 70+mph. I'm not sure, but it seemed to run as well at top speed in 5th gear as it would in 6th. It seemed it would love to have just a little more power to utilize 6th gear better.

Was that your feeling about 6th gear too? Does the BB kit make a noticeable difference on the top end? I know you aren't using your bike as a dual-sport, but it seems like the extra cc's would be great for allowing you to cruise at lower rpms.

Megadan · 01-22-2018, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennR

I've finally ridden my bike.

I was very happy with its street-worthiness. The engine & bike was smooth and seemed to have plenty of power to cruise at 70+mph. I'm not sure, but it seemed to run as well at top speed in 5th gear as it would in 6th. It seemed it would love to have just a little more power to utilize 6th gear better.

Was that your feeling about 6th gear too? Does the BB kit make a noticeable difference on the top end? I know you aren't using your bike as a dual-sport, but it seems like the extra cc's would be great for allowing you to cruise at lower rpms.

On most 250cc class bikes with a 6th gear, the extra gear is there mainly to drop the revs a little more and put less stress on the engine for sustained higher speeds. Obviously, any mods such as a big bore could help utilize this gearing better, but you can also change sprockets to alter the use of those gears to suit your taste. Some will actually increase the rear sprocket or decrease the front and gear down the bike a little more, making 6th gear more like 5th and giving them better power through the other gears. Or you can go the other direction and gear up the bike a little to make it even more road and highway friendly and get the revs down even more. The cheapest and easiest way to see which direction would suit you would be with front sprocket changes.

ChondaChondaChonda · 01-22-2018, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennR

I've finally ridden my bike.

I was very happy with its street-worthiness. The engine & bike was smooth and seemed to have plenty of power to cruise at 70+mph. I'm not sure, but it seemed to run as well at top speed in 5th gear as it would in 6th. It seemed it would love to have just a little more power to utilize 6th gear better.

Was that your feeling about 6th gear too? Does the BB kit make a noticeable difference on the top end? I know you aren't using your bike as a dual-sport, but it seems like the extra cc's would be great for allowing you to cruise at lower rpms.

At first mine seemed that way too, but after a good break-in (around 1200 mile mark) 6th became more useful. I only have about 100 miles on the BB kit so I'm still getting a feel for it. The extra power will definitely pull a higher gearing.

As MegaDan said the front sprocket swaps are the easiest way to tell. Further back in this thread I did test a 15 tooth sprocket and really liked it for street use. If I didn't need the lower first gear I would probably run that all the time. I may pick up a 14 tooth and see how that works as an all-around gearing.

The 15 tooth didn't really give much more top speed because the bike was power-limited (primarily aero resistance) to about 74mph. I need to try it again with the big bore and see how much it helps.

ChondaChondaChonda · 01-22-2018, 10:15 AM

Spent the weekend going south to get into warmer weather and let my wife do her thing. She likes rock crawling and has a '49 Willys that she drives. I hike, photograph, spot and fix what she breaks. No room for the motorcycle on this trip.

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Going to build a new back bumper for the trailer so I can haul the bike on these trips from now on.

GlennR · 01-22-2018, 06:18 PM

I've always bought used bikes, so I forgot that things can change after some break-in.

Cool wife! Maybe mine would like to try that sometime.

GlennR · 01-26-2018, 07:38 PM

I just got my bike plated today in NC. I wasn't sure if they would title it here, but they said "no problem" and I'm smiling now.

ChondaChondaChonda · 02-06-2018, 08:01 PM

Test ride this past weekend with the following fork mods:

I removed 2 of the (18 - 31.90 x 0.12mm shims)
and 1 of the (2 - 23.88 x 0.16mm shims) from the taper.

Forks tracked well and were noticeably improved in harshness on high speed hits. (Softball sized rocks and 6-8" steps).

Rekluse worked as it should with no issues. I'm going to have to ride it and get used to how it changes things. I dislike not having the gears to catch the bike if I don't make a steep hill climb. A LHRB (Left Hand Rear Brake) is definitely going to happen as the Rekluse does shine in the very technical rocky stuff we seem to always end up in.

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BlackBike · 02-09-2018, 12:36 AM

Congrats..pushing boundaries of mechanics and economicswith the chinarider.

ChondaChondaChonda · 02-13-2018, 02:00 PM

As nice as the riding every weekend has been, I hope we start getting some storms in so we can have water to drink and irrigate with this summer. The joys of living in the west.

I was invited to ride with a group of guys from work. There was an impressive collection of bikes, including one guy on a '75 DT250 that really rocked that vintage iron to it's potential. I bet he is sore today. It was cool to watch him ride, though. I love vintage stuff.

ChondaChondaChonda · 02-13-2018, 02:04 PM

ChondaChondaChonda · 02-13-2018, 02:11 PM

Bike ran well. Big bore kit seems to be breaking in and upping the fun factor.

I used to run my fork clickers at or near the lowest settings on rebound and at the lowest on compression. With my stack changes I'm now right in the middle of both compression and rebound and it is just a touch softer than before with the added bonus of no harshness on high speed hits.

I only managed to bottom the forks once as I was hauling mail through some huge whoops and hit a big one on the back-face out of rhythm. The bike took it well and resumed chewing through the remaining whoops with aplumb. Very happy that I went into the forks at this point.

BlackAcid · 02-13-2018, 05:45 PM

I went ahead and purchased one of the big bore kits for my lxr250 from that vender on ebay. Any additional tips on the install of the kit besides what you already posted, or suggested torque specs?

ChondaChondaChonda · 02-13-2018, 07:00 PM

I would get all the torque specs from Spudrider's write up on rebuilding the NC250 or the AJP service manual is available for a free download.

Here is a little tidbit that I have discovered. The stock base gasket is thinner than the one in the kit, so it will give you a higher compression ratio and a little bit more power. I ran mine that way for a while and I kind of miss the extra little bit of grunt it had. At some point in the future I may re-install the stock base gasket.

The job is fairly straightforward; don't let anything drop into the crankcase! The toughest part is sliding the cylinder down over the new rings. A helper would have been invaluable.

Keep us updated on how it goes and how you like it!

01-22-2018, 10:15 AM	#336
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	Spent the weekend going south to get into warmer weather and let my wife do her thing. She likes rock crawling and has a '49 Willys that she drives. I hike, photograph, spot and fix what she breaks. No room for the motorcycle on this trip. Going to build a new back bumper for the trailer so I can haul the bike on these trips from now on.
	5

02-09-2018, 12:36 AM	#340
BlackBike Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: George West, Texas Posts: 4,097	Congrats..pushing boundaries of mechanics and economicswith the chinarider. __________________ ***************************************** 2015 Bashan"Blaze" BS250GY-31 (DB-07K-250) GONE 2017 Suzuki V Strom 650 XT "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." ~Benjamin Franklin~
	1

02-13-2018, 02:00 PM	#341
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	Another great weekend of riding or What happened to winter?? As nice as the riding every weekend has been, I hope we start getting some storms in so we can have water to drink and irrigate with this summer. The joys of living in the west. I was invited to ride with a group of guys from work. There was an impressive collection of bikes, including one guy on a '75 DT250 that really rocked that vintage iron to it's potential. I bet he is sore today. It was cool to watch him ride, though. I love vintage stuff.
	2

02-13-2018, 02:04 PM	#342
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	pics
	3

02-13-2018, 07:00 PM	#345
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	I would get all the torque specs from Spudrider's write up on rebuilding the NC250 or the AJP service manual is available for a free download. Here is a little tidbit that I have discovered. The stock base gasket is thinner than the one in the kit, so it will give you a higher compression ratio and a little bit more power. I ran mine that way for a while and I kind of miss the extra little bit of grunt it had. At some point in the future I may re-install the stock base gasket. The job is fairly straightforward; don't let anything drop into the crankcase! The toughest part is sliding the cylinder down over the new rings. A helper would have been invaluable. Keep us updated on how it goes and how you like it! Last edited by ChondaChondaChonda; 02-14-2018 at 09:35 AM.
	1

01-15-2018, 07:27 PM	#331
ben2go Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 1,335	My 2014 Honda CB500X don't even have roller bearings in the steering. It has some really shi!!y ball bearings like the head tube of a bicycle.
	1

01-15-2018, 10:29 PM	#332
GlennR Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Boone, NC Posts: 188	Chonda, Thanks for sharing all the things you're doing on the bike. It's great to have so much info & pics about our bikes. I noticed that the ebay Big Bore kit supplier is sold out. I don't need one now & figure Pitster or the ebay seller will have them again soon. Being curious, I decided to see if I could find another source. I figured that the NC250 is so popular that parts shouldn't be too hard to locate. I found a Chinese supplier that seems to have a large stock of the BB kits. They offer them for $344.82 shipped to the US. Link: https://www.yoycart.com/Product/555980556187/
	1

01-21-2018, 11:04 PM	#333
GlennR Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Boone, NC Posts: 188	I've finally ridden my bike. I was very happy with its street-worthiness. The engine & bike was smooth and seemed to have plenty of power to cruise at 70+mph. I'm not sure, but it seemed to run as well at top speed in 5th gear as it would in 6th. It seemed it would love to have just a little more power to utilize 6th gear better. Was that your feeling about 6th gear too? Does the BB kit make a noticeable difference on the top end? I know you aren't using your bike as a dual-sport, but it seems like the extra cc's would be great for allowing you to cruise at lower rpms.
	1

01-22-2018, 06:18 PM	#337
GlennR Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Boone, NC Posts: 188	I've always bought used bikes, so I forgot that things can change after some break-in. Cool wife! Maybe mine would like to try that sometime.
	1

01-26-2018, 07:38 PM	#338
GlennR Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Boone, NC Posts: 188	I just got my bike plated today in NC. I wasn't sure if they would title it here, but they said "no problem" and I'm smiling now.
	3

02-06-2018, 08:01 PM	#339
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	Test ride this past weekend with the following fork mods: I removed 2 of the (18 - 31.90 x 0.12mm shims) and 1 of the (2 - 23.88 x 0.16mm shims) from the taper. Forks tracked well and were noticeably improved in harshness on high speed hits. (Softball sized rocks and 6-8" steps). Rekluse worked as it should with no issues. I'm going to have to ride it and get used to how it changes things. I dislike not having the gears to catch the bike if I don't make a steep hill climb. A LHRB (Left Hand Rear Brake) is definitely going to happen as the Rekluse does shine in the very technical rocky stuff we seem to always end up in.
	4

02-13-2018, 02:11 PM	#343
ChondaChondaChonda Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 547	Bike ran well. Big bore kit seems to be breaking in and upping the fun factor. I used to run my fork clickers at or near the lowest settings on rebound and at the lowest on compression. With my stack changes I'm now right in the middle of both compression and rebound and it is just a touch softer than before with the added bonus of no harshness on high speed hits. I only managed to bottom the forks once as I was hauling mail through some huge whoops and hit a big one on the back-face out of rhythm. The bike took it well and resumed chewing through the remaining whoops with aplumb. Very happy that I went into the forks at this point.
	2

02-13-2018, 05:45 PM	#344
BlackAcid Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: ND Posts: 35	I went ahead and purchased one of the big bore kits for my lxr250 from that vender on ebay. Any additional tips on the install of the kit besides what you already posted, or suggested torque specs?
	2