Wanted: more and faster....

[texmo]

Just a few questions out there for the CBR guys....
My front end is a bit soft how can I make it a bit harder? I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard, I have been told its not worth taking the baffels out the the muffler I should just get an aftermarket one. Brighter head lights again with being a courier and being on the road all day long I want to do what I can to be seen Are there any bulbs out there to give my bike and extra bit of shine? How often do you oil your chain? What fuel do you use, currently I am useing BP's 98 or what ever it is.
Thanks ya'll

[Brian d marge]

I can answer the first one ,,,lot of questions there .......Unladen and laden sag ..is the answer .....1st thing in setting the suspension is to make sure the spring rate is correct for you wieght ,,,( loose wieght ,,or get stiffer springs ) ,, Go to www.racetech (http://www.racetech) or do a goofle search on how to use sag to find the spring rate
you can change the viscosity of the fork oil but that will speedup/slowdown the fork rate ...ie make it bouncy or dead feeling ... you can run slightly more preload ,,but remember preload stores energy in the spring , so when the spring is unloading ,,,that stored energy will come back to haunt u might feel a bit kicky over ripples ....So you use a heavier fork oil ,,,which slows the fork rate ,,,feels firmer but is making the next softest link in the chain work ,,tyre wall say .....all the while you are masking the real prob of incorrect spring rate

For my MX bike ,,,I run the max honda spring rate I could get ,,( cheaper than racetech just meant I had to lose a few kilo !! then I use ATF Viscosity ok ... cheap as ,,,...then run the least compression rebound damping I can get away with ,,,,,( earlier and cheaper suspension only controls LOW shafts speeds , relying on shims and oil for those big ole pot hole ..high shaft speeds)

Tyre pressures also play a part ,,,,,,

Finally ,,,you can increase the spring rate by removing a few coils ,,,but it wont be by much ,,,( 3,6kg/mm to 4.1 needed 1/4 of the spring to go ) so i bit the bullet and bought the correct rate!!!!!

Stephen

[N4CR]

I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard, I have been told its not worth taking the baffels out the the muffler I should just get an aftermarket one.

Just knock the fricken things out with a long sharp metal pole (edit: puncture so it's not tooo loud) (like the re-bar ones for concrete) saves you $300 for some ripoff can. Or be like me and goto wreckers and g(h)et(to) a cheap perf-tube race can.

Run the lowest fuel grade you can run properly on (eg no stuttering). I can't run 91 as it runs too hot and rarely preignites.

Get some of the xenon (blue) lamps off trademe if they are still there, dunno if they fit buy try pulling your headlamp assembly to bits and see what they look like. On the zxr's you have to bend the mounting pins to fit in properly.

Crank the suspension up a bit, but not that much if you are commuting/couring/long hours/high kms etc as you do want to have a bone structure left ;)

Mine is on roughly 60-70% hardness but if it is too soft it can be a little worrying in corners with corrugations :|

[Coyote]

Here's some bling. Park lights would be good for everyday riding
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Performance/Electronics/auction-39594593.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Wheels-tyres/Other/auction-39411916.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Wheels-tyres/Other/auction-39430918.htm

Not really much help, buy hey

[kro]

My front end is a bit soft how can I make it a bit harder?
Thanks ya'll

Viagra my good man.

[HDTboy]

Before you fuck around with the front suspension, change the fork oil, you'll be surprised how much of a difference it makes. Try a 10 weight first, I'm runnin 15 weight oil, but it's a bit too stiff in the front

I run my bike on 91 perfectly fine

You'll have fun making any aftermarket bulbs fit, the ones Honda blessed us with are an odd size, and they're about $50 each IIRC

[Brian d marge]

Umm I didnt post the lobg winded explaination ,,,just for the hell of it ,....if you want the front suspension to behave ,,,,,read and become informed,,,then make a decision.... and if you think mine is a load of cobblers ,,,get a second opinion,,,,

Stephen

[transformerboy]

for a cbr 250 2 sound way louder get a drill and drill 3 holes evenly spaced in the metal around the center hole within the tip of the can. you wont be able to see any mods to the can and it will incease the noise be atleast double. it wont have any effect on ur baffls and means no problems with wof. all ur doing is increasing the area for fumes to escape.

if ur worried about rust, dont be i drilled mine over a year ago and no problems! and if ur worried about meatal filings falling into the can first time u start it poof all gone!

[sAsLEX]

Just a few questions out there for the CBR guys....
My front end is a bit soft how can I make it a bit harder?

Brighter head lights again with being a courier and being on the road all day long I want to do what I can to be seen Are there any bulbs out there to give my bike and extra bit of shine?


Any old car H4 bulbs will do, can get the brighter whiter ones for 50 bucks odd for two from repco just need some bending of the tabs to fit in, did this on mine and they were fine till it got nicked! :bash:




How often do you oil your chain?


When it looks dry is always a good option, couriering prob once a week maybe more if the weather is wet, and give it a good clean with a tooth brush and some kero quit often, I do it every time I wax my chain



What fuel do you use, currently I am useing BP's 98 or what ever it is.
Thanks ya'll

I used 98 96 whatever the whole time i had mine


oh and the noise front some air horns would be the go, you have a big enough boot on the ciby to easily fit the compressor and horns in there and still have space left over!

[Gremlin]

Just be careful with following tristan's advice on baffles OK??

He fucked with his, and I mean really fucked with it, pulled the baffle out violently, and then the tip ended up falling off... Could hear him coming for about a k or more away... seriously.

IIRC, he even had problems using earplugs and it still being loud. Sounded really mint, but he made boy racers sound like try hards...

[John]

Just be careful with following tristan's advice on baffles OK??

He fucked with his, and I mean really fucked with it, pulled the baffle out violently, and then the tip ended up falling off... Could hear him coming for about a k or more away... seriously.

IIRC, he even had problems using earplugs and it still being loud. Sounded really mint, but he made boy racers sound like try hards...
wheres the problem?

But seriously, dont the cbr's have rebound and compression adjustment?? Told you to just get the kawa ya twit.

[Mooch]

Before you fuck around with the front suspension, change the fork oil, you'll be surprised how much of a difference it makes. Try a 10 weight first, I'm runnin 15 weight oil, but it's a bit too stiff in the front

I run my bike on 91 perfectly fine

You'll have fun making any aftermarket bulbs fit, the ones Honda blessed us with are an odd size, and they're about $50 each IIRC

HDTboy is spot on with changing the fork oil , couldn't beleive the difference it made on my older Kr1 250. Stopped a lot of the front end dive under brakes.

[Brian d marge]

I give up ......:argh:.....Has any one figured out why its so damn hard to suck a Mac shack through a straw .....the same with your forks ....when you turn the little screw it move either a drum with 2 holes lining up Or a wedge moves past a hole (or in the rear moves a rod which closes a hole see photo,,,effectivly making the hole smaller ...ie using a smaller straw...OF course it will stiffen the front end up

... it will STOP working as the good lord intended ,,,,,ie you will be effectivly sitting on one of those bouncy ride kids play on .it will be good at the big shock/holes ...but over the ripples it will crap ,,AS was pointed out in another post... ..........If you still dont believe me I got some footage some where where I tried just that ,,,the forks front and rear dont react ,,,,,,,, THE SPRING controls the LOAD the OIL controls the SPEED at which the load is controlled , PERIOD .......there IS no other way of saying this ...............

stephen
Been Reading other peoples posts since I was a lad .......

[bugjuice]

we should have a CBR sound off with some of the bikes on here..

Go with HDT on the forks - first up, change the oil in there. That'll help heaps. Probably solve most of the issues. If not, then change the springs in there too.

If the bulbs work, you're not going to get much more brightness out of them without spending a heap, and possibly melting shit cos it's getting too hot. Just stick the full beam on, and fuck everyone else..

As for yer muff, taking the baffles out isn't the best noise or move in the world. Sounds tinny and isn't so flash. Makes a hell of a racket tho, so if noise is what you want, then so be it. Else, there's a whole barge of pipes that you can get. Just pop to a couple of shops and ask for pricing. Shame you can't really hear any before you buy, but the shop should have an idea. If you've got the Honda stock pipe on there (can't remember), then it's fairly safe to say that any aftermarket pipe will be louder than your Honda one..

[TwoSeven]

Dont fook with the oil in the cibby 250. All you will do is make the suspention too solid and the bike will just skip over bumps. Its problem is that the stock spring is too soft, this needs to be changed to one that matches the bike rate and rider weight. Its a standard 37mm fork from memory, so you just need somone up on suspension to cut a replacement spring. Also on those bikes, at the bottom of the damper rod there is a teflon coated bronze bush, these sometimes need to be replaced. The bike doesnt have compression/rebound adjustment, so you have to take special care rebuilding the forks.

You'll find that the bike with the correct spring will work nicely with 5-7 weight oil in it. Just make sure the air gap is correct because they blow seals easily if they are over filled (you'll get leakage on heavy use as well due to forks being spindely).

The post on spring rate/sag etc above is correct. Ideally you want to be running about 35mm front/ 30mm rear laden sag for plush road riding, maybe 5mm either way depending on preference.

Dont fook with the zorst if you are dispatching. Making it louder will just give you industrial deafness after a week and wont solve the bad riding problem causing the car avoidence issue. Learn to dispatch properly and you wont have the problem with the cars :)

If you remove the baffle/mod the airbox you will completely fook over the cibby. It needs the good back pressure the standard zorst gives for maximum milage which is what you want for dispatching. You dont want speed.

Use 91 octane fuel and probably an CR8/cr9 in the bike, since your speed will be roughly 50kmph. You only need to go to the 98 if you are running over 10k rpm for sustained periods - because of engine heat. I think the CR9 was standard, but I ran an 8 in mine for town driving. You'd probably get away with 95 as well - I've not tried this.

For brighter bulbs you need to go to those fancy argon ones (the really expensive ones) - but you need to match them perfectly otherwise the will go bang (mine was always the left rear taillight bulb).

[Brian d marge]

Try concrete ...that would stiffen the forks up...or TAR ....TAR is good because it doesnt stiffen up so much compared with concrete....

Just because changing the oil is cheap , I know where your comming from ,,been there tried to avoid the expense ,,,bit bullet ,,and it turned out to be cheap ,,about 3000 yen each front spring ,,,should have done it straight away...
Why I am spending a bit of time , replying here AGAIN . is because of the incorrect advise given ,,,repeatedly ,,,,
You all would be upset if I advised , to change the spark pug use a Mole wrench and a hammer ....
So to return ,,,If you used tar ,,,the forks after hitting that big pot hole ,,would work ,ie deflect ..BUT it will take a week to return to its original position ......
What will happen is ,,when you increase the oil viscosity ( a couple of point wont make a hill of beans difference ) .. when you are cranked over in a long sweeper ,,and there are small ripples in the road ,,the front end wont be doing the best job ,,and will be skipping and sort of deflrcting at a tangent ,,,ie the front will tend to wash out towards the outside of the curve ....

Now IF you are happy with that then fine oil is cheap and will make the frontend slower and feel ( the use the word firmer ) ....

I will post video ...it 318 meg * i dont know how to make smaller yet * ,,so Ill zip it and post ,,,Watch the back end ,,,,that is with ATF and an incorrect spring with preload to compensate ..( ie get the sag back to where it should be ..) .....also watch the front ,,,ATF ,,,no rebound ( shit forks ) and incorrect spring rate ,,,to soft ...

Basically the bike is impossible to ride ,,,,,..it wont hook up and cant handle the bumps ....Useless in other words ...

Stephen

PS the file isnt loading if anyone needs/is curious just pm Ill send

[HDTboy]

The reason I said to change the fork oil, is because it's more than likely old, and has lost its viscosity. New oil is cheap, and may give all the improvement needed

[Bonez]

The reason I said to change the fork oil, is because it's more than likely old, and has lost its viscosity. New oil is cheap, and may give all the improvement neededOne can use ATF if one likes, which is cheaper still.

[TwoSeven]

The reason I said to change the fork oil, is because it's more than likely old, and has lost its viscosity. New oil is cheap, and may give all the improvement needed

I keep making the mistake people maintain their bikes (sans fluid and stuff) so I didnt mention the old oil thing.

[HDTboy]

One can use ATF if one likes, which is cheaper still.
I don't know about that, 10 weight oil is about $15-$20 (retail) per litre, you only need 375 mLs for each fork on a CBR250

PS. Brian: these bikes don't have factory adjustment built into them, so you need to play around with different oils and spring spacers to tune the suspension on them

[TonyB]

Reading one of the replies this may be of no use, but the easiest way of brightening you headlights is to get Xenon bulbs. Somewhere on here I posted a pic of my bike with one standard and one Xenon bulb. They DO work. BUT, if you get the blue tinted ones they wont be as bright as the plain ones- they get the tint by colouring the glass

[Brian d marge]

I don't know about that, 10 weight oil is about $15-$20 (retail) per litre, you only need 375 mLs for each fork on a CBR250

PS. Brian: these bikes don't have factory adjustment built into them, so you need to play around with different oils and spring spacers to tune the suspension on them

I know ...Honda amazes me ,,they build say a NSR ..wissy go fast and a nice looking bike ,,then the stick a set of non adjustable undersprung ( for westerners ) useless bits of crap ..on the front ...( now I now the factory I know why ,,,) ...
The oil will control the rate of the forks throughout the whole shaft speed range ,,the spacer ( preload spacer??) will control the initial force needed to deflect the spring ...aftr that its valving and / or shim stack ( read money ) ..Your coment about old oil was a very valid and a good one ,,,I change my fork oil every second or third race ,,,( I buy 4 litres of ATF and use it in the gearbox , front and rear shocks .,,,its a bit thick ,,but at my level I wouldnt know a tuned fork from a hole in the ground )
But as painfull as it is to the wallet ...spring rate is the first thing you have to do ,,,I avoided it for one whole season ,,,and eventually bit the bullet ,,,I should have done it straight away ...
I mean the Japs sell bikes to america ..but the spring emm to siut the home market ??? why??? profit on the aftersale spring????? I dont know ...
anyway ,,,I really must sit down soon and make a plan for this winters racing ,,,just been to busy ,,,,,,:crybaby:

Stephen

[HDTboy]

Speaking of shim stacks, 20c coins fit perfectly

[TwoSeven]

The cibby only has something like a 7.5 spring in it - its a standard spring for jap bikes (Have a look at the R1) - most westerners will probably use a 9.5 or 10.

It really only needs a 5, maybe a little bit more. 10 weight oil will make the bike bounce over bumps - it just wont react.

the 20 cent coins has nothing to do with shim stack. It just increases preload, but with a weak spring, wont do anything except raise the chance of blowing out the seals.

[texmo]

I am going to change the fork oil when I change my oil and filter I have already done 2,000kms so a service aint that far away and I would rather do it myself then pay some chum to do it...
I am probbly going to get a muffler later on rather than fuck the factory one thats on there now, I am lubing my chain once-twice a week that seems to be enough to keep it nice 'n wet, I have changed the perload on my rear shock its fine now but still pogos a little bit on bumpy corners maby im just expecting too much out of it....
I am also gonna look at getting some louder horns but I dont tend to use mine much, I have only gotten really angry twice once being today when a taxi drive hit me while changing lanes....

[Bonez]

I don't know about that, 10 weight oil is about $15-$20 (retail) per litre, you only need 375 mLs for each fork on a CBR250
Compared to $6-$10 for a ltr of ATF(retail k'mart and the like with usually some on special) and it works. Been using the stuff on my road bikes for the last 20 odd years.

[Unit]

Just a few questions out there for the CBR guys....
I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard,
Any jobs going? Sounds too good riding a 'needs to be heard' bike for a job.:lol:

[texmo]

Any jobs going? Sounds too good riding a 'needs to be heard' bike for a job.:lol:
I dont understand you engrish very well.... but spend 50hours a week in the CBD and see how many people TRY and take you out... they have one successfull attempt on me so far..
Edit; oh and if you are serious about a job I can get you one no problems...

[Suney]

Hey texmo
I think I saw your bike last week, are with pace couriers? i can't remember
Did you deliver a package to university of auckland in grafton?
But is it really necessary to go so fast around uni?

[texmo]

I am with sub60 man what do you mean go so fast around uni? I have to go fast every where to earn my bread, I am the only red and blue cbr courier bike, I am guessing your talking about me riding around the courtyard out the front....

[limbimtimwim]

I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard, I have been told its not worth taking the baffels out the the muffler I should just get an aftermarket one.Don't get a carbon fibre muffler. Sure, they look cool, but I realised once I fitted mine, if I dropped it on that side it would likely make a very expensive shattering sound. It's a very very light very firm tube, with sturdy caps on each end, but I think it would loose a fight with a car or the ground. Heavy, but stainless is probably the way to go.

'Course, once you have done that, it's mainjets, needles and fuel screw fiddling time. You won't be able to resist, it's fun. I'm getting OT..

[inlinefour]

Just a few questions out there for the CBR guys....
My front end is a bit soft how can I make it a bit harder? I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard, I have been told its not worth taking the baffels out the the muffler I should just get an aftermarket one. Brighter head lights again with being a courier and being on the road all day long I want to do what I can to be seen Are there any bulbs out there to give my bike and extra bit of shine? How often do you oil your chain? What fuel do you use, currently I am useing BP's 98 or what ever it is.
Thanks ya'll

Dunno about your year, but mione is 2005. Frount end----->adjust or change oil in the forks. Mine was too hard and needed to be softened, just needed a adjustment. Making it louder, heaps of options, take the baffles out, drill some holes, change the can with a car coby (done it with a old CB and it sounded awesome) or some other type of can. Bulbs can be purchased in different wattages and colours, go have a look at who ever stocks bulbs. I can tell you who it is in NP, but that wont help ya. Oil my chain, about once a month, but I use this wax looking stuff now, oil the cables at the same time as the chain though. Fuel, 91 of course, modern bike require it and are designed for it I am told and I wonder if anything else actually does make a bike quicker, or quicker to get tired/die.

[texmo]

Just a few questions out there for the CBR guys....
My front end is a bit soft how can I make it a bit harder? I want my bike to be a bit louder, as a courier I want to be heard, I have been told its not worth taking the baffels out the the muffler I should just get an aftermarket one. Brighter head lights again with being a courier and being on the road all day long I want to do what I can to be seen Are there any bulbs out there to give my bike and extra bit of shine? How often do you oil your chain? What fuel do you use, currently I am useing BP's 98 or what ever it is.
Thanks ya'll
I changed the oil to a 15 weight and man the diffrence is awesome, I am going to bleed my brakes when I get a change and put some new stuff in along with changing the pads... I have done 5,000kms so I need to do a service too. I have decied not to change my pipe as I like to hear things and I jsut ride around with my H/beam on all day, currently changed to 91 and I have not noticed anydiffrence slightly less km/ltr though, I get 180ish out of a tank...