10/12/2008

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! It has been crazier than ever around here. We are gearing up for Christmas and are offering 10% off all online orders today (Friday 10/12/2008) through Sunday the 14th! Hope this helps!

Jesus’ birthday is almost here so if you are going to do a bike build as a gift – you’d better get on it (even if it really is for you!). We need 3-5 days to ship it to you, so factor that in (we don’t want to work late on Christmas Eve this year, but we will!)

Question of the Week

Hi guys, I had a quick question about my fifty. I seem to get one flat after another – even with heavy duty tubes. What is the trick to eliminate flats?

The key is air pressure. The smaller the wheel the more air pressure you need to run. The standard on big bikes is 12- 15lbs depending on the track conditions. On most fifties and even some 110s we run a minimum of twenty pounds. On a bone stock fifty we run thirty plus, with an adult, or you can count on exploding the back wheel. Make sure you are running a rim lock at least in the back. It is cheap insurance against tearing the valve out of the tube. Also we leave the nut loose on the valve stem so the valve can slide down in the rim a little bit if the tire does slip on the rim. Hope this helps – Duane

Blast from the Past

Alright, this week’s blast from the past comes from the August 2000 issue of Dirt Rider Magazine. Our buddies over there at the time (Ken Faught, Karl Kramer, and Dick Burleson) invited us down to the Dirt Rider 24hr shootout. We brought a 2000 YZ125 with a TTR225 engine stuffed into it and a 2000 CR125 with a punched out XR250 engine stuffed into it. There were two things that stick out in my mind about this test: The first was how tired I was after riding for nearly twenty four hours. Hey, when all of your heroes are in one place, riding on the same course, you would ride all night too! The second thing I remember is bending a valve on the TTR five minutes after we arrived for the photo shoot (the day before the actual 24 hr shootout). Somehow when I was goofing around warming the bike up and checking the track out I over revved the bike and mashed the piston into the intake valve. We pulled the head off and saw the bent over valve and thought we were finished. I called Chaparral to see if they had a valve on the shelf and they did. We ran across town and grabbed the valve and then had to find a machine shop to re-cut the damaged valve seat. By the time we had the valve in hand all the machine shops in the area were closed. We decided to take a chance and sleep in the truck, in front of a foreign car machine shop, in hopes they would have the right sized valve cutter. Our gamble paid off. The shop cut the head and we were back on the road headed for the event. We put the head back on, fired the bike up, and let some of the best riders in the world beat the bike for 24hrs without a hiccup.

The CR/XR300 was also one of my favorite off-road bikes we ever built. The engine was real torquey with a big flywheel feel and really chugged along. The chassis was state of the art Honda stuff for the time. Great bike! Even by today’s standards. Imagine if you could by a cheap, perimeter framed, motocross suspended, air-cooled, 300cc four stroke play bike that was easy to work on and maintain! Click on the image to read the whole story:



The blog is a little short this round, but I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks for helping us live the dream - Duane

TTR125 and CRF/XR100

Good news! BBR’s online ordering is up and running! You can officially order BBR parts during off hours, the weekend or in the middle of the night if you need to. It’s great to see how many people have already tried it out. I spent the last couple years restoring a Plymouth Barracuda with my family and became a big fan of online ordering. Can’t tell you how many times I was deep into the project when I realized I was missing a seal, a bolt or some special part. I would simply run to the computer and get it on its way – any time of the day or night! I hope BBR’s online ordering works out just as well for you. Of course, we still have the best phone staff in the industry if you prefer to order over the phone.

Okay, this week we want to talk about the CRF/XR100 and the TT-R125. We get a lot of questions asking what are the “must have” parts are for these bikes. They make a great playbike, girlfriend bike, or kid’s bikes, and are a total blast in the back yard with your buddies.

At the top of the list of must have items is the frame cradle. Both bikes are designed so the engine is a stress-member of the frame. If you jump too high or put too much stress on the frame, the engine cases will break at the motor mount bolts. Then you have an expensive mess to fix! The cradle helps support the frame and engine as well as protecting the underside of your motor.
The second must have item are the BBR fork and shock springs. Both bikes come set up for beginning kids with super soft spring rates. By adding the springs it helps to hold the bike up into the softer part of the travel, plus they help eliminate bottoming (which is a dirt bike’s worst enemy). A tip you can use when installing the fork springs is to install them one at a time. If you put one in and the forks are still not stiff enough, then install the second one. Usually, on the TTR and the CRF100 you can run the stock 10 weight oil. For bigger or faster riders we like to switch to 20 or even 30 weight oil to slow the rebound and compression down from the heavier fork springs. Make sure to not use more oil than is specified in the owner’s manual. Too much oil can cause hydraulic lock resulting in blown fork seals.
The third most important item is the chain guide. Both of these bikes are notorious for blowing the chain off and breaking a hole through the cases. That makes for a long day. Our chain guides literally guide the chain onto the sprocket helping prevent a thrown chain.
Fourth on the list is the big bore kit. Both kits come with everything you need for easy installation including a complete cylinder, piston, cam, and gaskets. A big bore kit is more work than some of the other mods, but the payoff is worth it. If you don’t feel comfortable installing these kits, most local motorcycle shops can handle it for you.
On the TTR125 motor, it is almost mandatory that you run the Free-Flow filter with the bore kit or pipe. It uses a huge (compared to stock) UNI air filter and comes with a new filter backing plate (contoured for high air flow). Horsepower increase is better than ½ horsepower on almost any TTR125.
Fifth on the list is the exhaust system. Both bikes come about as corked-up as they can get away with and still run. BBR makes its new D2 exhaust system for both bikes that lets them rev-out much farther. When choosing an exhaust be careful what you buy. Of course, we recommend our own exhaust because we have a huge amount of R&D time developing the best mini-bike exhausts in the world. We continue to refine these pipes even after they’re in production.
Alright, that is the top five or so. BBR makes lots of other products for these two great bikes, including the perimeter frame kit, so feel free to check them all out on our product pages. I've included part numbers and links to all these products below.

CRF/XR100
Cradle 320-HXR-1011
Fork Springs 650-HXR-1005
Shock Spring 660-HXR-1005
Chain Guide 340-HXR-1011
120 Bore Kit 411-HXR-1001
D2 Exhaust 205-HXR-1031


TTR 125
Free Flow 430-YTR-1201
Cradle 321-YTR-1231
Fork Springs 650-YTR-1205
Shock Spring 660-YTR-1205
Chain Guide 340-YTR-1211
150 Bore Kit 411-YTR-1201
D2 Exhaust 205-YTR-1231

Question of the Week

You guys are the kings of the 150 so I thought I would ask you this: Which is a better bike, the CRF150R or the CRF150F? I am going to be trail riding and doing an occasional race/poker run plus my girlfriend wants to ride the bike once in a while.

This is a tough one. If you are going to be racing a bunch and need maximum horsepower and suspension, then the R is for you. These bikes ride very similar to a two- stroke race 85. They make their best power screaming at 12 thousand rpm. If you are going to be trail riding and riding in tight stuff you can’t beat the electric start and soft suspension of the F model. The F model is super torquey and likes to be short shifted. Think of the F as fun and the R as race. When I go riding with my friends and family up in the woods I always take the F. If I am headed to the track I load up the R and have a blast in the vet class. The other thing to consider is the cost of maintenance. The F is virtually indestructible while the R is going to require some service to keep its 12 thousand RPM engine singing…..Hope this helps – Duane

Blast from the Past

This week’s blast from the past comes from the guys at MXA. In the July 2003 issue they had us build the trickest stock framed TTR 125 possible. Check out the article by clicking on the photo right here:


That’s it for this week – Keep in touch – call if you have any questions – and as always thanks for helping us live the dream! Duane