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
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
posted by DuaneBrown at
3:42 PM
<< Home