Bike been sitting...sitting....sitting....

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Kurtatron
Lucky man, wife that will ride an off-road motorcycle. Where did you find her?


She is a big city girl that is as glamorous as they come at 5'9" and 130lbs. But her grandparents lived an hour out of town on 600 acres, so she grew up riding horses, driving jeeps and PU's, and riding dirt bikes.

We started off riding 2-up from 2004 until 2012. First on a Vstrom, then a KTM 950, then a BMW 1200GS..... now a Honda VFR1200X.


The first bike I purchased for her was a 2001 XR250, which she loved to ride, but hated to kick start. We started riding fire roads in the Forest Service and BLM and her skills grew very fast over the past 5 years. I eventually found a 'fire sale' in a storage unit.... a TTR230 (electric start) for $400. I put $250 into it... fixing it up and plating it for highway legal and she rode it for 3 years. Then I moved her to a light Adventure Bike, Kawasaki Versys-X 300 last year, but she missed riding dirt..... so here we are with a 'new to us', KLX250S.


Originally Posted by Clayslayer
WOW Man!! NICE Find! Wow. I'm jealous. Tip it over. Haha! It'll probably work just fine. 1/2 hour of tinkering and you'll have that thing running like brand new. Wow....what a find. Did I mention I'm jealous?



Yeah... I wish it was only 1/2 an hour. I am now three weeks into working on this dude in my spare time. But I want it done right, as we are planning to keep this bike for years and years. I bought it for $1,750..... and by the time I am finished, including a license plate and insurance, I will be into it for about $2,500. But that beats the heck out of paying $6-$7k for a new one.

 

[BigJohn]

Ok... its been about 5 months and it really took me a while to sort this bike out. Drilling the starter jet out was a huge improvement, but generally the carb just needed a detailed cleaning and ChemDip really helped.

With the FMF and the new jetting the bike is running really, really well at 6k - 11k elevation. About a month ago the wife and I rode the Meeker, Colorado, area with their 400+ miles of trails and had a blast!

 

[Propflux01]

That carb should automatically correct for elevation, no?

 

[Bonz]

Hi Big John, the starter jet is the enricheneer correct? I just live across the way from you in Palmer Lake at similar elevation wanted to clarify, you enlarged that for more fuel flow? Or is that an air jet on your bike?

Great pictures! Good work on the bike.

 

[BigJohn]

Sent you a PM Bonz.

In the KLX250S Carb, the starter jet is utilized when the choke is ON. It is seated in the carb and is not replaceable, therefore you have to drill it out if you want a larger hole, which is needed on this bike. It is bronze and very easy to do.

The starter jet has nothing to do with the Main or Pilot jets.


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By the way, my little brother liked my wife's bike so much, he purchased a lightly used 2012 last night and is headed from Texas to Colorado to do some riding. Whether Honda, Yamaha or Kawaskai.... these little 250's are hot items for dual-sport touring. It's nice to ride a sub-300 lb bike down dirt roads instead of wrestling the 500lb adventure bikes.

 

[BigJohn]

That carb should automatically correct for elevation, no?

No... only fuel injected bikes adjust automatically.

Bikes with a carb require the changing out of jets depending upon elevation and the smaller the displacement the more they are affected by elevation.

 

[SZR48207]

Fun thread and nice buy. There's something very fun about restoring old or forgotten bikes.

 

[Propflux01]

I think that’s incorrect. The very old style carbs, yes, but the newer ones self adjust via vacuum.my old Suzuki gs1100 did just that.

No... only fuel injected bikes adjust automatically.

Bikes with a carb require the changing out of jets depending upon elevation and the smaller the displacement the more they are affected by elevation.

 

[BigJohn]

I think that’s incorrect. The very old style carbs, yes, but the newer ones self adjust via vacuum.my old Suzuki gs1100 did just that.

I've owned over 30 bikes in the past 17 years, about half of them with carbs and NONE had any type of self adjustment. Matter of fact, all the motorcycle shop service desks keep a book of jet recommendations for carb adjustment, depending upon the elevation you will be riding. I always choose jets that are perfect for 8-9,000 feet elevation, which gives me great performance at 5,000 feet or 12,000 feet. If made a trip to race or ride at sea level, I would have to pull the carb and re-jett.

I do consider this a pain in the butt..... and my next trail/race bike will be fuel injected, probably a KTM 450.


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[Bonz]

I think that’s incorrect. The very old style carbs, yes, but the newer ones self adjust via vacuum.my old Suzuki gs1100 did just that.

BigJohn lives east of me at well over 7,200’ elevation, maybe closer to 7,600’. I live at just over 7,200’ elevation. Air density here is approximately 25% less than sea level. However fuel density doesn’t change at elevation. Keep in mind an A/F ratio is based on air mass and fuel mass. While the amount of fuel being pulled up from the bowl with a larger jet at elevation is less than at sea level, it is not enough less to overcome the fact that fuel density does not change. The only way to counter that is with less fuel being drawn up from the bowl and that’s where a smaller jet comes in. There’s no other way for the carburetor to act than for that engine to run rich.
He is running at 12,000 feet of elevation at times, that is an insanely lower air density and requires even more of a jetting change to run anywhere close to properly.

 

[Propflux01]

Constant velocity carbs are what I was thinking of.

 

[Bonz]

CV carbs or flatslides, both need to be jetted accordingly to altitude. Air density drops, fuel density stays the same. Doesn't matter which style of carburetor.

CV carbs will be less sensitive to the altitude change vs flatslides, but they will never compensate for it to the extent we are talking about here. They need rejetting. Many folks say they are self-adjusting and run their bike eternally rich and sacrifice performance and some folks are happy with that.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Awesome find! Looks like you know what you are doing. That's a great looking bike!

 

[BigJohn]

We had a great Fall Season of riding, and the wife likes the bike more and more as she gains in her skills.

Matter of fact, my little brother loved her bike so much, he shopped CraigsList for a few weeks until he found a good buy on one, a 2012 with low miles. It already had the FMF pipe on it. He lives in Texas, drove up for a 3 day visit and we worked on his bike, doing everything to it that we did to the wife's. He LOVES the bike and at 210lbs, has zero complaint that it is a 250cc, thanks to the lower gearing we did to it.

He usually carry fishing gear on that back rack, as he travels around rivers and lakes to kill fish.

 

[nthach]

I don’t ride motorbikes myself but I’ve gotten two back from the dead. My SOP is to spray a penetrating lubricant like Penetro 90 or Kroil into the cylinders to “break” the rings free - I spray about 1-2 seconds worth and let it sit for a few hours before repeating the process for an overnight soak. Then I hand-bar the engine through the inspection cover to get things moving and to get enough of the lube through the rings to the crankcase to prevent hydrolock. Then it’s fresh gas and a new or charged battery and hope for the best. After that, fresh oil and a new filter if it does crank over with no drama.

The most recent bike I got going for a friend was a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 600, basically a sporty Versys. It was sitting in a garage for 10 years. Despite the gas I drained out of the bike being rank(and it’s CA gas too), I was able to break the rings free and it started up on the 2nd try with fresh gas and a new battery.

 

[webfors]

Right on! She looks brand new!

 

[BigJohn]

Little Green has been sitting for over 90 days without starting her. Recently had a warm day, pulled her out of the garage and she fired up with about three cycles. Love this little bike!