I know a few of you in the chatbox are probably already tired of hearing about it, but I figured I'd do a post for the progress of getting ready for next season. Last year, I prepped a small bike I bought/built and took it to a miniGP open practice day. It was tons of fun, and highlighted a couple areas where I needed to improve the bike. I did those improvements, but never did make it to a sprint race with that bike. I did, however, manage to practice most Sundays throughout the summer. I got a LOT better than I had been at riding in general, and it has taught me many lessons on cornering at the limits of traction, and a few times at just past the limits of traction. I eventually did a 4 hour endurance race with my friend, but my bike wasn't quite big enough to fit in a real race class for the endurance race. So, I recently purchased this ...
It was already setup just as you see it in this picture, including the 17" excel wheels and slicks. I have already tweaked the suspension a little, including pulling the forks off, popping them open, and setting the oil level correctly. One was a bit overfilled. The rear shock has been rebuilt by Hlebo Brothers and revalved. Stiffer springs all the way around. I imagine it would be quite good, if I was riding a motocross course and doing jumps, but it feels a bit harsh. Really, the Kat with all the RaceTech springs and emulators and gold valve and tweaking feels better and better the more bikes I ride.
Anyway, I'm still formulating a plan for that. Other issues I've already taken care of, replaced the torn grips, put on hand guards to protect the levers for when I go down while practicing, made a breather for the crankcase, replaced the lightly cracked fuel line, and rebuilt the front brake caliper.
Here it is as it stands now, complete with flashlight for testing after I get home.
At this point, I am seriously done with winter, and I am impatiently wanting to start seeing what it can really do.
Oh, and for how it's been built before I bought it, there's a big cam, valve work, seems like higher compression, upgraded CDI or "revbox", a very free flowing exhaust, a 28mm Mikuni Flat Slide carb with K&N filter, and a renthal chain and sprocket kit to use a 428 chain. When trying to keep up with my neighbor's 250, I found out that it's fairly wheelie happy shifting into 2nd and 3rd. It's supposedly putting down 18.5hp on a dyno, which is approaching double it's stock hp.
It was already setup just as you see it in this picture, including the 17" excel wheels and slicks. I have already tweaked the suspension a little, including pulling the forks off, popping them open, and setting the oil level correctly. One was a bit overfilled. The rear shock has been rebuilt by Hlebo Brothers and revalved. Stiffer springs all the way around. I imagine it would be quite good, if I was riding a motocross course and doing jumps, but it feels a bit harsh. Really, the Kat with all the RaceTech springs and emulators and gold valve and tweaking feels better and better the more bikes I ride.
Anyway, I'm still formulating a plan for that. Other issues I've already taken care of, replaced the torn grips, put on hand guards to protect the levers for when I go down while practicing, made a breather for the crankcase, replaced the lightly cracked fuel line, and rebuilt the front brake caliper.
Here it is as it stands now, complete with flashlight for testing after I get home.
At this point, I am seriously done with winter, and I am impatiently wanting to start seeing what it can really do.
Oh, and for how it's been built before I bought it, there's a big cam, valve work, seems like higher compression, upgraded CDI or "revbox", a very free flowing exhaust, a 28mm Mikuni Flat Slide carb with K&N filter, and a renthal chain and sprocket kit to use a 428 chain. When trying to keep up with my neighbor's 250, I found out that it's fairly wheelie happy shifting into 2nd and 3rd. It's supposedly putting down 18.5hp on a dyno, which is approaching double it's stock hp.
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