'97 cr250 pipe swap? Gold Series Fatty for Gnarly

[verticaltwin]

I picked up a '97 cr250 so I could maybe try a Hare Scramble or Best of KS with you guys this year... Now that I fixed it up a bit I'd like to tame the power hit down a little.

The bike came with a "like new" FMF Gold Series Fatty that I'd like to trade out for a Gnarly pipe or another woods type pipe. Doesn't have to be perfect, but in decent shape. I think the '97-'99 bikes all used the same pipe.

Anyone interested shoot me an email:

k47boyd@juno.com

Thanks,
Kyle

[KTMWade]

the pipe isnt going to do that much of a difference if any. I owned that model CR and the engine was strong, stronger than the mighty 01 (which i also owned, as well as an 02). Do yourself a favor and mess with gearing and steel clutch plates. The bike will pull 14/50 all day long and steel clutch plates will act as a flywheel weight as well as keep the oil from getting contaminates from the aluminum OEM plates.

[verticaltwin]

14-50 gearing? Isn't that too tall? I think the bike came with 13-50 on it, but they are worn out and will need replaced after a few rides. It goes through the gears pretty quick with that 13 on the front though... might be worth a try.

Thanks for the advice on the pipe and clutch plates too. I never thought about the clutch for added flywheel weight. You are the 2nd person to mention the pipe swap will not make that big of a difference.

After riding it around some more I think the hardest thing to deal with is how sensitive the throttle is when you get up into the power band. I might try a G2 throttle cam to slow down the pull a bit... or carve on the old stock throttle to decrease the radius... Can't afford a new G2 yet (thx to tax time).

Thanks again for the advice!

[tclimber]

the power is a little abrupt on the cr but they are fun to ride I put an 11 oz flywheel weight on mine and it smoothed it out about right i am really thinking about the throttle cam kinda pricy though just have to get the suspenders done and it will be a real woods weapon it doesn't lack the power that's for sure

[KTMWade]

naw, when I still raced my 01 back in 01 and 02, I always ran a 14-50 combo. Holeshot machine of all time and smoothed it out tremendously.

i just bought another 01 and getting ready to set it up for some woods racing, thing looks like brand new and it has a new FMF on it as well.

I had a 97 CR as well...what are you doing for your forks? Reason I ask, is you may want to try that 14t c/s, which is cheap, and then look around for some later model year forks. The 97 forks were made with nowhere near overlap which is what would cause part of the harshness problems of the 97 (actually a lot of it). My racing buddy back then took his 97 and added paoli forks with FC rear shock revalve and it was amazing how plush that CR became. Some 01 or 02 and newer forks would make a huge difference on that bike as the forks just cannot be fixed as is with the overlap problem.

Saw quite a few CR's being parted out, I would think some CR forks would be pretty affordable, just something to think about.

[tclimber]

Wade what can I do to my 03 forks beside spending a small fortune on a re valve i have them off now getting ready to open them up the seals were leaking got them cleaned up and stopped now just have to change the oil or whats left of it

[KTMWade]

David D has his 03 working well...the seals back then were all pretty bad for stiction. David put in good low stiction seals I believe and did some backyard stuff (not sure what but I know it wasnt expensive at all).

Terry Brumley is doing forks pretty darn reasonable, basically the cost of a good fork service. I ran softer springs on my 01 back then (.42's) but I was around 170. The ATF in the forks worked very well, but after Cycle Zone smoothed them out, they really worked great, even that wasnt very expensive back then. Brad Jones can set up a CR fork very well also

[verticaltwin]

Thanks for all the advice... I might try the c/s sprocket, after thinking about it. Seems like it could use longer legs in the lower gears. Goes through them pretty quick!

I had the rear shock rebuilt by a guy in Topeka, did a great job for very reasonable. According to him the stock spring should be pretty good for me, at 175 lbs, in the woods. But the front forks seem real stiff. I haven't played around with the adjustments yet, just set them in the middle. I've heard from other people that some of the handling complaints on the '97 were due to the front forks... might be worth swapping out, they need seal and bushings anyway. Any idea what all years forks will fit on the '97?

Thanks again for all the advice. My neighbor races with you guys and I've gone to a few races with him. Sure looks fun and I want to give it a try. I race flattrack with the GPFTS locally, but I'd like to get out and try something new. Shooting for the Best of KS in May.

[KTMWade]

here are some 03 forks on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-03-Honda-C ... es&vxp=mtr

plenty more of them to be found. Anything from 01 is workable, but the 03 on are great forks

[verticaltwin]

Thanks for the heads-up... I can't quite swing a new set of forks at the moment, but I might plan on it for the future. When I was putting a new tire on the bike I checked the fork compression adjustment and found that they were maxed out on compression! I set them in the middle and they did pretty good, tried them a few clicks softer but ended up going back to mid-range setting. I took the bike out to Lake Perry and had a blast on it... Kind of a handfull in the slippery roots and mud, but did great overall. Only almost crashed a couple times, but saved it both times... so thats a successful day riding for me!!

Just need to replace a few bolts that rattled off, fix a cracked rear frame, seal the airbox better, and put in some more seat time... then I'll be ready for Best of KS... fellow Trailriders beware...