I had one for a few years I got it back in 1999 or 2000. It's obvious that onformula has alot of insight and experience on these. They were a good bike for the time in the early 90s, but they do not really compare power or weight wise to any of the new style four stroke fast revving bikes. I remember the guy I sold mine to nearly backed out of buying it because ktm was just starting to make faster 4 strokes and he owned one. The yz400f had been out a year or two, and he was used to the power of those bikes and thought something was wrong with mine.
I kept mine bone stock, and pretty much got rid of it because I could not keep it cool. The fan is pretty vulnerable when the bike is crashed and mine had been repaired a time or two and wasn't working the best. It really needed one on each radiator I thought. Here in TN most of my riding was slow and technical for the most part and it was too heavy and hot for that. I never had a issue with the wheels but then I never tried to jump it whatsoever.It would have been more at home for long distance fire road riding or dual sport type rides. The things that made it slower than the new style 4 strokes were also it's strong points. I remember the bike kickstarted very easy for a 650 it had a awesome compression release setup, far better than a 350x. It was also not in some high strung state of tune, and so there was no worry with valves, or replacing pistons all the time etc. Even though it was not super fast it had tractor like torque for days and that was fun. I do agree about the suspension. The front forks seemed super stiff on mine and the rear shock was marshmallow soft. I ran ufo fenders on mine, the originals always busted pretty fast. I geared mine down a TON for woods riding here. I always figured they just used the same transmission from the klx-650 on/offroad bike and that's why it was so high geared? I ran 12/52 and it still had gobs of topend speed for where I rode. Mine idled a bit high, and it would literally idle up steep hills in first gear, I've never had another bike that would do that.
One of the reasons the bikes were so slow when you whacked the throttle is the old type constant velocity carburetor. Mine had a bog or lag right off the bottom. It would fool you though. The power would come on so smooth that if you held in it long you would be moving faster than you realized. You can tune some of the bog and sluggishness out, and gearing and a pipe (I always wanted a big gun pipe)will help but it still is what it is a big heavy bike. I say enjoy it for that, because it is too heavy to ever be "quick if compared to new models". In my opinion it is a fireroad/ desert bike, and a good one at that. I miss mine sometimes, but alot of parts are really scarce especially for the R models and I knew eventually I would cook the motor on mine.
Last edited by 86waterpumper; 02-25-2015 at 04:46 PM.
73 cr250m elsinore, 85 atc70, 85 250r flattracker, 87 250es bigred, 86 tecate, 2004 gas gas de300
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You must have kept detailed notes. It sounds like the chassis needed much more tuning than the engine..
Originally Posted by onformula1
