Bike is feeling great.
I found some fun little spots to ride just west of Lake Atsion. Prob 30 mins from my new place.

Basically when you twist the throttle, regardless of if the bike is on or off, the carb literally shoots a stream of fuel down into the engine. This shot of fuel reduces velocity-lag response (or something like that) so throttle response seems instant. A pumper carb wont necessarily make more power on its own as a carb upgrade, although some would argue the smoothbore internal design and lack of central choke plate blocking airflow is a big benefit.
Maybe 1-2 hp increase if you get the jetting dialed in.
The real benefit is zero throttle lag. It is much more snappy instant dirt-bikey brappppp feel.

After freshening up the top-end of my XR650L this winter, I decided to top it off with a “better” carb.
My engine is close to all stock internals still. The only thing I changed was I installed an XR600R JE piston which bumps compression from 8.3-1 to around 9.5-1.
And I chose better valve seals (Kibblewhite red viton).

Back to the carb

It’s def a bit different than the normal mechanical slide type carbs i’ve jetted.
Tuning the accelerator-pump (AP) is a little tricky, so i’m making this post in case I forget anything in the future.
Basically with the “AP”, you can determine when the squirt of fuel happens, the squirt direction, when it turns off, and how thick the squirt is which is all confusing.

There are a bunch of different brand and type pumper carbs. Folks on the interwebs say the Mikuni TM40 works well on an XR650L. Decided I’d give it a go. The kit was bought from Niche-Cycles for about $450, came with cables and extra jets and was “setup” for my bike already, although I ended up jetting it differently than how it came.

Normally on non-pumper, non-CV, mechanical slide carbs, like Mikuni VM’s or Keihin CR’s I’ll go a hair rich on the pilot circuit to yield better instant throttle response. On the Mikuni TM pumper you don’t want to do this since the accelerator-pump (AP) does this for you.

Upon first setting up the carb I followed the Mikuni tuning manual – link here to its spec and the bike ran like crap wtf. After a bunch of Googling it appears the Mikuni manual was centered specifically around the Harley application which is obviously different than using this carb on a single thumper dirt bike. Which… there’s a lot of usage of this carb for dirt bikes, but regardless the manual was written for Harley usage.

What screwed me up is the Mikuni manual says to have the AP engage immediately. I guess that works well on Harleys, but it doesn’t on big single thumpers.

So, basically, what you should do for a big thumper, is have the AP engage at 1/8th throttle, and have it turn off at 3/4 throttle.
Also, you can have the squirt hit the needle directly or have it shoot off to the side of the needle so it shoots down into the intake runner.
The Mikuni tuning manual says to hit the needle directly, and I decided to stick with this. I don’t like the idea of raw fuel getting sent down to land on an intake valve. I’d rather it hit the needle directly and get atomized more evenly, especially since the XR’s have a split runner to both intake valves.

So, how do you tune the AP?

It’s not that bad, but do it off of the bike.
Here’s what I did.
Get the base jetting pretty darn good, then focus on the AP at the end.
Take the carb off the bike. Have it all fully assembled with gas in the bowl.
Hold it upright, look into the carb as though you’re standing on the air-filter side, and turn the throttle and you’ll see fuel shoot out.
Make sure the fuel does NOT hit the slide. Adjust the one adjuster on the white nylon to ensure the fuel does not hit the slide … but DOES hit the needle dead on. Some folks say to use a popsicle stick as a feeler gauge for the AP engagement point.
Then adjust the other little adjuster screw at the top, which is an ultra small allen-key, so the AP stops at 3/4 throttle.
And put some Loctite on the 2 AP adjuster screws, because folks say they can vibrate themselves loose/tight over time which would affect the AP jetting.

Other notes

I moved the throttle return spring to the softest setting. You can see in the one pic there are 3 setting notches. By default from Mikuni its set to the stiffest notch, but the softest notch felt like the oem XR carb which I liked better.
I stuck with the “carb-body” choke type. Basically you don’t need a choke with this carb. If the bike is cold and hasn’t been run in a while, just give 1, and only 1, twist of the throttle which will shoot fuel into the carb … then you can start the bike and this is kinda like choking it. Also … if you needed to use the normal choke, I’m able to reach the carb-body choke, so that still def works, but haven’t had a need to use it. I removed the oem handlebar choke and put a nut/washer in place of where it was.

I’m still dialing in the jetting but it feels pretty great so far.
Bike is running great and ripping.
When you hit the throttle the bike def jumps forward in a much more snappy way compared to the oem CV carb… so thats cool.

Below is my jetting so far

main – 145
pilot jet – 30
pilot air jet – 1.2
fuel mixture screw – 2 ish turns out
needle – 9DJY4-96 – 1 step rich from middle, no shims.
needle jet – 568-Y6
accelerator pump nozzle – 45

Below are pics of what the AP looks like when you turn the throttle… so you get a better idea.
So, the AP rod doesn’t get engaged at all until around 1/8 throttle … and then around 2/3 or 3/4 throttle it stops, by hitting the black allen-key.

My ThumperTalk forum post for more detailed top-end rebuild info.
Link Here.

My pics:

Jessie pics:

Steve pics:

Well. Month of Montana and riding the XR around the area has been an absolute blast. Kinda bummed to leave Missoula, who knows if I’ll ever be back. But, what better way than to leave MT for good, then to do the Idaho BDR. I wasn’t really sure what to expect despite having watched a ton of YouTube Idaho BDR vids. The riding looks pretty easy to be honest, but who knows how long we’re going to ride each day. I want to have a balance of riding and hanging out, having fun.
Also, my iPhone camera broke due to vibration from the iPhone GPS mount. Oh well. So, I bought an old 80’s Nikon rangefinder point/shoot 35mm camera and 5 rolls of film. Gotta be honest I’m a little bummed with the results. In the future I don’t plan to use this camera again, and I’ll use my legit 35mm film camera. Is what it is, was still fun to shoot the pics.
And I’ll say it again. The XR650L has turned out to be such a great, inexpensive, solid, bullet-proof bike. Work horse. Can do 75 on highway all day and then tight gnarly technical dirt bike stuff no problem.

Quick Ratings

• Cliff factor = 12/10
• Isolation factor = 10/10
• Off-road difficulty = 2/10
• Tiring factor = 7/10

Day 1 – Missoula MT to Wallace ID

• Leave Missoula for good. Was a blast.
• Meet Adam an hour west at a tiny town called Superior. Four Aces bar. Beers. Good time. Talk about horses. Head out.
• Arrive in Wallace, gas up, head into mountains on dirt roads.
• Quickly find a great little camp spot along river. Booze on river, then pass out.
• Meet a group of guys on KTMs who are boozing but still riding.
• 3500’ elevation.
• I slept like shit. Woke up to piss at midnight at it was semi-snowing wtf was def freezing temps.

Day 2 – Wallace to Pierce ID

• My new sleeping bag is legit so I wasn’t cold at all through the night but you can still tell it’s freezing outside.
• Wake up and had a rough time getting going. Was so fucking cold and we were in a little pocket covered by trees, so never got sun.
• Coffee, pack up, head out cold.
• Arrive in Avery, cool little town. Gas up, coffee, hang for a few in sun, then head out.
• Did about 120 miles in total today, and man it was tiring.
• The off-road riding is not hard… it’s just so long and so much of it. Hard to be focused and “on it” that many hours.
• A million mountain passes. Some all dirt. Some ultra loose gravel. Some slow rocky / rutty.
• Was fun. But I’m tired now.
• Stopped in Pierce ID for gas and a Timber-Burger. 3/4lb whoa.
• Head back out to find camp. At a nice spot at 6000’ elevation, hope it’s not too cold.

Day 3 – Pierce to Darby

• Super warm night really surprised.
• About 6 hours of riding.
• Did a portion of BDR that was closed to fire but we didn’t know. The closed signs were only on the far other side when we ended.
• Was def gnarly.
• Real tough riding.
• Rocky, loose, steep, sketchy, just not safe.
• Would not do this portion on a bigger Adv bike no way.
• Finally make it to Locksaw Lodge. Beers / burger.
• Then did Lolo Pass off road which is cool.
• Then highway did an hour to get near Darby.
• Camped near Darby at Como Lake. Hobo Fish tacos dinner.

Day 4 – Darby to Elk City ID

• Grab decent diner breakfast.
• At breakfast there were two strippers who I’m assuming had gotten off work a few hours before. They were in the diner same time as us. When they left the old guy next to us says; “huh look at them, you’d catch a fish with her shoes” ha.
• Head towards Magruder pass which is basically a gnarly dirt mountain pass for over 120 miles. I guess it’s kinda famous out here.
• Super fun, real flowy. Almost felt like riding bmx at times pumping the lines.
• I had a ton of fun doing this route.
• See two other XR650L with easily double the amount of gear we’re carrying, wtf.
• See a group of GS1200s and 1 new Africa Twin who look like they’re ready for battle ha.
• I think the big Adv bikes are pretty dumb and impractical.
• End in Elk City. Would recommend.
• Another solid burger.
• Camp spot on a babbling brook with swim hole. Was sick.
• Take a bath and clean up. Was warm enough for me.
• Woke up at 1am by large animal snarling at us from outside our tents as loud as it could 15 times. I shit myself it was fucking scary.
• A random local guy later next day said prob an Elk or deer pissed we were in it’s area.
• The one BW film roll might be ruined? I had to crack the light seal.

Day 5 – Elk City to Riggins ID

• Get a late start, feeling run down.
• Head out and do a million more mountain passes. Mostly dirt gravel fire roads.
• But then come across super fun all dirt section that was super flowy like riding bmx. Was a blast.
• Get to Salmon river and dead tired, need a break.
• Swim, eat.
• First time in 3 years XR is at under 2000’ elevation, kinda cool.
• Go into Riggins for gas and a burger.
• Salmon river stretch east of Riggins is fucking insane beautiful. Hidden gem.
• Everyone rafting, swimming, camping.
• We camp and have drinks on river.
• XR’s are still champs and are eating up all the riding great, fucking legit work horse.

Day 6 – Riggins to Yellow Pine

• A million mountain passes. Don’t die cliff factor is all time high.
• Bikes back at 8000’ elevation.
• But then came across some more fun flowy dirt sections.
• All I can say is so many fucking mountain passes and views it’s so staggering and tiring to focus this long. Can never relax because you’ll loose focus for 1 min and make 1 mistake and just die on a cliff. Dead serious.
• Meet older guy ripping on a DR650 with sooo much gear. But he was cool.
• Yellow Pine is closed wtf.
• But then it opened back up later and we got burgers and beers.
• Camped 2 miles down road.
• Camped along water almost every night and always free.

Day 7 – Yellow Pine to Lowman

• On a mountain pass a running huge Buck with 5’ wide antlers almost took me out, but I beeped and he swerved last minute fuckkkkk.
• Fun water crossing … and lunch but yellow jacket wasps swarming was insane.
• Met a couple older guys camping who we chatted with. They caught rainbow trout and fried us up some. And gave us beer. It was great.
• Guy said he fell down a cliff on his dirt bike the other day. Wild. They were also boozing a lot. Guy also said in mid 1980s he broke into Boise zoo and hung with Wolves. Then years later had a pet wolf.

Day 8 – Lowman to Pine

• Find a great natural hot spring called Kirkland.
• Maybe best I’ve ever been to.
• Hang for a bit and swim.
• A million more mountain passes to Pine.
• Cool little random hill climb we saw.
• Pine kinda sucks, I don’t recommend.
• Really fun riding today. White sand roads were wild.
• Every day different epic off roads and views.
• Camp 30 mins south of Pine along reservoir which is so shallow and low we’re basically in the grasslands instead of next to water.
• At first I was bummed but it ended up being great.
• Wake up to numerous coyotes howling through the night which was so cool.

Day 9 – Pine to Jarbidge NV

• Wake up and do some fun riding through grasslands to get to Glenn Ferry.
• Awesome breakfast at cool little diner.
• Sick skatepark.
• Our XR’s consume a little oil. Half a quart each on day 3 … and half a quart each today. I’m not bothered by it. We’re ripping pretty hard.
• Then a million miles of gravel / dirt roads ripping 60mph.
• Harness my inner Johnny Campbell and rip it.
• Kinda wild and sketchy but fun.
• F14 fighter plane rips past us low elevation and scared the shit out of me it was so loud. Like earth shattering speed barrier loud.
• Rattlesnake Canyon was wild scenery.
• Bad black flies swarming.
• Jarbidge is kinda cool maybe.
• In Nevada now.
• Instead of riding… walk 1 mile from camp into Jarbidge. Get burger / beers and hang.
• On walk back we’re drunk, oops, it’s insane pitch black can’t see anything, long dirt road in woods, and we forgot headlight lamps
  Get half way and we see something… oh shit it’s a cow in the road … we’ve seen a thousand on our ride earlier to Jarbidge. Turn on iPhone flashlight
  Oh fuck … no it’s a 7’ tall male moose with antler rack 6’ wide fuckkkkk.
• Adam runs into the woods. I stand there in shock frozen. The moose charges towards us, and then just runs down the road. It was huge. Yikes that could’ve been bad. They’re normally aggressive I hear.
• Wild shit.

Day 10 – Jarbidge to Wells … to Salt Lake

• Bad wind for first time.
• 8500’ elevation.
• Sand challenges.
• Wind got insane and was tornado we rode through.
• Difference of Bisen and Buffalo?
• Difference of Elk and Deer?
• Hung in a shitty town of “Wells NV”.
• Had some rain today. More annoying than anything else.
• Eventually made our way to Salt Lake. Dropped our bikes off at a MC dealer thats basically kinda identical to Philly Cycle Center. They’re gonna hold our bikes for a week or two waiting for Haul Bikes to come get them and ship them back to Philly. Then we flew home first thing the next morning.

2013 Recap

Back in 2013 I had the idea to build a hotrod / high compression cb450.
I don’t know why I had this idea. I was bored and wanted to play around with stuff I suppose.
I started with a good condition cb500t engine, which is almost identical to a cb450.
Back then, I bought a Todd Henning 74mm (+50cc) 11.5-1 compression race piston kit.
I thought, 550cc in a cb450 sounds really cool. It is / was.
I put the piston kit in. I kept stock OEM camshafts.
Bike ran pretty darn good.
Measured compression per cylinder with a gauge was about 205psi. Whoa that’s high.
Bike was def quicker than before when it was stock. I was happy.
Well… fast forward about 6-7 years.
The piston kit had originally come with a copper head gasket. It always weeped oil a tiny bit out the front near the headers.
I also had read that boring the cylinders to 74mm made the sleeves too thin, so the bike might run hot possibly? I didn’t care and ignored all this and did the build anyway.
Over the 6-7 years the bike started leaking oil really bad.
Ran a bit inconsistent and somewhat hot it seemed.
Started leaking oil so bad it was unrideable.

2021 updates

In 2020 I decided I needed to do an engine rebuild again.
I figured I’d learn from my mistakes and make it more mellow for more overall longevity.
The bike is a cb450. If you want a hotrod bike, pick something else… really.
I just want to ride the bike around and enjoy it and not have it break or leak oil or run hot.
I bought another set of original 70mm cylinders.
Cometic fiber/composite head gasket. I’m never running a copper head gasket again.
I bought lower compression 10.1-1 Weisco cb450 pistons (same as Charlie-Place kit) that are the shorter skirts to clear 450/500t cranks no problem. But pistons are still higher compression than OEM 450/500t.
Sidenote – In 2016 I had bought Megacycle 120-40 cams on ebay, but then sold them a few months later thinking they were too aggressive.
So … I sent my OEM cams / followers to Megacycle to get their mellowest street grind, hoping this matches the piston kit well. They chose grind “120-10” which is street-mellow. .350-lift / 244-duration@40˚. Stock OEM cam specs are: .330-lift / 230-duration@40˚ (according to MegaCycle). They said they’re currently revising their spec sheet for the cb450/500t engine also.
Anyway, the goal is to have a mellow piston kit / mellow cam … and have it all match and just be a nice street rideable mellow engine.
I have Mikuni VM32 carbs which I had before with pod filters.
A new Charlie place electronic ignition / coil kit, which replaces an old Pamco kit I had.
All new wiring.
Stock seat and little upright bars.
Tried totally open free flowing exhaust, but sounded like garbage on deceleration.
Switched to semi free-flowing Cone-Engineering Quiet-Core exhaust.
Disassembled frame and replaced any messed up stuff. Cleaned / painted everything.
Put it all together and the bike seems to run good so far.
Hopefully this engine combo will have more longevity to it.

cb450/cb500t engine differences

I’ve said this before but i’ll say it again.
Yes, the cb500t engine has different stroke / crank so if you put cb450 pistons in a 500t motor, the pistons will sit a hair lower than deck height. Doesn’t seem to matter or make a difference. Just make sure you get pistons like the Weisco kit that has a shorter skirt to clear the crank. The Weisco piston is slightly shorter skirt than the Todd Henning race piston as seen in the one picture with them side by side where the Weisco piston is on my credit cards to make level height.
And yes, the Todd Henning race piston kit def did work in a cb450/500t engine, but at this point, I don’t recommend it unless you’re actually racing.

Conclusion

If you want to go fast, buy a different bike.
If it’s a normal cb450 / 500t street bike, keep the engine stock, or do the mellow 70/71mm Weisco kit, it’ll work great in either cb450 or cb500t… probably keep stock cams or do mellowest option available. if you want a few extra HP, get VM32 carbs / semi free-flowing exhaust, and call it a day. Just ride it and enjoy its a fun little 40hp bike.

Day 1 – Missoula to Sula mountain side

• leave Missoula and head south on highway
• camped on the side of a mountain next to a babbling brook
• Sick first day/night

Day 2 – Sula mountain to Ajax Lake

• wake up with light rain
• Coffee on babbling brook
• Pack up and head up the mountain 2-track
• As we continue climbing on dirt roads rain gets worse
• Turns to snow at 7-8k elevation
• Prob 2 hours of 2-track in rain/snow
• Eventually pop out on highway and have freezing 20 min ride into Wisdom MT
• Go to a restaurant and wait out freezing rain for 2 hours
• Drink 100 coffee
• Rain dies and head more off-road 2-track to Ajax Lake
• Ajax Lake sits up 8k elevation in middle of no where at top of a mountain in Big Hole Valley (BHV)
• Road towards top got gnarly
• Super rocky and steep
• XRs barely could make it up but did
• GS1200 was too heavy to make it
• Camped about 30 min hike from the lake
• Was raining almost all day into night
• Freezing at night – prob 34 degrees

Day 3 – Ajax Lake to west side of BHV

• wake up at Ajax Lake and it’s finally nice weather again
• Hike 30 mins up steep shit to the lake
• Coffee at the lake and hang
• Go back to camp and let shit dry in sun
• Pack up then head back into mountain 2-track
• Find a single track to take us up and around the mountain sides
• Colin said the single track was chill and he’d prob be able to do it no prob on the GS1200
• He was wrong. The single track was gnarly and intense. Pretty hard on the XR. Almost undoable on the GS
• Many spots help needed to spot each other
• I took a semi bad spill uphill on rocks, toppled over
• Finally got through it all sweating asses off
• Cool creek crossing at the end
• Adams boots got wet as shit bummer
• More 2-track until a sick camp spot on a bending creek – super sick creek spot

Day 4 – BHV to Centennial Valley

• great weather now compared to that second full day in rain
• My RSD jacket zipper took a shit
• We do more endless super fun 2-track for a couple hours and end up in Dillon MT
• I buy a Wrangler cowboy cut jean jacket and throw out my RSD jacket
• Tried to do 100mph on dirt road. Only hit 95
• Get more beer and get a solid burger
• Head out of town on more endless dirt fire roads for 50 miles into Centennial Valley.
• Camping in the open valley with nice mountain views
• We shoot the gun Colin bought in Dillon.
• Moon was real good

Day 5 – Centennial Valley to Ruby River Creek Griz country

• endless dirt roads
• I hate my tires. Garbage off road. TKC80 front is bullshit offroad. Pushes and slides too much.
• Legit in middle of Griz area now
• Meet cowboy Bill herding ton of cattle
• Hang for a while eat lunch but get eaten by flies instead
• More endless dirt roads – insane views can’t describe it
• Pretty technical riding 2-track
• Find insane camp site on Rosa Creek
• Legit swimming hole on creek
• Colin fishes
• Sleep in fear of Yogi

Day 6 – Ruby River Creek to Meadow Creek Lake

• leave Griz spot and head out
• Really technical but really fun 2-track with even more insane views than before
• Super warm during day. Sweating on the bike
• XR is a champ
• Head into Ennis MT and grab a late lunch and chill
• Head towards Meadow Creek Lake
• The lake is similar to Ajax Lake, as it sit at the very top of a mountain primitive road
• Colin is a nut. The road got insane rocky but he still tried it on the GS. Eventually accepted defeat the trail was insane too steep
• Headed back down and found a sunken valley style camp spot with a nice mountain look out view

Day 7 – Meadow Creek Lake to East Fork Reservoir south of Phillipsburg

• Head into Sherredon. Grab breakfast
• Then head back towards mountains for today’s off road route Colin put together
• Today was fun riding off road trails all through the valley. Felt like the desert
• Lots of miles today. Dusty

Day 8 – Head back to Missoula

• Really cold morning.
• Saw 2 female Moose. Saw a nice Waterfall.
• Ride some highway and get back to Missoula. Tired now.

Ton of fun. Loose rocks are difficult on the XR650l. Especially steep downhill loose rocks. Plenty of spots where I had to just lock up the rear wheel and let the XR’s weight slide me down the rocky decline.

Pics and vid don’t do it justice. Trails were steep as shit, with insane views. Honestly, it was some of the more challenging riding i’ve done. The XR was a champ, but heavy big bike made it pretty tough.

XR650L has turned out to be such a great bike.
Last year trip through British Columbia the XRs did great, but noticed they ran pretty hot. So we asked Colin to install oil coolers on them while he stored them for us.

We chose the Sutton xr650l oil cooler kit. Really nice cooler kit. Honestly one of the cleaner, better packaged kits i’ve seen for any MC. All brackets, lines, a rock guard, everything included.

Temps:

• Previously my bike ran average 230 degrees ripping 70mph highway for endless hours.
• Now it’s running average 210 degrees, same 70mph highway ripping.

Dropping temps 20 degrees is pretty damn good.
So, money well spent imo.

Just did a long ass weekend around Glacier.
Bike was a champ.

Thought I’d do a quick recap.

• Overall I had a ton of fun. Really great time
• I’ll quote Quinn; not the trip I would’ve planned but glad Ben and Adam and others planned it
• Beautiful scenery everywhere. Mountains and hills. Wildlife. Stuff I’ve never seen in this capacity and scale
• Covered 2100 miles total
• No major bike breakdowns
• 4 crashes: 1) Ben lost a water bottle on dirt trail and it took down Andrew. 2) Ben slid on slick wet mud and toppled over at 1mph. 3) Quinn lost it on a dirt road and went down at speed but was okay. 4) Quinn tries to climb a hill and lost
• Impressed with Quinn doing everything on Guzzi
• BMW GS did everything really well
• No motels
• XR650L was a champ. Did everything great except over 75mph sucks bad
• Weather varied a ton. Super cold then hot
• This trip def made me rethink my rain gear and cold weather gear
• I accidentally burned my RSD gloves by the fire
• Shinko 805 tires did great but not going to get them again. Was impressed more with other guys TKC80 tires
• This trip was mostly on-road but we def did a nice amount of off-road
• Def adding an oil cooler to the XR
• 6 people and everyone was able to compromise at times
• XR650L averaged 47mpg
• Favorite Quinn quote: “I got caught partying” … when he crashed on dirt road

All setup now in Montana to do future trips heading south all off-road so happy about that.

Trans continental divide trail off-road going south, Cali desert, then ultimately Baja someday. But probably come out to visit Colin again soon, and explore more of Montana off-road for a long weekend.

• Ultra low compression motor will never break
• Can do a week of highway or a week off-road no prob
• Inexpensive bike
• Honda never changed a nut or bolt since 1993
• Buy one under $5k that didn’t appear abused by a dual sport dad and under 10k mileage
• Just spend a little more to get one that’s solid with low miles and it should run forever if maintained. Do alllll the fluids.

With a couple mods the bike can be not that gay or embarrassing to ride. Mods I did:

• De-smog and de-snorkel
• Uni air filter / DG v2 pipe with 1″ v2 silencer, end cap drilled out 3/4”
• Without the 1″ silencer the DG pipe was insane too loud.
• Dave carb mod. 160/58/2.25/ shim needle
• FritzCo wide front sprocket so countershaft doesn’t get beat up
• Dual sport dad had done Eibach front and rear suspension, bash guard, and 14/46 gearing
• Only decent looking bigger tank is IMS clear tank. Get that one.
• Eventually I added the “Sutton” xr650L oil cooler kit

What I don’t like:

• The years that have black color on top of the seat
• Keeping the turn signals
• Stock tail light
• Low bars, gotta go tall bars
• Non-knobby tires. Dunlop D606 are good.

What I do like:

• More fun to ride than I thought. Plenty of power after de-smog/intake/exhaust
• More capable in woods than I thought
• With all dumb shit removed looks like a normal dirt bike just bigger
• Good gas mileage, motor barely needs service ever, ultra reliable

Vid below.
Chased down: Caymen S / e46 M3 / Corvette

• Honda S2000 CR shocks.
• Swift spec R springs which are a little stiffer than CR springs and 1″ drop.
• Eibach front sway bar on stiff hole.
• CR rear sway bar.
• ACT clutch / streetlite flywheel.

Car felt great. I’m still slow but feeling good and having fun.
Tires cold – front: 30.5 / rear: 30

Below vid is my first session. Was traffic heavy and some people prob shouldn’t have been in Intermediate class.

Finally found an oem Honda hardtop too.

Played around with some different tire pressures. For my reference, cold:
– 30.5 front
– 30 rear

Third session, lost the rear for a sec, but I caught it. Around minute 7:00.

Installed:

• Skunk2 alpha headers
• Skunk2 megapower exhaust
• Berk technology 70mm high flow cat
• K&N short ram intake kit

• Tom N and I were in the intermediate group
• I have a first year AP2 s2000. RS3 tires. Hawk brakes. AP1 slave cylinder
• Tom in e46 M3
• I was def one of the slower cars/drivers in that group
• s2000 felt great, however I def need to improve and work on my track skills
• GoPro footage is super embarrassing how slow I look
• Some of Toms work friends were there. Real nice group.
• I barely passed the convertible broomstick test. Tech inspection dudes weren’t pumped.
• Had a blast. Can’t wait to do another one
• Itching to do a couple more “OEM plus” mods to my car now

Second session

Third session