Lectron Carb Review CR250

I've been meaning to do this write up for some time and now after getting married, starting a new job and giving a home to very high demanding 60lb 6 month old German Shepherd I am sitting down and not getting up until I've finished my review and feedback on the Lectron Carb regarding my 2002 CR250 Build/Project. My goal is to give you some great insight from a lifelong rider who has grown up racing motocross and riding singletrack since I could walk. I have an obsession with 2 strokes and more specifically the Honda CR250's. I've got a few videos to give you a better idea of how the Lectron Carburetor performs, sounds and works.

This started when I sold my 2006 YZ125 and had my eyes set on building a green sticker 2002 CR250. When I first got the bike aside from the obvious cosmetic issues the bike started first kick and rode less than great. I tore the Mikuni TMX Carb that comes on that year CR250 apart and got all sorts of jet sizes for thing. First I put jetting back to stock to the following;

Air Screw: 1-1/2
Slow Jet: 32.5
Needle Clip Position: 2nd
Jet Needle: 6BEY30-74
Main Jet: 380

This left me with a squishy bottom rolling into a strong mid that fell flat well before the bike should have. I played around with the needle, the pilot and the main only to become frustrated for 3 days. I started googling what others have done to mitigate this issue. Others that had finicky carbs suggest a few things but the Lectron Carb kept coming up and I had never heard of them at the time. I did some more research and even spoke with David over at Lectron to see what made their carb better than the Mikunis and the Keihens that have saturated the 2 stroke offroad market thus far. So a huge pain that Lectron's design cures is that fact that the carb "auto-tunes" to compensate for things like altitude changes, pipe swaps, porting, reeds and any other thing that you would usually have to "re-jet" your carb for so that your bike continued to run crisp. Here's how they do this; Lectron uses a single fuel metering device (AKA Metering Rod). This one device takes the place of a pilot jet, intermediate circuit, and main jet found in a conventional carburetor. This one metering rod is equivalent to approximately 10 main jets in a conventional carburetor.

A couple weeks later I ended up with the Lectron 38mm Short Carb on the doorstep. Installation took me about 45 minutes (mostly because of my poor mechanic skills when it came to the boot fitment) but once I got the carb installed turned the gas on and the bike fired up first kick. I gave the bike a few minutes and rode it down the street to let the carb "adjust" itself to my bike. After that I played with the idle setting for a couple minutes and the bike ran better than expected.

So...

The SETUP:

2002 CR250
Lectron 38mm Short Carb w/ standard metering rod
Pro Circuit Works Exhaust
Pro Circuit R304 Shorty Muffler/FMF Turbine Core 2 Spark Arrestor (for Public Parks)
30Plus2Suspension Setup
VForce 3 Reeds/Cage
Stock Head/Cyclinder
Wiseco Piston/Rings
Stock Clutch

First Impression:

First ride out was at Hollister Hills in California. Elevation ranged from 600ft - 2,500ft. The bike starts FIRST kick always which is awesome. The bike had no idling issues when I would have the clutch in or while it was warming up before the ride. When I first rode the bike onto the track to get warmed up I instantly noticed how much more crisp and how much earlier the power came on from the bottom compared to my TMX and Keihen PWK Airstryker Carb. The power deliver became somewhat less explosive and unpredictable and much more useable and smooth. My lap times were cut down a few seconds a lap because of how much smoother the power delivery was. So instant bottom, smoother transition the mid hit and the overrev up top was noticeably longer and stronger than either of the two other carbs. After some time on the track I went out for some singletrack loops to see how the low end would work out on the tight stuff. There was no longer a hesitation or slight sputter as I was rolling through the tight technical trails in 1st and 2nd gear. Clutching become a little less necessary since there was not as intense of lurching going on when the bike was in low rpm's on super tight sections.

Since the first day out I have taken the bike riding from areas at nearly sea level up to the Sierras at over 5,000 ft elevation and a range of 40 degrees to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and just as it says on their website, the Lectron has run consistently well in all conditions to date.