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Second for Gold Wings. Doing carb work on those bastards is a nightmare. Then add all the farkles those clowns would put on and it was even harder. EFI and the single sided rear swingarm were a blessing Honda engineers bestowed on us lowly techs that had to work on them. Not going to discuss the breaking aluminum frames and subsequent recalls of said 1600 Wings.
Unlike others on here, I loved the gear driven cams on the RF4 KTM engines. Stupid easy to do shims. Never once had to use the cam bridge to retime anything. Lock the crank in place with the plug bolt and you could do all the top end work easy peasy. Wish my Betas kept that part of the RF4 top end.
Having to break the timing chain on the RFS engines sucked. KTM couldn't make the chain one link longer and adjust the sliders accordingly to make service a tad easier? Also as mentioned above, the first linkage KTMs where you had to loosen everything to get the exhaust off was sheer stupidity.
Struggled an awful lot on the first CRF450Rs as well. Not a lot of room in-between the spars to get to anything. The smaller cylinder/head of the 250s made it a bit easier.
Crf250x 2011, removing the subframe to do a carb rebuild took hours before I learned the tricks
24 yzf250. The air filter is a dirt scoop for the engine. 750ml is way too little imo. Plus, the single Allen on one side panel.
The oil drain is a pain with a skid plate, plus, you cant get a ratchet wrench over ghe 12mm bolt head easily.
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That’s really nice man…. Good job!🔥
I used to work at a Honda dealership working in the used bike department. When trade-ins came in My job was to detail the bike and take the bike out for a ride and see if it had any problems , if it did write it up and have the service department fix it. One of these came in , same color as this bike (this was 79) . I took it out for a ride I couldn’t help my self and decided to do a burn out. It put down a black strip about a 150’. Love these bikes.
But it looks great and you did a fantastic job!
Bingo
This is the most factual statement in this post.
A girlfriend had a Sherco 300 that was an absolute nightmare
I was just thinking to myself, I am so glad I only ride 2 strokes.
Fair enough.
On that note, Your Two Strokes should receive the same love, it was that people didn't.
The payment was hearing that exhaust. Its one of the greatest things in the world.
Correct, and I'll add my 2023 DRZ 400 to that list. Even worse than the '00 CR 250.
Any multi cylinder street bike after working on street bikes. Working on my dirt bikes is a much much easier. Go work on street bikes for awhile. You'll never complain about your dirt bike again.
Try changing the spark plugs on an Africa Twin and you'll never complain about a proper dirt bike ever again.
No kidding… can you explain what the issues are.
I wish I only had to adjust the valves on the RF4 engine and don't love it because I had to make the cam bridge and a jig to press the gears and re time the cams. Monday I'm going back to making good money on Gold Wings!
Pit Row
Since street bikes have entered the chat, while basically anything with a fairing is a total bitch with Goldwings and the other big tourers basically being the end-level bosses of total nightmares to work on, the later model naked UJM might be the sneaky one you don't figure on being a big deal. Until you have to figure out how the hell the engineers hid all the crap that makes a bike run in there- somehow. Some sort of the blackest engineering voodoo witchcraft goes into the making of those things.
I endorse this statement they are so frickin stupid.
If we bring it back to dirt I would say some of the bikes from the 70s and 80s. When you needed like two different size wrenches. To take something off.
Or suzuki's from then with thier Phillips head engine case bolts. That were actually jis so they would get stripped easily. Because more then once someone tried to remove them without an impact driver.
Them late 90’s KTMs kept me awake at night.
Your not alone alone bud. I know these Gen crf get alot of flak but I've had multiple and haven't had any issues other then a bad fuel pump in an 09. Are they the easiest to work on ? No but waaay easier then a 10-13 yz450 my friend's had or my 12-15 ktms. Just bought a 11 crf450 all original with 30 hours on it for $2600 just to have a 450 to scratch that 4 stroke itch when I want something more then a 250 two stroke. Has a yosh slip on, bought a pc link and getting my ecu mapped by Tokyo mods.
73 Maico
Replace the stator on older goldwing. Flat rare to boot
Never had a road bike or a 4 stroke mx bike or many modern mx bikes so it is a twinshock Kramer for me.
I hated GL1500s. The 1800 was a godsend.
And I can't remember for the life of me the model, but it was an older Kawi street bike in the "v-max" vein of design, you had to drop the motor to take the stator cover off. Frame rail was directly in front of it/a bolt.
I believe you're referring to the Vulcan 750?
Maybe? It's been probably 15 years so my memory may be a bit fuzzy, I wanted to say KZ750 but it doesn't look like the frame would be in the way.
Edit: just googled a mid 80s Vulcan and that's it. I had the more modern Vulcans on my mind.
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