OH MY...MY HONDA HAD A PUSH!

[Macho393]

As some of you folks know I live between the trees. I set up my 07 crf250r for woods. Just about everything a guy would want for a woods machine is on it. The last thing I bought was an aftemarket 2.8 gas tank. Its a little wider and alittle taller. I started to notice a push. I thought its tire pressure.... Nope. I thought I was loosing my timing...nope. I thought it was because it was a honda....nope. I thought it might be because I was running different bars(stock renthal bars- I 've ran yz80 bars for years)......nope. Then I got to thinking why is it pushing...what changed? FYI, I run pretty much tight woods with alot of break slides and 2nd, 3th and 4th gear stuff. A great deal of stomp it and romp it turns,lol.
I was even washing out on my own track! So yesterday I took off the 2.8 tank and put my stocker back on it.............I felt like I was on my 02yz250f. My most favorite bike of all years. .....The after market gas tank I guess made the bike top heavy. Now the bike feels great and runs on rails......Just thought I woulds let ya'll know if you ride woods and get a push.....it might be what you did to it.

[KKXR400R]

Yep, the tank will beat ya up with that extra weight on top. I just put the stock tank back on the CR so Tracy can ride MX for the summer, it's like night and day. If you think a 2.8 tank is heavy try a 3.7 filled to the top. I feel like I'm gonna fall over in in the soft stuff....oh wait, desert racers don't need to turn.

-Kevin-

[yzernie]

Pushing sucks. Glad it was an easy fix for you. When I raced desert the BIG tanks really made a, IMHO, bad change to the handling of the bikes. It was either a crappy handling bike or pushing it 20 miles back to the pits...no brainer!!!

[KKXR400R]

Ernie, thats funny you brought that up. I did a Checkers desert scramble (2-16 mile laps) earlier this year with the advice to fill up your tank...I laughed "I'm not filling up my tank all the way, thats too much weight on top". I filled the bike up to 1/2. What I didn't know is 13.5 miles of the race was real technical and people were running out of gas all over the place. The race was going well but I laid it over on a hill and it took forever to get her right side up. Got my head on straight and hit the last valley for my second lap when I noticed the bike was idling a little high...uh oh. When I laid it over on the hill about an 1/8 of the gas flowed out of the vent tubes. Now, smart guy over here thought "told you to turn off the gas sooner". Through the valley I saw at least 3 people begging for gas so I just memorized their numbers to pass it on their clubs. With 100 feet to the pits I was jerking the bike side to side trying to get the gas to the inlet. I let off the throttle about 10 feet to go and she just died.....talk about lucky. I told the pit guys to "fill her up". needless to say they weren't to happy filling 3.7 gallons of gas without a quick fill.....I got grief for that one.

-Kevin-

[b-bike393]

Mark,

If you want to get use to your CRF and that new tank. Stop on by my house. I'll let you throw a leg over the KLR with it's 6.1 gallon tank.

That my fine friend will teach you how to ride with a PUSH.


Glad to hear you found the problem. I knew you could do it.

[yzernie]

Boyd, I have ridden one of those pigs when I was teaching an off road class for our department. They were so bad that I was not able to make it through cone patterns that were designed for the KZ1000's. They rode like a sofa but turned like a dump truck. To ride that thing as much as you do....all I can say is you have my respect.

[b-bike393]

Originally Posted by yzernie

Boyd, I have ridden one of those pigs when I was teaching an off road class for our department. They were so bad that I was not able to make it through cone patterns that were designed for the KZ1000's. They rode like a sofa but turned like a dump truck. To ride that thing as much as you do....all I can say is you have my respect.

Big "E"

I know if you had enough seat time on the KLR you and that bike would be one.

My hunting partner and I took a paved road last season that was about 5-7 miles of twisty tight curves. By the end of that session I knew how to throw the pig into a corner. And yes... I turned around and did that same road again and again.

[yzernie]

I rode a pig for a long time then I divorced her. I don't care if I ever get on another one!!!

[Macho393]

Went to my shop today...................helping another guy change out his chain and sprockets. He rides a yamaha. So we needed a socket to loosen his front sprocket. So as I went to get one I noticed some fork oil near my right front fork! FREAKIN NO WAY!!!!! As I bent over and grabed my front wheel the bike tipped over and fell...................over into my bros brand new 450.........which fell over into my nephews yz250f. FREAKIN! DANG! GOSH DARN IT! SHOOT FIRE! *&%@# *&^%$#@@ *#^!@^^&% etc. As I picked up the bikes the honda was not hurt..... I layed a big ole hole in my bros 450 from my nephews 250f and scratched the pooh out of both of them............still the red freakin bird was not hurt. I've order a new seat and plastic for Bryan's bike.I'm done with the honda!
I called North Little Rock Yamaha...............deal awaits...

[okierebel]

Glad to see you coming back from the Dark Side Macho! Speaking of the Dark side, Tim was in last week, talking about coming back too! I'll let ya know when I hear for sure. If you're getting rid of your pink bike, does that mean you'll be retiring the tutu too?

[Mainjet2001]

Kevin...Macho....
You 2 have one thing wrong.
You are talking about the weight being high as your problem. Not quite true.
The extra weight added to the front wheel because of the added gas is the problem. Stand back and look at the location of the gas tank in terms of the wheels and you will see the gas tank is closer to the front wheel.
When you add more gas to the the tank you load the front wheel more in proportion than the stock setup.
That makes the bike (Honda CRF) push. Believe it or not the CRF is very sensitive to this weight bias and you found that out when you changed back to the stock tank.
When you change that weight bias, you mess up the handling.
Honest injun.

[Freak]

If you want to ride with the bigger tank, your going to need to adjust your riding style. I switched to a bigger tank on my 500 and had the same problem. If I stayed off the front, it was much better. Not worth changing riding style IMO, but a quick fix.

[KKXR400R]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

Kevin...Macho....
You 2 have one thing wrong.
You are talking about the weight being high as your problem. Not quite true.
The extra weight added to the front wheel because of the added gas is the problem. Stand back and look at the location of the gas tank in terms of the wheels and you will see the gas tank is closer to the front wheel.
When you add more gas to the the tank you load the front wheel more in proportion than the stock setup.
That makes the bike (Honda CRF) push. Believe it or not the CRF is very sensitive to this weight bias and you found that out when you changed back to the stock tank.
When you change that weight bias, you mess up the handling.
Honest injun.

Good point.

At Starwest a few weeks ago, a UMC member let Tracy use his CR that was used in a night race the night before. We had to take the "home made" light system off for obvious reasons. I picked up the dual light and it felt like it weighed 100 pounds. I asked him how the hell he rides with that thing strapped to the front. "lean back, pin it and pray". In the corners he said it was almost scary trying to get it to turn.

-Kevin-