The Official 2nd Gen RAM Forum OT thread
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
We figured we haven't had the bikes out in a while, and the weather was finally, nice...better not waste it! so get a new bike
Yea this 400ex is a ton of fun. I am looking to pick up a cheap old 2-stroke 250 trail beater bike so me and the lady don't have to ride double though. My best friend just got back from Army AIT and we went riding yesterday. He has a heavily built '95 cr250 that looks like a junker but is just awesome to ride. I was having fun on it when we traded until he put my quad vertically on it's nose, bending the bars and snapping off my front right fender. 
Still ridable though, no real mechanical damage. He's gonna buy me a new set of bars and we'll zip-tie my fender back on 
Still ridable though, no real mechanical damage. He's gonna buy me a new set of bars and we'll zip-tie my fender back on damn quads!
I dislike quads...I'll stick to my 2 wheels I haven't been on a bike for a long time before a few months ago when I tried this thing out. it scared the crap out of me then, but this time I got on it with an attitude that I wasn't gonna let this thing manhandle me, and was pretty much immediately hooked. I had planned on a 4-stroke 250 bike for a long time, but now I am looking into 2-strokes...
And yea, he offered to buy me the plastic, but I said not to worry about it, it's a quad, it's made to go thrash out in the woods, not sit pretty in the garage.
And yea, he offered to buy me the plastic, but I said not to worry about it, it's a quad, it's made to go thrash out in the woods, not sit pretty in the garage.
look at either a 4-stroke 450, or 2-stroke 250.
4-stroke 250 = equiv of a 2-stroke 125. 4-stroke 450 = equiv of 2-stroke 250.
my buddy rides a 06 KX450f (f on the end means 4 stroke...no f on the end means 2-stroke) and I ride a 03 KX250.
the bikes run neck and neck in acceleration, but he takes me in the top end with the wide ratio 4-spd vs my short ratio 5-spd. his bike goes about 5mph faster.
both fun as hell. but I like mine better
its lighter and far simpler to work on. none of these valve contraptions or push rods, or lifters, etc...
just a piston, crankcase, head, reeds, and carb. and that funky little power valve for the exhaust. just a sliding little thing. meh.
replace the piston, pin, rings, and clips in a 2-stroke every couple years and they will treat you good for a long time..
neglect that little bit of maintenance and you will need to rebuild the entire motor on them as they can seize and shatter the piston.
4-strokes need valves adjusted every year (depending on how often you ride....if you ride MX often then every month or two you should adjust valves lol)
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
what happens when you don't do regular top ends in a 2-stroke dirtbike:
look at the base of the connecting rod in this pic...there is a chunk of piston wedged in there...
1/2 of the piston skirt is missing...
chunks of the piston that was just in the top end area...
had to split the case and rebuild the bottom end as well because there were chunks in the crank case and aluminum shavings in the crank bearings.
so replaced the crank bearings, cleaned out the case, and replaced all gaskets to rebuild the bottom end.
new weisco piston, pin, rings and clips for the top end, and also had cracked reeds, so replaced the reeds and reed cage with Vforce 3 reeds, put a fmf gnarly pipe on it...(mostly for looks...its shiny.) and shes was runnin like a champ again.
also when I first got it had to adjust the carb for trail riding.
went to a smaller idle jet, and raised the clip on the needle to the top.
before raising the clip and changing the jet, the thing was fowling plugs left and right...it was bad enough I had to keep a wrench zip tied to the bar on the bike and a spare plug with me...since adjustments and rebuild, no more plug fowling
all put back together:
look at the base of the connecting rod in this pic...there is a chunk of piston wedged in there...
1/2 of the piston skirt is missing...
chunks of the piston that was just in the top end area...
had to split the case and rebuild the bottom end as well because there were chunks in the crank case and aluminum shavings in the crank bearings.
so replaced the crank bearings, cleaned out the case, and replaced all gaskets to rebuild the bottom end.
new weisco piston, pin, rings and clips for the top end, and also had cracked reeds, so replaced the reeds and reed cage with Vforce 3 reeds, put a fmf gnarly pipe on it...(mostly for looks...its shiny.
) and shes was runnin like a champ again.also when I first got it had to adjust the carb for trail riding.
went to a smaller idle jet, and raised the clip on the needle to the top.
before raising the clip and changing the jet, the thing was fowling plugs left and right...it was bad enough I had to keep a wrench zip tied to the bar on the bike and a spare plug with me...since adjustments and rebuild, no more plug fowling
all put back together:
Last edited by Jigabop; Mar 11, 2013 at 01:09 PM.
Legend
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,914
Likes: 4
From: Fredericksburg, Virginia
And yet more Sabre Rattling from lil' kim...... So, we are back to war? I seriously doubt he is going to do anything so stupid as attack. I don't think China would be real inclined to come to their aid this time around..... maybe.... He is just posturing yet some more, for some 'good PR' at home. He should be well aware that if he starts anything, he will get his *** handed to him on a platter.
Wonder if we shouldn't give him a demonstration of just what a nuke will do to Pyongyang. Kid rid of the little tin-pot dictator.
Wonder if we shouldn't give him a demonstration of just what a nuke will do to Pyongyang. Kid rid of the little tin-pot dictator.
Champion
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 10
From: N/A
I have not ridden in a long, time back then it was Cam-Am 500mx 2 stroke, Suzuki 2wd Quadzilla, and trikes where in and that was a Honda SX250R? (not to sure about that one). The first bike I rode was a Yamaha 50 2 stroke crazy little bike after half throttle. I am a 2 stoke freak always have been 300hp+ V6 2 stroke outboards mmmmmmm.
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
my other 2 stroke needs a top end and a head lol...
melted the pistons a bit and a piece of piston ring came out the intake and took out the rotary valve.
stupid R.A.V.E. valves broke because previous owner was a dumbass and zip tied the diaphragms to the retainers on them, and the zipties caused the diaphragms to tare and cause the valves to fail which will cause all kinds of issues...including valve breakage (which happened)
likely need to also turn the fuel screw a bit richer. not sure that the rave valves alone could cause it to run lean enough to melt pistons.
had no issues running and definitely no lack of power...
hard to tell when they are lean because your exhaust is water cooled so you cant tell its running hotter than normal like you can on a bike....
rotax 787cc twin carb 2-cyl. 110hp
and what its in:
96 seadoo XP
miss riding that thing...
0-60 in like 3 seconds on the water... (smooth water of course)...rough water is a bit harder to get up to speed at all because if that impeller is not down in the water, you have no forward thrust...
melted the pistons a bit and a piece of piston ring came out the intake and took out the rotary valve.
stupid R.A.V.E. valves broke because previous owner was a dumbass and zip tied the diaphragms to the retainers on them, and the zipties caused the diaphragms to tare and cause the valves to fail which will cause all kinds of issues...including valve breakage (which happened)
likely need to also turn the fuel screw a bit richer. not sure that the rave valves alone could cause it to run lean enough to melt pistons.
had no issues running and definitely no lack of power...
hard to tell when they are lean because your exhaust is water cooled so you cant tell its running hotter than normal like you can on a bike....
rotax 787cc twin carb 2-cyl. 110hp
and what its in:
96 seadoo XP
miss riding that thing...
0-60 in like 3 seconds on the water... (smooth water of course)...rough water is a bit harder to get up to speed at all because if that impeller is not down in the water, you have no forward thrust...
Last edited by Jigabop; Mar 11, 2013 at 01:46 PM.
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
yeah if you're a fatty! lol
500CC 2-strokes are for fat people.
my KX250 is enough to spank you
if you don't lean forward and roll into the throttle it will toss you right off the back of it.
it just wants to stand up through its first 3-4 gears...
5th stands if you start going down hill...the bike stays level while you decend LOL...shows how hard that front tire sits on the ground, and why they need changed so often (still has original front tire on it...been through 2 rear tires just since I've owned it...)
500CC 2-strokes are for fat people.
my KX250 is enough to spank you
if you don't lean forward and roll into the throttle it will toss you right off the back of it.
it just wants to stand up through its first 3-4 gears...
5th stands if you start going down hill...the bike stays level while you decend LOL...shows how hard that front tire sits on the ground, and why they need changed so often (still has original front tire on it...been through 2 rear tires just since I've owned it...)
Champion
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 10
From: N/A
likely need to also turn the fuel screw a bit richer. not sure that the rave valves alone could cause it to run lean enough to melt pistons.
had no issues running and definitely no lack of power...
hard to tell when they are lean because your exhaust is water cooled so you cant tell its running hotter than normal like you can on a bike....
had no issues running and definitely no lack of power...
hard to tell when they are lean because your exhaust is water cooled so you cant tell its running hotter than normal like you can on a bike....
Are you reading the plugs or the top of the piston's for colour?
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
I was going off of fact that pistons are melted lol...
hard to tell by the plugs when it died on my buddies roommate...
he fell off and flipped it over and couldn't get it to start nor could he get is fat **** back on it lol
I had to dive off the elevated dock into the water and swim to the seadoo, get it flipped back over, and since it wouldn't start I had to bring it in on the starter which killed the starter in the end, but it did get me back to shore against the wakes and waves pushing it away from shore.
needless to say after that the plugs were pretty wet/fowled...
but the rotary valve was jammed at that point so it wasn't going to run anyway.
(rotary valve is a thin steel plate that is kind of crescent moon shaped that rotates over the two intake holes in the cylinders exposing 1 intake at a time to its carb and then blocking it off and exposing the other cylinders intake. Something they used instead of reeds at the time, but have since gone back to reeds because it just over complicated the motor and increased rebuild difficulty and costs.)
hard to tell by the plugs when it died on my buddies roommate...
he fell off and flipped it over and couldn't get it to start nor could he get is fat **** back on it lol
I had to dive off the elevated dock into the water and swim to the seadoo, get it flipped back over, and since it wouldn't start I had to bring it in on the starter which killed the starter in the end, but it did get me back to shore against the wakes and waves pushing it away from shore.
needless to say after that the plugs were pretty wet/fowled...
but the rotary valve was jammed at that point so it wasn't going to run anyway.
(rotary valve is a thin steel plate that is kind of crescent moon shaped that rotates over the two intake holes in the cylinders exposing 1 intake at a time to its carb and then blocking it off and exposing the other cylinders intake. Something they used instead of reeds at the time, but have since gone back to reeds because it just over complicated the motor and increased rebuild difficulty and costs.)
Champion
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 10
From: N/A
I know the rotary valve system very well. I like reeds over the rotary but they also have there issues, ever seen what a metal reed does to a motor when it breaks off? Back in the day it was all about Boyesen fiberglass reeds. You should see inside a old 2 stroke Merc inline six OB and that reed set up. My one big rule with 2 stroke motors sled/PWC is replacing the crank seals once a year just before the season, two years to the max, seals are cheap motor are not.
