first ride after mods...

[Colorado Mike]

Over the winter I put on the RB carb mod, Wiseco piston V-Force 3 reeds and the .38 XR springs. I've been chomping at the bit to see how my 220 runs with that stuff. It's been snowing here in Colorado, so I had to go ride at low altitude (4600') instead of where I like to go up in the mountains.

The springs seem to help a lot, the bike is better balanced now, and if I hit a jump goofey it soaks it up a lot better without getting into a nose dive attitude. Down hill braking is a lot more comfortable too, the bike doesn't feel like it wants to toss me over the bars. I weigh about 185 with gear, I think a more aggressive or heavier rider would be better off with the .40 springs.

The RB carb mod is just amazing. It feels much better at all throttle positions, although it has a little hesitation from idle in 2nd gear when I first crack it open. I need to play with the jetting a little more, but it was so dusty today I didn't want to take the carb off (lots of riders blasting around my truck ). I thought my bike had pretty good low end grunt before, and no top end. Now it has much more low, and a very noticeable increase up high. I would really like to try it with a rev pipe, mine is the woods one, and probably choking the high RPM a bit.

The V-force 3 cage seems to have added some snap to the bike, but since I did both it and the carb at the same time, I don't know which mod is responsible for what. I can say that I have to be more careful with the throttle than I used to though. The bike will stand up much quicker than before. A guy I ride with is very fast on his KX 250, and he noticed the difference in my bike without knowing I had been working on it. His 250 is still way faster, but I can keep him in sight easier now.

[89kdx200rdr]

i would say 2/3 improvement was the rb carb mod and 1/3 the vf3
i would say you wouldnt be unhappy with the 40's
if you told rb exactly what your mods were and where you ride he somehow gets the jetting really close, if you have one of his extendend airscrews try it at 2 1/2 out. seems like alot just try it.

did you have your oem carb modded? i really dont see how an rb modded pwk35 could hurt a 220 but i have never ridden one. the 35 rb rocks on the 200. oops if i forgot to mention 35 pwk a/s.

[jafo]

i would say 2/3 improvement was the rb carb mod and 1/3 the vf3
i would say you wouldnt be unhappy with the 40's
if you told rb exactly what your mods were and where you ride he somehow gets the jetting really close, if you have one of his extendend airscrews try it at 2 1/2 out. seems like alot just try it.

did you have your oem carb modded? i really dont see how an rb modded pwk35 could hurt a 220 but i have never ridden one. the 35 rb rocks on the 200. oops if i forgot to mention 35 pwk a/s.

I'd have to agree on the carb vs. v-force mod. I put mine on without the RB mod to the carb and it made a noticable difference. I plan on doing the RB carb mod next winter myself along with the head mod.

Jon

[Colorado Mike]

Yeah I had the stock carb modded. I forgot to mention the long air screw is a really nice thing to have. I'll try the second sweet spot thing next ride.

[IdahoCharley]

CM - Sound like it is working great. Only one major item left to really wake up your bike. RB head mod.

We ride above 5000 feet elevation and it really helps the engine perform better. The higher you go the more you will appeciate having the squish corrected.

P.S. From the time I shipped my boy's head to the time I got it back was 7 days. Don't you love it when people will HELP you spend your money?!! LOL Have fun and keep the rubber side down as much as possible.

[Indawoods]

Just sent my carb off today!
Can't wait to get it back on because I still gotta break that puppy in. I sent Fuzz an email to see if he wants to go down to South Fork April 23rd for the break in. Not enough room at my local club for this.... I hope I get it back by then!

[canyncarvr]

If you have to go 'down' to 4600'el. to ride...I'd sure recommend sending your head into RB, too. Based on Ski's ride report, anyway...and what Ron has said about 220 heads....they need help.

Remember how picky (exact? fine?) that AS adjustment is. 1/16!! is all it takes to change from 'ho-hum' to 'Wow'.

[Colorado Mike]

Yeah, I really didn't think of doing the head. I wish I had, it would have been a lot more convenient to ship it off with the carb. Cheaper too when you factor in the shipping and cashiers check..too bad he won't take plastic.

[canyncarvr]

A plastic money order?

Why go to all that trouble?

The PO is the place to get a money order. My bank charges big bucks for either a cashiers or money order. A cashier's check is still a check..only as good as the bank writing it...and I've had trouble more than once with them!

A PO money order is only something like $.50 up to...uh...I forgot, but a pretty good hunk of change.

You gotta do it...you know you wanna!!

[Indawoods]

It's a hassle yes... but so what! Anything worth doing is...right?

[Colorado Mike]

Good tip. My Credit Union charged me $4.00 for the Cashier's check, then I had to go to UPS where they got $14.00 for the shipping. Next time I'll get both done at the PO.

[KDXGarage]

UPS won't ship an empty envelope for little money.

I cheated and looked on the USPS website to find:

USPS money order prices:

$0.01 to $500.00 ...................$0.90
$500.01 to $1,000.00 ...........$1.25

USPS has two flat-rate shipping boxes now for $7.70 Priority Mail. There's a cube-like box that will hold a head (not human) well. It is $7.70 if it is empty or 69 pounds.

[canyncarvr]

Sorry about the wrong prices. It used to be $.50. I did figger it went up, but didn't go to the effort to find out the facts of the matter.

Watch the 'Priority' part. They (USPS folks) will give you all your options when you ship the thing. Sometimes 'First Class' gets there about the same and costs a lot less.

The $7.70 part isn't too bad a deal.

Point is, USPS is sometimes far more reasonable than your standard 'given' shippers such as UPS.

There is often a bit of a wait to mail a package. Choose your time well.

DON'T use something like MBE (Mail Boxes Etc). There is (usually?) a 'surcharge' for using their services. They gotta make their money somehow.

Thanks for the facts, Jason!

Do they have a USPS manual you can order online?


Said this afore..but I'd recommend contacting Ron before you up and send stuff to him. On the off-chance he has a huge backlog, you might as well ride an extra week over waiting for the part to come back.

...and he does take some time off every decade or two.....like last month!! ;)

[Indawoods]

Cub Foods charges .50 cents for a Money Order... check your big chain Supermarkets.

[KDXGarage]

Sorry about the wrong prices. It used to be $.50. I did figger it went up, but didn't go to the effort to find out the facts of the matter.

***** $.50?! Was that back when they had the bicentennial stamps out?

Watch the 'Priority' part. They (USPS folks) will give you all your options when you ship the thing. Sometimes 'First Class' gets there about the same and costs a lot less.

***** Actually, First Class has a 13 ounce weight limit.

The $7.70 part isn't too bad a deal.

Point is, USPS is sometimes far more reasonable than your standard 'given' shippers such as UPS.

There is often a bit of a wait to mail a package. Choose your time well.

DON'T use something like MBE (Mail Boxes Etc). There is (usually?) a 'surcharge' for using their services. They gotta make their money somehow.

***** I HATE those places!

Thanks for the facts, Jason!

***** I had to have some excuse to keep me from going back to the garage and cleaning up.

Do they have a USPS manual you can order online?

***** Yes, and you can pick up one at the post office, too.

Said this afore..but I'd recommend contacting Ron before you up and send stuff to him. On the off-chance he has a huge backlog, you might as well ride an extra week over waiting for the part to come back.

...and he does take some time off every decade or two.....like last month!! ;)

[Colorado Mike]

Dang, I was thinking $7.70 wasn't too bad to get rid of a human head. Oh well, I still have quite a few 5 galllon mud buckets laying around, and concrete is only 3 bucks a sack... PLOOOSH!

[KDXGarage]

LOL

I've got one of each here. The box just isn't that big.

[skipro3]

When you send your 220 head in, be sure you include a note with all the specifics, like where you ride, type and style of riding, elevation, fuel use, etc.
Ron set mine up for elevation AND race gas. I've since discovered it runs better with 50/50 premium and C-12. It may be that my bike would run fine on straight premium but when it's working this good, I'm not inclined to dink too much. Doug took it for a spin and he came back with wide eyes and said he didn't think any KDX could run that well. From a guy with a KX500, that's saying something. I now keep up with him and he can't shake me.


Also my spooge is back down to normal. Last ride, I went 50 miles, used a little more than 1 and a half gallons of premix. Before riding, I wiped the Turbine Core II's spark arrester bung hole clean to bare metal using carb cleaner and a shop towel. After the ride, I wiped it again. I leave a bigger stain on TP than that bike did on the shop towel. I'm not kidding, 2 wipes and it was bone dry and shiney metal again. The spark arrester, not me. That's at least 3 or 4 wipes. The reason I believe the spooge is down: Pay attention CC, I jetted the needle 2 clips richer and it is the CEK needle. I've been thinking about your excess spooge complaints and I'm wondering if that started up when you went to the DEK? Just for grins, try the CEK and the first sweet spot on the Air Screw. It's a hunch on my part but hey, I like give advice, what can I say?

My point for the seemingly diversion into spooge? Trust RB with his needle, pilot and jet recommendations. Ask for 2 mains smaller and 1 pilot smaller. He might charge a little for them, 5 bucks or so, but much cheaper than going to sudco. While the squish band rework shouldn't result in a need to rejet, it should encourage you to find the extra potential the mod provides.

[KDXer]

Hi SKI... my bestest buddy and friend in the whole wide world... Do you think it would be possible if I Paypal you the fees for an Airstryker, that you could post RBDesigns a cheque to cover it ?? As always please DON'T be afraid to say 'no' it's just I'm paranoid about the cheque being lost somewhere between Sydney and Oregon and someone leaching my account. I think the post office money order is accepted by RB aswell so I could probably get one of those. Cheers Trev

[canyncarvr]

[hijack]
My spooge started with the porting, not the DEK. I ran the DEK-4 before the top-end and at that time, my TCII's bunger was powder dry, no drip no where.

I have considered going back to the CEK just to give it a try. So...you're on CEK-4 now? And like it a lot, I gather. Ha! re:'I like..give advice..' I never did like the CEK-2 idea (I think you were running).
[/hijack]