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Shiny's adventure with dirtbikes

30K views 571 replies 33 participants last post by  shinyribs 
#1 ·
So,I dig the KLR, but it didn't quite fill the bill in the offroad department. Who da thunkit? So I bought this '98 XR400R. Street title, partially installed Baja Designs dual sport kit. The engine was supposedly rebuilt, but who really knows without digging in? Looking the bike over I could easily see fresh gaskets where the cases had been split, and the seller had a clean looking shop...so I took the risk. His claim: new piston/pin, new rod bearings, new cam chain. Fingers crossed.


As I got it. Dingy, but looked solid. Hardware looking healthy, no crushed frame tubes, but a pretty badly bent rear rim. Started easily and felt strong, but I have no experience with these bikes to judge against. Talked him down to $1,200 and loaded her up. Baja Design kits are $500 and the street title has to be worth something. I figure if the engine dies I'm not in it too badly anyway.



As always, my new bike needed fork seals. But at least I finally own a bike that won't be needing a fork swap right off the bat! This is a first for me. Never had a cartridge fork apart before, but it wasn't a bad job. Turned up a fork seal driver and cleaned up a couple dings on the legs. Good to go.



Took her out for a ride and it had a pretty loud valve tick. Checked the lash, it was good. Did some research and found out the auto decompression system is known for going wonky on these bikes. When you press off the auto decomp it leaves oiling passages exposed. Typical approach is to put a sleeve over the passages and call it good, but there were a couple pressed in pins that I didn't like the look of. So I made a sleeve that would capture them as well.

Stock set up.



Exposed passages and pins.



Fixed.



Cam chain was supposed to be new, but it wasn't. Cam chain tensioner was just about at the end of it's travel. Found out that a CRF450 cam chain swaps right on, is a few bucks cheaper and is two plates wider, so stronger. Win-win. :thumbsup: Motor seemed clean inside. Cam lobes and rocker faces look nice.



Took her back out, tick was gone. :) With the auto decomp gone it was easier to start and a low speed stumble I was having was gone. Altogether just ran better. 2nd and 3rd gear power wheelies at will. The auto decomp was intermittently opening an exhaust valve. Motor was nice and quiet now. Went to change the oil and it was filthy. Black and speckly. :doh: Ran a couple gallons of gasoline through the motor, frame, oil lines and cooler. Figured the PO didn't clean things as well as he should've. The lie about the cam chain isn't giving me much hope about the engine in general. Didn't find anything alarming in any of the oil screens, though.

With the engine running strong, the clutch started slipping in higher gears. Pulled her open and found glazed steels. Springs and frictions are well within specs. Scuffed up the steels, back together....4th gear power wheelies if I hit it right, 5th gear clutch wheelies are easy. This thing is a horse. :shocker:

But....clutch started slipping again after a few rides. Tore back in to the clutch. Steels are completely polished smooth already :wtf: Took another look at the frictions plates and they're hard. Almost feel like ceramic. Dropped the oil to have a look....black and speckly....fook. Maybe the frictions have gone hard somehow ( baked? overheated?) and are grinding up the steels to make this dirty oil? Engine runs too strong/quiet to take a chance, so it's time to dig in.
 
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#472 ·
Getting there...I wanted to start this thing this weekend but life got in the way. Prepare yerself for Krylon goodness. It's not half bad for $10 worth of paint and completely winging the striping. I didn't spend extra to get narrow masking tape for the stripes. I just trimmed down the tape I already had. :D The center strip is whatever width 3 passes of my tape equals to. Top shelf :thumbsup:

I'll let it cure for several days ( it's 85-90 degrees here and humid) then I'll hand polish it. It might actually produce half a shine.




Picked up the wrong size t-bolt clamp for the exhaust, so gotta grab one of those and I reckon I could throw in a fresh spark plug. Shocks are somewhere in FedEx's loving care. Some decals for the tank are in the mail, too.
 
#473 ·
Cheap shocks are on. Fit and finish on them seem quite nice. The black bits are powdercoated rather than anodized like the gold bits, so they'll probably hold up to scrapes and scratches better. Sag numbers are good without cranking up the preload, so looks like I got lucky on spring rate. Not surprising as many reports claimed the springs were on the stiff side. This bike is light, but the swingarm has a lot of leverage against the shocks. Tank decals are on and finishes the look, I think. The shock reservoirs got in the way of the helmet lock and the exhaust, so I'm having to remount it. Gonna go for a heat shield combo with the new exhaust mount to help shed some of the cafe vibe. Planning to drill a matching pattern in it to go along with the heat shield on the head pipes.

Just had to turn up a couple washers for the top mounts. The shocks came with enough different insert bushings that they were an easy bolt on. Couple close up looks.

NOK seals is nice to know. Should be easily attainable. The other spelling doesn't instill much confidence. :D



These are kinda silly. But to be honest, they're not much worse than what Yamaha supplied with my FZ07. And these at least fit the lock rings, which is more than I could say for the Yamaha tool. Plenty adequate for the job though, as the rings turn freely.

Some guys complained their shocks came charged with air vs nitrogen. I honestly have no idea how you would even determine that, but I went ahead and recharged them anyway. Both shocks were showing 35psi out of the box. I shot 75 psi in the,m. 2 minute job. Not gonna fool with anything else unless I see a need to. Heavy seat bounce tests show pretty good damping characteristics ( no wild rebound) without feeling harsh at all. Curious to see what they do out in the real world. Hope to find out soon enough.





And why not add a skully.

 
#478 ·
These are kinda silly. But to be honest, they're not much worse than what Yamaha supplied with my FZ07. And these at least fit the lock rings, which is more than I could say for the Yamaha tool. Plenty adequate for the job though, as the rings turn freely.
Rings that turn by hand are great, but those spanner wrenches are there for the purpose of wrenching the two nuts together to lock them, not for adjusting the lower. That's why they give you two.
 
#474 ·
Got the exhaust remounted and added a heat shield. It's pretty thin. Just for looks, but I think it suits the bike. Thought about adding this emblem but don't want to overdo it. Still on the fence with that one. Been awhile since I used the bead roller, so it's far from perfect.





Put some gas in and went to start her up, but the bike had different plans. Petcock and accel pump both decided to start leaking. Still wanted to fire it up anyway, but as soon as I started kicking oil began to POUR out of this area. No clue. I'll pull her down tomorrow and figure it out. At least I know oil is flowing well...

 
#477 ·
And what better excuse to pick up a set? :D

The screw-together kind aren't too expensive.
 
#483 ·
Well, that answers the oil gushing. Huge gap over the gasket to the passage feeds the output shaft bearing. I'm thinking maybe it was a gasket for a smaller cc XL? Or maybe just a poorly cut gasket? Ordered a replacement. The accel pump on the carb had dried up and gone crispy, so got a few fresh rubber parts for the carb on the way as well.



Noticed I was missing a inner fender and the intake for the airbox was very exposed. So whipped out some Kydex and made on up. There's two hooks on the frame it rests on, then a notch in the seat locks her in place. I'm glad I caught that one.







 
#484 ·
So I got the XL fired up today and the motor is great. I swear it feels quite a bit more powerful than my XR400. the bike starts great and kicks easy. It immediately settled in to a nice idle and seems to pull well at all rpms. It runs smooth and quietly and stat great hot or cold. But there are some teething issues to work out. The rear brake is dead. I don't know yet if it's a pedal leverage ratio issue or if the master cylinder is just too big. Should be easy enough to figure out. And none of the lights are coming on at all. Could be something I did wrong, but I need to see if that portion of the stator is even producing voltage.

I only rode it for a few miles around the property, but I think it's going to ride good. The ride is firmer than you'd want for a dirt bike, but that should translate to good street manners. Zipped through some ditches and the rear shocks weren't bad at first glance. The compression isn't overly stiff and the rebound is ok for a dual sport ride. The KLR fork feels MUCH better on this 125lb lighter bike and the steering feels very neutral. Actually feels like the fork wants to rebound too fast, but it's too early to tell much. I was worried about it feeling top heavy with it being raised almost 3", but it's not the case. Weaving back and forth in the grass feels very balanced and nimble.

I've got the bike geared +1 up front so it doesn't wheelie quite as easy with this longer swingarm. Instead it seems it just wants to sling roost forever. It'll still stand up in 2nd on just throttle, though. I love these old torquey thumpers :D This bike is gonna be fun as hell :rock: I can't wait to get it sorted out and on the road.

The muffler was very loud. It gave a very harsh bark when you rapped it. I slid out the core and the stock packing was a joke.



I re-wrapped the core with a real amount of packing, but that harsh bark was still there when you got on it. It was still too loud overall.


So I added a baffle to redirect exhaust pulses hoping to cure the loud bark. There's an aluminum disc captured between those rivets.



That quietened the bike a good amount, but that raspy bark was still there. I discovered it was the way the end cap stands off is what was creating that bark/snap sound. So I turned up a spacer that wedges between the end cap and the baffle to eliminate the gap and it smoothed the exhaust note right out. It has a deep, smooth purr at idle and just growls up a bit when you twist on it. It's not oem quiet, but not offensive. There's only so much you can mask a big bore thump anyway.



It looks much nicer with the end cap spacer in place vs the empty void it was before.

 
#486 ·
Thanks, man. Means a lot coming from a man who I'm sure would never spray paint a bike :D

Got the rear brake working good. MC is the right size for the XR250 caliper. The problem is a case of a used rotor running with used pads don't match up. Scrub mark through the sharpie shows how much contact I was getting.



Stuck the the rotor on the face plate and resurfaced it. It's MUCH better now, but I fresh set of pads should make a big difference, too.





I rode about 15 miles today. Planned to just go out and dial in the carburetor, but it was running great after an initial idle mixture screw adjustment. The front brakes aren't great....typical KLR 650 feel to them, but they are plenty adequate in the dirt. I may see about getting a grippier set of pads eventually. Not sure what I can do about the speedometer squealing. It only does it occasionally after getting above 15 mph, and thumping the side of it stops it until you slow down again. It was about 90 degrees and humid here today. I didn't ride any of my steep hills ( a K270 ain't no knobby), but I spent about an hour in first and second just slogging through the woods. After it got good and hot the engine would ping slightly under hard throttle at low rpms in 2nd, but I could shift back in to first and it would zip away. It may not like 87 octane in the warmer weather. Clutch slip sunder hard throttle above 3rd gear. The clutch pull is might and smooth so it;s hope it's an issue with fibers and not springs.

But all in all, this bike is great. I'm so happy I own it. The handling is VERY good for a mixmatch shot in the dark. I got lucky. The front end works beautifully. It does rebound a bit fast. I may try thicker fluid since the compression does feel a touch on the soft side through g-outs, but the steering is excellent. The added rake compared to my XR400 gives the bike a much more neutral feel to it. It's not as nervous and doesn't deflect as much as the XR. Though when it does deflect it'll jerk the bars out of your hands. HARD. It might get a stabilizer if it was destined to be a woods only bike, but it's dual sport bound.

The rear shocks are a bit stiff on compression, but the rebound feels good. I may go in to them later on and play with the shims, but I'll see how she does on the road first. For a scrambler I'm very happy with it. I'm not getting full travel with how the shocks are currently set up, but I never felt them bottom. I haven't been the slamming the bike. The bash plate isn't on ( and it's not much- there's no frame down there) and I'm still keeping an eye on my shock mounts I welded on. This is the first kinda critical aluminum thing I've welded like this, so I'll vet it out in the woods before I blast down the highway. So far, so good.

Enough talk and pics of a bike sitting in shop. That's not what bikes are for. Feels so good to ride this thing and see it living and breathing in the woods where she belongs. One afternoon of riding this thing and I already know it's a forever bike. This engine is a dream.





Still think it needs fancy paint? :D It took the drop well. Back tire was full of dirt and slid down in to a rut. Just need to bend the shift lever back out as it drag on the stator cover on upshifts now.


Sun started sitting and I still haven't sorted out the lights, so had to pack it in. I can't remember a more rewarding day of riding than what I had today. I hope y'all had a good time riding today as well! :letsride:

 
#490 ·
How much did you have to turn off the rotor to get it cleaned up?
 
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#492 ·
I'd have just left it mostly clean... lol

I've seen pictures of them split, don't know what it took to do.
 
#493 ·
Probably a gamble of what may happen, really.

Yeah, I just took the high spots down and didn't shave any extra. Mainly the OD where the pad never wears and surfaced with a scotch brite thing on drill ( don't remember what they are called). Flattened the pads with a file, but they are rotten. .2mm is only 7 thou in normal measurements, so I'm not losing any sleep for now.
 
#494 ·
So, I've been riding this all weekend. It's better than my expectations. First gear easily chugs down to nothing and the gearbox is super W I D E. I don't even shift in to 5th til around 50mph. Cruising at 65 is effortless and smooth. It pulls through the gears easily with lots of tq and a huge flywheel. Handing at speed on the road is neutral and dead stable. Handling at speed on gravel/dirt it predictable , but if you push harder you can feel the rear getting light. When it gets to that point an extra whiff of throttle sets the bike in to a calm, controllable drift. It's great. The shocks like they could use a bit more damping on road, but that are push and comfy over washboards.

That rear disc is already warping, the headlight needs attention and the seat foam could be firmer (or 40 years fresher?), but pretty much no complaints here! It's a super cheap, super simple, super fun bike. I think I'm about $800 all in and wouldn't change a thing. The package just works. I finally have a bike light and nimble enough to tackle any trail I want, but it's also smooth enough to run at 65mph without breathing hard or wearing me out. This is a fabulous engine for dual sporting. Everything Honda built afterwards had serious limitations. I don't get it!

Oh well, hope you all are having a good time this weekend. Ride safe out there.

Well, tried to attach a pic but it won't work, so enjoy a boring wall of text instead :D
 
#495 ·
I mentioned it elsewhere, but I hit a deer on this bike last Friday evening. I knew I tore the visors off my helmet, but sheet closer inspection the EPS was cracked and heavily compressed. I apparently smacked my noodle pretty hard, but no concussion or anything. The helmet did it's job well.

I do however have two bone bruises on my right knee. I don't know when I'll be able to ride again. I can't bend my knee far enough to get on the FZ07 and I can't kick start either of the Honda's. This sucks :(

Please, always wear your armor, guys!
 
#497 ·
Deer suck. Glad it wasn't worse and that the helmet did it's job.
 
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#500 ·
Glad to hear you are ok Eric, and that your noggin broke your fall, you hard-headed bugger. Hope that knee sorts itself out without complications.

How'd the bike fair?
 
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