crf250 Rally

[garyboy]

My mod is mostly the
suspension.

I've been struggling for a few years to get it right .... very frustrating.

Now..
Success ... (I think)

Lovely ride today ... everything seemed easy.
must be ok then?


25 by gary boy, on Flickr


q1 by gary boy, on Flickr

[Magnusson]

What is your final suspension setup?

[garyboy]

Forks through 60mm .. (edit .. 65mm). Ktech spring.

YSS rear shock, .. rebound almost max, spring just approximately 1"+ wound.

cheap lowering link,

[garyboy]

.

[garyboy]

What is your final suspension setup?

.. er ... Latest final setup ..
............Rally Raid cartridges in both front forks.


The Story.

I had used the crf250 Rally, expecting it to be similar to my previous 250L .. It wasn't.
OK, it had a bigger tank, wider seat, slightly and a quite large windscreen, comparatively, better brakes (debatable), etc
.. BUT .. the killer .. hugely unstable front end, and bouncy rear.
It constantly felt like it was going to wash out to the left, and this reduced me to lower than Novice level .... it was frightning.

I tried several kits to fix this, but nothing seemed to work, at the front.
Racetech extra spring in the Damping leg, with the oem still in the Spring leg. .. too harsh, and much stiction. (Something wrong).
Ktech single spring replacement. .. still a pogo front.
Ktech midvalve fitment. .. still crap.
....... The YSS rear shock was fitted quite early on, and was Good.

Whatever I did or had done, .. just made it worse, or certainly not Improved.

I put the forks through by 65mm ... very drastic, but I just had to lower the beast, as it was frightening me, .. with it's instablity as well as the height.
Th rear was lowered as much as I dare, but I eventually let the spring have a start at purchase .. about 40mm? of winding screw showing. (which is as it came, delivered from YSS at £333.
I could never get that bike geometry right!!
But .. an amateur, kept trying.

Most terrain it was fine. But .. loose stone, especially the loose round cobles, was a nightmare.
I came off a few times, each time getting worse. Places I should have been able to sail up, or through.
I was gaining injuries, and eventually I was just too scared to ride the bike.

[garyboy]

I half decided to buy the Rally Raid cartridges, as they had very good review, but some were critical, disappointing.

It was very cold and wet at the time, so looked at using a suspension fitter.
Iron Wheels in South wales seemed a good choice, as good reviews and near to me.

Pete convinced me to try the Ktech mid valve. I had already had it fitted, but this guy seemed competent, and would test the compression cartridge on his machine. He would sort the washers on the valve stack, to get the best configuration. It would be much cheaper .. say £250 as opposed to RR £757+ fitting.
He didn't start straight away, I threw a wobbly, and we agreed i would buy the RR cartridges and him to fit them, as I wasn't convinced by the Ktech shite anyway.

It was a massive outlay for me, but well ... perhaps, in general, I should start buying good quality stuff for myself.

RR cartgs by gary boy, on Flickr

5w fork oil .. 400ml in rhs spring side .... and around the same for the lhs damping side, but needs bleeding till complete.
2no. 3.9 nm springs .... yes, one each fork. (The Ktech was 6.7 nm .. so about the same, but RR is more balanced .. washing out to the left, syndrome?)
Short cartridge for the rhs spring side.
Longer one for the lhs damping side.
tools, and the 2 black spacers. (It turned out that these 2 plastic spacers are all that is needed, in spacers, and the oem white spacer comes out, contrary to what RR told me).
Rally Raid produce a great product, here in UK, bu their after sales and instructions are non-er watsit.
Pete sorted it out. He is very very helpful.

[garyboy]

Latest Final version of crf suspension.

crf tip RR ist by gary boy, on Flickr

I refitted the two forks, and .. er.. waited a while, not without a great deal of trepidation (shit scared).
I still had nuisance minor injuries from the bike, the pogo front suspension .. (the rear was good, for height and grip and forward movement).

I could feel the difference straight away .. firmer, more solid grip, but pliant and confidence-inspiring.

At Last ..(again).

I was quite pleased, but could see how much the horrible crf front end had unnerved me.


I had chosen the RR level 1, ..me being of the ideal perfect height, but with everyone else much taller than me.
This process of fitting was rumoured, by RR, to lower the forks by 40mm.
I had previously lowered them by 65mm .. a ridiculous amount, and quite dangerous I suppose., so I reckoned just 25mm through would now be enough.
It Was.
It was back to the same height as when 65mm, but now gripped by a full flange/tree of clamp.
The rear was back, as before, to the spring length as supplied by yss.
The front now felt good.

Very Happy .. a great Xmas present, lol.

let the good weather beginnn.

[Magnusson]

My general guidelines for crappy handling (from my RC racing days) was to go back to stock and tune from there, one step at a time. Default is usually a good place to start from. My bike had HyperPro suspension when I bought it. That worked pretty well, at stock suspension height. Also raised Sargent seat with grippy surface. I put the original seat back on, just to try. Then quickly took it off. It was like sitting on a slippery brick. Curiously the bike didn't handle as well with the original seat.
I ended up selling that bike and I miss it. Now I'm thinking about the Rieju 307. If only I could sell my current bikes for good money. Unfortunately I'm usually the kind of guy who buys high and sells low. Making up the difference by hard work. But I'm really getting tired of that.

[garyboy]

My general guidelines for crappy handling (from my RC racing days) was to go back to stock and tune from there, one step at a time. Default is usually a good place to start from. My bike had HyperPro suspension when I bought it. That worked pretty well, at stock suspension height. Also raised Sargent seat with grippy surface. I put the original seat back on, just to try. Then quickly took it off. It was like sitting on a slippery brick. Curiously the bike didn't handle as well with the original seat.
I ended up selling that bike and I miss it. Now I'm thinking about the Rieju 307. If only I could sell my current bikes for good money. Unfortunately I'm usually the kind of guy who buys high and sells low. Making up the difference by hard work. But I'm really getting tired of that.

I always seem to buy high and sell low .. but I've taken it to an absurd level, .. I'm just So bruised from kicking myself thinking about it, but tbh, I think I've got some mental emotional issues or something, coz it don't even make sense.
So actually, You are probably doing quite well, especially as that is the market these days, with the big bike shops being utter basterrds anyway.

I get what you are saying about taking a project back to basics to start again, but my crf basics is So bad that I tremble just thinking about it, lol.

I've never had an issue with the Honda seats, though the crf250L I had was a nightmare.. but that was mostly due to the low gearing I used .. a drudge on the road. My crf250Rally is a lot better on long tarmac Roads.. I think the cover is thinner? It's quite good, anyway. A bit wider, apparently?
Mind, I've never had the luxury of a bespoke high end end, ?

[garyboy]

I forgot to mention.. apparently, my Ktech forks only had about Half of the 5w oil in them that they supposed to have have .. 200ml instead of ~400ml?

No wonder I used to feel like I was ever-descending into some deep ruts ... there was No real support!!. as the single spring must have been continuously compressing?
Also, there was basically No rebound damping, as there is only really the oil and valves preventing the rebound?

That must be why some riders are OK with Ktech ?
Their fitter did the job properly? .. actually had oil in?

Take care when employing fitters who claim to work for Ktech? But who overcharge and do a shit job?