Just took delivery of my new Venom X22R...

[JerryHawk250]

As long as you have a good large snap ring pliers it can be done less than a 30 minutes. That snap ring is a mofo to get off an on without the right tool but can be done. I used my rotary tool to grind the pins off to remove links from the chain. It probably took me about an hour for the whole process.

[Chrisguga]

I don’t have any, but I’m going to run by Harbor Freight today to see if I can buy some and also a spanner wrench.

This bike definitely take some tinkering and sorting out to tailor it to the individual rider and their needs, but it’s really turning into a nice bike and it’s such an amazing value. Plus, I love having a project and researching mods.

I let my best friend ride it who also used to ride bikes back in college. He was surprised at how much midrange juice it had and he didn’t even go wide open throttle. Of course, I made sure to lower his expectations by letting him know it has 5 less hp than my riding mower. lol

[Chrisguga]

I forgot to mention, my first tank of gas that I calculated the mileage came in at 54mpg. That was 3.5 gallons used over 189 miles and the tank had quite a bit left in it. The tank is rated at 4 gallons, but it holds more than that. I’m estimating 4.5 gallons counting the reserve. I put 4 gallons in it the first time I added gas and it wasn’t all that close to the top of the tank.

That mileage includes ripping around at 3/4 throttle or more in stop and go traffic and one country ride down some 2 lane at 55-60mph.

I have no doubt I’d see 60+ on the highway, especially after I change this sprocket Monday. That’s a huge improvement over the 9-10 city and 14 mpg highway my 4” lifted Hemi Ram on 35s gets and it’s how I justified the bike’s purchase to myself.

[JerryHawk250]

I have the HF snap ring pliers. They just barely get the snap ring off but worked. Just took a little patients. ��

[JerryHawk250]

The tank takes 5 gallons. I filled mine yesterday and took 4.4 and didn't touch reserve. I've been averaging around 65 mpg. My first tank was 58 mpg. That probably because of the high gear ratio.

[Chrisguga]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

O have the HF snap ring pliers. They just barely get the snap ring off but worked. Just took a little patients. ��

I have patience and Corona Extra. I’ll happily sit out in my garage and drink a few beers while I figure out the pliers and sprocket.

[Chrisguga]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

The tank takes 5 gallons. I filled mine yesterday and took 4.4 and didn't touch reserve. I've been averaging around 65 mpg. My first tank was 58 mpg. That probably because of the high gear ratio.

I bet you’re right about the 5 gallons. That was a big selling point to me as the ethanol free gas station is a bit out of the way so the fewer fill ups the better.

I love hearing about that gas mileage with the new sprocket. Bringing the revs down from 7000-7500 to 5500-6000 has to improve economy at 60-65 mph.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

Tonight’s mod was installing the new handlebar risers. This gold color doesn’t match so I’ll run them for about a week like this to make sure I like them and order the black set. They’re definitely thinner than the originals, but they seem strong enough to do the job.

I took it for a late night spin around the block and so far so good. The brake fluid reservoir does hit the windshield a little so I may have to put some nylon washers between the windshield and the bike to create a little more room.

Credit to JerryHawk250 for finding these risers.

It would of been nice if they matched a little closer. I have a buddy that does powder coating so If mine are too light i'll get then done in black. Probably could just spray them black. Just don't know how well the paint will hold up.

[Chrisguga]

I wasn’t able to ride my 110 or so miles this weekend due to storms, but I did ride it to work this morning. It feels a lot different with the risers. I have my bars at too much of an angle and I tried my clutch lever angled down a bit more than I had it, but I’ll widen out the bar angle and raise the clutch lever a bit this afternoon. I think I’ll appreciate the raised bars on my longer rides as the ride to work is only 2 miles.

I’m going to knock out that sprocket install tonight. I bought the best snap lock pliers Harbor Freight had and they look pretty beefy. I’m going to hang my bike from the rafters using some ratchet straps like you did, Jerry.

I need to go ahead and buy a bike stand and swing arm dowels so I can drill and tap some holes on the swing arm and install them.

[JerryHawk250]

We lucked out and all the bad weather just missed us.
I ended up buying a Swing arm stand form HF about two weeks ago. It made my chain maintenance much easier. lol I contacted HF to buy the front fork adapters but was told they were discontinued. I did find them on Ebay but was only available from one seller in Italy. I might have them for the weekend or next week. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Paddock-Sta...t/173309301184

[Chrisguga]

I like that Hf swingarm stand that won’t require me to buy and install those spools. I’ll pick that up today for sure for my project tonight.

I’ll also buy those adapters for the front. You sure are good at getting me to spend money on mods. lol

I’m going to make a decision on where I go with engine mods after I run this sprocket for a week or two. At the absolutely least for short term, I’ll port and deck the head and go from the 3 layer stock head gasket to 1 layer. That’ll equal about 10.7:1 or slightly higher compression.

That’s a 1mm or 0.04ish decrease from the decking and a 0.015 decrease from the gasket. Stock, there is 0.1 gap between piston and valves. This should leave plenty of piston to valve clearance. The head decking is worth about a point of compression and the gasket is worth around .4. It’ll require premium gas, but that’s ok.

Then, over the winter I’ll likely go with the Athena 67mm piston kit with an 11:1 piston, a thin copper head gasket to take it to a true 11:1, which will take it from 223cc to 233cc, a new CSC head that I’ll port, some Kibblewhite valve springs, and either than Terry Miller 2.5 cam or the Webb 89A. Maybe the Web 40/402 cam. That’s about $900 is parts though not counting the new carb and intake manifold I’d need to optimize it. So, I’ll just raise the compression for now! lol

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

I like that Hf swingarm stand that won’t require me to buy and install those spools. I’ll pick that up today for sure for my project tonight.

I’ll also buy those adapters for the front. You sure are good at getting me to spend money on mods. lol

I’m going to make a decision on where I go with engine mods after I run this sprocket for a week or two. At the absolutely least for short term, I’ll port and deck the head and go from the 3 layer stock head gasket to 1 layer. That’ll equal about 10.7:1 or slightly higher compression.

That’s a 1mm or 0.04ish decrease from the decking and a 0.015 decrease from the gasket. Stock, there is 0.1 gap between piston and valves. This should leave plenty of piston to valve clearance. The head decking is worth about a point of compression and the gasket is worth around .4. It’ll require premium gas, but that’s ok.

Then, over the winter I’ll likely go with the Athena 67mm piston kit with an 11:1 piston, a thin copper head gasket to take it to a true 11:1, which will take it from 223cc to 233cc, a new CSC head that I’ll port, some Kibblewhite valve springs, and either than Terry Miller 2.5 cam or the Webb 89A. Maybe the Web 40/402 cam. That’s about $900 is parts though not counting the new carb and intake manifold I’d need to optimize it. So, I’ll just raise the compression for now! lol

You need to download the HF Coupon App and get the 20% off coupon.

The thinner head gasket sounds like it will work. I'm not sure how thick the stock gasket is yet. Now you got me spending money.

The CSC TT250 head will not work on these engines. The TT250 is a push rod engine.

[Chrisguga]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

You need to download the HF Coupon App and get the 20% off coupon.

The thinner head gasket sounds like it will work. I'm not sure how thick the stock gasket is yet. Now you got me spending money.


The CSC TT250 head will not work on these engines. The TT250 is a push rod engine.

I’m a big fan of the HF coupons. I used a 25% off coupon on those pliers.

Doh, I need to find a new source for a head then whether Chinese or a CRF230F.

The other option is to do a Weisco piston for about $105 that claims 11:1, but is really more like 10.5:1, and then do a thin gasket to get the desired 11:1 compression. This is nice because it leaves the head stock so you don’t have to worry about piston to valve clearance with a big cam. The piston is domed, but not in the area of the valves so it won’t get in the way of a cam. The drawback is it appears you have to remove the engine from the frame to install it.

Apparently the stock CRF230F gasket is 3 layers riveted together. People drill out the rivets and then just use the top or bottom layer for a half point compression increase.

I’ve learned a lot about these engines on thumpertalk. They’re a fairly popular engine to mod.

[JerryHawk250]

I'm just going to port and deck the stock head. The CRF230F heads run $170-200. I ran across a chinese head for $90. You could probably order one from Venom.

[Chrisguga]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

I'm just going to port and deck the stock head. The CRF230F heads run $170-200. I ran across a chinese head for $90. You could probably order one from Venom.

Yeah, I’ll need torque down low to pull the tall gear at highway speeds and the compression boost is exactly what the doctor ordered. Plus, it’s free minus the cost of the materials to do the job. And, you don’t have to remove the engine.

That’s a win win.