New Hawk, new adventures.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

That does look like a fun place to explore. My parents have 157 acre farm just down the road, but we can't ride quads or bikes on it because THEY ARE THE DEVIL!

about half of this land was used for farming at one point. If you look to the right you can see the terracing on one of the hills. Now most of it has been left to return to "wild" except for 30 acres on one corner. that is leased to a neighbor. which is the only flat section on the whole property. The rest of it is small but steep hills and woods.

[McFailbutter]

Sou d's like goods times dan. Everyone needs a day like that sooner or later

[Megadan]

Figured I would upload this here since it is relevant. I go over the total cost in mods/upgrades and show the work to my garage in prep for VFR disassembly for transmission work. If you haven't seen the usual state of my garage, this probably won't be as amazing to you lol.

One thing I will note, this is just a representative cost for this bike. Some of the more expensive parts on this particular bike were either already purchased for my last Hawk and never installed or kindly donated to me, but I included them in the cost because I had bought them for my last Hawk, so I just treated it as if all parts were purchased since they technically were.

[OneLeggedRider]

I for one would definitely like to see a couple pics/vids of the tear down and and reassembly of the VFR. I am a big fan of the V4 Honda's (not necessarily working on them) power output and delivery, and have had the pleasure of riding a couple of them.

As far as the Hawk goes, we know you enjoy tinkering with it as much as riding it. And this winter mine's coming back in the house for some serious upgrades. What I would like to see you do is put that swingarm on there and lace some good rims front and rear. Then what would stop you from jumping it/riding it like an actual (albeit heavy) dirtbike?

[wedooit]

Dan, so great to see your smiling face! Thank you! Glad you cleaned up your shop looks nice! You are a remarkable genius, and thanks for sharing your knowledge to all on this site, and helping us, personally, as well. Thank you for your kindness.

I agree with onelegged dude above. Pics and videos of the VFR repair, would be kool. If I would never own one, I learn from your analytical approach, and how you present the repair, or the steps, to accomplish the goal.

I agree with your remarks regarding euro brands of bikes, and the market driven costs. In our area, I cannot believe there isn't more china syndrome bikes. (There has been some used storms advertised for 1500.00, out of Salt Lake area....new 1500.00 off internet)

Thank you again for your time, and videos!

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

I for one would definitely like to see a couple pics/vids of the tear down and and reassembly of the VFR. I am a big fan of the V4 Honda's (not necessarily working on them) power output and delivery, and have had the pleasure of riding a couple of them.

As far as the Hawk goes, we know you enjoy tinkering with it as much as riding it. And this winter mine's coming back in the house for some serious upgrades. What I would like to see you do is put that swingarm on there and lace some good rims front and rear. Then what would stop you from jumping it/riding it like an actual (albeit heavy) dirtbike?

I have no problem making the vids. Gives me some great content at least lol.

What stops me from riding it like an actual dirt bike? My spine. The lack of disc in my lower back being the main reason.

Originally Posted by wedooit

Dan, so great to see your smiling face! Thank you! Glad you cleaned up your shop looks nice! You are a remarkable genius, and thanks for sharing your knowledge to all on this site, and helping us, personally, as well. Thank you for your kindness.

I agree with onelegged dude above. Pics and videos of the VFR repair, would be kool. If I would never own one, I learn from your analytical approach, and how you present the repair, or the steps, to accomplish the goal.

I agree with your remarks regarding euro brands of bikes, and the market driven costs. In our area, I cannot believe there isn't more china syndrome bikes. (There has been some used storms advertised for 1500.00, out of Salt Lake area....new 1500.00 off internet)

Thank you again for your time, and videos!

You are too kind with your words, but thank you. I will do what I can to record the process on the Honda.

Local market does greatly affect value. ATVs are way more popular here than dual sports and dirt bikes and the market reflects it. The lack of supply/options is the biggest hurdle, and when a nice one does pop up it tends to be at top dollar and still needs work done.

[Megadan]

Doing some end of the year maintenance. So far I have just shy of 400 miles on the T6 15w40 oil, and it's ever so slightly light brown now. In contrast, the T4 would be pretty dark by this point.

Went over all the bolts. Figured it was worth doing after the valve cover incident. As usual, all of the motor mount bolts are fine except the rear left bracket. I decided to put a lock washer and nylock there. One of the oil cooler bracket nuts was also backed off a bit. Added a second nut to lock against it and the others as a precaution.

Checked all of my spokes and found a few a tiny bit loose.

Since the temps swung pretty drastically I decided to revisit my carb jetting and settings. The 35 pilot jet is still A-ok, but my idle mixture is now set at about 1 1/2 turns out vs. 1 7/8 when it was much warmer out. Main jet is now a 130, and when it dips below 60 degrees it pulls like a monster up top. If the temps crawl into the 70's like today you can smell it is just a bit on the rich side, but since 70+ is now officially a rare occourance, I can live with it. This PE30 is definitely much more sensitive to air density changes than the PZ and VM carbs. I would chalk that up to the much higher velocity through the carb body thanks to the lack of a venturi in the body itself.

Once I finish with chore duties around the house I plan on going for a bit of a ride and maybe making a video to rant about some things. Obviously I will share it with you guys.

[JerryHawk250]

I notice the same with the cooler weather. I had a lot of decel popping on Saturday mornings. I have a 125 main in now and need to bump that up and adjust my idle mixture too.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

I notice the same with the cooler weather. I had a lot of decel popping on Saturday mornings. I have a 125 main in now and need to bump that up and adjust my idle mixture too.

I am surprised that I still don't need to change out the pilot. I have a feeling that it may need to bump up to a 38 once it gets into the 40's, but so far so good. Main jet wise, I think even a 135 would be the ticket once the temps consistently stop peaking above the 60's

I still find it fascinating at the subtle difference in jetting between our two bikes. I know you are about 1000ft lower than I am, but the half step difference in pilot jet has always perplexed me. Main jet wise, the difference makes more sense since you have that power jet adding fuel. After trying the 122 jet this summer I ended up going back to a 125 as it was just a bit too lean below 85 degrees. I probably should have been running a 128 to be honest.

A lot of that could come down to the difference in intakes as well as minor differences in the port work obviously. I would honestly love to get my hands on one of those mild cam upgrades from Brazil. As much as the RE250 is tempting with its 6th gear, I think being able to rev the motor past 8 without that drop in power would be more than adequate, and it would be a lot cheaper than a whole engine.

I have even considered re-working my engine build with my stock head. Porting it but leaving the deck stock and then machining the cylinder jug to reduce the quench gap and raise the compression instead.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

Dan, Several years ago I read in Hot Rod magazine about intake manifold gaskets for small block chevy,s that had fine screen in the ports to break up the fuel droplets into a fine mist. Would that make a difference on these little engines. I think it was to be like a poor mans fuel injection. Thoughts on it.

Personally, I wouldn't try it. The slight beneficial gain from the increased atomization of the fuel would be counteracted by the decrease in port area caused by the mesh and an increase in intake turbulence/loss of velocity. Charge velocity is far more critical to engine performance than pretty much everything else - both in terms of fuel mixing with said charge as well as cylinder filling at high RPM, and as long as the ports are capable of keeping the fuel suspended in the charge and prevent pooling, it will more than adequately atomize by the time it has entered the cylinder.

[Megadan]

Video, if you are interested. Again, my camera angles were wonky, but I moved my mic in the helmet to try and get better sound overall. I would say that it is definitely improved.

[China Rider 27]

Great vid and discussion! Love those turn signals, where can you get them?

[wedooit]

Thanks again Dan!!!

[Wild Dog]

Avoid those two cylinder 400cc engines, they are crap at least the ones that were brought here. Troublesome and they lack power...
Just to give an idea, last year a company brought here an enduro motorcycle, equipped with the Loncin LX178MN. Which is a 300cc engines single cylinder dohc water cooled.
That engines makes 25,5 hp stock, some people here were able to mod it to bring around 30 hps.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Wild Dog

Avoid those two cylinder 400cc engines, they are crap at least the ones that were brought here. Troublesome and they lack power...
Just to give an idea, last year a company brought here an enduro motorcycle, equipped with the Loncin LX178MN. Which is a 300cc engines single cylinder dohc water cooled.
That engines makes 25,5 hp stock, some people here were able to mod it to bring around 30 hps.

The G400C is a singe cylinder. It is not without it's own potential problems as well though, known to have weak transmissions.