Recon on the Recon

[paulsstag]

We have recently had some wild fires in the Gila wilderness area and i was curios as to how bad it was. I had ridden up to the area a couple of times but the dirt roads to the area were closed.

Yesterday i took out the Brozz Recon after changing the rear sprocket (details at the end of post). Well the roads were open and so off i went. The burn that i could see had been halted at the road by the fire fighters by perhaps a back burn? Most of what i could see it seems the bigger (taller trees) trees survived. There was one area,an uphill (mountain side) where the trees are probably gonners. Let me take this opportunity to thank all fire fighters for the service they provide.

This is the first real off road ride on the bike and i must say i am impressed. The roads are very rocky with a lot of loose rock. The suspension soaked up some gnarly sections. The front forks are a huge improvement over the reg forks that were on my TBR they did not deflect as much and seemed to soak up lumps and bumps well. Rear shock was also good in that it did not kick the back end of the bike around much , so very happy with the stock setup.

The tires were also better than the TBR in the loose rock and sandy areas and had no problem climbing steeper loose rock roads. I am sure they will do better in the mud than the 50/50 tires on the reg Brozz and TBR. The asphalt has to go to the 50/50 tires . I could feel the Knobbies walking and the back end did give up traction a lot sooner than my TBR did but the front end works really well to keep the front end planted. On my TBR the front end felt rubbery on the asphalt . If you guys have the std forks remember a fork brace would eliminate that flexy fork thing if you want to get your bike to handle better.

I could hear rocks hitting the factory skid plate and was thankful it was there. All round i was very happy with the Recon.

So on the carburation. The stock carb on the Brozz was great for the elevations here (6-7500ft). Once i put on the E-bay exhast system she seemed a little lean and i was starting to get a misfire. I put on the after market VM26 carb and lifted the needle (dropped 1 groove on the circlip) put in a 38 pilot and a 115 main.

The bike ran like crap, way rich everywhere and the misfire was much worse. I leaned out the pilot to a 35 or 34 (smallest in the kit) put the needle back to center position and tried a 110 and then even a 105 . The leaner i made the bike the less power it had and the misfire got less?

Then it dawned on me that my stock spark (LG) plug is probably breaking down under load ? I bought a E3 plug that is replacement for the stock plug (according to the charts) but it is a resistor plug . So lessons learned from one legged and others here (thanks guys). The stock plug is a non resistor type so i checked the plug boot and it is a resistor type (i measured 4.9 ohms). I ordered a non resistor plug cap.

Just so anyone that has not followed some of the older posts the basics that i got was have either a resistor spark plug or a resistor cap either/or but not 2X resistors (weaker spark) and don't run a non resistor spark plug and a non resistor plug cap ( not sure what that screws up? but i'm sure some one can elaborate)

So now bike is not misfiring but is way lean everywhere. So i put in a 38 pilot jet and needle in center position and a 110 main. Bike is running like a champ.

Also for anyone purchasing an after market VM26 carb it seems there are 2X types that i know about. First when i did the VM26 on my TBR the choke was opposite to the stock TBR choke? and the pilot jets i had ordered did not fit ( these pilot jets worked in the VM26 i bought for the Brozz). The pilot jet # was a 20 on the TBR VM26 and right now the pilot jet in the Brozz is a 38 and i may try a #40 as i had to turn out the fuel mixture screw 3 turns. Also the choke mechanism is the same as the stock carb i removed?

So a bit of advice to carb tuners remember to start with a good ign system (spark plug etc) before tuning the carb and remember there might be two different VM26's with different pilot set ups. By the way the main jets worked on both.

As for the rear sprocket change. I had bought a 43 sprocket for the TBR but it did not fit (i had ordered one for a Hawk thinking it was the same). I rode the inner loop last week to test the jetting and found the rpms a bit high at 60 -65 mph . So i thought what the heck so i took off the stock 46 and put on the 43. There is a 1/4 offset compared to the stock sprocket but they do work.

1st gear is longer and if i plan on doing any tight technical riding i will swap out the front from the factory 17 to a 15 as that is a quick change if needed. The 60-65 is better though and not unhappy with the change.

[Wild Dog]

Originally Posted by paulsstag

Also for anyone purchasing an after market VM26 carb it seems there are 2X types that i know about. First when i did the VM26 on my TBR the choke was opposite to the stock TBR choke? and the pilot jets i had ordered did not fit ( these pilot jets worked in the VM26 i bought for the Brozz). The pilot jet # was a 20 on the TBR VM26 and right now the pilot jet in the Brozz is a 38 and i may try a #40 as i had to turn out the fuel mixture screw 3 turns. Also the choke mechanism is the same as the stock carb i removed?

VM26 there is only one type and is the one that Mikuni makes with an enrichment circuit, very popular with the early 90s 2T enduros like the Yamaha DT and Kawasaki KMX.


Now the chinese makes a lot different carbs and they just stamp "VM26" because reasons....
The "VM26" with an actual choke system also known as a Keihin "Pz30" is a simplified clone of a keihin carb that was used on some Xr250r sold in the late 80s and early 90s.

So the "VM26" that is an actual clone of a real Mikuni VM26 will be a bit too small for a 230cc and the "VM26" that is just a "Pz30" will be just fine for the 230cc.

[Megadan]

There are a couple of small design changes between the PZ30 clones and "VM26" clones, but as Wild Dog said, they are more or less the same carbs. The VM26 clones tend to have 4 bowl screws instead of the 3 of the PZ30 clones, which is one way to tell them apart. The biggest difference though is just the fact that they use Mikuni jets, which makes them much easier to jet, and more forgiving. Barring big swings in temps or changing in elevation, my own experience with the VM26 clone was essentially set it and forget it. Compared to the PZ30B with Keihin jets, where I had to adjust the jetting more regularly.

That being said, the PZ30B (pumper) adds an extra element in terms of "performance" that the VM26 and standard PZ30 lack with that extra bit of throttle response. Hard part is finding a seller that sells one using both keihin main and pilot jets and not some goofy version that you can't buy.

[f15sim]

The Brozz Recon looks a lot like my Hawk DLX (inverted fork), but no EFI.. Correct?


g.

[cycleway4]

g. that is correct, no EFI

[paulsstag]

Originally Posted by f15sim

The Brozz Recon looks a lot like my Hawk DLX (inverted fork), but no EFI.. Correct?


g.

Correct on the non EFI, My Recon also has 19 inch front and 17 inch rear rims plus more knobby type tyres , a factory skid plate also.