No Bro...the dealership will go straight for the loan application for you to buy the new 300hp Kawasaki H2R...LOL!

Lord knows I've spent lots of time and money modding my KLX's suspension, carburetion, and other components trying to improve the overall performance of this little bike, but at some point it may verge on the comparison of the "fish or cut bait" scenario. Still, many people enjoy the trip and "getting there" as much as the final destination...even if they never arrive.

The only negative response I have on Bernie's assessment is the reference to how the pumper carb...34, 36, or otherwise...is a possible non-starter. That's BS. At the minimum the throttle response benefit from the pumper carb is an absolute positive that cannot be obtained with most any CV carb. I'm starting to see an element of two different camps in the KLX arena coming into play here...dirt and pavement. Smooth-tired, pavement applications have a few slightly different areas of focus as compared to off road performance priorities.

 

And with that, perhaps we should wait for more of Richards' test results so that he doesn't have to wade through page after page of off subject ____________________________________.


You fill in the blank.

 

And that's the point...what may be off topic to you may vary for others. I'm not slamming Richard for his attempts at all. Some of it is interesting even for my application, even though I'm pretty well tapped out on what I want to accomplish with my bike. I'm sure others are not. Expressing alternative viewpoints or opinions is allowed last time I checked. And you know what they say about opinions. Opinions and _________, everybody has one. You fill in the blank.

 

Bernie did kind of back off near the end saying after doing the timing then play with bigger carbs. So far I don't see any sacrificing of off road abilities with any mods that have been suggested by anyone for the KLX (other than drilling the air box). Even the 40mm would be fine off road if you had suitable gearing, though so far it's not any quicker than the 36 at 250cc. I still need to try it with the Thunder Products VIP I have fitted and ready to go on; which the company admits doesn't do anything for max HP, but it could beef up the mid rpm range and make it quicker in the end.

Someone with a big bore and a thirst for more HP needs to try the 40mm. You can always sell it if for some reason it doesn't add ponies to your 351. But I swear the big carb is really docile and absolutely user friendly.


I just asked the local Kaw dealer who does have Ninjas etc for sale about the H2 earlier this week, but they have no info yet. If it's indeed only 197hp it'll be hard to get $25.000 for it even in the USA because there are other bikes with that much power for a lot less. Plus any technical servicing over here would be hard to come by.

 

Well I'll have to see what develops with these two flywheels and the different timing they offer, though the stock timing unit is 1/2lb lighter. I could either get the advanced timing flywheel lightened or just have the welder add 3mm to the lighter unit.

Probably best to get the one that's on there now lightened, that way I'll have two lighter/equal weight flywheels; one with advanced timing.

Over here on "the island" it's always good to have something to fill up your time when you need it. So fooling around with these bits is a welcome opportunity as long as I can measure changes accurately.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the diameter of the flywheel?

 

Yeah, that's the point I was kind of getting at on the pavement/dirt comparison with some carb mods and swaps. I'd guess the 40 could be much more applicable to the supermoto/pavement end of things, but I'm still not convinced it's the hot setup for dirt. All the on/off throttle situations that even involve intentional and unintentional lugging just don't seem to be the place where the super large carb would shine. Hard acceleration and top end where you're usually more up on the needle and main jet during spirited pavement riding would seem a better application. Regardless, it's interesting to see how it's working out on your setup. The advanced timing deal sounds promising because that's a natural step in many higher performance applications. Still, as ZW stated earlier, maybe cam timing with an aftermarket grind might be a bigger gain...and then add the timing. I wonder if fuel quality and octane issues will occur with the timing advance?

 

No, the 40mm wouldn't shine (do better) in a the situations you mentioned, but 99% of the time I doubt it'd be any worse than the 36mm , because I haven't noticed a marked difference in low end. The 36 has so much low end with my still dual purpose 14/48 gearing, that the tiny bit of low end that is lost to the 40 isn't missed at all.

- Not because I want to be able to say "it works", but because there's just no appreciable loss in low end. There's still much more low end power and punch with the 40 than with the CVK 34.


I'm using 10% ethanol with a 95 octane rating, but I've read the octane is rated differently over here and may be less than US 95 octane. No indications yet that the octane is a problem with advanced timing.

 

There is a reason carb size gets smaller as more mid-low is needed. An example would be the old Bultaco 250, the Pursang (MX) had a 32mm, the Matador (enduro) had a 30mm and the Sherpa T (trials) had a 26mm.

This timing thing looks interesting. Question is if there is enough space to move the pick up or if any other flywheels will fit and give the increased advance?

 

The smaller carb = more low end power premise really isn't in question, maybe the 4 valve head helps in this application. Whichever, the amount of low end loss with the 40 isn't enough to worry about. Regardless of how big the number 40 looms.


Move the pick up either by slotting the mounting holes or slicing the bracket horizontally, moving half 3mm, then weld it back together?






Add timing to regain the small amount of lost low end with the 40mm?