Dirtbike for the wife: build thread

[Gravy]

Her bike got hand guards last year.

I pulled her bike out of storage for the summer and started cleaning the carb. 75% Pine Sol 25% water for a couple days.
Drained the gas too.

Also one of the most important updates for any small bike is new pegs. The stock ones bend super easy and are very narrow.

 

[Tonkaman]

Nice. Do you think she will start riding the races next year?

 

[Gravy]

She says she wants to try a mini race when she's all practiced up, but she's definitely going to do some riding this summer after she has the baby.

 

[Tonkaman]

Awesome! We need to get the families out riding together this year

 

[Gravy]

This is mostly info for me:

Pine Sol works awesome. 3 days and some work with a toothbrush and the carb looks brand new.




145 upper and 80 lower in the mouth of the carb.



Also if anyone is wondering: the stock jetting is crap on these bikes, much too lean and it makes it hard to start until it's warmed up with a hesitation just off idle.

The correct jetting for up here is:
17.5 idle (15 stock)
110 main (105 stock)
idle screw till it idles high enough
Air screw 1.5 or 2 out (till it slows the idle when you turn it either direction).

I think next upgrade is to find a BBR engine cradle used and BBR fork springs (the stock forks are pretty divey for a full grown human) they are pretty plush but move through the travel too much under heavy braking which unsettles the bike and takes away confidence in a beginner rider.
The BBR fork springs are supposedly 30% stiffer which might be nice to keep the right really soft still, but not so divey.

I also need to grease the headset.

 

[Gravy]

I've never been terribly pleased with the condition of the fenders on this bike, they have white streaks and looked bad. I wanted to buy new plastics, but there are no aftermarket plastics for the ttr125, and OEM plastics are crazy expensive.
I put in some time with progressively finer steel wool from a 2 down to 00 to get the scratches out and then some delicate heat from a propane torch and viola they look great now.

Before:





After:

 

[Tonkaman]

This thread is proof that you have way too much spare time.

 

[Gravy]

15 minutes between putting my kids to sleep and dinner is about all I get these days.

These days I want fewer and nicer things.

 

[Cascadia]

15 minutes between dinner and your 3 rides a week you meant.

 

[Gravy]

Working on stuff falls far below doing stuff you know that.

 

[Gravy]

She's still loving the bike. I took her for a ride in Warner Valley over Thanksgiving and she did like 15 or 16 miles. She hard bottomed the forks a few times and it hurt her wrists and confidence the last 2 or 3 miles. I REALLY need to get the forks resprung before spring-time.

 

[Gravy]

I ordered the BBR fork springs the other day. Looking forward to riding it when they come in.

http://www.bbrmotorsports.com/Products/Products.aspx

Custom developed by BBR Motorsports for the ultimate upgrade for mini four-strokes. Sized perfectly for fast/aggressive adult mini riders. This is the most important upgrade you can make for an adult sized rider. The stock suspension is too soft for most adults.

• 30% stiffer than stock
• Preset and stress relieved for long life
• Custom wound from aircraft quality spring steel

 

[Gravy]

These fork springs are tiny (well compared to what I'm used to).




Forks out




No 14mm Allen, so 3/8" SS bolt with nuts




Preload spacer, washer, spring




New vs. Old (no more preload spacer).




133mm 10w fork oil.



Cleaned and greased the headset bearings.

It feels firmer.
Hope she loves it!
If it isn't firm enough I can always bump it up to 15w oil

 

[Tonkaman]

That Allen wrench hack is genius!!

 

[glockman]

That Allen wrench hack is genius!!

I did the same thing for the timing chain cover on my yz450. Do yourself a favor and write on it with a sharpie. I threw mine away when I wondered what the hell a bolt was doing in the tool box. Next one I wrote, YZ timing tool on the bolt

 

[Gravy]

I did the same thing for the timing chain cover on my yz450. Do yourself a favor and write on it with a sharpie. I threw mine away when I wondered what the hell a bolt was doing in the tool box. Next one I wrote, YZ timing tool on the bolt

Haha I did that too on my YZ450.

 

[Gravy]

Well all that heat into the rear fender to make it look nice again made it brittle and it cracked, so I replaced it.
Wow it was ugly.

 

[Gravy]

She took it for a few little rips when we were in Moab, but not a good enough test of the suspension yet.
She did like it though.

 

[Gravy]

Well my brother-in-law was riding my wife's bike learning how to ride and it stopped running. It turns out the cam sprocket bolt had loosened up and the finger on the sprocket (that holds it in place) broke off and so the timing chain was spinning without turning the cam. I bought a whole other motor and swapped it in but the new sprocket is about 10 bucks...

And then her gas tank cracked which all TTRS do.
So I swapped in a brand new gas tank ($110)