"Some people have therapists and some people ride motocross"

Newsletter  #  **   2011

What's New???

CRF150RB

Adam Berg does it Again!

Kitaco 145cc Kit goes BOOM!

DMC conversion with  Kitaco 145cc

DMC 120cc Street Legal

BBR Framed TTR150cc

120cc XR75 Vintage Racer

BBR's Ryan's Super Modded XR120

Adam Berg's Super Sano Conversion

BBR150f with DMC Twin Pipes

BBR TTR125LE

Project DMC Street legal Conversion

Vacation in SoCal

Building a Vintage Racer

Engine Testing

Project stocker Part Duex!!

CR/XR200 Conversion

So What's New?  It's near the end of winter and nice and cold. I'm trying to get a Facebook page going. 

SoCal XR's

Promote Your Page Too 

         I've been putting off getting a TTR125 forever.  Well of course, since it was a Yamaha.  I had my little tricked out 120cc CRF80 that flew.  So why would I want any other bike?  I didn't, until all of the SoCal group were riding the track behind my house and I rode one of their TTR's.  My first thought was, "Holy Crap!! I don't feel any of the bumps that were killing me on my bike." I was pretty much sold at that point.  So my hunt was on for a TTR.  I was going to get a '06 when the '07's came out or maybe get a '06 from some dealership out here that sells them for $2499 OTD.  I figured that I would need about $1000 more to get it to work or at least be rideable. So I was going to have to sell my two CRF80's and all my after market parts.  Luckily, I have a friend that is a Harvard Psyche school mental case.  The type of guy who never has the right bike and gets a new bike every two months and three storage units worth of crap.  So I picked it up with a 1/2 a ride and with front and rear BBR springs, cradle, tall seat, and Renthals already installed for less than a new bike.  I couldn't pass it up.  And the good news was, the sale of my other stuff paid for everything.  So obviously, I would need to do some work to get it work for me.  This is where BBR comes in.  They are the only company that makes a full line of parts for the TTR125.  Every part I bought for this bike has nothing to do with "Bling", but everything to do with utility. I'll do a list with the purpose of the product.  In no real order. 

BBR Products:  Pipe, seat, shifter, rear spring, cradle, chain guide, foot pegs, free flow filter, carb intake, BBR Rev box.
 

1.Pipe -- We did a back to back test with the BBR pipe and it blew away every other pipe, including a factory Yamaha pipe. 
2. Seat -- For any adult rider, the tall seat is a must.  I couldn't even ride a TTR with a stock seat. In fact, that was one of the main reasons I never even thought about a TTR.  I rode one a long time ago with a stock seat and it felt so bad, I wrote the whole bike off.  It's night and day.
3. Shifter --  The stock linkage system sucks. Under a heavy load it won't even shift.  You have to shut off.  Not good for battling.  I was thinking it might be the tranny, but when I put on the BBR shifter, I have missed a shift yet. 
4.  Rear spring --  The stock set up is just too soft for the average adult. It's not a permanent fix, but it will work until you can get it valved.
5. Cradle --  Absolute must.  Your frame will stretch without it.  If you try to put it on and it doesn't line up perfect.  Your frame has already stretched some. Great skid plate too.  
6.  Chain guide --  It doesn't have a stock guide, just some piece of plastic.  Don't throw a chain on the trail because you don't have a real chain guide.  This is super important for trail riding and you're 10 miles from your tools and you can't get your chain back on. 
7. Foot Pegs --  Small foot pegs are worthless.  I can't even ride with them.
8. Free flow filter --  Probably the first engine mod you need to make.  You motor needs to breathe.
9. Carb intake --  If you have a Kehien carb, it won't work without this adaptor.
10. Rev Box -- The stock box has a limit of 9600 rpm, this gets rid of that and the bottom end hiccup.

 

For the forks, I got some YZ85 forks off ebay and with a spacer here and spacer there, they are pretty close to a bolt on as you can get.  The only issue is they soft, real soft.  So I took them over to Jason at Fineline Suspension in Huntington Beach and he valved them and got me some .44 springs.  Now they work. Other things I have are a CR85 master cylinder and brake line and some bar risers to get the forks a little higher.  Also, the stock carb is junk.  Some can work and some don't. Mine didn't.  So I replaced it with a 200x carb off my xr120.  It works twice as good.  Forget trying to jet the stock pile carb, just get a 200x carb.   I also had Dave Miller from DMC lighten the flywheel.  You can't take as much off a electric start flywheel as a non-electric start one, but still a good 8-12 oz came off.  I didn't have a scale to get the exact amount. About the only thing left to do is a BBR 150cc kit, which will be in next week.

On the track, it's night and day from stock.  Even though the motor hasn't been bored, it's still has more bottom and pulls the 14t front sprocket better than the stock motor pulled the original 13t.  The suspension is like real suspension, I can hit whoops now and not worry about the back kicking me side ways.  Overall, it just a solid bike.

Part 2:  Wheels

For part 2, I replaced the weak steal rims and spokes for a set of aluminum rims and heavy duty spokes.  It was kind of a chore, but it only took a day.  Plus, it enhances the look two fold.   I also wrote a "how to" on lacing up TTR rims.  Click Here.

Part 3:  BBR 150cc Kit

There are definitely things to know ahead of time, if you haven't installed a big bore kit on a TTR before, which I haven't.

Tip 1:  Take the motor out.  I didn't, but it would have save me time and aggravation if I would have.
Tip 2: Make sure the flywheel is TDC and cam lined up when you pull the head off.
Tip 3: Use a piece of wire to keep the cam chain up.  Do not let it fall and come off the lower gear. You'll need a flywheel puller if you do.
Tip 4: Be very careful taking the original cam chain adjuster gasket.  The kit doesn't come with one and if you tear it, you're screwed. They are only about $1.25, so you might want to buy one a head of time.  Luckily, mine didn't rip.
Tip 5: Do not use a screw driver to compress the valves to get the cam in and out.  Use a tire iron and place the head on the stock cylinder.  It will only take two seconds, if you do this.
 

A) So how was this when I went to the track?? Well, I was a little disappointed. The set-up I was running ran great and I thought this would enhance it two fold.  Just like a 120kit does to an XR100.  It doesn't.  But I pretty much knew that before, since my old conversion pulled pretty much every other TTR.  What really disappointed my was the lack of bottom, but when I looked at the BBR catalog, it said it added mid to top, which is pretty much what it does. But I need more bottom to do jumps out of corners, which is what most of the tracks out here have.  It did help my lap times and let me clear a couple of jumps I couldn't before, so with that I was pretty happy. 

B) I went back to Elsinore and did a bunch of laps, then I swapped the 24mm to a 26mm carb. . . . Oh man, what a difference.  Bigger power everywhere and the jetting wasn't even perfect yet.  So am I disappointed any more??  Heck no.  This is the power I was looking for. BBR claims with this set-up somewhere about 11hp, which is what a good running XR120 puts out.  I would say, that's about spot on.

Project BBR TTR150 Final Word

Even with every trick part you can buy, a TTR with a stock frame isn't up to snuff even with a ton of gusseting.  So I picked up this kinda beat down BBR TTR for a relatively cheap price.  So after new wheels, complete brakes including CRF450 rear master cylinder and a front CRF450 Twin Piston caliper with steel braided brake line, plus a few odds and ends including my electric start motor, I have a pretty fun mx and trail machine.

    

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Well this has been a long and arduous process.  What started off  as a pile of parts has turned into a fire breathing race bike that can hang with about any bike on a track.  (Full article)

Although the bike has been complete for a few months now, I hadn't got around to taking pics. Well, I finally did and here they are. This bike is almost too nice to ride. Fortunately, when it comes time to take her out, I have the necessary spare parts so the nice stuff won't get ruined, i.e., extra set of wheels from the CR85 donor bike, extra set of radiator shrouds and the BBR D-Section pipe and header that came with the frame kit -- these will go on the bike for its virgin ride (I am a woods rider but will keep her off the really gnarly stuff).

The dual header and pipes fit like a glove -- amazing craftsmanship and I could not be happier about the fit. They are a bit loud given their small size and I am working with the Ignition Products guys to see if they can custom make silencer plugs for them to reduce the noise. http://www.ignitionproducts.com/Ignition/main.html

She's got all the goodies. Galfer wave rotors and red brake lines, ASV levers, BBR heavy duty shock spring, RAD annodized wheels (red hub,
black rim), Applied Racing triples and fat bar, etc., etc. Real fun project to build. Can't wait to get her out. Too cold in the northeast now, though I had the KTM out the weekend before last when we had record highs.

BTW, this is a CRF150 motor (not 150R). All stock. Might get the 175 kit though.

For a slide show of Jim's bike Click Here!!!

Baja Designs Kit with DRZ400 mirrors.	Trail Tech Vapor Computor
CRF450 Twin Piston Caliper and speedo mount.		CRF100 Key mount
	DRZ400 Master Cylinder with brake switch along with a DRZ400 clutch holder for the perch that holds the mirror.	CRF150 muffler for spark arrester and stealth.

This summer if you need a place to stay, I'm am renting out rooms at my house for $75 a night for two people.  I'm located 25 minutes from Glen Helen, 13 minutes from Starwest, 20 minutes from Perris Raceway, and 35 minutes from Elsinore and 40 minutes from Disneyland. I have a little backyard track if you have a 50 or 110 (please bring a stock pipe for neighbors), plus a garage to store your bike, tools, washer/dryer  for gear and clothes, pressure washer to wash your bike.  It's not the Hilton, but at least your bikes won't get ripped off, plus you don't have to worry about smelly gear and not being able to clean your air filters or change your oil.  Plus, I have a hook up with a local Honda dealer, so if your bike breaks, I can get the parts and gear at a discount.

If you're interested email me at jerrymatta@msn.com

Thanks to those over at BBR motorsports Chris "the Aussie" Alamangos picked up a CRF150 roller, which was brand new still in the crate.  He then pick up an pretty clean XL200 with 1700 miles on it. With absolutely no modification he took the XL motor and bolted it up to the 150.  There are some concerns with the manifold and the countershaft sprocket being off a little, but it's not that big of a deal. The chain hasn't jump ship yet.  Anyway, as most of you know the XL isn't the fastest motor, the gear ratios are too wide and everything seems to be against, from it's reverse dome 9:1 piston, to a pencil for a camshaft. 
     In comes Ray Groom to port the head and install a cam and a 12:1 67mm piston from White Brothers, he also chose to use a 52 Talon rear sprocket to take away some of the effect of the gear ratios.  The one good thing about the CRF is the steel rear boat anchor of a sprocket can be replaced by an aluminum CR250 sprocket.  We would still like to get a 428 chain on it, but more on that later.  With just a little addition of a BBR CRF150 pipe, the bike flat out flys.  There is no need to worry about big bikes ever again.  The very next day, he took it to REM and got a third overall in the 40 junior class, most of whom were on Red and  Blue 450's.  The bottom line is for about the same price as a newer XR100 or TTR125 you can build a CRF200 that will blow the side panels off either of the two bikes.

This is Chris Corum doing what he does best, which is dominating big bikes on his highly modified XR75.  Check out the cool DMC down pipe.  He got 5th in this race.

Pic of the month.  Me at Elsinore with my modified XR80.

You can build one of these:

Chris Alamengos

Chris Corum

Dan Alamengos

Major Gains in Engine Performance
By Jerry Matta

So you think we at SoCal XR's do nothing all day but play video games and shop on EBay.  Well, you'd be right. However, we actually got off our duff and did something.  I took my bike to Dave Miller the father of mini-bikes, along with the best tuner in the industry, and what we came up with, you can check out on the dyno chart.  We started with my 123cc motor, with a 69/68 Web cam, Stock valves, 200 carb, 50/50 gas, standard Miller pipe, with just a slight clean up on the ports. This is your basic modified motor, nothing real special, in fact it wasn't faster than anybody else's' XR, faster than TTR's , But not XR's.  Anyway, 59 dyno runs later, we managed to get my average motor well above average.  I can't tell you what we did, or even the numbers, but you can see for yourself the results.  Also, look how far it revved.  Yes, that's more than 14 grand and it will go more. 

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