Part 1.5 TE300i

Before I report the latest on the 2021 TE300i I want to share another Doug story.

If you remember I said I might want to install an adjustable idle screw while CA was and still is burning. I ordered the idle screw and spring part watched the videos and took to heart the instructions that said do not strip the head of the very small torx tip screw. After removing the throttle body and carefully heating up the area to loosen up the red loctite up until I could see the loctite bubbling around the screw and trying as gently as I’m capable of with no success in removing or even getting it to budge despite repeated re heat attempts, I finally succeeded in, that’s right stripping out the head, the area is too small to work in. Next step, try to easy-out it that didn’t work either. I finally ended up with a small drill hole that went through the end of the loctited screw. Fortunately I hadn’t really damaged the end of the screw that keeps the idle where it originally was so I still had the option of putting it back on.

The next day I met a friend of mine at his shop and we spent three hours trying to get that screw out, we event tried to take the butter fly valve out so we could remove the plastic piece off where the throttle cable connect so we could create room to work. Had it almost apart but couldn’t get one of the butter fly valve screws out.

With my tail between my legs I came back home had lunch and spent another three hours coming up with the one of finest of examples of a Rube Goldberg, Okie fix there is. I fashioned a tapered pin that slides down and through the drilled out center of the screw. The pin can’t fall out because it’s tapered plus the installed angle won’t allow it to. Next I threaded the hole in the throttle body where the idle screw and spring would normally drop through and double nutted the bolt. Dropped the pin in through the drilled out center of the screw, screwed in the bolt put it all back together, started the bike adjusted the idle then locked it in place. I’d say the tapered pin has only about an eighth of an inch protruding through the end of the screw.

My perfectionist friend cringes at the thought of my bush fix and I do as well. It’s not the bit least ideal to take a brand new bike and do that to it, wait until I sell it and have to explain that to a prospective buyer. Hopefully by that time I will have many, many uneventful hours on it.

Doug 21J

Well here we are again

I sold the KTM 250SXF. And I’m also done with buying any out of state bikes they are a big, big hassle to get registered here in CA. DMV does not like bikes coming in from out of state and make the process as difficult as they can and the 250 was a big hassle.

So what did I get to replace it, a 2021 Husky TE300i? Does this sound a little familiar, it should I bought a 2020 TE300i late last summer and sold it earlier this year with only 18 hrs on it. Something I shouldn’t have done in retrospect. I was working on getting a Sherco dealership for a local dealer and thought it was going to happen and sold the Husky so I could buy a Sherco. Well that didn’t happen and that turned into my buying the 2020 Husky FE350E, which I’ve written about, actually I’ve written about both bikes.

I’ve finally gotten the FE350 working well for me and it I still have it. No thoughts about selling it at this time.

My first ride on the new bike was like; wow I remember why I liked the 2020. I don’t think they’ve made any real big changes to the 2021. The big difference this time around on the 2021 is I rode it the first time with all the goodies installed, Flex bars, Rekluse, steering damper, FMF muffler S/A, left hand operated rear brake, Aircells and Shinko tires front and rear. I didn’t touch a thing the first ride not even the suspension settings, left them as they came from the factory.

The bike just works so well overall. It’s only about three pounds lighter than the 350 but because of the 350’s motor inertia the 300 feels much lighter even when picking up the 300 feels feel’s much lighter. I thought about getting the TE250i but they are really hard to find and the 300 will be easier to sell when the time comes. 

I’m looking forward to riding this bike and will report on it as time goes by.

Doug 21J

PS,

I do not need to tell any of you that 2020 has been at the very least bizarre. As side note I’m not sure if or when things will return to normal whatever that means. But for now this is what it looks like.

Since I bought my new bike I haven’t been able to ride it much. It’s a trail bike and the forests have been closed the air quality has sucked and it’s been blistering hot.

The only thing I see this bike might need is the ability to raise the idle. It’s locked from the factory and has to do with European emission standards. In my short time riding the bike the low idle hasn’t been a problem. However I do have a Rekluse auto clutch installed and the factory settings are a low RPM engagement and a low RPM disengagement. With a low idle the motor will return to a low idle and disengage much quicker, which means it will free wheel quicker. I haven’t ridden any long or steep down hills yet where having some engine braking is a benefit, but a higher idle will keep the Rekluse engaged longer.

With that said there are several businesses that offer a solution. You have to remove the throttle body and remove a screw that is locked tighted and only allows the butter fly to close so much. It requires applying heat to the area to loosen the lock tight before you can remove the screw. After that you can install an idle adjustment screw, I may do this while the forests are burning. The other thing that can be adjusted is the power valve. The carbureted models came with different colored springs that changed the opening of the power valve. Today’s TPI bikes have a squared headed brass looking fitting that can be turned in or out to adjust the valve’s opening. Each bike is adjusted differently the brass fitting has been turned in or out at the factory (they must run these motors at the factory and adjust them accordingly) so any adjustments must be in increments from where they come set from the factory.   

Until.

21J

Not again, yes again.

I sold the mud bike I bought at the end of last year. During our ongoing COVID 19 lockdown I spent what seemed like months looking for the next project. I wanted a lighter 4 stroke bike to ride in the woods. I finally found a candidate a super, super clean 2017.5 Factory Edition 250SXF with 12.2 Hrs. That’s right a motocross bike that weighs 219 lbs without gas and came with a bunch of goodies on it that I wouldn’t have to buy and the price was very, very good. Yes it’s a five speed close ratio transmission the only drawback to a five speed is limited top end on those occasional fire roads. But I’ve had five speeds before and found I seldom wound it out especially when it turns 13000 RPM before I ducked back on to a single track.

 

The bike came with a brand new Guts soft seat a brand new Acerbis skid plate, FMF muffler and spark arrestor the high dollar Rekluse and a brand new set of graphics. I added a fan kit, foot pegs, kickstand, Flex Bars with Cycra hand guards, speed odometer, left hand operated rear brake and an 18” rear wheel. Some of this stuff I took off my mud bike.

My major concern was/is the suspension the forks are air and of course the suspension was set up for MX not trail riding. And so far this has been the only real issue. The bike is so light it dances around like a two stroke and we haven’t been able so far to get it plush enough for me. Right now I’d say there would be a lot of riders who would think the suspension is great where it is right now, but it’s not for me and after all it’s me that counts.

The bike handles very well and will eventually be much better once the suspension is worked out. I’ve been surprised at the amount of power the 250 puts out especially when you consider how much I weigh. The 250 wasn’t intended to haul a big belly like me around but it does. The motor revs very freely pulls ok off the bottom and overall has very good power. 

Bucky at SBB has been working with me on the suspension. He re valved the shock and changed the spring I’m about to try the third different settings on the front forks the air forks are tricky for trail riding. If this doesn’t work I think we will go to a spring fork conversion kit

Second ride after the last fork re valve and before this latest ride I changed the rear shock spring back to the stock unit and rode 34 miles at Chalk Bluff so obviously it worked better with the softer spring. But the front is still not where I’d like it, so I have put the Explor forks on off my KTM 350 dual sport bike on and will try this combo. One of the things I don’t like about the Air Forks is they are still a little harsh in the initial part of the travel and they hold up in the middle of the stroke, I’m expecting the forks to move in the middle as I go through corners and when they don’t it throws me off. If you read MX bike reviews one of the things testers constantly complain about is that the forks don’t hold up in the middle of the stroke as they corner apparently lots of ex pro MX’ers like the fork to hold up in a corner I don’t, I like them to move as I go through a corner.

I’ve fallen off this bike five times already and have taken lots of skin off my arms as a result. I finally discovered one of the reasons. I’d like to blame it entirely on the bike but can’t. The rear brake master cylinder was inconsistently bleeding off and of course it did it when I needed it the most, I’ve fixed that issue.

The Explor forks solved the front end problem for me. Stan, Wayne and I rode about thirty miles at Chalk Bluff and the bike worked the best it has today. Still didn’t keep me from peeling more hide off my arms though as I hit the ground again a couple of times, most of the damage was done going over a 20” log.

So the question now is do I keep the Explor forks off my 350 on it and then what do I do for my 350? I can convert the air forks to spring forks, but I’m not confident that will work for me, do I look for a set of Explor forks for sale or do I cut my losses and sell the bike before I put more money in it still not knowing if spring forks will solve my problem. I’m leaning at this moment towards selling it.

I’ve decided, I’m in the process of getting it ready to sell it.

Oh well. Stay tuned.

Doug 21J

Part 3 of #217 of 21J’s new projects

Part 3

I forgot what it felt like to run out of rear brakes and as a result bit the dust big time. The other day while riding at Chalk Bluff and pushing as hard as this old man could I boiled the brakes. I’m a rear brake dragger and actually use the rear brake to help me turn. I had already ordered a solid rear disk rotor for the bike because I’ve been squeaking the brakes for some time, that noise is very distracting.

I’ve also continued to have the stalling issue I contacted Rekluse about it and they said to reconfigure the clutch so it had the high RPM engagement setting then set the idle so the bike creeps a little in gear with the clutch out. I also flushed the brake fluid installed the solid disk rotor along with new pads, now waiting for the next ride to try out the latest settings.

Well the next ride came the solid rear rotor worked although I didn’t push it hard enough to find if it cured the squeaking and fading. It takes a little bit of adjusting to the solid rear rotor it requires a little more pressure on the rear peddle and it’s much harder to lock up the rear brake which is a good thing. It did stall a couple of times and this just may be as good as it gets.

The bike overall works so well and is fun to ride, if I can push it around the tight trails at Chalk Bluff I can ride it anywhere.

I’ll continue riding it and report again later.

Doug 21J

21J ...King of Bike Projects!

Part 2 of #217 of 21J’s new projects

Went to the Chalk Bluff area along with 13 other NCWR members to work on the trail system, Nevada county Woods Riders has a contract with forest service to do trail maintenance, we divided up into groups each one of had a least one rider with a chain saw. Five hours later we had made huge progress they estimated we removed around a hundred trees in that time. We couldn’t get to parts of the trails because of the snow.

Well how did the bike perform, well good and not so good? The bike feels very comfortable with a little speed, but when I’m trying to negotiate slow switch back turns in the trees it feels very heavy in the front end and not easily turned. It’s a big mystery to me. The 2020 Husky TE300TPi I had which only weighs a couple of pounds lighter than the 350 I felt right at home. The 350 also flamed out on me a lot at very slow speeds and I remembered the last 350 trail bike I had did the same thing, shit.

So I cleaned it up and I’m back to the drawing board. I have a few things I needed to fix first before I tackle the main issues, my OX Hydro left hand operated rear brake started hanging up (Not good) the little screw that hold the spring for the kick stand came off and disappeared. The six mm screw that helps hold the frame guard snapped off when I tried to remove it. You know I’m beginning to see a theme here.

Going to look at the settings on the fuel programmer and maybe add some more fuel in the low down RPM range.

I talked with Bucky at SBB suspension about the low speed turning issue and he thinks the springs are too soft. I picked up a stiffer shock spring and Bucky ordered stiffer fork springs hopefully he will get them before this weekend so I can try it out.

Bucky installed the heaver fork springs and revalved the forks a little, in time for me to ride it this weekend doing more trail work at Chalk Bluff.

We had 24 volunteers show up for last weekend’s trail work which didn’t amount to much, so Stan and I didn’t go with the group instead we did a 34 mile trail ride about 3 hrs of run time on the motor, that works out to be about 14 miles per hour average. That certainly doesn’t sound very fast and you would be right, but it’s mostly 2^nd and 3^rd gear riding and we are old and not as fast as we once thought we were. And for those who ride in that area know 34 miles up there is a lot.

So how did the bike work this time, well I sent Bucky (SBB) a big thumbs up. It was a huge difference and now I can learn to ride this bike and gain confidence on it. How about the flame outs? I had less this time but still had too many. I’ve read a few articles about how they’ve tried to stop the stalling by putting this or that gadget on the bike; I don’t think anyone has been able to stop them completely. I watched a video on why the 350 is more prone to stalling more than any of the other KTM/Husky four strokes and I think what he had too say made sense. Basically its inertia the 350 has a very small light weight crank, flywheel and clutch so it can reach those 13,000 RPM’s and when you turn the throttle off and right back on there isn’t enough motor inertia with those lightweight parts to pull in the next gulp of air and fuel ergo flame outs and I’m a notorious off/on throttle jockey which doesn’t help. I added more fuel to the low end and that seem to help.

One thing I did notice was when I shifted into third which brought the RPM’s down and I came to sharp turns and thought I had enough inertia to pull through the corner that’s when it would mostly stall. I think the other thing that contributes to this is I have a Rekluse and I believe there may be a small amount of freewheeling that goes on when off the throttle taking away from some motor inertia, all speculation on my part. One thing I do know is the 350 seems to be more prone to flameouts than the rest of the KTM/Husky four strokes.

I installed a WC Hr meter, RPM do-dad, I found the factory set RPM at 1640 to 1670 which based on all the information I’ve ever heard in the past is too low. It’s been my assumption 350’s need to be around 2000 RPM in order to operate the EFI properly. I’ve increased the RPM to 1850 to 1900 and will try that to start with. When razing the RPM’s I will have to adjust the Rekluse to compensate for the increase in drag.

I will say this if I can’t cut way back on the stalls I will be selling this bike. I don’t blame the bike for my poor throttle skills. And at my age it will be easer not cheaper to find something that doesn’t have a reputation of stalling in the first place; in this case this would be better than trying to teach really old dog new tricks.

I thought I was done but, went to Chalk Bluff with a couple of my riding buddies we did thirty miles which is a lot for up there. I had raised the idle, reset the suspension settings and reset the fuel programmer to the stock recommendations. It didn’t start out well within the first three, four miles it stalled four times. I reset the fuel from 3 to 6 and it only stalled twice the rest of the ride. 

I changed the Rekluse engagement point; it was set at a low RPM engagement point which translates to a lower RPM point when the clutch will disengage. I’m going to experiment a little; I set it up to engage at the medium point which means a little higher RPM before it engages and a higher RPM point where it disengages. My thought is perhaps it may help with the pop stalling, we will see. I didn’t touch the suspension settings at all. This was the first ride on this bike where I really enjoyed ridding it. I put the 52 tooth back on this made it easier to use third gear everywhere this combination works much better.

Well that’s it for a while, I’m going put time on this thing and I’ll report back later.

Doug 21J