Swiss cheese and other things

[XREnduroKid]

Couple of questions on '01 250 E/XC:

-Won't start cold, why?
-Front brake gets so hot it howls, can you fix this?
-Bike gets real hot in the tight stuff, does making swiss cheese out of your radiator guards help?
-I barely tipped my bike and dented right side of pipe, will pipe armor help that or does it just dent with it?

 

[Patman]

Perforated the stock louvers with about a zillion holes and my 360 was much happier in the heat. Either get an FMF Gnarly pipe made from thicker material or check out E-Line's carbonfiber guard, if you dent it you'll have bigger problems.

 

[jeb]

My 99 250E ran pretty hot, too. It'd almost always loose an ounce or two of anti-freeze on any hard ride. I had DeVol radiator guards and boots on which didn't help. It never got bad enough to worry about, though. Use a little water wetter.

Flatland Racing ( www.flatlandracing.com ) makes a thick aluminum guard that is preformed for the stock pipe. The nice thing about alum vs carbon fiber is that you can make it fit other pipes with a little use of a rubber mallet. I had all 3 FMF pipes for my 99 250E along with the stocker and the guard would fit any of them. I'd have had to buy 4 CF guards to do that.

The thicker guards, CF or alum, will protect from dings but in a big hit they tend to flatten and/or push the pipe back against the frame. There's no perfect protection but those are better than most others. There's one guard made in Austrailia that is huge and quite protective but is heavy and large.

 

[Eyedoc]

XRkid/KTM convert

I have the gnarly pipe on my '00 250 and it still got on golf ball sized ding. It does seem quite durable otherwise. There is a company advertising in the mags that will blow out your dings for about $40. Any one have any experience with them?

My brakes will also howl when warm or hot. My son thinks it sounds like a train. (Actually, I hear that train also. Just before he blows past me ) . Must be the pads??? Goining to try new ones soon.

Ralph

 

[XREnduroKid]

Drilled the holes

Today i drilled 9 5/16 holes in each radiator louver. I'll see if it helps cool it better this weekend because it's about 90 degrees out. But what i think the real problem is, I COULDN'T EVEN SEE THE COOLANT LEVEL WHEN I OPENED THE CAP, AND THE BIKE WAS TIPPED ON IT'S SIDESTAND!!! I have to pick up some anti-freeze tomorrow and maybe some water wetter. Would a 50:50 mix of anti-freeze to water cool better? Thanks

 

[Patman]

Maybe try a 30% or 40% coolant to water ratio with the Redline WW. Should still offer good protection to the pump and corrsion resistance while letting it run a bit cooler.

Oh and be sure to use distilled water not plain old tap water, yes it really does make a difference IMO.

 

[yarbonwick]

Be careful about drilling too big of holes. The louvers are made to do two things. One for obvious protection and the other for ramming air into the radiators. Drilling too large of too many holes could offset that ramming effect. If all you ever do is slow crawl riding then think about getting a fan that's now available for the RFS's or atleast the coolant overflow kit.

Secondly, tell us exactly how you are adding coolant. Are you opening the air bleeders? Are your press-on connection at the T leaking? Have you replaced those? Is there any sign of coolant anywhere, take off the tank. Something isn't right. For a 2001 model you should only be playing around with jetting and suspenders. My 2000 hasn't used a bit of coolant in the year I've had it and it can get pretty swelting hot here.

 

[XREnduroKid]

Where do you get fans?

My dad's GAS-GAS trials bike has always had a fan that comes on when it gets too hot. I've always thought of putting one on my bike but i wouldn't have a clue as how that thing works off the thermostat and magneto. Where can you get fans for the RFS models?

 

[cujet]

My Husky 360 overheats here in Florida if I use a 50-50 mix. I use 20 percent propylene glycol in solution with water wetter. It solves my problems.

Chris