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.I.D rim
laced up to the Honda front brake. I
feel it gives me more steering feedback
than any 21-inch front wheel with
whatever rubber can be scared up to
approximate the traction of a dirt tire .
However, in fairness, I've been beaten
by guys riding Sportsman IT thumpers
with 21 inchers up front shorn with
any old brand of knob. So, if a 21-inch
tire is comfortable to you , than by all
means use it. It'll save 'you another
$85. If you do decide to go the 19·inch
route, the supplier I've listed is reliable .
As far as the rear wheel goes, just
get rid of the rim locks and tape over
the rim lock holes so the tube won't
take a trip through them. Put a 4.00 x
18 Carlisle Universal on the back, pop
about 20 pounds in it and your suspension and tires are ready to go.
On the matter of gearing for
whatever track you're going to run, the
stock gearing on the Honda is good for
only about 60 + mph with a 14T
countershaft sprocket and a 49T rear.
Honda makes an optional 15T front
which brings the speed at rated 7500
rpm up to about 65 mph . I needed
about 80 mph top speed, so Trivic
Distributing put me on to their PBI
Pro-Only sprocket with 17 teeth. That
brought the speed up to 80. They also
make a 47T rear sprocket, and if I ever
decide to road race it I may just put it
on . An extra master link and half- link
are required to fit the 17T sprocket.
There is also a chain clearance
problem at the front sprocket which can
be corrected with a grinding bit from
your hardware store and your % drill
motor. Just take it easy and grind a
small amount off the case. Trial fit the
sprocket several times. It took me 10
minutes to get it right.
Let's talk about the engine. Power it
has. Tractability, it hasn't. And since
most of the time on a race track is
spent accelerating from one comer to
another, breaking loose and sending
rooster tails is not in the program for
accelerating hard. This motor needed
to be tamed down as a motocrosser
and as a IT bike. It needed to make a
more smooth power transition and I
chose to smooth it out with a higher
inertia flywheel. Connolly Products
will modify yours for $70 and it'll
make a believer out of you. It's still a
bit squirty, now because of the unintentional pro·squat, but the heavier
flywheel made it much nicer. The flywheel will work for IT, motocross or
enduros. Again, you will have to
remove a bit of aluminum this time in
the stator cover where the leftover
casting plugs are, and on the crankcase
where the timing mark is. Before reo
moving the timing mark, punch a new
one with a center punch. A Honda fly.
wheel puller is necessary for this job.
It's under $10.
Controls are left as-is exceft for the
shift lever. The origina forged
aluminum lever was too short and
efforts to have it extended resulted in
failure of the weld . Honda makes a
steel lever for their CR125, and it can
be lengthened to suit your riding style
and foot length.
A number of guys have adapted
fiberglass seats and tanks from Champion dirt trackers to their motocrosserstuned lTers. And my Honda could
stand a further seat lowering (there's
still room). If you decide to go the
custom pieces route, you'll have to do
the adapting and bracket fabricating
since none of the pieces are designed
for the Honda. Champion also sells individually all of their many components
for their complete dirt track frames .
Their address is in the parts list
appendex ,
Southern California's District 117 is
going to have a IT Scrambles on the
Carlsbad Superbikers track in May.
It'll be interesting to see how the
Honda does on the track which was
literally
responsible
for
its
metamorphasis from motocross bike to
a new breed of IT bike. For
infonnation on the Carlsbad race in
May call Ed Carroll at 2111 /1171-71156 .
See ya there, motocrossers.
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