Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sticki ng with the red moti f , th e Wortls Connection Pro Perch keeps up with the look but also features a bui lt-in hotstart leve r and a nylon ring, so it w ill spin when you fall Instea d of bending. B y S T EVE Cox PHOTOS BY PAUL C ARRU THER S AND BLAKE CONNER 'm a two-stroke kind of motocrosser. I've been fighting the mixed -fuel fight f o r a while , using the common " T h ey' re too heavy ," " T h e y ' r e not snappy enough," " Th ey do n 't handle as well,"' a-rguments aga inst thumper m otocrossers, but I have to admit that, at least in the 125c c class , after hav ing put in a significant amount of time on each of this year's 250cc four-stroke motocrossers during our shootout, the little thumpers are so much fun to ride that they make you feel like you shoul d go to confession afterward. After ridi ng all of them, and know in g tha t ev eryo ne in th e office wa s go ing t o attem pt to lay claim to one or anothe r, I was the fi rst to speak up. " I' m going to do a CRF250R proj ect this year. I think this thing has a lot of potential." Ba sically : I go t dibs. The problem soo n becam e, how do I find cool parts for a bike that has yet to becom e available? T he sol ution to that p roblem ca me at thi s y e ar' s U. S . Op en , where I sp ie d Amso i l /Chaparra l Ho nda' s Chr is Gosse la ar rac ing h is new CRF250R (report edl y in st oc k form. with j ust a p ipe and kit suspens ion) to th e win dur ing Frida y 's 12 5 c c main event. "Well, if he has parts," I thought, "I can probably get t h em too. " Guess what? So can you! So I tal k ed to Goose's team m an ager, JC Waterhouse, and he broke down what was used on the bike, and I di d everything I could to duplicat e exactly that. What you' re look ing at her e is basicall y the sam e bike th at Goss el aar ro d e at th e U .S . Op en except without the high -end kit sus pension. Factory Connec tion did do a num ber o n th e stock suspensi on , though, as you 'll find out later on in the article. The first thing I did was give a call to Factory Connection . Steve Ross hooked me up with Peter Paige at the new shop in Southern California. You see, Factory Connection has a tremend ous rep ut ati on throughout the I c y c l e ne in dustry for the work it does on suspension - I m ean , c 'mon , its company motto is "The Best Su spensi on Peri o d"; th a t 's p retty b old - but it ' s alwa ysbeen based out of New Hampshire. Well , i f you're on t he W est C o a st, se nding yo ur sus pe nsio n across cou nt ry not only co st s more th an tak ing it to someone else local ly, but it adds time to the tu rnover shi pping time. I dropped off the baby CRF on a T uesday morning, and Peter called me at work the next day at noon: "It's done: " What's done?" " Your susp ension." " Holy crap! " I ' ve nev er e ve n h eard o f turnaround lik e tha t. Apparently , since the So-Cal shop i s so n e w , turn around is a lmo st i n the realm of superhuman right now. When I showed up to pick up the bi k e, Pe te r se t th e rid e h e igh t at 105mm and sent m e on m y wa y . The N ew Hamp sh i r e o ffice (w hic h w ill remain the m ain offi ce ) sent o ve r a se t o f aw esom e - look ing red trip le clamps and bar m ounts, along with a matching on e-p iece top mount. The steering st em wasn 't included , so I had to take th e bike to a lo cal shop and have th e stock stem pressed into the bottom clamp. Wh i le t he fo r k s were off, I went ahead and dropped the Works Connection EZ Holeshot ring around th e right fork leg , and once the bik e was re a sse mb led with the new t ri ple clamps, I went on my way to in stall the rest of th e " repli ca" equip m ent. I pulled off all of th e plastic and the seat right away and put the front numberplate and fron t fender asid e (since th ey would be r ep la c ed by v en t ed Cycr a units) . I ins t alle d th e T wi n Air Pow er Flow K it , whi ch repla ces the sto ck filter and backfire screen with a supertri ck billet-alumi num cag e and a fi lter that features a specia l backfire resista nt lay er of foam la m inated to th e inside of the filter. More air equals more power, and more power is all the Hon da was missing in order to win th is year's shoo tou t. _ S • D ECEMBER 3 , 20 03 21

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