Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128244
The tec h stic k ers tell the tale. T he W hite Brothers W B Ca rbo n Pr o exhaust system not o n ly looks tri c k , but It weighs a c o u ple of p ounds l ess and p i cks up a c laimed four horsepower over stock. T w o sets of suspe nsion w ere in orde r to partake In the various rac ing exploits we had in mind for the project CRF. Nuts have been added to the f ootpeg s so that rubber in se rts could be screwe d on f or better g rip, speci fica lly f or supennoto. could have a MX set and a supermoto set , o r an MX set and a d irt tra ck set , or. .. yo u get th e id ea. We started off in sup ermot o m ode, w ith White Brothers suspe nsion du de T odd St anford pu ll ing apa rt our spare b o ing er s and giving th em th e fu ll superm oto tr eatment. White Broth er s R&D has shown that supe rm oto bi k es work best when the travel is dropped abo ut two inche s in the fro nt and 1.5 in ches in th e rear. Th is is acco mp lished with t op -ou t sp ace r s in the S h o w a c a r t r i d ge fo r k s and a mach in ed a lu mi n u m spa c er tha t is added beh ind the snap ring that k eeps the guts ins id e th e shock . In ou r applic atio n, Stanford al so saw fit t o ditch th e stock shock spr ing in fa vor of an Eibach 5.5kg rear spring. Reva lvin g of b ot h t he f o r k and sh ock i s a l so requ ired , wi th the specs being sim ilar to those of a IT setup for d irt track . Speaking of dirt track , the am ou nt of cha ng es required t o m assage the st o ck co m pon ents is t he sa me, but the spe cs are wa y di ff erent. Fo r d irt tr ac k , Sta nfo rd lim it s tra v el t o six inc hes in th e front and five inc hes in the re ar, using m od ified fro nt spri ngs and a n Eibach 5 .8kg rear sp r ing . Reva lv ing is also requir ed. Com parative to the other ph ases of th e proj ect, on ly a revalve is req uired to im p rove th e CRF' s al rea dy compet ent stock Show a suspe ns io n fo r th e ri go rs of mot ocro ss use. Wh ite Broth e rs o pte d t o ret ain th e stock spring rates and sim ply tailor the valving to suit th e need of th e rider, who, in this case, turne d out to be four -t ime AMA Na ti onal 250cc MX Champ ion Gary Jones , the head o f R&D a t Wh i t e Brothers. More on that later. WHEELS , BRAKES & STUFF It' s funn y h ow the Au st rian b rand KTM is ahead of the curve wh en it c o m es to providi ng its customers with a tr ue OE mu lt ip urpose racer in th e fo rm of its 450 and 525 SMC models. KTM sells the two MX bikes co m p lete w ith a second set of wheels (1 7 -inch ) and front brakes ( f o u r - p i st o n) fo r supermoto use . The point bein g th at i f all y o u wan t ed to do was take a s t a b at the a l t e rn at i v e sp ort, y ou could just cha nge the wheel s o n your CR F and ge t b y w ith th e e x is ti ng m ot ocr oss susp en sion. T he same hol d s true fo r our p roject bik e, which uses superhigh -qua lity T alon hubs and Excel ri ms across the boa rd , wh ile the supermoto version also spo rt s Mo t o -M ast er ' s fine bra k in g co m pone nts for extra stopping power. The 17 -in ch WB Motar d whee ls m easure five in che s w id e, wi th the fro nt w hee l m ated to a Mot o -M aster Su permoto R a c e k i t , w hi ch includes a 320 m m brake 'rot or , fo urp i st on cali pe r and a tr i ck , go ld ano d ize d ca liper rel o c at ion brac k et. Wh it e Bro th ers also saw fit to add a F astlin e Brak e Li nes sta inless ste el brak e lin e b et ween t he ca liper a nd th e CRF',s sto c k Nissin fro nt b rake master cyli n der t o furth er increase stopping power. Th e 19 -i nch er s used for d irt track and the respective 21 inch front and 19 -inch rear m ot ocross wh ee l s a re a ls o c onst ruc t ed u sin g Excel rims and Talon hubs. We als o mixed and matc hed stock sproc ke t s w it h T a l on' s tri ck go l d an od iz ed 7075 -T6 alum inum units as need ed. For all o ur Supermot o tire need s, w e c onta cted Ma xxis Ti re s ' Wad e Buffington , who s et us u p w ith Ma xxi s' ex ce ll ent Go l ds peed super m ot o sl ic k s. W e also chose Maxxis D TR -l dirt t r ac k tires i n the CD5 me d i um co m p o u n d , mi xing them with ve ne rab l e G ood y ear DT-II dirt tra ck tires as needed t o suit tra ck c o nd it io ns or ri der preferences. The m ot o cr oss tires w ere Maxxis Ma xxcross ITs . cue I e n Co mpleting th e high -zoot looks of our project machin e, Wh it e B rothers added its WB Team Gr aphic s and WB Team Ac cessories ki ts (tho ugh some of the t eam spo nsor stickers needed to be blanketed by our alte rna te produc t suppli e rs ) . Lastl y , as f ar as th e co nt ro ls are co ncerne d, we went with o ne of our favorite add -e ns . a set of T ag Meta ls X5 CR High handl eb ars. ROCK AND ROLL So, were all the add itions made to o ur project b ik e w ort h t he sum of t h e parts? Th at's a subjectiv e questio n , but we c an say th at there must have been someth in g sp ec ial ab out the th ing becaus e i t su re saw a l ot o f action this past sum mer. e _ S • D ECEMB ER 1 0, 2003 9