crf250 Rally

[garyboy]

local trail ..

20220123_134237 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

[garyboy]

Yesterday I felt cold all day and stayed in bed, just like the oap I am .. doh. But at least I was watching Noraly on her 300 Rally .. oops .. I mean her Himalayan, as she not changed it yet in series one, so far. I am thinkng of calling my 250 Rally.. NoRally .. lol .. as I admire her so much and just love the way she makes everything look so so easy.

Must say, her Himmy seems to be doing well and looks good from the cockpit, in travel ... I do admire the low seat, but, surprisingly, I am quite happy with the high seat of my 250 Rally, as it just rolls over stuff quite nicely, with no drama, and feeling very stable, unlike that lemony 2015 250L I had, which I rode with squeezed up bum at all times, doh. .. I don't know what the difference is, but my new one is so much better ... also it pulls up hills much much better ,, as Minky says .. powering up on std sprockets, where my old L I had to rev ... mind ,, i had changed the gear ratios... this new one is great, so far for me, as standard.

I see Nathan has rated the Himalayan as the best, so far, of his small fleet of bikes, and it would be great to try them, as he says, to see the difference ... I just can't imagine anything being better than my noo Rally ... except of course the 300 Rally lol.

I will read RS's video he got, of the Himalayan .. later .. but I am all crf at the moment lol.

Just worked out the mpg... and my Rally seems to be doing about 80mpg (just used a `full` tank at around £10 for 120 miles, and petrol was around £1.50 ... 1.56 and then 1.48 per litre) and that was very mixed riding, bigger faster A roads, smaller B roads, Trails, grassy lengths, etc. .. so well chuffed with that,

She seems to pick up really well, once you wait for the revs to increase lol (in too high a gear), and can comfortably do 60's and 70's, and my present tyre combination of new MT21 rear and worn IRC oem front, seems to be working ok, though the trails have dried out a lot since last time I slipped out lol.

All in all, very happy so far.

[garyboy]

I forgot to mention from yesterday that I had to adjust the clutch again .. seems to need a mil or 2 every time I go out on the bike, so I know it will soon need the ebc ck1313 kit plus HD springs ... Will the exactly the same as for the old 250L .. I presume so?

I did in fact take notice of people's comments on clutch use, and made a conscious note of how I was riding.. I was surprised howmuch I rode the clutch (feathered it) but can see no way to change that safely. I think once this slippy slipper clutch starts to go, it is downhill rapidly from there. Perhaps its simply that the springs get weak causing plate slip?

Where is the best place to order from (when I got the money lol)

The other, more positive thing is .. I was actually contemplating whether I could live with just the one bike, the Rally, as I actually enjoy riding it more its more economical, but ... I doubt I would.. as the nc750s gotta be better for longer haull road trips ..

O .. also .. for anyone interested.. petrol .. the last gauge bar has about 30 miles left on it, and about 30 miles more when it starts flashing red. Each bar is about 30 miles, so 5? bars plus reserve must be about 180 miles .. hope I don't find out lol .

[garyboy]

would i recommend MT21 rear for wet gravelly welsh steep trails?

20220202_144055 (2)_LI by gary boy, on Flickr

... er ... NO !!


tipped me off gently when the rear slewed ... that was ok but I rolled down the slope a while lol ... at least i know i can pick the bike up

[garyboy]

top bike ..

20220202_161623 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

What pressure are you running, Gary?

[garyboy]

What pressure are you running, Gary?

good point, Richard.

Lower tyre pressures are supposed to give better traction, on trails, but are liable to pinch punctures from under-inflation, as we know, when hitting rocks etc, so i tend to go now for around 17-19 psi, though all my gauges are faulty so it is a `suck it and see` approach .. and boy does used rubber taste awful.

I usually give the `foot on the wheel rim` test, where i can just about easily squash the tyre. However I usually find this really unreliable on the front tyre, as the feeling mysteriously changes during and between rides ... doh. It starts off `just right` then gets down to, `omg !! .. I can feel every effin stone`, which makes me pump up the pressure (hey hay) to something i can tolerate, from a wheel bashing point of view. lol.

That pic of me just after I came off the crf .. what? .. no pic ... well send me a selfie stick and i can flash me as i go down, but don't report me lol... the pressures were probably a bit too high, but i was glad of that. as the previous miles were full of `big` stones, some nearly as big as pebbles.

A better riding line would have been better, avoiding the wet deep gravel in the dipped middle, but that would have involved riding on wet slippy sloped brown welsh clay, omg.

If you think all this irrelevant.. there is more to come.. so switch channels Now.

OK .. Yesterday was a really fab day, and reminded me of all the good reasons I used to love trail riding. I came home full of sweat right through and even had to consider washing my clothes .. a thing I leaned recently to on how to make friends and influence how peoples faces change. Did I mention the complete exhaustion and desperation, but jubilation, from trying to pick up a 157 kg top heavy bike on a slippery welsh gravelly slope, on m y own, mark you, then trying again to ride up, then failing at that, then trying to turn said heavy high bike on same said nasty trail with lumps and bumps and rocks? feeling defeated and useless, then riding back, soaking wet and downcast, but happy to be alive and witha bike almost in one piece, but so glad i had fitted the hand guards.

tbc....

[garyboy]

.. so .. back to the irrelevance .. (reasons i don't run low low pressures) ..

well yes, it does save me potching around with hand pumps after every trail, and i do seriously try to get the golden mean of tyre stability lol. I usually like to go to mid wales and that is a lot of tarmac to cover. However, I am hopefully anticipating that that task will be a lot easier with my noo 250 Rallyyyy. .. yay !!

In the past i tried to convert my older 250L to something approaching an enduro bike.. but with lead weights attached. ... It didn't work!! as the beauty of the CRFs is their balance of road / trail, their long service intervals, and general robustness, in a low tone sort of way.

I put in rim locks .. HD inner tubes .. high profile big knobbly tyres .. as well as lower gearing .. but kept the rest as standard, for longevity, and resale value (joke ha ha .. dealer rip off quotes)

I used to order tyres off the internet and actually fit them in my living room, in the quest for being the ultimate, living the dream, biker .... lol ... I ended up with a ruined carpet, and pinch-punctured tubes from crap tyre levers. I live in a block of old peoples' flats, waiting for goddo, but determined to get in just that last one more trail. .. so I was trying to prevent the elderly neighbours complaining ... but they complained anyway .. and now i have taken up the `fukk 'em ` attitude.. they er.. can't believe it .. they actually seem to revere me??/ with the elderly ladies actually swooning in my path, and tryin to hide their wrinkled skin and they attempt to look coy.

.. tbc ..

[garyboy]

the other thing is ... fitting by my tyre man ... they don't like fitting tyres with rim locks .. and neither do I ... and my carpet is ruined enough .. and it is very cold and wet out .. no garage lol

result of lowering the suspension ..
20171008_124322 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

rim lock .. fitting at home .. (avoid tyre levers that look even remotely like this .. they are serial tube killers!! )
20190428_175111 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

carpet about to be manked ..
20181101_154239 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr



.. so the short answer, Richard, is ..
er .. I ain't got a clue wot i is doin .. let alone wot tyres pressures are all about

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

On a rear MT21 you should do fine at 12 psi...not sure about no security bolts though.

I'm now pretty much converted to trials tyres for our West Country rocks, and run at half that pressure on the back. Fronts are the ones that suffer from pinch-punctures IME..the structure of the rear tyre (heavier carcase, coarser tread, stiffer walls) mean you'd have to really wallop it to pinch the tube.

Re the grannies...I keep telling you; it's you, not the bike.

One of the sad ironies of life as man is, the older you get the more attractive you are to women of your own age, but the same isn't true the other way around!

Nature is cruel!