RD250

 Reed all about it: I got me some Vforce 3 reads! At $137 with manifold rubbers and some spare reeds they were an absolute steal so it would have been rude not to pick them up during a recent trip state side. They were however: well used and in need of a clean so that was going to be my first job when I got them home. The reeds, stuffer blocks and cages are easilly seperated by pulling apart and witdrawing the centre reed holding pin. Once apart I could give everything a thorough clean and inspect. I found a few of the reeds were getting a bit fragile and worn on the edges so some of the spares were quickly swapped in for the dodgy reeds. Once all was clean the reed blocks were reassembled. Being Banshee reed cages they are a fair bit bigger width wise to the standard RD250D cages but seeing them drop into the inlet of a spare YPVS engine  reassured me they should fit knowing others ran with YPVS reeds in their bikes. Things would need modifying but it was p...

At the end of the 2016 season I had to return a lot of loaned parts. That included the carbs (2 sets), exhaust and even the crank. These have been grouped together to pick out the interesting bits of this part of the build. Suck My standard carburetors had to go back to Andy and I had already returned the set that I actually raced with to Sy. The bike had already been stripped for parts by Ian who borrowed it to try and make Silverstone on his own machine but sadly his back had other ideas so I didn't need to pull as much apart here. New Mikuni VM32 carbs were supplied from eBay USA for nearly half the price I can get them in the UK. Thankfully I was state side so the shipping was cheap too. I found it cheaper to buy them separately rather than as a pair but care has to be taken to get a Left and a Right carb as the idle screw will be masked on the right carb otherwise. I also ordered a set of new throttle cables as my current (one sodding race old) cables had the wro...