i need a crash course in reeds. im watcha call a reed noob.

[dank]

hi all. my carb doesnt line up wiht my reed boot from my airbox boot, so im looking at putting a spacer in, and i would like to know just what im getting into before i start taking stuff apart. i understand how reeds work, but not much else. i figure if they look like they should be replaced then i can do that while im in there. so whats the difference between all of the different reeds in the world? like the VF3, or boyesen, ( i assume i have boyesen as i thought i read that they changed to VF3 in like 06 or something like that, please correct me if im wrong) i just want a crash course on what different reeds do different things, and what your reccomendations would be for me.
any response is much appreciated!

[iancp5]

+1
This would useful info if any reed experts out there.

[flybars]

+2 here. I sure appreciate dank asking all these questions. I have the same year ec250 as he.

[dank]

well im glad someone else is getting something out of this besides me. i bought the bike as its 5th owner, the first being a AA enduro rider, so the bike has seen better days, and im trying to sort out all of its little quirks. to put its age and use into perspective, the first rider was dylan debel (now a husaberg racer) and he put on an iron man rear sprocket. i now have that bike, and the ironman has reached the end of its life. dylan also put on a set of G2 throttle cams, and protaper EVO bars. the bars had a gouge at least 2mm deep in them from the throttle. btw this is my first bike, and the first "modern" dirtbike in my family. so im learning from the ground up, hence all the noob questions

[GMP]

First, the alignment issue is somewhat normal or common, as the airboot is very stiff. Heat it with a hair dryer when lowering the subframe and mounting it to the carb. Adding a spacer is not a solution.

The Boyesen RAD valve was used OEM up until '05, then the VF3. The RAD valve had an integrated manifold, the VF3 (and prior VF2) are just a reed block and require a separate manifold/spigot. Different design philosophies, but in short the MotoTassinari VF2 and VR3 have four sets of lighter carbon fiber single stage petals compared to two sets of larger dual stage petals on the RAD valve. Back in '04 I designed and had my own manifold made to adapt a VF2 to the GG 250 before it was OEM. It worked awesome and gave the bike a lot more off the bottom than the RAD valve. If I had an older bike now, I would replace the RAD valve with a VF3 and OEM GG manifold from an '05+ bike when it was time for reeds. It does require some case casting cleanup where the outboard reeds can "land" or touch, so if you not up to this the best bet is to freshen up the RAD valve with some new reeds, replace the carb boot(they do develop cracks eventually) and ride.

As you gain experience and develop a preference for certain performance traits, you may want more low end snap and the VForce mod is one way to do it on the '03. The CDI is another as well as the head. Since this was a AAs bike, I suspect it may have had some help in the past.

[dank]

thank you very much. someone else had suggested that the airbox boot may have slid back at some point, and i was going to look into that. i had assumed that it was bolted in place. dylan left the motor bone stock, so i dont think its had much done that way, and im not up to modifying to fit the VF3 reeds, so its another set of RAD valve reeds. are they a standard part, or is there a cross over? if not i will call gofasters and see what they have to say, the website shows nothing under reeds, but thats nothing new, their website is rather difficult. once again thank you very much.

[iancp5]

Dank, as GMP stated the airbox is a PITA even if it's perfect and the subrame is perfectly inline as far as you can tell. For some reason they always seem to be a little out. I haven't had a brand new bike so I'm unsure if they ever fit as nicely as they should. They always feel like they're 1 or 2 deg wrong.

[GMP]

My '07 was still not perfect, you need to warm the airboot and shift the carb slightly, pay attention that the airboot is evenly seated on the carb while tightening the clamp. Another thing I do is bond the carb boot to the RAD valve or manifold with grip glue or RTV, and add a few washers to the center of the clamps so they cannot be over tightened and distort the boot. Once everything is on nice and straight and clamped down, you can heat the area again, it should take a better position set once its cooled. A heat gun works better but you have to be very carefull.

Yes, on the pre '07 bikes the airbox is screwed to the subframe, and there is a very small amount of play that can be used to help the alignment if the screws are loosened and the airbox shifted, but its not much.

RAD valve petals for a case reed Honda CR250 application (pre '97 I think) fit the GG RAD valve. Its actually the same valve design with a different spigot angle to fit the GG motor/frame. You can get carbon fiber or fiberglass, or at least you used to have a choice. Carbon Tech used to make a single stage petal for the RAD as well, but I think they were bought out by Boyesen.

The stock '03 EC250s were kind of flat off the bottom, at least mine and Cruiser's were. We both swapped our CDIs for CDIs from older XC250s, which had a more aggressive map. Big improvement. If your bike has good low end snap its likely that this was done. I am sure an AA would want more than the stock '03 EC had off the bottom. What color is the shrink tubing on your CDI harness?

[dank]

i would have to look. it doesnt snap hard off the bottom, but it pulls really strong and smooth, which i like. i dont really want to change anything on the bottom end, im in the process of rejetting, and i have the bottom end figured out ok, but im still working on mid-top range. i just wanted to know what i was getting myself into if i should need to replace the reeds, and i couldnt find what i was asking for in the older posts. thank you and i will get back to you on the cdi question, but i would suspect that it is stock. dylan told me that he didnt want to change the motor from stock because he believes that stock motors are the most reliable.