THE BIGWHEEL THREAD!!! Yamaha BW350, BW200

Save yourself a lot of frustration and buy a pair of snap ring pliers.
Less time cussing and more time rebuilding!

I need to remove a bw350 airbox to clean it up. Previous owners did some messy stuff to it (see pic). I am going to go thru the carb too so I figure this would be a good first step. Can anyone walk me thru this getting the airbox out?

Thanks,
duster11

got a 85 200 bw have been reading the other pages lots of good info. looking forword to more posts greg24

Welcome aboard greg24. The more the merrier. I hope that you found some useful information in between all of Cliff's beer-fueled rampages.

Oh wait, those were mine. Never mind.

Duster11,

I haven't taken an airbox off of a bike that still had an engine in it, so my experience is probably useless for you. The box is two pieces, so splitting it while it is still trapped in the frame is probably the easiest. Taking the carb and boot off will help as well.

Are you taking it off to clean that RTV off of it? The BW has one of the most watertight airboxes that I've come across. I'm surprised anyone would go to that length to try to seal up the cover.

Regards,

Mr. BigWheel

Mr. Big Wheel,

How did you handle the mounting of the aluminum wheels? Seems to me like washers are in order on the side sprocket side of the wheel where the nuts are right against the wheel. Also, did you use lower torque on the aluminum wheels than on the standard wheels.

(Getting ready to mount the Shercoman modified 12 inch wheel tomorrow.)

Hi to noob Greg 24,
I have a couple 85's just across the line from you in Wa.
Just got them last year and a noob here too..
I am going to the desert 100 in Odessa Wa. in 2 weeks for an epic race/poker run from what I have seen and heard.
1000 bikes. close to you..
Be fun to do the iron-man poker run Sat. w/another BW ...??

Link for race; http://stumpjumpers.org/desert100/
Link Of a B.W. in the actual race at 5:44 in the vid. of parade to lineup. #134 are you out there on this thread?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ktxnEuB54
Just to see 700 bikes (first wave) on 1 starting line all going hell bent across a mile of open desert to a 20 foot wide first corner is worth the drive alone to me .
From what ive seen Idaho looks like a super friendly ORV state with a ton of trails.
Wa. is now actively trying to strangle everything not P.C. that has a motor.

The washers are a good idea but only if the wheel studs are long enough to come all the way through the nuts when assembled.
If the additional washers prevent the stud from coming through the nut,don't use them.
The studs on these bikes are only 8mm so you cannot sacrifice any strength.
These wheels are heat treated aluminum so they are tougher than dead soft aluminum.
You may mark the aluminum but you will not pull through it.If you have the stock nuts,they have a flange on one side that acts as a washer.
This is sometimes serrated to act as a lock washer and prevent them from backing off.

Make sure you torque to spec. A lower torque could allow them to work loose and this will quickly damage the wheel and the studs.
A little bit of blue Loctite is a good idea also. Clean the studs and nuts with some type of solvent before using Loctite to get maximum holding.

how far do you guys ride before taking a tank of gas with you? wanna take a old 4x4 road out to the Colorado river in the next week or two and didnt know if i need a extra tank of gas. its 13 miles and takes about an hour to get out there with a good bit of elevation change.

My two stroke only gets 10 miles to the gallon so I have to watch my trips.
MR BW will chime in here because I'm sure his glacier trips are much longer but I'm sure you're probably good for that round trip.

I tend to calculate my rides by the hour instead of the mile. I would roughly estimate that I could get 40-50 miles out of a tank on average.

I think that's how most would judge, how many hours of riding are you getting?

Unfortunately I sort of loose track of time while out riding, so I don't have a good figure for you. From what you described as your length of ride, I think you should have no problem completing your trip with a full tank of fuel. Mr. Bigwheel and I have gone pretty far out in some pretty remote places, and if fuel was an issue, we would carry little MSR fuel bottles (like for small backpacking stoves) that only hold something like 32oz of fuel in our backpacks, or sometimes strapped to the handlebars. That may not seem like much fuel, but if you run out while on a ride, between reserve on the fuel tank, plus the 32 odd oz. of fuel, one could likely make it back to the parking lot where your pickup and sandwiches and beverages are waiting for you.

I have uploaded some photos of the Shercoman modified 12x8 wheel mounted on the bike.

http://s1354.photobucket.com/user/BWSwamper/library/#/user/BWSwamper/library/AT489%2024x11-12%20on%20DWT%2012x8?page=0&_suid=136414554246304826622531634707

The weights for the two setups: OEM 23x12-9 on 9x9 steel = 25.0 lbs, AT489 24x11-12 on DWT 12x8 = 27.6 lbs.

The 24x11-12 mounted on the 12x8 is actually wider than the OEM 23x12-9 (see photo of tires lying flat side by side). Based on the increase I would't recommend going to a 24x12-12 with this wheel as it could actually be too wide. I am guessing a 24x10-12 on this rim would be as wide as the OEM setup.

The narrower than OEM rim does tend to give the traditional donut shape, but I believe that may actually be an advantage for the flatter profile ATV rear tires. In my assessment, the new combination puts as much or more tread on the ground as the OEM setup. Also, the rim and sidewall are more protected by the bulge of the tire than on the OEM setup (which is pretty straight side walled).

The .190 DWT wheel uses every last bit of the available stud length, so no room for washers. It would be nice to have slightly longer studs if they are available.

The improvement in traction of the AT489 rear tire over the OEM rear tire in mud was quite noticeable. The combination of the AT489 on front and AT489 rear works fine for my riding environment.

The change in effective gearing from the 24 inch rear is just barely noticeable. 1st is still very low.

As for the looks....I like!

This partcular bike has 2 inch taller custom seat and 2 inch Rox handle bar risers. I think the visual impact might be even greater on a stock bike.

While replacing the rear wheel on my BW200 I mocked up some different shock lengths.

The stock is a 10.5 inch eye-to-eye. By my measurements, the swing arm could drop by 2.38 inches at the point of shock attachment before the swingarm bottoms out.

So a 12 3/4 inch shock might just work, but I'd be concerned that a tiny amount of frame flex would cause a hard contact.

Adjusting and measuring, I concluded that a 12 1/4 inch shock is the max guaranteed safe length. Measuring at the axle hole at the back of the swingarm, that would give around 4 inches of additional travel.

However, at 12 1/4 shock length, one is starting to get into the slack primary drive chain issue and would probably need to install a nylon rub block on the swingarm where the primary chain could make contact.

An 11 3/4 inch shock would give around 3 inches of additional travel and not cause as bad of a primary chain issue.

+3 inches travel on the rear should be enough to more or less match the Tri-Z fork's additional travel. That would give around 9 inches on the rear and around 10 inches on the front if I have my facts straight.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

RWBWheel,

Thanks for wrecking my day by having me watch hours of video from the Desert 100. That guy on the 200 at 5:44 is my hero!!

I think that we should assemble the largest group of BWs ever at an offroad event for the Desert 100 in the year 2014. I'm volunteering Cliff for the ride, since I'm sure that he will have nothing else to do other than drive me and our bikes down to the Lower 48 at that time.

vroom_vroom,

I like to plan for about 20 mpg on an average trip. However, if conditions are drastically loose, with a lot of rear tire spin, it is easy to get less. On easy fast rides, where you can hold the throttle wide open, the gas gets guzzled in a surprising manner for a small-bore bike. Usually, the 20mpg figure gives us a comfortable margin for planning.

Regards,

Mr. BigWheel

Hell, ill come up and ride one of the poker runs and rock the big wheel.

I'm in for the large group thing. (Of bigwheels that is). 2014 will be the year of the Bigwheel. We will have to notify the Chinese government about the calender change.

Mr. BigWheel -

Yes, that was what I was thinking, removing the airbox to clean up the mess. Turns out it was hot glue and peeled right off no problem. Now I have to either find an airbox cover (unlikely) or make one myself. Don't think I'll go to the trouble of removing it now. Next step is to remove and clean the carb then try to start this beast.

Thanks

MrBigwheel;
Im all in for a mega bigwheel rally/camp-out anytime - next years Desert100 race would be a blast to get a bunch of bikes into.
I would be curious to know who might all be in for such an adventure..
Does either Hollywood/Nightmare ride/have the ' Red Headed Stepchild of Dirtbikes ' ??

BWSwamper;
I like the 12" rim look ALOT ! I was also looking into a bit longer shock and curious to see what you come up with. I just noticed when I have been bottoming out the 25" tire rubs on the exaust, ill have to see if I can adjust it some..


vroom-vroom;
come up and lets do the poker run iron man, I have a Bro. in Vegas who has a T-Dub 200 new and it needs scratches and a riding buddy for him. I have a spare bw he could ride in the desert but he hasent taken the hints.. I have been out to the dry lake bed Etc. around there with his ATV's and its great Bigwheel counrty..
Ill take the GPS on next ride for a MPG on a 200 for you, been curious myself, im thinkin' some are guessing way low for the 200, where ive been riding has little flat ground.Lot's of elevation in a 3 hour ride.
Gettin' ready for that iron-man run..at Walker Valley in this pic monday..

Yea' come on!!!! I'm in it for next years run. Never been up there and it sounds like I can conn my some of the guys into a get away from the wife weekend..........