Christini AWD 450 DS Thread

I don't know how you can afford to cut off an inch. I had the most difficult time finding room for everything that clamps onto the bars. With the 1 1/8", the way it tapers, there's not much room on the 7/8" portion. I couldn't even put the kill switch on the bars. It's clamped to the right side upper front drive spindle just inside the headlight mount.

i didnt say it was going to be easy. that taper is a pain in the ass. like when i put the bark busters on it. i bought a brand new set of msr guards. the mounting clamps from msr just would not work without major mods. i had a set of cycra mounts from a bike i parted out and with no mods fits perfect. im going to fabricate a few brackets at work for everything on the bars. get rid of the turn singal switch and and stuff like that. i dont ride on the streets with the christini. just a test drives around the neighborhood. since its just strictly going to be used in the woods i could trim some of the fat. its a work in progress. i just wish i had more time during the week to do all of it instead of all saturday work and just a sunday ride. hopefully when i happy with the setup i would post some picks of a perfectly setup christini to my liking soon. i use my klr 250 and 650 for dual sporting.

I have the Cycra CRMs on mine. They fit on fine. But I had to move the clutch and brake perches inward a bit in order for the lever tips to clear the insides of the guards. My biggest hassle was fitting the AWD lever because I have a fan switch as well. I had to cut the flange of the grip so the lever would rotate. I just wasn't clear on where the damn thing should go.

I'd be interested in seeing what others have done. I could use some clean up on all the cables and wires behind the headlight. There's just too much excess back there. It's messy, IMO.

Surfer, why did you buy a dual sport if you're not going to ride on the street?! The dirt only version is much cheaper or you could have got the one with a pipe and FCR carb for the same price? Have you got a pipe for it yet? I think the stock pipe with the cat adds to the heat problem.

X1G, why would excess clutch lever play cause heat, because of incomplete release? I do agree with running more lube in the tranny! I run a little more in the motor too, about .8L.

I ride very tight trails, often with trees closer together than the width of my bars, but I would much rather bang them off trees than give up leverage. Especially on the Christini when the front end starts working, that thing gets hard to steer! I will post a pic of my bars, as they are very full! I got rid of the kill switch when I put the CRF throttle on, and just use the key.

I never said anything about excess clutch lever play causing heat.

I was saying you need at least 1/16" of lever play. Any less, as things heat up, that play can be taken up and then you will have, at a minumum, inertial drag which robs power and creates more heat and, at most, you won't have full pressure on the clutch pack which could mean some slippage.

As for too much play, depending on how much, at worst you could not have enough lever travel to fully disengage the clutch pack. That just makes shifts harder and possibly bends shift forks and grinds away the dogs as well as the usual undesireable side effects of slipping the clutch like you're in a drag race.

I would have bought the 2stroke if i could get it plated easily. I got the ds for ease of plating to ride the forest land nj. The days of me going to vermont to tag a bike are done. And i dont want to piss off the forest service and local cops. The older i get the less time i have. Im running a open header and muffler. The fcr carb will be put on this week. And the clutch play doesnt happen til it gets hot inthe tight stuff. I called ash on it and thinks i may have a banged up plate. We arent gonna do anything about it til i get the new carb on and see what happens. Christini does have the best support system i ever delt with. And nj they are trying to ban us from riding. So the less shit i cause the better. I already know people that had the tags pulled. I dont wanna go thru that.

Flexx bars are great because they are fat bars with long sections of 7/8" for all the switches etc. a kill switch by your thumb is an important safety feature. I think my bars are cut to 29 inches wide for the woods on my 300.

Surfer, I get it with the fire roads. I forget you guys don't have the amouunt of off road areas we do out West.

Dentvet, what safety issue requires a kill switch right next to your thumb? I think I'll be able to reach the 8" to the key, I did when the throttle stuck wide open on my GS1000 in downtown LA. And I used to ride with cut down bars, but went back to full width and much prefer it, but to each his own.

Sorry, I saw you said "1/8" max" and thought you were concerned about too much. I'm not sure "inertial drag" is the correct term for leaving some preload on the throwout bearings, but that would do it.

Inertial drag is the terminology for when spacing between a rotating and fixed part is so close that the fluid in between acts as a coupler. Essentially, the space can be so small that you are partially engaged due to fluid coupling. The fluid causes resistance (and heat).

As an example, sitting still in neutral... then shift into 1st gear. Some bikes shift into gear slickly and smoothly. Others give a loud clunk like a tractor and require more effort. This is because the spacing between the plates and friction discs is too small and the oil is acting as a fluid coupler and it causes drag. The intertial part comes in because the inner clutch hub is a rotating mass. Not a term I made up but an industry wide term.

The solution, on a multi-disc clutch pack, is to have more lever travel to lift the clutch pack further apart or to use fewer plates/discs so that less lever travel is required (you just need larger diameter discs for more surface area to handle the same torque). Fewer discs also means less clutch lever effort since less clutch spring travel is required to separate all the discs.

So Bob, I was right the first time, excess lever play can reduce the amount the clutch plates are moved apart causing inertial friction!

Still want to see a pic of your bar setup. Or are you cleaning it up?

I'm interested in what you did here and what benefits you were going for.

First thing I noticed is the FCR isn't the same one you'll find on an actual Honda CRF (at least it's a bit different than my '05) and it's a single cable, not dual. I'm pulling the carb this weekend to add a few things...Merge racing accelerator pump spring, 45 and 165 jets, NCVS needle and Flex Jet fuel screw.

Its only a minor deal but i think its safer to kill the bike with a stuck throttle with both hands on the grips. Or when you fail a hillclimb and your bike is above your head or has your leg pinned etc. You can kill the bike without letting go of the clutch or front brake. I guess you can kill it by dumping the clutch but that might get a bit hairy with 2 wheels digging in

I agree that its best to run as wide a bar as your terrain allows, especially given the christini torque-steer issues.

Does anybody have thier switch lever mounted on the fork drive tube, which is 7/8"? I don't but have my MAP switch mounted there.

First, sorry, I will post a pic of my bars, just forgot. I was busy getting the Rekluse Z-start installed with my custom "no lever" set up last night. One thing about the Christini, there is very little room for big hands around the carb, starter, clutch throw out, etc! If the "Flex Jet fuel screw" you mention above is a remote mounted pilot screw, please tell me more!

My reason for installing the FCR was increased power and response over that little CV carb. The one I used is an '03 CRF450R carb exactly like my old bike. I got it with the throttle cables and throttle housing, which is a dual cable system. The stock Christini housing is single cable, but has the capacity for duals. The problem was it uses larger thread on the ends and shorter cables, which I couldn't find to fit. I actually bought a second stock cable, but it wouldn't fit the FCR length wise (cable to sheath). So I used the whole CRF set up with a CRF450X starter button.

I am curious about this single cable FCR you have? Is this the stock FCR on the new Christini high performance model? I am running 42 pilot and 178 main with a JD triple taper needle for a CRF450R. The dyno guy said to go up on the pilot, but the 45 made it stall with sudden throttle and it only wanted 1/2 turn out on the pilot screw, so I went back to the 42.

I never thought of that, very clever! I will check that out. I had to lose the kill switch because it was part of the throttle housing I lost when going to the CRF set up described above. Maybe I can add a separate one?

I'll start ripping the carb out of the bike Sunday eve. My weekend is pretty full with a forest service meeting and my wife leaving for a week for work.

Yeah, the CV on the 450E is a single cable FCR. The small lever on the clutch perch is the hot start on the Honda but they made it into a remote choke. First glance, I don't see a hot start option on the carb body. I'll know more when I rip it out and can actually see more. I'd like to add another cable for the simple reason that I can mechanically close the throttle myself instead of relying on a return spring. I can't think of another reason for a twin cable.

Yeah, the flex jet is a flexible fuel screw, not necessarily remote. It has about an 8" long cable so you can locate it in easier reach. Just need to find a place to attach to.

Maybe? Yeah, you need one. After I got mine together and ran it the first time and realized I couldn't shut the fucker off, I realized I forgot to install the kill switch.

Key works fine as a kill switch and the upper drive shaft is too far down, it's below the key. I have tall bars, I 6'6", so everything is down. Here is a pic, the key is in the stock place behind the brake line above the right fork leg. The stock set up on mine had the choke on the left perch, but I switched it to an aftermarket hot start lever on the right perch when I removed the clutch lever and installed the other rear brake MC on the left bar. I still have the hot start on the right perch, but it's hidden by the mirror.

Here is my choke because it is a pull knob on the side of the carb and it is completely hidden by the secondary chain cover. It is a string of safety wire around the choke knob and then tisted into a loop leading to the unused fuel line guide on the side of the frame. This allows me to pull the choke on and then push it off, although it usially releases by itself because the fuel line is pushing on it.