Just a quick race report on my WB165. This race was was held in Millville NJ where its basically lots of sand and whooped out single track. Some fast sections but also a lot of tight stuff. The laps were about 10 miles long. A quick recap......WB 165, FMF Gnarly from KTM 200, FMF Turbine Core 2, JD CR125 ignition with dual maps, stock / silver small spring from Walts kit, Revloc Dynaring and Power Now for my Keihn PWK. My suspension revalved by WER (Drew Smith). I think there were about 25 riders on my line (B-vet). My start was okay being about 5th to the first turn. After that it was all down hill (not literally). Right off the bat I got stuck behind a couple of turds on a short hill climb. Half way through the first lap a quick pass yielded me a badly twisted right knee after my foot was caught on a hidden stump. It took me a few minutes to regroup while riding only seated. I finished the first lap riding pretty slow due to most of my weight being on one leg. After going through the scoring lane and saw that I was in 20th place I was on a mission.
I noticed right from the start that the Revloc was slipping more than I thought was needed. I have had two Rekluses on other bikes and they never felt like this. I soldiered on and the motor was flat out amazing even with the slipping clutch. I left it in 2nd or 3rd throughout except on the faster sections. The front suspension seemed to hold me back a bit. It felt way too harsh especially on the bigger hits. Shortly after thinking this I noticed that my front brake line was hanging up on my hand guard mount. This would not allow my forks to extend all the way leaving me without the first couple of inches of travel. This explained the odd feeling! Just to back track a bit I had installed the front headlight on my bike the night before around midnight. I had performed all my testing with the front number plate on. The graphics company (remains un-named) sent me the wrong front graphic so I figured what the heck.....I threw on the headlight. Problem being that I didnt ride it until the race and the front headlight moves the brake line back an inch or two. Hence the issue with it getting hung up.
I felt pretty good threading the WB165 through the tight trees and made headway making some passes and using the bike like it should be. Flat out awsome! I came through the scoring lane in 8th. I set off with a goal of being in the top five. My buddy Chuck was holding 4th and I wanted to at least try and catch up to him. Well then the trouble really started. Moving through a tight section a huge burst of steam errupted from the front of my bike. I assumed the radiator cap was just letting off a little coolant. No problem.....it will stop. Wrong! The steam kept coming but I figured that my over flow tank would catch the coolant and suck it back in when the motor cooled a bit so I kept ripping. Wrong again! My clutch began slipping more and on a straight away about half way through the third lap I was on the throttle. Clutch slipping badly and then it happened.....the 'ol girl seized up on me!

I came to a quick halt by a group of kids that had hiked out into the course. One had a fanny pack with wire cutter, zip ties, and a old spark plug wrench. I let the bike cool, filled up the radiators from my camelback, and tried to see if it would fire up. At this point I just wanted to get back to the pits. While kicking I saw coolant squirting from the front of the tank area. My damn crossover hose had burst which explained where all the steam had been coming from. I cut some vent hose and replaced the cross over hose. Then I noticed that my fuel line had melted!

I replaced that with the rest of my vent hose. Figured there was a chance I could ride back. Bike wouldnt start. I pulled the plug......with coolant dripping from it!

I proceeded to slowly push my not so trusty steed back the long two mile trek to my truck.
Who did I blame for all this????? Well it sure as hell wasnt my fault!!

I installed the clutch wrong....there I said it......all my fault. The next day I went to the doctor who diagnosed me with a possible torn inner meniscus. She said take it easy and see how it feels in a few days. I went home and got to work on the bike thinking the worst. See pictures below.




I spoke to my psychologist (Walt) who reassured me that this was not a big deal and hey.....it could be a four stroke!! Thanks Walt! With Walts instructions on my computer screen I removed the aluminum from the liner and honed it until the imperfections and glazing were gone. Came out looking great (see pics below). I am crossing my fingers! The piston looked to be finished but Walt is going to see if it is salvageable. I turned the bike upside down to get the coolant out of the crank area and then sprayed some WD40 on the lower crank bearing area to remove the water. No up and down play in the crank. Just a MM or two side to side which I believe is normal. Walt is sending out a new piston kit. Yay! On to the clutch.
The steel plates were blued (shocking) and the friction discs were right at the wear limit. The springs were also right at the wear limit. The Revloc appeared to not have sustained much damage. I have a new clutch pack and springs on the way (thanks for the springs Walt)! I hope to have the bike back together next week. I have a month until the next race so I hope to get all the self induced bugs out. I am debating on if I will re-install the Revloc. I am sure that when installed properly it wont slip excessively but now I am paranoid. The member that I bought it from told me that he will give me some setup tips so I am going to take him up on the offer. The main issue with the race was that I didnt have time to test my bike prior to the event. I installed the clutch and the headlight the day before. Both of which set me up for failure. Lesson learned.
I want everyone to know that my problems had NOTHING to do with the WB165 kit. I had ridden the bike quite a bit with zero issues prior to the race. I had one issue but its due to me pinching a head gasket. This most recent issue was due to an improper clutch install. The motor otherwise was pure magic. I didnt feel like the bike was lacking anywhere power wise and compared to my YZ250 (which is a great woods bike) the WR was lighter feeling but still had the low end I love. I might mess with my gearing a bit as once in a great while I felt like I was could use a gear in between. I am currently running 14/52. The Gnarly pipe still hits a little bit too hard and low for me and I would like to smooth it out a bit. I might end up with a Fatty for the KTM 200 as I hear it is smoother. I am hoping that I have gotten all of my seasons bad luck out of the way in one race! I will report back with my next race report in early April. Huge thanks to Walt for all the help he has been providing!


