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Hey guys,
First thing's first: I feel honored and excited to become a part of the group here - I purchased an '06 450R last Friday, which the original owner bought in May of this summer as a left-over. He rode it a couple times in his back yard, so in addition to its being showroom new, it's also showroom stock.
(Wasn't even finished the break-in cycles, so I did that last weekend, and changed the oil & filter afterward).

That having been said, I just installed an aftermarket fuel screw to allow for easier adjustments. One thing I noticed before and after the new F/S is that the headpipe glows red, after about 3-4ish minutes of warm up.

I know the 450's run hot, but is that normal? Not quite red enough to toast marshmellows by, but a tad longer and I may have been able to. I adj. the fuel screw to about 2.5 turns, just to where the idle begins to drop down. Any leaner than 1.75 turns seems to cause the idle to want to hang high a moment and drop slowly after throttle blips (symptom of too lean).

I came off an '04 250X, having done just about everything I could to it to make it more track friendly... And, while quite a bunch more powerful, I cannot get over how much lighter the 450R feels. Even to work on, it feels like more the weight of a 2-stroke 250. It's fabulous.

thanks for any tips.
-matt

It only weighs 7 lbs less than your 250X.
Joe

Don't listen to JAWS...he's just jealous!

Red after about 3-4 minutes of warm up will probably be normal....assuming "warm-up" is the bike just sitting there. The rads on the R are smaller than the X rads (250 or 450.) The R will warm pretty fast. You'll want to use Engine Ice or distilled water with a product called "Water Wetter" mixed in.

Check your jetting. I see you're in Southern Jersey (sea level pretty much.) Do the JD kit. I'm in Nebraska. Generally about 1000 ASL. I did a 180 main, 42 pilot, 1-1/8 turns out, 4th clip red needle with a TwinAir PowerFlow kit, and did the Redbeard mod on the AP. I jetted it just a hair rich. My pipe does not turn red, no bog, awesome response, runs great. I let it warm for about one to two minutes. Then, keep the air flowin' through. No problems.

JAWS wrote:It only weighs 7 lbs less than your 250X.
Joe

Yup, in all technical sense it really shouldn't feel much lighter at all. It doesn't make sense. But I wondering if it has that much of a lower c/o/g which could maybe give the characteristics of being a much lighter bike than I am used to? The 250X feels VERY top-heavy comparitively.

Ned - keeping with the stock filter and screen just now (have to watch spending for a bit) do you think the stock jetting is lean? Think the chart in the owners book says sea level, 80° temperature range is the 165 main and 42 pilot. Weird thing is I have my 250X set up richer than that! (16 main is the same which is odd, but with a 45 pilot, other mods listed below in sig.).

How can this be?

Monkeywrench wrote:How can this be?

The JD needle is leaner than stock so it requires a richer main to account.

~ wrote:

Monkeywrench wrote:How can this be?

The JD needle is leaner than stock so it requires a richer main to account.

Ahhh ha. Ok it's making sense now.

Any way to stop the glowing red head-pipe? Is it just because the 450R doesn't like to set still at idle very long? Within the same 3 minute time frame, a little anti-freeze begins to seep from the overflow tube. I'm thinking even if I ran the pilot wide open it'd still do that... just no airflow at idle... but it does warm up quick.

One thing that may contribute to the lighter feeling is that the R's are a bit thinner on top than the X's. I noticed it right away the first time I sat on an R.
Joe

Joe,
yeah I noticed that too, with the thinner design. Sure took a little getting used to at first. I thought it felt easier, maybe even more natural to knee-grip the 250X because of the width.
First couple laps on the 450R left me unsure if I was gripping the tank at all.

Kind of like practicing 3-pointers with a b-ball that's lighter than standard weight, all summer long. Then someone tosses you the real deal, and you miss. and miss...

Great analogy!
Joe

Glowing pipe is normal. Jetting should be close enough from stock. Not that a JD wouldn't help, but the R's don't come out of the box choked like the X's do.

After putting the trail tech vapor computer on my X I never let it sit running for more than a minute. These things heat up so fast when sitting or going slow. Also if you have rad guards make sure the stock deflectors are zip tied in place it will make a difference.
David

Ok thanks guys. Yup, I noticed within maybe a minute of starting it up and letting it idle it's warmed up and ready to ride.

Thanks again! This is definately a strong bike.
-matt

Need to add the new bike to the garage.

You're right... I forgot to do that.
Still in the "no, that can't be a 450R in the back of my truck" phase.
Denial. ain't just a river in Egypt
No, I will add it in. Thanks for the reminder