So are you just using cheap oil that they put in scooters, not fully synthetic? The CPI shop used to charge me 800 a change, 400 a litre was their cheapest full synthetic oil. What are you other guys using? Full/part/not synthetic? What weight? I don’t think 5W50 is necessary in this cuntry, I’d even consider 20W40, but the other places I asked said it was more than 400 for a lire of fully synthetic oil. Even my scooter guy said his cheapest that he had in stock was 800 a litre Repsol.
The benefits of full synthetic is it resists breakdown at high temps better, lasts longer between changes extending service life, and has more detergents in it. So if you’re doing oil changes on the low revving, low performance cpi every 1000kms I would see synthetic as a waste of money. It’s kind of like putting high octane gas in cars with low compression engines…
That’s kind of what I decided. It only revs to 8000 and I have to change it after 1000km. When it was new I asked them what oil CPI recommend, and of course it was the CPI/Motosun full synthetic oil. I just always used that, but I baulked at having to shell out $800 a month for oil, so admittedly I may have missed one.
I changed it today with the cheap stuff. It’s running like a dream and more importantly I feel like I haven’t just thrown away $500.
I started running it on 92 octane after about a year too, didn’t make any difference. I read on this forum that you should run an engine on the lowest octane fuel it can take without pinking. It’s the engine design and not the fuel that is making the high power. Running low compression engines on high octane fuel is literally a waste of money. So that’s another thing I wasted cash on in the first year. I rented a Fireblade in Phuket last year and it said on the cap it had to have 97 or 98 octane, I forget. Anyway all you can buy in the fuel stations there is 91. My dad said you won’t notice just pootling about, you’ve got to get it up towards the redline before it will make any difference, and it ran fine on 91. So I therefore believe about 90% of UK big bike riders are wasting money on super plus when they never get above 8000rpm…
Dogma used to run his on some fancy shit AMSOIL and he changed it every 500km too… I think I got caught up on the bandwagon at first.
Aye. When I was young and dumb, I had a little 4 wheel steer Honda Prelude which I thought was a ‘sports car’. I always filled it with Premium, and not just the regular 91-92 octane premium that was the standard in North America, but the 94 octane that was only available at certain brands. Shit, what a waste of precious cash that could of gone towards booze and wooing girls.
But for the supersports in North America, the recommended octane is a minimum of 91 (regular gas is 87 octane. We don’t get anything higher than 94 or 95 out there. I don’t think the compression ratios would be diff between the UK and Canada or the States, so they should be fine on 91. I wouldn’t go below, because just a bit of detonation and the engine is screwed. Not worth the risk on a real high performance engine. In other countries like China/Taiwan, I heard they recommend higher octanes because the gas is dirtier. Could have been a cousin’s friend’s stepsister’s mother, so not sure how reliable that is.
After 1.5 months of funtime my CPI has developed a bit of a problem. I’ll be taking her into a CPI shop tomorrow to see if they can sort it out. Just tossing it out to see if anybody on here had a similar problem.
Basically 2 days ago after sitting for 8 hours she didn’t start easily. Cranked fine, but never caught. After about 5 tries she started, and idled a bit lower than usual (about 1600-1700). Normally she idles at 1900. Anyways, once she’s started and a bit warm, I can turn her off and then turn her back on as normal. No stuttering or extra cranking required. If she sits for 2 hours she might need an extra crank. When I ride her, she feels a bit more unhappy to rev higher. But not much of a difference. Here’s the weird part: When I am riding at higher speeds and do some hard breaking, I can almost swear a bit of gasoline is spraying on my right foot and lower shin. Just a tiny mist. However, there are no visible leaks or liquid around or on the bike… And the spray is so fine that it evaporates so quickly from my leg, I’m not even 100% sure it is gas.
At first I thought it might have to do with the ‘autochoke’, but with the gas mist I feel it must be a leaking line or a leak from the carbs? Is this possible? The other thing is my display is faulty, and doesn’t read the correct speed. Tach seems to work fine though. I read a few guys on here had issues when the display went out. Possibly linked?
Is your CPI fuel injected? I ask because it would most likely be a fuel line problem and not so much a carb problem. Fuel injection systems pump gas
at higher pressure then carb systems. For example my Quannon when I turn on the key promes the fuel system by setting up the gas to be at 40 psi before
I start my motorcycle. I may be wrong about that, since it’s been a while when I remember my friend from the Kymco warranty shop talking to me about
it. Since you say it evaporates, it sounds like it’s not a brake line, but that thought did cross my mind when you said you brake hard. But then again,
you’re braking hard, I’m guessing you’re also down shifting. That’ll make your engine rev a bit higher and put more work on the engine and from the
sounds of things, the fuel line. You’d really have to take a good look at your motorcycle and the fuel system and try and find where it could come from
to hit your foot and leg.
As for your speedo not working properly, it should have nothing to do with the gas at all. They are 2 separate systems.
The CPI 250 SM is carb only.
[quote=“johnledoe”]Is your CPI fuel injected? I ask because it would most likely be a fuel line problem and not so much a carb problem. Fuel injection systems pump gas
at higher pressure then carb systems. For example my Quannon when I turn on the key promes the fuel system by setting up the gas to be at 40 psi before
I start my motorcycle. I may be wrong about that, since it’s been a while when I remember my friend from the Kymco warranty shop talking to me about
it. Since you say it evaporates, it sounds like it’s not a brake line, but that thought did cross my mind when you said you brake hard. But then again,
you’re braking hard, I’m guessing you’re also down shifting. That’ll make your engine rev a bit higher and put more work on the engine and from the
sounds of things, the fuel line. You’d really have to take a good look at your motorcycle and the fuel system and try and find where it could come from
to hit your foot and leg.
As for your speedo not working properly, it should have nothing to do with the gas at all. They are 2 separate systems.[/quote]
As mentioned, the CPI is carbed. It definitely feels like the fuel system isn’t building pressure. Reason I mentioned the display is that there was something I read where the bikes main cpu is somehow linked or is tied into the main display. But agreed, the possibility is uber remote. Unless it controls the auto choke… and gas isn’t evaporating… Anyways, taking her in soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
The auto-choke on carb systems are basically like a little heater. I don’t know if that really is the right term/word for it. When the auto-choke
gets hot enough, it stops allowing extra fuel to get into the carb. I’m guessing the way it works that as it heats up something expands that
pushes a needle down to stop the extra flow of gas. I found that out when I was visiting my friend at the Kymco shop and I needed help with
my carb, as it was still acting fucky after I took it apart and put it back together. In the process of taking apart my carb, I lost the little spring
for the idle screw. That’s a very bad thing to lose, as the idle screw ended up falling out. I was super lucky and my friend their just happened
to have the carb for my scooter that was just sitting there that was practically brand new, but a few years old and wasn’t going to be used for
anything, so he gave it to me. It fixed my ride back up, but I ended up ordering the idle screw (had to get 5) and he gave me a spring and little
O-ring that is needed to go with it.
So here’s the thing, do you know where the auto-choke is on your carb? If you do, try and touch it when your motorcycle has been running for
5 minutes or more. You’ll probably pull your finger away super fast if it’s working properly. I guess another question to ask is if you’ve had
work on your fuel system before? If the answer is yes, then it’s probable that if pliers were ever used to remove any fuel lines, that the pliers
probably put a hole in the line, hence why you have gas coming out onto your leg and foot.
I found that out the hard way when I took my scooter in for warranty repair in Taipei for a damaged crankshaft. The crankshaft was damaged
where it comes out of the crankcase by the oil seal and was chewing up my oil seal. I had them replace my crankshaft and in the process, they
damaged on of the little hoses for the water cooling. It helped make my cooling system lose a lot of coolant ovwe a long period of time and I’m
glad they did that, as it made my cooling system all fucky and made me bring it in to the the warranty shop in Hsin-chu where they fixed up
my scooter proper and replaced my left crankcase as it had a crack in it. Got a new cylinder, piston, and gaskets out of it too. The funny thing
is, that after all that, I still had a leak, and it turned out to be a little hose. Just had to cut off the hose past the hole, and put it back on and haven’t
had a problem since (knock on wood). Talked to the guy at the Hsin-chu shop and he suggested that the little hose probably wasn’t taken off
carefully enough with pliers.
As far as I know, the display is just a display. It doesn’t control anything. The bike runs fine without it. The CDI controls the important stuff, and that’s under the right rear panel. I have no idea what the problem is, but unfortunately I bet CPI don’t know either, and won’t be able to find anything!
I spot a white CPI last Friday night near Fuxing, followed by what I believe was a hartford… was it any of you? white color makes it look so great!
[quote=“johnledoe”]The auto-choke on carb systems are basically like a little heater. I don’t know if that really is the right term/word for it. When the auto-choke
gets hot enough, it stops allowing extra fuel to get into the carb. I’m guessing the way it works that as it heats up something expands that
pushes a needle down to stop the extra flow of gas. I found that out when I was visiting my friend at the Kymco shop and I needed help with
my carb, as it was still acting fucky after I took it apart and put it back together. In the process of taking apart my carb, I lost the little spring
for the idle screw. That’s a very bad thing to lose, as the idle screw ended up falling out. I was super lucky and my friend their just happened
to have the carb for my scooter that was just sitting there that was practically brand new, but a few years old and wasn’t going to be used for
anything, so he gave it to me. It fixed my ride back up, but I ended up ordering the idle screw (had to get 5) and he gave me a spring and little
O-ring that is needed to go with it.
So here’s the thing, do you know where the auto-choke is on your carb? If you do, try and touch it when your motorcycle has been running for
5 minutes or more. You’ll probably pull your finger away super fast if it’s working properly. I guess another question to ask is if you’ve had
work on your fuel system before? If the answer is yes, then it’s probable that if pliers were ever used to remove any fuel lines, that the pliers
probably put a hole in the line, hence why you have gas coming out onto your leg and foot.
I found that out the hard way when I took my scooter in for warranty repair in Taipei for a damaged crankshaft. The crankshaft was damaged
where it comes out of the crankcase by the oil seal and was chewing up my oil seal. I had them replace my crankshaft and in the process, they
damaged on of the little hoses for the water cooling. It helped make my cooling system lose a lot of coolant ovwe a long period of time and I’m
glad they did that, as it made my cooling system all fucky and made me bring it in to the the warranty shop in Hsinchu where they fixed up
my scooter proper and replaced my left crankcase as it had a crack in it. Got a new cylinder, piston, and gaskets out of it too. The funny thing
is, that after all that, I still had a leak, and it turned out to be a little hose. Just had to cut off the hose past the hole, and put it back on and haven’t
had a problem since (knock on wood). Talked to the guy at the Hsinchu shop and he suggested that the little hose probably wasn’t taken off
carefully enough with pliers.[/quote]
Update: the problem seemed to disappear the next day so halfway to the mechanic I figured no point and went back home. Two days later returned with a vengeance. It took a solid 15 mins to get her started from cold. And the dumbest design feature? Got to hold the bloody front brake in to start it. Ie no rolling starts. Going to try and disable that.
The gas leak I found out was coming from the gas tank ventilation hose. I filled the gas up and it’s spewing on my front fork, and a bit of it hitting my leg. So I think it’s unrelated.
Bike starts absolutely fine when warm, or only sitting a couple hours. I’m 90% sure it is a choke type issue. Will prob take her in tommorrow now that I have a better understanding of it. Thanks for the input, gave me a bit to chew on while trying to figure it out.
You don’t need to use the start button to bump start/push start it. Just turn on the ignition, run along, pop it in gear and let the clutch out. Or you could stand on the back brake and use the button. I had to do that for a year when the front brake pressure switch packed up.
The guy across the street from me has a ninja 250 and his mates are big into bikes. When we told him we wanted to sell, he asked a few things and was surprised the fuel system doesn’t leak. He said it’s the first one he’s heard of that doesn’t, and two of his brothers and a some of his friends have CPIs.
Maybe someone has mentioned this already in this long thread but…
Has anyone swapped in a complete 250cc engine from the much more powerful kawasaki, honda, yamaha, suzuki, ktm 250cc motocross bikes that have around 40hp and now some even have fuel injection like the 2013 honda crf 250.
It shouldn’t be that hard size wise because both bikes use 250cc engines but what would be best or more importantly to know would be exactly what years and what models of the motocross bikes have motors whose mounting holes line up close enough to the cpi frame. Ideally do any motocross engines just drop in and go bolt directly into the cpi frame?
I have a feeling someone by now has swapped in internals from 250 motocross bikes into the cpi engine but I would worry about the cpis bottom end or internals I couldn’t swap going out, and besides just dropping in a whole new 250cc motor would be easier then doing lots of internal swapping that is if the mounts are close enough even if not perfect but close maybe I could measure and get one of the machine shops to fab me some motor mount adapters
Another thing I would consider swapping would be the stock cpi triple tree and front shocks with a motocross bike triple tree and motocross bike upside down forks
lastly I would buy all the mods for whatever engine i could get into it and there are lots of mods for 250cc motocross bikes pipes boring etc i think the stock cpi is just 19hp? and most stock 250cc motocross bikes are 40hp so maybe I could get a 250cc motocross engine to 50 hp? That sure would make the bike a lot funner I think with 50hp you could have a lot of acceleration without gearing high and still have top speed but also motocross engines are geared low
anyway a street legal 250cc motocross bike would be cool and the cpi sm looks like a way to make that happen
below the 2013 crf250 fuel injection motor mounting position
haven’t come across many of those in Taiwan…
Although there are motocross bikes in Taiwan I would be looking on ebay
ebay.com/itm/06-CRF250R-CRF2 … af&vxp=mtr
ebay.com/itm/2008-CRF250R-En … e5&vxp=mtr
ebay.com/itm/2006-Yamaha-YZ2 … 67&vxp=mtr
ebay.com/itm/08-KTM-250SXF-K … 4a&vxp=mtr
cheapest was the yamaha 1300usd most expensive was the ktm 2800usd
but most importantly which one would fit in the easiest.
another good point about the 250cc motocross engines are the fact they all have direct bolt on head and piston
big bore kits 280-300cc from brand name aftermarket manufacturers
According to motocross action these are the stock HP figures for the 2013 bikes
"Now, the 2013 KX250F hits 41.16 ponies, and that’s not even the cream of the 250 four-stroke horsepower crop. The 2013 KTM 250SXF breaks the 42-horsepower barrier with 42.89 ponies.
The 2013 Honda CRF250 is the best of the rest. At 38.44 horsepower, it beats the Suzuki RM-Z250 (38.01 ponies), Husqvarna TC250 (37.86) and the lowly Yamaha YZ250F (37.17)."
I am wondering if the cpi engine would be a clone of a certain year/make motocross engine to the point of parts/ engine swap changeability because that opens the door for option b a direct bolt on big bore kit made for a motocross bike but then the botton end would suffer
on a side note for 500 bucks you could always get a crf150cc engine that has sumwhere around 20-30hp not sure
and put it in a my aeon 150 sure would make for a fun small bike
ebay.com/itm/HONDA-CRF150R-C … 65&vxp=mtr
The issue isn’t that simple. Engines have an ID number that has to match the original regi papers along with the VIN. So if you want to keep it street legal, it’s not going to fly easily. The CPI would need a lot of work $$$ done to make it properly handle nearly double the horsepower. It’d be better to buy the black market bike and ride around like ghost rider.
I thought about that to and 2 ideas came to mind
putting just the engine case cover or part that has the engine id number on it to the motocross engine
if possible, or modding the part with the engine id number on it to fit the motocross engine
or just swapping in the original engine 1 time a year when renewing registration/ inspection
but honestly I have never been asked for license or any documentation when riding or stopped in taiwan
let alone had a cop look at my engine id number also the 4 stroke motocross 250cc engines look and sound
very similar to a cpi engine
I really dont think that a lot of other modding would be needed to handle double the horsepower
the bike looks pretty tuff it seems to take abuse well when people have stunted it aslong as it has a decent frame and not one of the bad batch frames
I think it would be ok
I haven’t seen any yet, but I have met a few guys that have bumped their CPI’s to over 300cc. The CPI could easily handle the horsepower. I have an NSR that now has double the horsepower from stock and I still use the stock frame and swing arm. I race it on the track and it does just fine. The frames on the CPI’s are decent, so it would be fine.