[Chris Reinhardt]

There’s the 250 Superkart site here in the US that was a really good site, but Rob passed, so I believe his brother Doug is trying to sell off the URL…

I’m still building chassis if somebody is interested…  I was trying to sell off all of my inventory/fixtures etc, but I’ll keep building them if I don’t what it’s worth…

 

Chris R

[Chris Reinhardt]

Bump

[Chris Reinhardt]

UPDATE:

Only place on the planet if you want a complete do it yourself winning Superkart chassis kit.

Complete Inventory of Parts:

Cobalt Chassis and Parts
Fixtures:
Chassis Fixture with Setup Chassis
Uprights
Caster/Camber
Axle Bracket
Brake Lines:
Front 12pcs
Rear 6pcs
Calipers:
Front 2pcs
Rotors:
Front 4pcs
Steering Shaft 1pcs
Front Bumpers 2pcs
Seat Cradle 1pcs
Alloy Overflow Tanks 2pcs
40mm Hubs 5pcs
Master Cylinders 4pcs
Brembo Caliper Rebuild Kits 7pcs
Uprights 4pcs
Front Wheel Hubs 4pcs
Upright Bearing Carriers 46pcs
Front Axles 16pcs
Box Assorted Brackets, Tabs, Wing Mounts, Pedal Brackets
Box Brake Balance Bar, Master Cyl. Mounts, Spacers, Springs,
Knobs.
Box Assorted Tie Rods, Alloy Chain Guards, Kelgate Brake Pads
Kelgate Sprockets:
28t-1pcs, 27t-1pcs, 26t-5pcs, 25t-2pcs, 24t-3pcs, 23t-2pcs, 22t-2pcs
Tube/Pattern for Pedals
Flush Aluminum Aircraft Fuel Caps 2pcs
Front Lower Upright Chassis Mounts 2pcs, and pattern
Front Axle Bearing Spacers 6pcs
Brembo Pads New
Rear 2pcs, Front 4pcs
Assort Brembo Parts
New Rear Brake Hub, Front Engine Mount
40mm Hubs 2pcs
Front Upright Brackets 4pcs, Patterns and Fixture
Motor Mount Isolators 8pcs
Caster Camber Tube 9pcs
Tabs 30pcs
Throttle Stops 40pcs
Assorted Bearing Tubes/Fixtures
Front Master Cylinder Tubes 3pcs
Steering Shaft Heim Joint Busing 30pcs, Pattern
Taco Gussets 4pcs, Radiator Mounts
Seat Upright Samples, Assorted lower seat Mounts
Axle Bearing Mounts 3pcs, Steering Upright Tubes, Square and Round
Caster/Camber Bar Samples, Assorted Brackets/Spuds
Complete Set, Left and Right Caster/Camber Bars with Heims
Clutch Handles 3pcs
35mm Hubs
Short 2pcs, Long 2pcs
Assorted Tubes 20pcs
Brake Clevis 12pcs
Camber Mounting Blanks 50pcs
Front/Rear Motor Mounts
Steering Shaft Brackets 2pcs
Pedal Levers
Brake 4pcs, Throttle 7pcs
Pedal Samples
Rear Axle Brackets 9pcs
Tie Rods
3/8″ 5pcs, 8mm 4pcs
Billet Caster/Camber Adjusters 75pcs
Assorted Fairing Brackets 50+pcs
Seat Mount Jam Bushing Blanks 40pcs
Upright Upper Blanks 50pcs
Upright Lower Blanks 50pcs
Front Frame Rails 4pcs
Complete Set of Body Molds
Alloy Fuel Tank New

[Chris Reinhardt]

Before anybody got a lot out of programmable ignitions, we took the 99 boxes with the stator plates at FULL ADVANCE and we were able to pickup nearly as much as with the programmable boxes…

Save your money and advance the stator plate…

 

CR

 

 

[Chris Reinhardt]

Jig with bare frame….

 

[Chris Reinhardt]

Just a couple of quick pics of some of the stuff…  The body molds with a set of carbon bodywork, main frame rails bent, trim and weld…

This is just a start, I have a TON of parts…

CR

 

 

[Chris Reinhardt]

As long as the CR125 lasts and is supported by Honda, it’s a great platform!!!!

But at some point it will not be, and the CRF250 is a really good replacement for that…

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

I built a CRF450 a couple of years ago with EFI, I was pretty psyched to run that, I just lost interest in the Superkarts in general…  There’s just not enough interest in the class…

The 250’s have a good chance though, HPD has good program, there’s plenty of chassis and interest….

One thing I believe would move it along though, is some kind of on board electric starter…  I could probably do a remote electric starter mod on those cases and get rid of that kick starter…

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

Mark, the Superkart thing is a whole different deal…

It became a battle of the check books, and everybody was blowing up stuff to stay with it…

Kinda like the same thing that happened to Mod Moto…

Myself and JR Clasen has always talked about a “Stock 450” class, if there was more interest in Superkarts in general, I believe that would have been a good thing…

CR

 

[Chris Reinhardt]

Josh, thanks for the hands on report!!!  Being that I have run 450’s for a long time, I was pretty sure the 250’s weren’t all that bad…

So basically the series is a spec series as the motors come from your shop or HPD?

Is there a particular year that’s been used or is it any of the EFI 250’s??

I have an idea for a new 125 chassis, I was kinda thinking of a 4 stroke for road racing…

CR

 

[Chris Reinhardt]

I saw on here, some really ugly stolen trailers…  One guy had a surveillance video of the D’Bags that stole his trailer…

Like old saying says, if somebody wants something bad enough, Fort Knox won’t hold it….

But a GPS, is a little piece of mind….

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

Jim, I agree with you on both points, the CRF is slower, and the all the new Homologations aren’t all that much better, if any….  The tuner on any particular motor makes the difference…

But, I believe one of the issues of running a 10 year old+ motor is that everything in the motor is warn just a little bit, and all that adds up to a loss of power…  Take a fresh factory new motor, and all the tolerances are where they should be, and that makes up for a lot….

That being said, if the right person was to go though ever inch of the motor and measure everything, they probably would be able to bring everything back factory new spec, but then again, what would that cost versus selling it and replacing it with a new one….

So the CRF is slower? So what, it runs in it’s own class…  Stock Honda is slower than the Mod’s were, and the Stock Honda is probably more competitive than the Mod’s ever were…

I like the idea of lease motor program, you don’t have to worry about some tuner getting more power than the next guy……

I remember when I was road racing, the factory support rider’s used to walk over to the Honda trailer, wheel out a crate, pull their old motors, put in the new ones, pack it back up…  Takes all the guess work out….

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

$2500 to lease, $1000 to rebuild, doesn’t sound so bad….

Try sending the TM back to the factory for a rebuild, best it costs more than $1000!!!!

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

The bigger issue and the reason why the US didn’t jump into shifter karts as quickly as the rest of the world is the cost of kart specific shifter motors.

That gets back to the CR125 which has been probably the most popular platform, probably the cheapest to run, and currently the only professional platform here in the states.

It’s also something Honda hasn’t built as a unit in 16 years.

So as a replacement, the consideration has been going towards 4 strokes, because they are in production today and can be bought as a complete unit from the factory…

In a kart, well maintained, they are no as bad as you think…  Definitely more complicated to do a top end swap, but not that bad…  They only get real expensive when they go boom!!!

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

John, I raced MX for 10 years, and yes a refresh mid season was about what I did also on my 250’s, I know lots of guys that got a full season on a top end.

You’re also comparing a 250 two stroke MX motor, to a 125cc kart specific motor, two very different things.  If you raced a 250cc MX motor in a Superkart, you would never get a 1/2 season from it….

Ask some of the stock moto guys what they get out of a top end, and what that costs…  They are very economical for sure.

I’ve run full on Motard motors in my karts, and lightly mods.  The full on’s were oversized Ti valves, and the ones that were slightly modified had stock valves with bronze seats…  The stock valves held up much better than the oversized Del West valves which are some of the best on the planet…

Just my experience, I’m sure yours was different…

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

John, I started in MX, went through road racing, ended up in karts…

You’re talking apples and oranges…

You can run a whole season on a piston and ring on MX 250 2 stroke, you get maybe 2 weekends on it in a superkart..  Maybe several pistons a weekend if you stick it.  In MX, you’ll never lean them as much as you would in kart, and they’ll never stay wide open as long as in a kart…

I’ve run CRF450’s for several seasons, had one the first ones out there in 2003, I can get about 2 weekends on a piston, if it were a big race, I put a fresh one in just because.  The only failures I’ve had were aftermarket valves, factory valves work very well…  The biggest problem we have encountered was factory rod failures, so we replace the rods with something like a Carillo, problem solved…

The biggest difference in the two is that you can run a two stroke till they blow up, $500 to $600 in parts, back on the road.

You run a four stroke till they blow, could be $1000 or more in parts!!!

I love them both, I still have a bunch of 125’s…  It is what it is…..

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

John, I believe you mean CRF250?

Honda did do a big push a few years back when they put together the whole package and I believe they announced a series, then I heard the 4 strokes were banned from that venue???

The big difference and fear is, you can run a 2 stroke till it blows up, worse case scenario, you ruin a jug, maybe a crank, you’re talking $600-$800 in parts…

You blow up a 4 stroke, worse case scenario, jug, head, crank, maybe cases, could be several thousand dollars in parts…  Ask me how I know.. :)

On the plus side, you never lean, or cold stick a 4 stroke and if you stay on top of the maintenance, they hold up very well.

BTW, over revving has never been an issue, usually stock rods fail on the throttle, or over used slipper piston give it up, and I’ve had after market valves fail…

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

Bill, there’s plenty of “fiddling” to be done with an EFI motor, hence the HRC programing kit…  It’s easier to do than changing a jet, but there’s plenty in there…

http://world.honda.com/HRC/products/settingtool/crf250r_2013_settingtool/

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

Sold

[Chris Reinhardt]

SOLD

[Chris Reinhardt]

 SOLD

[Chris Reinhardt]

 SOLD

[Chris Reinhardt]

 SOLD

[Chris Reinhardt]

John, K9’s are cool, but they’re are outdated if you want to competitive, so their cost is a mute point..

I never replaced valves in one of 450 kart motors unless they broke, and that was the least of the cost…  Cranks I’ve used Falicon’s, and a few others with HD rods, I’ve gotten several seasons out of those, completely different than a seized two stroke puking piston material through the bottom end….  Just the fact that a 4 stroke always has oil on the crank, gives it a better life expectancy..

You have a lot of great experience, but it really doesn’t relate to karts….

Four stroke shifter kart motors are no where near as bad as you paint it, I know, I’ve done it for a lot of years….

 

CR

[Chris Reinhardt]

Kyle, I believe your missing the point…

EFI is not magical, it will adjust within the parameters for weather conditions, that’s fine and good once the baseline is established.

The baseline tune is the magic that a good tuner creates and that can make a world of difference, matching the track, weather and driver…

If a “spec” class came of it, they could just have a standard baseline map, and load it to every EFI box, or rent a box for an event…etc..

I love my CR125’s, lets hope they are the KT100’s of the shifter class, but I also love my thumpers!!!

 

CR

[Author]

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