Description
Our best bang-for-buck mods for the Honda CRF250L CRF300L & Rally models from Cross Training Adventure. We have ridden the CRF300L a lot in Canada and it was easy to see why it's the biggest selling dual-sport motorbike in north America. It's bulletproof. Cheap. Reliable. Great for beginners. And also great for many experienced riders with some basic modifications. Ditto for the Honda Rally models. Okay. Welcome to Cross Training Adventure, we are into all things dual sport and adventure on the east coast of Australia. Performance mods start with an upgraded Honda CRF250L ECU. If you just want extra horsepower to do wheelies, just learn good technique. Even the heavy Honda Rally is fairly easy to wheelie with the stock engine. Some owners are disappointed when extra power makes little difference due to bad technique. There are lots of videos about mods for these Hondas. And lots of Honda Rally owners spend thousands of dollars. But we want to focus on budget mods that can seriously improve the power and handling for as low as USD300 or AUD500. First? Two important points. The Honda CRF300L good news? You must spend money on the ECU first before the other mods. Why? The Hondas already run very lean and any airbox or exhaust upgrades will only make it worse. Generally the best ECU reflash option is from 550 Performance. It is only USD150 if you mail your ECU to them. They have a whole range of options available. We chose the basic option that relied on just basic air intake mods. The 11% power increase was still very noticeable. It reduces that Honda CRF300L snappy on-off throttle response. You can get 11% extra horsepower for at little as USD200 or AUD300 when combined with free air intake and exhaust mods. Bargain! The engine runs cooler. een on adventure riding in Australia? Check out our vids. And surprisingly we found fuel economy improved for everyday riding on the Honda CRF250L . Although we are sure that would be reversed if pushing the engine hard. Please note the 550 ECU does not work on UK or European models as they use a different ECU due to tougher emission rules. The airbox mods? The free Honda CRF300L option is to just drill a few one inch holes like this. You can cover them with some screen if you like. Finally? The exhaust! We will only look at free mods to the stock exhaust. Dyno charts often show loud aftermarket exhausts only result in a two to five percent increase at best. And they are expensive! Try this first if you don't have a UK or European Honda. What about the Honda CRF300L emissions gear? Check out our reviews of various adventure bikes and dual sport bikes. A lot of owners remove the charcoal cannister and PAIR system. Generally this doesn't affect horsepower so we aren't including it. See the pinned first comment for a video on removing the emission controls. Suspension. Yes it's terrible, unless you are very light and will just be cruising on smooth dirt roads. If you like dual sport riding in Australia then you might like our adventure riding vids. The front forks? Sadly these have no adjustments and are far too soft for most riders. The good news? Honda only uses a single fork spring. Remove the end cap. Unbolt the spark arrestor. Cut it here. Secure some screen over the end with wire if you want the spark arrestor to keep doing its job. Some owners remove the spark arrestor completely. This increases the noise level further so is probably less restrictive. So you only need to buy one. K-tech has these for only AUD160 or USD100. Bargain! The budget way to improve the damping is change to the heavier 10W fork oil. Some heavier riders still find the front end too bouncy and have used 15W fork oil with good results. What if a heavier spring and fork oil aren't enough? You can improve the damping by fitting valve kits which are quite cheap if you fit them yourself. The budget options? In Australia the DFX kit is AUD300. In the USA the Race Tech Gold Valves are USD200. Remember you still won't have any adjustment. Most riders say it works well and is a good investment. You can spend a lot more on the suspension but we are sticking to a budget! If you are on a strict budget, we suggest trying the fork mods first and see if you can live with the stock rear shock. If you aren't riding aggressively and you weigh less than 90kg you may actually find the stock suspension is fine. Free mods for the rear shock?Some owners have just tried fitting a heavier spring but it's like a pogo stick with that lack of damping. You can fit a heavier spring and get it revalved but that will be close to the price of a YSS rear shock. And it will cost more if you pay a suspension tuner to fit everything. The YSS shock is the cheapest option we know of.
INDEX
0:40 Important points
1:09 ECU mods
2:49 Airbox mods
3:27 Exhaust mods
4:15 Emissions gear?
4:59 Front fork mods
6:14 Rear shock
7:38 No mods at all?
#crosstrainingadventure #crf300lmods #hondrallymods #dualsportriding
#dualsportbikes