I know, thumpertalk, but whatever. I've heard that you're supposed to clean your reeds every once in a while, how should I go about doing that, and what difference does it make if you do or dont? Thanks.

i haven't owned a two stroke since 04 but when i did i never cleaned the reeds. i checked them once in awhile but they were never dirty

i have never cleaned my reeds (i dont even know how i would) but every time i do a top end or have the carb off, i check them to make sure they are not cracked or chipped.

Being gas is a solvent, they kinda self clean. All you really need to do is to check for cracks and chips, and replace if necessary

Just look for any cracking or chipping and make sure they are sealing well. If everything checks out right, you're good to go.

If you do find they aren't sealing for some reason, you can flip them over and get some extra time.

brobbo said:

Then why am I always cleaning my carb?


I know I know, the air coming in makes it dirty

If you have dirt in your carb, you aren't looking after the air filter properly.

dirtyriders110 said:

I hear this all of the time.  Seems kind of weird to me.  If you keep your air filter clean and keep dirt out of your fuel tank the carb should stay clean.

"If" you were to drown you bike or even get it in deep water then there is a good chance water could get into it.  Otherwise why??

zookeeper said:

i don't think that would be a good idea. It is normal for the reed to not seat all the way to the reed block. I don't know what the tolerance exactly is, but 10 to 15 thousands is probably normal for steel reeds. Well, it is for marine 2 stroke engines so I would think it would apply here also. When you turn them over you will get a preload condition where the ends of the reed bang the block, and in the middle they don't touch at all. This will give you a low end bog and poor idle condition and also they will split and crack pretty soon after you switch them around.

I've done this several times without even one problem. If anyone were to push reeds to the limit, I'd say it would have been me. I first started doing this on a full-tilt JD racing Banshee with nitrous. It was used for sand drags and general dune riding for 4 seasons with one set of reeds and no problems. I also flipped the reeds with every re-ring of my YZ250, again lots of hours, no issues. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I've never heard of anyone having problems, have you?

Once my bike ate a good amount of sand and the cilinder got scored. I cleand everything, and when I got to the reeds, there wasn't a single bit of sand/dirt. Just check there arent cracked as said before, and remember to use a feeler gauge to measure the tolerances.... hahah...