Topic: what does it mean when your exhaust is glowing red?/I bought a supermoto

[greasy j]

bought a supermoto'd xr600r. fixed it up a bit and put it all back together with freshly rebuilt carb.

I got the carb on and working, got the bike running, noticed it was smoking but kept it running cuz I thought it was just from spilling oil.

after a few minutes of running I noticed the exhaust pipes were glowing bright red hot!

I've never seen this before. what's up? am I screwed?

[greasy j]

here's the bike I bought:


here's after I got rid of the 'Prince's accordion' looking fork gaiters and painted the frame, etc.

[greasy j]

so I guess it's normal for that to happen and might mean it's running lean. yikes. almost 20 yrs of riding I've never seen that!

so, you guys like my new ride? it's a sohc at least...

the single carb is the greatest thing ever. no syncing. yay. this bike is so simple. and will rule when the inevitable zombie apocalypse comes. I wheelied on accident. in 2nd gear. torquey!

[greasy j]

I put in a bigger main, back to what it was. to richen it up. it seems to run nicely but the pipes get red hot really fast.

this can't be normal? can it?

[CBJoe]

How do the plugs look??? 

Do they get red hot only while riding or even just while idling?

Joe 

[Stev-o]

Thinking it might be lean & hot!

[Damfino]

Thinking it might be lean & hot!

As opposed to fat & ugly...

[greasy j]

Thinking it might be lean & hot!

As opposed to fat & ugly...

ha.

it's all good now. running very nicely. this thing wants to pull my arms off.

yeah, it was super lean. I had gone back to the stock size, 152. as opposed to the 162 it needed, which is a big diff.

the red hot pipes looked awesome, in a scary kind of way. but it hasn't happened since...

[Stev-o]

Unlike women, you don't want your bike lean & hot!

[whyze426]

Good lookin xr you got there.  Those things will run forever.   I have a hard time deciding if i wanna ride my 750 or my Street plated yz,  that thing is just so dang fun. Hope ya have a good time with the bike and get everything outta it that the ol' thumper has to offer.  HOLD ON TIGHT!!!!

[greasy j]

thanks, yeah I'm havin a lot of fun on it. makes riding under 80 mph a lot more enjoyable. but once you get up to 80 or so I want to be on the cb750.

[scottly]

Just for grins, you might try a step even richer. I asked my buddy if his hot-rod XR500 pipes ever glowed red. He thought for a minute, and replied "I couldn't see the pipes while riding the bike. If they did, it would have been on some of the hill-climbs we used to do." I was usually in a better position to see his pipes on my CR480, when I looked back to see how close behind he was, and I never noticed glowing red pipes.

[greasy j]

I think I've got it fine tuned now. it was way lean.

this carb is kind of a weak link with this bike, I may change the carb and exhaust at some point... when I'm done with school and rolling in money.

[scottly]

Think Mikuni 38mm.. It made the single biggest difference with my bud's XR500. A guy (that worked at the local Honda shop) swapped bikes once, and was blown away that his XR600 had less punch than the hot 500. Don't know if the same mods apply to your case..

[greasy j]

most people recommend the edelbrock quicksilver (spendy, but has accel pump) or the mikuni 41mm flatslide ($240).

nice thing is this bike only has one carb!

[greasy j]

I bought a new carb after deciding this one, even perfectly tuned, sucks.

a mikuni 41mm flatslide from xrsonly.

i'll either be psyched or bummed in 5 days when it gets here. why so long?

and I'm workin on homemade saddle bags right now. not makin the bag, just altering stuff. so far I've got an extremely thick canvas bag from the gap that I found teamed with a front tender brace chopped in half for a frame...