REVIEWS - Boyesen Power Reeds
by Chad Baird

After using about 5 gallons of fuel in my new CR85, I was begging for more power. The little bike would bog on the low end of the RPM range and then the power would hit so hard and abrupt, I was scaring myself. Imagine a fluffy kitten with huge shark teeth, that's how this bike rides. It's very unassuming until you crack the throttle open and the engine "Climbs the pipe." After the thoughts of bringing this bike back and getting something a little more tame passed, I did some research on what modifications would make this little screamer easier to ride.

I decided on the 2 piece fiberglass Power Reeds from Boyesen would be the easiest "mod" I could do and the price was right around $30 including shipping. Boyesen Claim's these reeds will with help the "low end" power, if there is such a thing on a 2 stroke.

Ordering on the web page(www.boyesen.com) was very painless and within two days the new reeds were on my door step.The first thing I noticed after opening the package was that there isn't much to these reeds, they're flat opaque white and very small. In this case there were two pieces to each reed (top and bottom) and each reed came with a small flat piece of steel. I broke out the razor blade and cut the reeds out the the package. Then I went into the garage and started disassembling my bike.

I first drained and pulled off the carb, which just popped right off after undoing a phillips head screw on either end of the carb. Then I removed the "reed cage" by unbolting four bolts. The whole assembly came right out into my hand. I choose the kitchen to do this minor surgery because these reeds are very small and there's even smaller screws holding them in. I didn't want to take the chance of loosing anything.

I found the directions very straight forward. Unscrew four screws. Replace reeds and use blue lock tight to ensure screws don't come loose, rejet. That's exactly what I did, total time was about 35 min start to finish. Including replacing the carb and tightening everything back down. Jetting took longer.

Initial Impression: Awesome! Boyesen claims these reeds make the bike run rich, you'll have to rejet after installing them which was what I had to do.
But WOW after dialing in the carb I was very impressed in how the engine performed. Now it pulls cleanly from the bottom up and maybe it's my imagination but the engine seems to have more of a growling sound and less wheeze.

About the Author: Chad Baird - My riding/wrenching obsession started in the summer of 88-89. My Dad got me a used $50 Sears minibike with a seized 4hp Tecumseh. I spent hours upon hours in the garage hooking up throttle cables/linkages, kill switches, changing tires, swapping engines and of course riding and crashing. Dad would hand me a repair manual, show me how to do something once (mostly how to use a tool) and then was pretty much hands off except to yell at me about loosing his tools. He would also cuss me out for taking off without making the bike 100% ride-able or fixing something half-assed. So that's basically how I learned, lot's a trial/error and getting yelled at. (hehe). Now my whole life revolves around working on, riding, talking about and teaching others who are interested and even some who aren't, how to do the same.

Motorcycle Missionary? or just an annoying biker with a tendency to pontificate? You decide...

Related Links:
www.boyesen.com

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