i bought my wife a 2001 300ex this weekend and it seems to be in great shape, body has minor trail scrapes, and motor seems to run and idle perfect, but i had a few quick questions. *first off the rear brakes are wore out and i wanted to know which are the best to get im just gonna replace all of them. *second the bike seems cold natured and doesnt start real easily i have to choke it and feather the throttle a bit to get it running good( is there anything i can do to help this?). *lastly there seems to be rubber grommets on the chain tightening bolts that are starting to crumble; are those replaceable or not. any info would be appreciated thanks

 

I use just the basic ebc brake bads. The rears usually wear out at a rate of 6 to 1 to the fronts. Thats the way our 2 300ex's are/were.

The 300ex's are cold blooded. You could try going up one size on the pilot jet. Stock is 38, so a 40 might help the cold starts.

That rubber piece, can and probably should get replaced. It helps hold the bearing carrier from spinning. That is the chain adjustment system, on thta bike. If those 2 bolts wont stay tight, with that rubber pice, the chain will need adjusted alot.

 

well i bought all my parts today oil, filter, rubber pieces, rear brakes ; everything was going great till i got to the rear brakes. i cant get my piston to compress. i disconected the line to let the pressure off but i still cant move it. any ideas?????

 

The long bolt sticking out the back side, adjusts the parking brake. Try backing that off, and see if you can compress the piston then.

 

I'm with tractorpacker. I'd be suprised if the e-brake lever wasn't seized. From the showroom floor mine stuck, and never stayed in adjustment EVER for more than one ride. When you back it off, you might be able to use a quickie-clamp (or any light-duty squeeze clamp) to give you a helping hand. Any questions-drop me a line.

 

Parking brakes need constant adjustments. If not they will not work. When you adjust the bolt on the caliper, you are turning the bolt right up to the piston in the caliper. With every bit of wear on the brake pads, the space between the bolt and piston gets bigger, hence the need for adjustment. So unless you never use your rear brakes, you will have to adjust the parking brake almost every ride.

 

carose725, I've used the rubber airtube that runs from the airbox to the carb from a 350X to address the cold blooded nature of the 300ex. It works so well that you can usually shift into reverse before the bike warms up in most cases.

CRR