I have been searching through posts for a couple days before registering and this looks to be a nice forum. so hello from a new user.

I am in the process of restoring/modifying an 85 es 250 big red. I have her running and at this point I need a new muffler as the factory one has holes in it.

does anyone have the cobra? I have been reading up on this exhaust and it doesn't seem to be that great. what is the difference between the head pipe on this system and the stock system? it doesn't look any bigger. I ask as my head pipe has no leaks and if the cobra isn't any bigger then I will just get a new muffler, probable a supertrapp 3inch. I want as much performance as I can get out of such a simple mod. I like thelook of the expanding head pipe, I take it this is only good on two strokes. is that correct?

I also hate my rear tires chen sheing knobbys, I just ordered a 25-12-9 new front tire in a very mild tread pattern for the front. I would like to get some new rear tires I could slide out some. I'm thinking the Kenda Viper in 22-11-9. Can anyone advise how this will hurt my performace? top end I assume will decrease, acceleration? wont handling be better? I'm trying to lower the center of gravity just a bit. I'd also like to get a 250sx front end at some pont as well. would larger rear tires be better. I plan to ride fire trails some mnor sand and mud on occasion.


the butelr I put you in the topic as I saw you have 22 inch tires on your machine. So i figured you could give me some help with this. what size is your front tire?

 

Well, my front tire is a 22-8-9 i believe. I put that on there to replace the old tire that was on there because the sidewalls were cracking and the tire was leaking in several places. I used to have a set of 20" Turf Tamers on it, but later i took them off and put them on my new 350x and put the stock 25" tires back on. Those tires made the handling so much better, it also slid around very easily with those low-profile tires, it also wasn't near as tipsy as it was with the 25" tires. It did however take my top speed down quite a bit, like around 10mph or so, but the acceleration and low-end power were increased a lot, oh yeah it didn't really effect ground clearance too bad cuz i ride some really rough trails and it never bottmed out once w/ those 20" tires. Also about the cobra pipe, i have also read that they don't really increase power a whole lot rather they make your bike a lot louder. I would'nt rule them out i mean if you are wanting a good quality replacement pipe i would go for that instead of dishing out around $3-400 for a new system from honda (that is if they aren't discontinued already). Hope this helps. Later.

 

thanks man thats what I was hoping, I was going to go to like a 22inch tire. since I'm thinking of getting new crome rims I may mount them on a set of 10x10's. instead of the factory 9x9. hopefullly I won't loose that much off the top end with 22inchers.

thanks for the help I figure tires will be one of my best and worth while mods. I need to do something about my exhaust its loud as hell with the wholes in it.