1988 WR250 revival 2016

An ice cold lager/light lager is fairly satisfying if you're legitimately thirsty. That makes them a good stand-by for mid-summer picnics when it's hotter than blazes out, but that's about it.
Otherwise, there are a ton of micro, and macro-micro beers in the US. I've lived in several US states, and the micro labels change, but the beers tend to stay pretty steady, with some minor variation wherever you go. IPAs are intensely popular. About 15 years ago I really liked IPA, but somewhere along the line many brewers started trying to 'out-IPA' the competition (excessive hopping - beyond what is traditionally required to be an IPA), and sometimes the results border on undrinkable (I think some guys drink the worst IPA in the same sens that some people seek out the hottest hot sauce, even though the really hot ones basically taste like a mouthful of fertilizer). Some good porters out there getting to the 10% range. At least on the west coast there's a big surge in Hefeweizen the last few years. Traditionally, to me, Hefes aren't that great, but popularity has led some brewers to even out the taste quite a bit, and as a result some are decent. Though I've encountered more than a few fruity Hefes, generally a turn-off. Also I've encountered more aged beers lately. Some aged in whiskey barrels hit well above 10% and some are really quite good. Some folks will also bottle-age the IPAs at home (yeah, it sounded idiotic to me the first time I heard it), and that actually does tame them down a bit and improve the flavor of some of the overly-intense ones. Lots of other options too, too many to list here. In general, if you want a beer that drinks like a meal and knocks you back on your keyster you can find it.
Also distilleries. Lots of scotch, bourbon, etc if that's your deal. In some areas, distilleries are the new big thing in drinking. That doesn't go as well with riding though (or longevity in general if you consume in much frequency and/or quantity).

well written report sir
I concur that some of the competition has occluded the taste, but I'm fortunate to have a great local micro

yeah your right pretty much there and gin is the thing here, everyone's gone mad on boutique ginneries

As a kid in the Uk we visited henry boons brewery and discovered eku28, a beer at the time the strongest in the world at 12%, so we bought a pint each, one mate rushed himself to the toilet and ejected it promptly the other had two drinks and proceeded to have an asthma attack, I managed to keep it down but ended up with some large girl with a moustache....happy days.
The beer tasted like burnt syrup. ....probably the worst beer in the world.

great nite by the sounds of it!!

Yes still cant remember her name to this day.

Are you sure you want to?

I rather like EKU 28. We have a wide variety of microbreweries and distilleries in my area. Also a huge number of wineries. I'm in the Finger Lakes region of New York- the state has relaxed licensing for farm breweries to promote agriculture and tourism so we have benefitted.
We are fortunate to have one that brews Belgians very well. My favorite style

That was a nite to remember...NOT!! classic. at least you didn't have to chew your arm off so you didn't wake her up in the morning

No

Woke up ontop of her rolled over twice and still ontop of her...comfort not speed.

Some good news for once, my cases have been sent north to Dukkman who has done a brilliant job of machining them to suit the long stroke crankshaft, and returned in less than a week!
I have assembled the bottom end mostly this arvo, and as it turns out I've dodged not one but two bullets!
When I removed the main bearings during disassembly, I put them into a bag since they felt great with no play or roughness, only to discover this when I picked it up to check it properly.


Then when fitting the stator, I had a good look at the wiring and discovered another potential issue:

The red wire from the stator has been rubbing on the flywheel enough to rub the insulation away and bare the wires inside.

So a replacing the cases has become a positive since the main bearing probably would have caused a catastrophic failure, if the red wire would allow it to run long enough to destroy itself.
Tony.

I also had a play with the port matching on the transfers, when slipping the cylinder on to two studs of a case half, I could feel a very large mismatch on the transfer port area.
This was confirmed by placing the base gasket on the cylinder and there was a bucketload of gasket that had to be removed. I used a dremel to tidy up the gasket to match the cylinder, then placed the base gasket onto the loosely assembled cases which showed exactly how much material had to be removed. After about an hour, I had a nice transition from the crankcase into the transfer ports.
Now to have a play with the transfer port dividing web, I read here that this is a good way to wake the old girl up.
Tony.

wow, the outer race being cracked is ridiculous...the stator wire is a common one tho. glad to hear things are moving along well!

Glad you dodged a couple of bullets- never seen a bearing like that! Can you take some pics of before and after on the transfer web?

In 45 years of motorcycling, I've never seen an outer race like this one, the wire worn is reasonably common, my KTM640 Adventure had the same problem.
It's these kinds of problems that can be hard to diagnose or find when the whole bike is assembled.
Tony.

Yeah, I will take some pics, it's currently fairly rough around those webs. I think more gains will be made by port matching the cases/cylinder but any little bit helps I guess.'
Tony.

matching the cases and jug will really smooth the power up, and give a nice little boost.

check my rebuild thread Tony, a good pic of the port work.

you smashed that bearing getting it out with the 4 pounder didn't you??

O

Oh man I heated the case with the bearings in it and they just Drrroped out.

transfer and case porting REALLY do wake them up
here is a shot of my 430 porting, sleeve is knife into cleaned up transfers
gives up nothing on the bottom, mid is great, top is amazing