125-200cc The long awaited 2010 CR144 (OEM) VS YZ134 thread

As some of you may know, I was one of the very lucky guys whose name was drawn when it was time for the husky factory to ship OEM 144cc kit to their customer.

I got the bike on april 3, with the kit, and as soon as I got home, I installed it. Unfortunately, I never tried the bike in the 125cc version, and didn't make a lot of comparison between the two cylinder. So I hopped on the bike for some short riding.

On april 24 and 25, I went for the real test with my mates, who all ride 125 2strokes. First we went to Deschambault, a deep sand track with uphills and big tabletop, then to Valley Jonction, hard pack with nice berms and ruts, and nasty 85 feet double I was hitting in fourth on my 450 last season.

The first day I had the opportunity to ride my mates hopped up YZ134. It's a project bike he put a lot of time in it, and it's really sharp and working well. The bike has amazing low-end and midrange, wich make it very forgiving and easy to ride. It signs early on top. Brakes are very good and suspension are plush and predictable as well, as you would expect from a yamaha. Shifting on the Yam is also more precise, I hit a couple neutrals on the husky under hard acceleration, but I moved the shifter up a couple notch and it helped, maybe I can move it a little more.

When we returned to the pits, a pit disapointed with my 144, we went with a bigger main jet, and we did a small adjustement to the timing ( advanced the spark a little bit) I would say turning the plate clockwise 1/8 of an inch. Wow, that woke up the bike dramatically. As soon as I opened the throttle on the little husky, everyone turned their heads and looked at me like the beast was unleashed. On the track, the difference was immediately noticeable. The bike ran clean, crisp, and nasty on the top end. It just pull my 210 pound belly like a monster on top. I even got some little whiskey throttle and lifted the front wheel out of corner on various occasion. It is still flat in the low-end and require shifting and a little clutch abuse, but if you keep it in the upper mid to top, it flat out haul ass.

The next day at ValleyJ, on the hard pack, I jumped that nasty double , coming out of the corner in third gear, and shifting fourth gear and holding the thing wide open, I cleared the gap no problem. We also made some adjustement to the suspension to improve handling. Compared to the YZ, it's a little more shaky in braking bumps, but still very balanced. As soon as you hit the rut or the berm, the bike follow the line. I was surprised by the amount of speed I could carry out of corner when shifting at the right time. The cornering is also very confidence inspiring, the bike feels light (remember I just jump off 5 seasons on 450 and a 5002stroke), and I could just hit corners a lot faster than before and keep my momentum.

Like I said before, my mates YZ134 is hopped up from top to bottom, and it's a really good bike, forgiving and user friendly, and it makes you confident to push it a little harder. However, my 144 pulls so hard on top it beg you to ride it harder and harder, and rewards you with solid acceleration and superb handling. I wish I have more time to test other bike. The only mod I would do to this engine is a little head work to bring some 'humpf' in the low end. Or just me training harder and loose 25 pounds.

In 25 years of riding bikes, the last 2 days count as some of my best days of riding.

I don't know if I would recommend this kit to someone who ride slow singletrack trails.
Like I told you before, it's my first husky, and I don't know anyone who have this bike, so everytime I ride it, I learn a little something and make the bike better.

I know about the powervalve adjustemen issues, at the moment the bolt is at the top of the slot, but I suppose I could gain a little more mid by going with different springs. Any advice is welcome. I will try to post a video next time I go riding, wich could take a couple of weeks because I tweaked my knee a little bit ( caught my foot in a rut in 1st gear corner) and don't want to take any chance. The first race is may 22, an arenacross wich is supposed to be live on the internet, so there is no rush for me.

It's definately brutal on top, moving the timing made the bike hit just a little sooner, wich made a big difference. I find the stock jetting to be just a little lean with the 144, so I went with the optional bigger jet that came with the bike, and it ran fine.

I use pump gas (91 octane, couldn't find 94 before going to the track), and used lucas oil premix, mixed 30:1. The bike run clean, with no drool out of the exhaust. I must say that the engine ran wide open for 2 days with very little low rpm riding.

I just put an hour meter on the bike for maintenance and personnal records. I never used lucas oil before, looks like it's a good product. I will check the piston next week. I always had amsoil before with strong results durability wise. Never blew an engine on amsoil.

As for the little headshake and suspension, I still need to adjust the sag (duh), but I might visit the guys at STADIUM and to make sure I have the right springs. I bottom a little on hard landing, but the bike still handle really well compared to my previous RMZ450 (wich are dengerously sensitive to suspension settings), so I don't know really if I could go stiffer.

Try the spring kit, with the softest spring you will gain some bottom end. I bet it's the powervalve that is slow to open.

I have the softest (orange) in mine and its way better on the bottom-mid.

I have also a G2 cam throttle on its way. I'm thinking with a more aggressive cam it will reduce some of the heavy flywheel feel from idle.

The ignition timing is interesting -i was wondering if anyone tried to use an adjustable ignition on these things

I think the YZ just has more down low to mid power - feels like a bigger bike but doesnt urge you to keep pushing like the Husky. I had a ported yZ that felt more powerful than my old KX250.
Id question the increse in main jet size if you want more power down low. Id be looking at leaner pilot and playing with needle settings - easy to do... to tell what may the issue

I don't really want to fiddle with carb settings. The spark plug have a perfect color at the moment and the bike run crisp and clean, and since the bike is used in the upper rpm range 90% of the time this is exactly what I want. I never trail ride, only MX and easy SX.
As for the spring kit, who should I ask for?

Appel Scott Rocher Martin, il en a en stock.

Email sent.

I wonder how much more you would like the bike with a PWK carb on it?