I'm going to pull and clean my carbs as well as inspect them for jet sizing. My 2 stroke knowledge is mostly limited to my son't kart racing which is piston port so when it comes to reeds I'm in the dark. While my carbs are off should I consider replacing the reeds? Do they weaken over time? I know nothing of the bikes history so they might be new or original for all I know. If I replace them what should I replace them with?
Thanks,
Dan
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1996 MC28

As with just about everything on the NSR, you can do a lot worse than just replace them with stock items!

Other than the vaguest possibility of a carbon reed passing through the cylinder and out of the exhaust should it fail where an OEM fibre one could possibly not do the same thing, I've never personally seen anything to convince me that aftermarket items are worth the money. The HRC rectifiers however, do appear to make a noticeable difference on the MC21 and MC28 on the dyno, but again it's not necessarily something you can physically feel.

Maybe back in the days when bikes like RD's had metal reeds they were worth playing with, but I run Honda/HRC reeds as does the most powerful NSR250 in the UK. If either made significant gains replacing the reeds with carbon ones I'd eat my own hair!

Of course, if you can't get OEM reeds easily or you can get carbon fibre ones cheaply, then nothing overtly wrong with them... just don't expect to see or feel noticeable gains.

The OEM reeds should be replaced to the service schedule though. I'm not sure when that is, but I'm sure it's in the Service Manual.
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

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I use Honda/HRC as well.

You have to remember how old the reeds might well be in a bike. New OE reeds may well give good results over close to 20 year old ones.
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If I have to take the carbs off once more...

has anyone used v force reed on the nsr?


Last edited by dunkenb on Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:59 pm; edited 1 time in total

mate, carbon reeds might not actually do anything useful but they look SERIOUSLY fast every time you take the carbs off and catch sight of them down there in the reed cages!
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After years of moaning about immigrants now i am one...

A performance improvement is always a good thing but in my case i was thinking I should change them because they just might need it. I don't know the service intervol they should be changed but I was assuming since they are flexable, maybe they loose their flexability (I know I did over time ) or fail all together.
I got to agree with Hermit though, carbon has got to be worth tons of cool looking HP!!

Dan

I do get a kick out seeing them in there.


My standard Honda reeds had done 27,000kms before i replaced them with these carbon ones. There was nothing wrong with the the standard reeds, I'd just read the blurb about 'better throttle response' etc and decided my engine NEEDED carbon bits in it! The kit also included some little triangular secondary reeds which look like they're made of the same material as the standard ones. All i can tell you about them is that the engine's run really well and made good power so the new reeds haven't hurt anything. I can't say if they made a difference from a rider's point of view because they went in as part of a rebuild which included a 300cc kit, exhausts, HRC jets and wiring etc.

Personally i'd say the standard ones will last the bike if you just leave them in there. I've never read anything on here about any reeds failing - standard or aftermarket.
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After years of moaning about immigrants now i am one...