Kanguro x0 newbie questions

[morini_tom]

Ok now that the fun and misery of Exeter has worn off, and you’re all hopefully warm enough to type, some questions for you seasoned off-road-ists.

I’ve started servicing my newly acquired X0 and doing a few preventative maintenance jobs. Very familiar with morinis but not so much the nuances of kanguros. This one has been well used but starts and runs well so my plan is to give it a service but otherwise only deal with the big hitters. It’s not ever going to be a looker and my approach is preserve and enjoy (which is a big departure from all my other bikes so this is a baptism of fire for me)

Anyway, questions:

1) The sprocket seems to be on the wrong way round. Or is that normal for kanguros? Normally it’s offset inboard on the road bikes.

2) despite running nicely the plugs (BP7ES) were very sooty. I’ve fitted some new BP6EV plugs- assuming the hotter heat range is ok on a kanguro which is generally moving slower than a road bikes?

3) the airbox still has all the flowerpots inside. On darts we remove those but I’m assuming on a kanguro they help keep the mud out and extra power is of little interest. What’s the consensus? Keep or bin?

4) it’s got quite a wide and nobbly rear tyre on it (Michelin something or other- forgot to take a note and not with the bike now). Outer blocks of the tyre looks to have rubbed on the silencer and chain guard. I’m not too fussed by that, and they look like quite good tyres but is this normal?

5) what plug caps are the preferred choice? Normally I use NGK SB05 caps but open to other suggestions if more waterproof and non resistor alternatives are well tried.

I think that’s it for now, I’ve done belt, oil and tappets so I’m sure there will be more stupid questions to come once I dig deeper into the kanguro’s odd electrics…

IMG_0488.jpeg (119.56 KiB) Viewed 2227 times

[julianharty]

I can comment on:

• 3) the flowerpots in the airfilter - I have them in my Kanguro X and think they work well; and
• 4) the rear tyre - I’m using an MT43 and previously had a slightly larger than standard IRC rear tyre I was given. Neither rubbed and I wouldn’t expect or want them to.

My BP7ES plugs are also very sooty so I'm keen to learn what others have found work well in terms of spark plugs. And I seem to recall that my front sprocket is as per the road bikes so the other way around from your photo. I am currently running 530 chain and sprockets for historical reasons, your front sprocket looks more like a 520 which should work at least as well and also allows for an O or X ring chain unlike my bike which uses a plain good quality DID heavy duty chain.

[morini_tom]

Thanks Julian.

I’ll keep the airbox standard then.

I’ve run BP6 plugs in 350 road bikes before. Normally I’ve run 7’s recently but given the sportiness and the presumably more low speed and non sustained load running on an off road bike, I thought the 6 would be worth a try.

Below photos are my tyres. I know they’re Michelin and possibly were comp something but I didn’t take a note of the size or model. They definitely seem wide though and do brush the parts I mentioned. Maybe someone will recognise what they are and be able to provide some experience. update when I see the bike next week

[julianharty]

Tom, they look lairy tyres. I've found the MT43 to be a good all-rounder tyre. For the Exeter I reduced the pressure in the rear from 1.9 bar to the manual's 1.5 bar. This made the bike a bit squirmy above 80 kph (50 mph) on the road. When I ran it with the higher pressure it was well behaved from a riding perspective even at 130+ kph indicated - closer to a true 70 mph according to Google Maps.

I'll order some BP6 plugs for mine and see how they do. Thanks for the tip.

[Cosmo]

Ok now that the fun and misery of Exeter has worn off, and you’re all hopefully warm enough to type, some questions for you seasoned off-road-ists.

I’ve started servicing my newly acquired X0 and doing a few preventative maintenance jobs. Very familiar with morinis but not so much the nuances of kanguros. This one has been well used but starts and runs well so my plan is to give it a service but otherwise only deal with the big hitters. It’s not ever going to be a looker and my approach is preserve and enjoy (which is a big departure from all my other bikes so this is a baptism of fire for me)

Anyway, questions:

1) The sprocket seems to be on the wrong way round. Or is that normal for kanguros? Normally it’s offset inboard on the road bikes.

2) despite running nicely the plugs (BP7ES) were very sooty. I’ve fitted some new BP6EV plugs- assuming the hotter heat range is ok on a kanguro which is generally moving slower than a road bikes?

3) the airbox still has all the flowerpots inside. On darts we remove those but I’m assuming on a kanguro they help keep the mud out and extra power is of little interest. What’s the consensus? Keep or bin?

4) it’s got quite a wide and nobbly rear tyre on it (Michelin something or other- forgot to take a note and not with the bike now). Outer blocks of the tyre looks to have rubbed on the silencer and chain guard. I’m not too fussed by that, and they look like quite good tyres but is this normal?

5) what plug caps are the preferred choice? Normally I use NGK SB05 caps but open to other suggestions if more waterproof and non resistor alternatives are well tried.

I think that’s it for now, I’ve done belt, oil and tappets so I’m sure there will be more stupid questions to come once I dig deeper into the kanguro’s odd electrics…

IMG_0488.jpeg

Hi Tom,
1- I think the sprocket should be as the road bikes. Probably reversed.
2- plugs, I use standard temperature, but I cane my X1 mercilessly and they have very low gearing, on the drum rear bikes, so if on the road it will be revving hard.
3- I followed the unpotting for the Dart as my X1 has the same carbs and felt strangled compared to my wife's Strada. Now de potted and mine has 260D atomiser, E17 needle on 2nd notch, 112 main, 50 idle, only the mains changed on VHBZ 25HS. Despite drowning the bike regularly and although mud gets up under the tank it chugs along in all weathers (or held on open throttle when stuck in the mud) and never had the filters mud covered when changed. My bike a special tank, so does arguably cover a bit better as the bottom doesn't angle up like the o.e.one. Once done with a bit of opening up of the silencer it does feel much pokeier and I was surprised by how much difference it made.
4- I've used 4:00, 120/90 and 120/80 sizes and these give plenty of clearance even with TKC 80's which are more aggressive than a trials tyre.. You may go a bit bigger but not much as the chain and std exhaust probably limits it.