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ADA Reed Kit Review

13K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  snowboardgeek1 
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Project Chinese pocketbike Review – ADA Reed Kit – Stock Carburetor

By: Snowboardgeek1 (Eric)​

As always, many thanks have to go out to our performance parts providers. In this case, it’s ADA Racing and Adrenaline-Motorsports. Brooks, the owner of ADA Racing, was kind enough to send us his ADA Reed Kit for the Stock Carb for the air cooled Chinese pocketbike. Thanks Brooks!

And last but not least, a thank you also goes out to Tyler Fader from adrenaline-motorsports for providing the nice half fairing Chinese pocketbike, ported stock carburetor and adjustable jet kit that was used for this review.

Review:

The ADA Reed kit is available for 3 carburetors, the WT, WYK, and Stock Carb. The WT and WYK are Walbro carbs. This test was conducted using the stock carb. At first glance, one can notice the craftsmanship of this billet reed block. The parts that come with the kit are as follows.


  • Billet Reed block assembly
  • Billet intake manifold (you wont have to worry about breaking the black stock intake manifold anymore)
  • Fiberglass reeds
  • All required hardware and gaskets
Assembling the reed kit is fairly easy and will be shown below.

What’s great about this reed kit, you can utilize the stock carb so there’s no need to buy another carb, plus the stock carb can be modified to flow enough fuel and air to take advantage of this reed block.

So what is a 4 petal reed kit and why should I buy it? Besides the obvious reason of getting more air and fuel from the carb to the engine, reed valves serve to open and close the pathway into the engine allowing the fresh fuel/air mixture to enter the case of the engine and trap it. They act like a check valve. Fuel/air gets in but the only way out is through the engine. The design of the reeds and the reed box can drastically affect the performance of the engine. ADA’s reed kit, in my opinion, is designed to not only get more fuel/air into the engine, but also at a faster rate (velocity) in comparison to stock. Stock uses only one set of reeds, while ADA’s uses a 4 petal reed setup. Its very similar to what the euro pocketbikes use. ADA’s Reed Kit utilizes fiberglass reeds, which is a great compromise between the stock stainless steel reeds and aftermarket carbon fiber reeds. Stiffer reeds tend to perform better at high RPMs, but not at low to mid RPMs.

This is why aftermarket reeds and reed boxes are a very popular upgrade. Simple to install and yet very effective. One thing to remember, to extract the maximum performance out of these reeds, a rejet of your carburetor is necessary, as the stock 62 main jet will not flow enough fuel to take advantage of this reed kit, IMHO. Upgrade to at least a 68 main jet (which is the size given with the adjustable jet kit from adrenaline-motorsports), or even go higher in jet size if needed. This is dependent on weather condition. A general rule of thumb, if its cold, jet higher, if its hot outside, jet leaner.

Test Tools & Conditions:
  • Chinese pocketbike
  • Ported stock carburetor – Ported to 14mm filter and venturi side
  • Adjustable jet kit – I only used the size 68 main jet and did not use the adjustable needle
  • ADA Race Pipe
  • GPT Tachometer
  • Rialto Race Track – Conditions were great. Temperature at the track was in the low to mid 70’s. Lots of wind though. Probably should have jetted a little higher.
I initially installed the ADA reed kit on my stock big bore motor, but when I received the hf Chinese pocketbike on Saturday, I decided to change the test. I then proceeded to install the ADA reed kit, ported stock carb with 68 main jet, and ADA Race pipe to the new hf Chinese pocketbike. Installation took about 30 minutes.

The reason I wanted to test this reed kit on a stock motor, I wanted to see how the engine would react to fairly simple modifications to a bike, i.e bolt on mods such as a race pipe, ADA reed block, and stock ported carburetor. I would assume you’d get close to the same performance numbers as I have with a stock non-ported carburetor, just remember you’ll still need to rejet. As you can see above, there was no porting done to the motor at all. In fact, the motor has an SY head. I adjusted the handlebars and brakes to my liking and did a thorough check of all the bolts to make sure everything was on there tight. When I finished the installation, I loaded the bike in the truck, packed my gear, and headed out to Rialto. I didn’t even try to see if it would start.

When I arrived at Rialto, I unloaded the bike, put gas in her and primed her up. It took me 3 pulls to get her started, and she fired up right away. I adjusted the idle and let the bike warm up for a couple minutes. I rode the bike around at varying speeds to break in the motor. After I finished about a tank, I felt the bike was good enough to do some test runs.

Once the bike starts to gain speed from a standstill/start position it accelerates quickly. Acceleration was great throughout the whole RPM range, primarily at the low and mid end. Top end was good, but not great. I believe this is due to the stock head. As I’ve said in the Chinese pocketbike How-To sections, you’re limited by your stock head. To achieve higher RPMs and greater acceleration, you’ll need a ported head or purchase a big bore kit from one of our many dealers (ADA has just come out with a 44mm head kit that would work really well with this setup).

I did two different types of tests with the bike. I tested top end speed and also, how the bike and its engine modifications react in a real racing environment. The maximum RPMs that I achieved with this setup was 11.2K RPMs with load. The bike probably would have achieved higher numbers, but I ran out of room on the straightaway. Again, this is with a stock head, piston and bottom end. There’s definitely a lot more potential with this setup and I truly believe you can get much higher RPMs with the proper modifications and careful tuning.

The track was setup as a technical track, meaning, lots of turns. The track was also setup for both pocketbikes and karts, so for the top end speed test, I used the outer part of the track which is setup for karts (circular track). Power delivery coming out of the turn and into the straightaway was instantaneous and powerful. I did about 5-7 runs to see the consistency of the results and they all were pretty much the same.

The second part of the test is how the bike and the engine modifications react to a real race environment, since this is the intended nature for these bikes. Coming into and out of the corners, the power and acceleration was unbelievable. I’ve never felt this kind of power coming from a Chinese pocketbike, and I’ve been testing Chinese pocketbikes for almost a year now, with many different types of setup. Also, I have to add; half fairing Chinese pocketbikes are the best handling Chinese pocketbikes I’ve ever tested. It was so easy to drop a knee with this bike and the handling was great.

I raced against a few of our fellow pocketbikeplanet members and their sons. I have to say, the sons of Minimotopilot & Flippn, are really fast kids. Heck, I had trouble hanging with mmpilots son with my polini the last time we practiced. Now these aren’t your average kids. They both can put a knee down and are very quick. Mmpilot’s son races a nice Blata 2.5 while Flippn’s son races an all-stock Chinese pocketbike. Also, another member, crbman, was racing his Blata 2.5 as well.

While following these kids, Cbrman, and a few others with Chinese pocketbikes (stock and modified), I was able to hang with them quite well on the turns. The bike had great acceleration and I was able to pass up a lot of the other riders out there on the track that had either a Blata 2.5, Chinese pocketbike, or modified Chinese pocketbike, either on the straightaway or coming into and out of the corners (although the two kids were able to pass me on the straight-aways quite easily. I believe this is due to their 100 lb. weight advantage lol). Again, the bike handled very well, and acceleration was great at all RPM ranges.

Would I recommend getting the ADA Reed block assembly? YES! As I’ve said in previous posts and threads, I believe one of parts that limit the Chinese pocketbikes potential, is the reed block assembly. ADA Racing has solved this problem by producing a high quality 4-petal reed block assembly that flows more than enough air and fuel for a stock motor. If you have a 4 –5 port head, big bore motor, or any other high flowing headkit, you need the ADA reed kit to take advantage of these mods to maximize the potential of the Chinese pocketbike. Other great tuners use 4 petal reed setups, as well as all the high horsepower euro pocketbikes.


Part 1.


*Note: Since there are many different Chinese pocketbikes out there, installation will vary, but the process is the same. If you don’t understand what you’re doing, I’d recommend finding someone who is technically qualified to do the installation for you. Also, the pictures below, shows my hf Chinese pocketbike with the IP2 pipe. I conducted the test with the ADA Race Pipe. I forgot to take pictures of the Chinese pocketbike with the ADA Race Pipe and switched the IP2 pipe over today for future test purposes.

Installing the ADA reed kit was pretty much a bolt on affair. Fairly easy to do and should take no longer than 30 minutes max.

Disconnect your fuel line and unscrew the top of the carburetor that holds the throttle cable. Take off the two screws that hold the pipe onto the head, and the rear bolt that holds the pipe to the frame.

I like to take out the engine from the bike as it makes it a lot easier to install engine modifications. Take off the 3 screws on the bottom plate, and the screw up top.


Part 2.

Take off the airfilter by taking off the two Phillips screws that attach the filter to the carb. Take the carburetor off the intake manifold, which is held down by two allen head screws. Take off the intake manifold, which is held by 4 allen head screws. At this point, the reed block should be easy to take off. If it feels stuck, just get a flat head screwdriver and pry it off.


Part 3.

Pre assemble the ADA reed kit before putting it on the engine. It makes it easier to line everything up. When you have it together, go ahead and put it on the engine. First attach the reed block to the engine, then the intake manifold. Also, make sure to use the supplied gaskets.


Part 4.

For this test, I used the main jet that came with the adjustable jet kit supplied by adrenaline-motorsports. The main jet is a size 68 (stock is around a 62-64) which I felt would flow enough fuel for this application. I also put the needle on the 5th position to gain even more fuel. I did not use the triple tapered needle or the main jet adjuster.

Take off the two screws that holds the float bowl to the carb. Take off the stock jet from the atomizer and replace it with the main jet from the adjustable jet kit. Put the carb back to together.


Part 5.

Attach the carburetor to the billet intake manifold and make sure everything is on there tight. Don’t over tighten or you could strip the screws.

Part 6.

At this point, if you have a race pipe available, line it up with the engine on the frame, but do not tighten down the engine screws yet. I like to attach the pipe to the head first and then line up the engine to the bottom plate of the frame. Now tighten down the 3 engine mount screws and the one screw for the upper mount. Attach your fuel line, throttle cable to the carb, and recheck the whole bike to make sure everything is on. Go over the bike and make sure everything is on tight.

Part 7.

If you’re feeling good about everything, go ahead and put gas in the gas tank and try to start her up. If you have everything on good, the bike should fire right up. Enjoy!

Typical gains for a similar setup is 500-1000 RPMs up top, and better acceleration throughout the powerband.


PBP and ADA Racing will not be responsible for any damages to yourself or your pocketbike resulting from these modifications. Perform these modifications at your own risk.
 

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