[Upgrayedd]

Ninelives17, I know you said you’ve been really busy at work and home lately, but when you have time, will you give us an update on how your bike is running? I would love to hear more about how it performs with the high compression piston, ported larger valve head, and larger throttle body. What kind of speed can you realistically cruise at on the highway (flat ground and up hills)?

My buddy came in town from Colorado. He brought his 2018 Grom ABS. He bought it a year ago. Still has the original gas in it. Bone stock. Zero mods. Less than 50 miles. I live about 6300 feet lower than he does. The bike didn’t want to run! I reset the ECU and changed the altitude setting. We put fresh fuel in it. It ran like complete crap for about 30 minutes, then it started running normally. I think the problem was both the altitude change and bad fuel.

Riding it around my neighborhood made me appreciate all of my mods. Because I’ve changed so many parts gradually, I had gotten used to all of them little by little. Riding a bone stock Grom was eye opening.

His front fork bottoms out so easily. I don’t remember mine being that soft before the Ohlins upgrade. I guess it was. My 4-piston Brembo caliper requires a fraction of the lever pull his does. The ASV levers have spoiled me. I didn’t realize how bad the stock levers were, until I rode them again. My bike is noticeably faster too.

Not bashing his bike, but riding it really allowed me to appreciate all of the mods I’ve made.

 

[Ninelives17]

Well..... I've only put 2,000 miles on it since the repairs were finished. But I can tell you right now that I love it! I can cruise @65 sitting upright on flat ground. Max top speed so far is still 83 downhill but I know it can go faster, just haven't pushed it that hard again. I typically run 55-60 on mine and @Hairless adventures. The best part though is the torque down low, you can slow way down in 4th gear and still not need to downshift to gain speed. My gearing helps with that too, but it was mostly the hi-comp piston.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Well..... I've only put 2,000 miles on it since the repairs were finished. But I can tell you right now that I love it! I can cruise @65 sitting upright on flat ground. Max top speed so far is still 83 downhill but I know it can go faster, just haven't pushed it that hard again. I typically run 55-60 on mine and @Hairless adventures. The best part though is the torque down low, you can slow way down in 4th gear and still not need to downshift to gain speed. My gearing helps with that too, but it was mostly the hi-comp piston.

2000 miles! That’s awesome. I thought I had almost 2000 miles. Climbed on my bike Saturday only to realize it was 1800 miles. You certainly get your money’s worth out of that bike!

I’m looking forward to either a high compression piston and ported head or BBK one day. I would love it if the bike could hold 65-70mph on the highway, even uphill, especially without tucking. That’s asking for a lot. Right now it wants to dip to 55-58mph on the big uphill sections of highway. I’m passing everyone on the downhills and getting passed on the uphills.

I still need to install my 36tooth rear sprocket. Looking forward to that.

 

[Hairless]

Well..... I've only put 2,000 miles on it since the repairs were finished. But I can tell you right now that I love it! I can cruise @65 sitting upright on flat ground. Max top speed so far is still 83 downhill but I know it can go faster, just haven't pushed it that hard again. I typically run 55-60 on mine and @Hairless adventures. The best part though is the torque down low, you can slow way down in 4th gear and still not need to downshift to gain speed. My gearing helps with that too, but it was mostly the hi-comp piston.
[/QUOT

 

[Hairless]

Lol well i will tell you this ninelives17 keeps insisting that his really isnt much different than mine but yet i cant go 83 or more less i struggle to hit 65 at a steady pace but i do have a mileage pic for yall if i can figure out how to post it.

 

[Ninelives17]

Only true Grom gangstas run the gas gauge till it flashes, lol. Only insane people like you pass a gas station and say "we will stop at the NEXT gas station"

 

[Hairless]

Its called trust and yes in my head it was just a mile or two down the road,but reality it was more like almost 20 but we made through with our great tucks and coasting.lol

 

[Upgrayedd]

I can’t wait to see how many miles you two have on your bikes by this time next year. Probably 20,000. Does Hairless bike still have the original cam chain tensioner or did you guys change it?

 

[Ninelives17]

We replaced it with stock components, my Takegawa is still doing fine. I really believe I won the defect lottery with the Koso. I think @Hairless was scared to let me change his after my failure, but eventually came around. Hard to beat free labor..... lol.

 

[Upgrayedd]

We replaced it with stock components, my Takegawa is still doing fine. I really believe I won the defect lottery with the Koso. I think @Hairless was scared to let me change his after my failure, but eventually came around. Hard to beat free labor..... lol.

You sound like a good friend!

Yeah, I agree with you about the Koso tensioner. Plenty of people running those. I’ve not heard of any failures. Probably just rotten luck. You got the one defective one.

My Takegawa tensioner seems to be doing great too, but my bike is not a good measure of durability. I don’t put a ton of miles on my ride like you fellows.

 

[Hairless]

Oh trust me it wasnt free labor but somebody has to be ninelives17 friend lol anyway he has more money to blow. I will be honest though when his messed up i decided not to upgrade mine just go back to stock. It was not a cheap fix.

 

[Hairless]

Oh trust me it wasnt free labor but somebody has to be ninelives17 friend lol anyway he has more money to blow. I will be honest though when his messed up i decided not to upgrade mine just go back to stock. It was not a cheap fix.

Also i trust ninelives17 with my life he is like a brother i never had. Learned alot with him and been in alot of messes with him uummm just now realized the pattern here.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Also i trust ninelives17 with my life he is like a brother i never had. Learned alot with him and been in alot of messes with him uummm just now realized the pattern here.

I understand. I’ve got about 5 friends like that. Those 5 friends I consider part of the “inner circle”. 3 of them, I’ve been to hell and back with. Countless adventures. Most of us don’t usually have too many people like that during our time on this Earth. People you can call anytime, no matter what you need, they’ve got your back. These are all friendships that date back at least 25 years, some of them almost 40 years.

 

[Ninelives17]

Update! Lol. With about 4500 miles on the DHM piston/cylinder I started getting some blowby and loss of power. Fearing the worst, I ordered a new piston/cylinder from DHM. I tore it apart today, piston and cylinder look great! Maybe a little heat discoloration, but no bad signs. Head gasket looks to be the issue. It will be going back together with the new piston/cylinder AND new timing components and a Kitaco 5 row cooler/ Takegawa high flow oil pump to keep the temps down. Then I will put a few miles on it to check the tune before selling. @Hairless and I purchased two new Yamaha MT-03 bikes in August and the Groms will be sold. More details when it is 100% ready for a new owner.

 

[Ninelives17]

 

[Ghost56]

Update! Lol. With about 4500 miles on the DHM piston/cylinder I started getting some blowby

My friends bike, which has a DHM stage 3 is starting to smoke out of the exhaust pretty bad after about 2k miles. I wonder if his motor is having the same issue with the gasket. Thank you for providing the update.

Blowby sucks to deal with, I tore up my first koso 170 piston because I didn't understand how crankcase pressure worked. Thankfully there's a wealth of knowledge saved here about catch cans and their implementation.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Then I will put a few miles on it to check the tune before selling. @Hairless and I purchased two new Yamaha MT-03 bikes in August and the Groms will be sold. More details when it is 100% ready for a new owner.

Turncoat!

 

[Upgrayedd]

Ok, I’m curious, how are the MT-03s?

 

[Ninelives17]

Awesome! Changed gearing to -1 +2, it is completely stock and quiet. It is decently quick and will still do 100 if I want it to. Freeways are no problem. Handles like it is on rails, probably the longer wheelbase. I am a Yamaha fanboy though, my first bike was a 1987 FZR1000.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Good to hear. Sounds fun. Hope you have been doing well. I like Yamahas too. I’m not sure I have a favorite brand though.