- Joined
- Feb 13, 2018
- Messages
- 62
- Location
- San Rafael, CA
Hey there, Berg nerds. I’ve been lurking on this site for a while now. I was shopping for a bike to back up my DR that’s been modded to the max. That thing is still heavy and lazy so I wanted to rip a bit on a lighter, smaller displacement bike. I figured a 350 or so. I shopped around forever and couldn’t find the perfect bike, DRZ was too close to the DR, old Huskies geared for racing, new Huskies too expensive, almost went for the WR250R but couldn’t quite justify riding around in the high revs all day for power, not a fan of the orange, Beta almost got me but they’re hard to find and still too expensive when you do find one… I almost gave up until I happened across the Bergs. I loved them from the first second. I finally bought one in January. Having only read about them and watched tons of videos I was super curious to get on one. I was hooked immediately. So much so I made a bit of a rash decision. I bought the first one I found and I paid too much for it but it’s still such a rad bike I’ll do the work and make it great. I will have tons of questions for you all even though you’ve been incredibly helpful just in the threads I’ve spent so much time with so far.
So here are the deets:
-2009 FE 570
-About 12000 miles
-381 hours
-Street legal- the last owner put all the lights and such on it in the last 6 months so I think it spent most of it’s life in the dirt
-Countershaft looks good for that reason
-15/50 gearing- A bit odd but I dig it so far. 3.33 seems in a good spot for me but I haven’t ridden it much so I’ll see
-76-250 spring in the rear. A bit much for me. I’m 155 lbs so plus gear and a full Giant Loop it might work out. I might get a new spring that’s one increment down. Haven’t set the sag yet but it needed to be stiffened up a bit according to preliminary measurements (I got 4 3/8” rider sag and the book says 4.13”) so maybe it’ll work out.
-Lowered a bit (I'm 5'8" with a 29" inseam) with a spacer in the shock (done by Click in Santa Cruz, legit), the forks moved up a bit and the seat shaved. It’s an ass killer. Seat Concepts will be involved shortly (no pun intended).
-JD Jetting PowerSurge 6x
-New clutch
And now for the bad…
-70 degree tank, stoked!, buuuut it leaks. A lot. The seller told me it “smells of gas if you fill it all the way”. So I thought, I’ll fill it all the way just to check mpg and I’ll be riding anyway so the smell won’t bother me. Stopped once and it leaked everywhere.
Plus on one side the lower bolt that holds the plastics on was broken off and some animal of a mechanic literally just drove a thick ass wood screw diagonally up into the tank past the brass fitting to “fix” it. I had to take that out to repack the FMF Powercore 4 on it and upon re-assembly it leaked, obviously. So I’ll be trying to fix that. On the other side the bolt was seriously stuck in the brass fitting. We pried up on that thing with all our might (my dad and I) and finally got it out. The brass seems ok. Might re-tap and use it. Might seal both holes and either epoxy nuts to the side and bolt the plastics on that way or just zip tie the plastics to something and call it good.
Other than those obvious holes I can’t tell where it was leaking from exactly. Under the battery box is discolored so probably there. The red plug on top is gone and huge blob of epoxy is covering that area. It might be a first generation tank so maybe no red plug. Lots of leak fix attempts are evident. I need to inspect it further and try to get it useable. I left it at my dad’s shop and I’ll get back up and deal with it next month. So no pics or accurate descriptions for now.
Any tips on fixing this tank and/or epoxy or anything else that works on XLPE would be great. We’re using JB Weld ClearWeld on recommendation from JB Weld. Supposed to bond to XLPE and be gas resistant. We’ll see.
-Oil leak from the ignition cover by the two sets of wires going in. It’s either the gasket or the grommets or the cover. I can’t see up there to tell exactly where the source is. I put the cover on a piece of glass and it’s nowhere near flat. I’ll try a new gasket and some Permatex black over the top once it’s torqued and see where I’m at. Next step will be to buy a new cover.
Other than that it’s all good! One intake and one exhaust valve out of spec by about .02 mm each. Not so bad.
It rips. Starts on the 2nd button push most times. Maybe 43 mpg but hard to tell with all the leaking. Spark plug was the perfect color. It spilled coolant out the overflow twice in a day the 2nd time I rode it but it hasn’t done it since. I’ll get a fan kit and a temp gauge.
Happy to be part of the gang! Your advice is welcome. You guys are the source of almost all my knowledge so far. Thanks!
So here are the deets:
-2009 FE 570
-About 12000 miles
-381 hours
-Street legal- the last owner put all the lights and such on it in the last 6 months so I think it spent most of it’s life in the dirt
-Countershaft looks good for that reason
-15/50 gearing- A bit odd but I dig it so far. 3.33 seems in a good spot for me but I haven’t ridden it much so I’ll see
-76-250 spring in the rear. A bit much for me. I’m 155 lbs so plus gear and a full Giant Loop it might work out. I might get a new spring that’s one increment down. Haven’t set the sag yet but it needed to be stiffened up a bit according to preliminary measurements (I got 4 3/8” rider sag and the book says 4.13”) so maybe it’ll work out.
-Lowered a bit (I'm 5'8" with a 29" inseam) with a spacer in the shock (done by Click in Santa Cruz, legit), the forks moved up a bit and the seat shaved. It’s an ass killer. Seat Concepts will be involved shortly (no pun intended).
-JD Jetting PowerSurge 6x
-New clutch
And now for the bad…
-70 degree tank, stoked!, buuuut it leaks. A lot. The seller told me it “smells of gas if you fill it all the way”. So I thought, I’ll fill it all the way just to check mpg and I’ll be riding anyway so the smell won’t bother me. Stopped once and it leaked everywhere.
Plus on one side the lower bolt that holds the plastics on was broken off and some animal of a mechanic literally just drove a thick ass wood screw diagonally up into the tank past the brass fitting to “fix” it. I had to take that out to repack the FMF Powercore 4 on it and upon re-assembly it leaked, obviously. So I’ll be trying to fix that. On the other side the bolt was seriously stuck in the brass fitting. We pried up on that thing with all our might (my dad and I) and finally got it out. The brass seems ok. Might re-tap and use it. Might seal both holes and either epoxy nuts to the side and bolt the plastics on that way or just zip tie the plastics to something and call it good.
Other than those obvious holes I can’t tell where it was leaking from exactly. Under the battery box is discolored so probably there. The red plug on top is gone and huge blob of epoxy is covering that area. It might be a first generation tank so maybe no red plug. Lots of leak fix attempts are evident. I need to inspect it further and try to get it useable. I left it at my dad’s shop and I’ll get back up and deal with it next month. So no pics or accurate descriptions for now.
Any tips on fixing this tank and/or epoxy or anything else that works on XLPE would be great. We’re using JB Weld ClearWeld on recommendation from JB Weld. Supposed to bond to XLPE and be gas resistant. We’ll see.
-Oil leak from the ignition cover by the two sets of wires going in. It’s either the gasket or the grommets or the cover. I can’t see up there to tell exactly where the source is. I put the cover on a piece of glass and it’s nowhere near flat. I’ll try a new gasket and some Permatex black over the top once it’s torqued and see where I’m at. Next step will be to buy a new cover.
Other than that it’s all good! One intake and one exhaust valve out of spec by about .02 mm each. Not so bad.
It rips. Starts on the 2nd button push most times. Maybe 43 mpg but hard to tell with all the leaking. Spark plug was the perfect color. It spilled coolant out the overflow twice in a day the 2nd time I rode it but it hasn’t done it since. I’ll get a fan kit and a temp gauge.
Happy to be part of the gang! Your advice is welcome. You guys are the source of almost all my knowledge so far. Thanks!
