OE Style or Air Striker

Questions and Answers about the best carb and Head mods available for the KDX.
Boxfresh25
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OE Style or Air Striker

Post by Boxfresh25 »

So I decided to go with a new carb from RB design. I have a choice between the OE style or the Air Striker. I'm leaning towards the OEM style but I'm not sure if that's the right choice? I ride 50/50 street/dirt the dirt that I do ride is not super hardcore just boring florida sand unless I travel a few hours to the good stuff. This is for a 220

Pros and cons?
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by KDXGarage »

Air Striker!

Pros: It's not our money.

Cons: It is your money.

:grin:
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by Boxfresh25 »

Jason wrote:Air Striker!

Pros: It's not our money.

Cons: It is your money.

:grin:
Hahahah I walked right into that one :lol:

The Quad Air Striker looks nice and I have see some info about it having better throttle response but it looks like a tight squeeze to me with all the extra hoses. Price wise it's a $20 difference.
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OE Style or Air Striker

Post by SS109 »

I prefer the OE type but that's me. While the AS is supposed to be less sensitive to jetting I think the OE style has better power and throttle response. However, for what you're doing, either will work well. Of course, that's just my opinion.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by John_S »

I bought a new carb from Jets R Us. The OE style 35 comes with a 68 pilot jet. I emailed and they confirmed that it wasn't a misprint. That made me think Keihin changed something up internally and scared me off. I went with the air striker ($10 more and came with a 48 pilot) since I already had pilot jets from 35 to 45.

If I were buying new from RB I would go standard 35 and put the $20 towards something else on the bike.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by KDXGarage »

If you just buy one new in the box, it comes with "standard jetting and slide", not whatever a KTM, KDX, KX, YZ, etc. came with.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by John_S »

Keihin considering a 68 standard when all the other carbs standards were so different just threw me off. I thought I'd have to buy a 65,62,60 etc and go from there. When you look at the slides they state "do not use these on PWK 35 KDX". That also had me thinking the 35 they sell was different enough from the OE KDX 35 that maybe it did need a giant pilot jet lol. The standard pilot jets get bigger as the carb gets bigger with the 35 being the exception. I was all screwed up (overthinking it) and thought the easiest thing at the time was to just get the AS.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by John_S »

Sorry to distract...I think either new RB carb would be a great add on to the KDX. I would email Ron first to see if they have them ready to ship. The website says they're not taking any new work on right now.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by Boxfresh25 »

John_S wrote:Sorry to distract...I think either new RB carb would be a great add on to the KDX. I would email Ron first to see if they have them ready to ship. The website says they're not taking any new work on right now.
Yea Contacted him guess he is taking work if your buying new :lol: I flipped a coin going with OE :supz:
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by o/d »

i am also considering a new carb for a '02 220.

just not sure what all i need to buy yet. maybe someone here can help

am i correct that stock carb on the 220 is 33 mm and the 35 mm is preferred?
do stock intake & outtake boots work with the 35 mm or are new boots required?

is a new needle needed or does the 48-DGK needle provided work well on the kdx?

stock throttle cable work with the 35mm?

last, any loss of bottom end power with the 35 mm?
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OE Style or Air Striker

Post by Boxfresh25 »

I received my RB carb today. I ended up going with the new OE style over the air striker, WOW what a difference. I'm kicking myself in the ass for all the time and money I wasted trying to get the stocker running right. If your on the fence about buying this carb just do it you will not be disappointed.

I could not be happier with the turnaround time. I overnighted the payment wednesday and had the carb in today's mail. That's Amazon speed considering i'm in florida.

ALL the problems I was having with my stocker are gone. I was getting pretty close to getting the stocker dialed in and almost had all the surging gone and could run second gear down to almost a complete stop in technical stuff without stalling but I prob have $150 in jets , needles , seals , oil , gas and boxes of spark plugs and lots of wasted time!

Carb specs from RB:
OEM Style Carb
Experimental Mod IV
40 pilot
CEK #3
150 Main
7/8 AS

Ripss right out of the box and worth every penny. Needs a little tuning to suit my style with the AS but it's damn close.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by KDXGarage »

Cool! Thanks for the follow up.
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OE Style or Air Striker

Post by SS109 »

Boxfresh25 wrote:I received my RB carb today. I ended up going with the new OE style over the air striker, WOW what a difference. I'm kicking myself in the ass for all the time and money I wasted trying to get the stocker running right. If your on the fence about buying this carb just do it you will not be disappointed.

I could not be happier with the turnaround time. I overnighted the payment wednesday and had the carb in today's mail. That's Amazon speed considering i'm in florida.

ALL the problems I was having with my stocker are gone. I was getting pretty close to getting the stocker dialed in and almost had all the surging gone and could run second gear down to almost a complete stop in technical stuff without stalling but I prob have $150 in jets , needles , seals , oil , gas and boxes of spark plugs and lots of wasted time!

Carb specs from RB:
OEM Style Carb
Experimental Mod IV
40 pilot
CEK #3
150 Main
7/8 AS

Ripss right out of the box and worth every penny. Needs a little tuning to suit my style with the AS but it's damn close.
A lot of people just don't realize sometimes how old our bikes are and how worn some parts can be. If you just cant get the jetting right, with everything else known to be good, there's a real possibility the carb is toast. Thanks for letting us know!
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by TwistedRoot »

I think Im beginning to see why most bail on the oem carb. Mine has been great since I rejetted. Recently had the issue of peeing gas out the drain tube, AGAIN and the glug-glug loading up that comes with it. My question is: How does this happen when its been running great for 2 months?? Is it time to start saving for an RB oem? I dont think I have the patience to start screwing around with it!
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by SS109 »

It can be nothing more than some dirt on the needle seat or maybe corrosion from running ethanol fuel. Of course, float needles do wear out, so do floats.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by lucy »

Spend $10 and replace the float needle.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by KDXGarage »

TwistedRoot, how long was the fuel setting in the bowl between rides?
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by TwistedRoot »

KDXGarage wrote: 07:53 pm Oct 02 2019 TwistedRoot, how long was the fuel setting in the bowl between rides?
Not long. Maybe 10 days. I even bought a new float needle valve.
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by SS109 »

If it's peeing then there are only so many things it can be...

1. Dirt - clean carb
2. Incorrect float height - set to 18mm and not the factory recommended 16mm
3. Bad float - replace
4. Bad needle valve - replace
5. Needle valve seat - polish with Brasso or other brass polish using Q-tips and a drill (I have had to do this)
6. Carb not mounted correctly - loosen clamps and turn to get it perfectly upright
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Re: OE Style or Air Striker

Post by doakley »

I'm voting for dirt/debris, especially if the problem began suddenly. Generally I clean my carb before every race (not necessarily every ride) but often still.
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