Throughout the 1990's, the Honda 300ex has proven to be an excellent choice for inexperienced riders and weekend trail riders alike. It's small size, excellent handling and relatively inexpensive price tag has led to a tremendous increase in sales numbers over the past decade. Combined with parts readily available through numerous offroad companies, this tame trail animal has been quickly transformed into a serious contender in many racing circuits. Recently, 300ex's have began to compose the majority of many beginner racing classes at ATVA Sanctioned Events.

Let's get Started!

Overview:

Stage One: In this first Article, we will be adding basic bolt on components that we feel are necessary to be competitive at the entry level. At this stage, our quad will be significantly improved from it's stock performance level as well as begin to look like the race quad it will be.

Stage Two: This is the meat of any build. Chassis and Suspension upgrades are perhaps one of the most crucial parts of any race bike. After all, all the power in the world is useless unless you can get it to the ground.

Stage Three: This is the fun part. With a capable chassis under our belt we can now begin to address the mildly-outdated powerplant. Along with engine upgrades, the looks department will also be addressed with numerous "Final Touches"

Our Purchase/Initial Evaluation:

After searching the classifieds for a few weeks, we finally settled on a used 2001 Honda 300ex. Upon first inspection, we were pleased to find that it had been well cared for and only lightly ridden due to the previous owner having other quads to ride. We headed off to Breezewood Proving Grounds in Breezewood, PA in order to make our purchase and evaluate our bike in a semi-stock form. Breezewood's track is an ideal place to test a machine as they offer tracks that accommodate riders of any skill level. However, future tests will be done by riding more rigorous local trails as well as competing in the local Virginia Cross Country Series and GNCC Events.

Fortunately, Our 300ex came outfitted with a few basic upgrades already. It Included an AC Racing Front Bumper, ITP .190 Wheels with Standard 4-ply ITP Holeshot Tires, a set of Renthal Handlebars and a set of Works Dual Rate Shocks that needed a good overhauling.

First Ride Impressions:

At first glance, we were thankful that the stock rounded-profile tires were replaced with with a set of ITP's standard holeshots. Although these tires are not nearly durable enough to withstand extreme racing conditions, they are a significant improvement for the weekend trail rider. After taking the machine out for a few laps around the track at Breezewood Proving Grounds, it was apparent that the chassis-roll of an entirely stock unit was slightly eliminated, but will be further reduced with the addition of significant chassis and suspension upgrades.

It quickly became apparent that the tired works suspension needed immediate attention. The remote reservoirs were leaking oil and after closer inspection, one of the shock shafts was pitted to the point that it needed a replacement. We figured it was in our best interest to get off the track for the day and make the journey back to Virginia where we could address the problems at hand. The works shocks should be a significant improvement over the factory units after a fresh rebuild, but a higher end shock will be necessary in order to be competitive at a national level.  As far as handling is concerned, we feel this bike is one of the best in it's class. However, it's narrow footprint provides a tipsy-feeling in some of the basic off-camber situations we have thrown at our unit so far. This issue will be addressed in Phase Two of our buildup.

Performance wise, our bike left a bit to be desired. Like most four-strokes, our 300ex had a decent low-end grunt, but lacked the all-out top-end performance needed against other big-bore quads in our class. We will address significant motor improvements in Phase Three of our buildup, but for now, simple bolt-on performance should be significant enough to be competitive at the local racing events.

Overall, our Honda is a fun, reliable bike to ride that would be fine just the way it is for weekend riders. However, before we are willing to take it out competitively, there are a few issues that must be dealt with first.

Let the Fun Begin!:

It's no secret that our bikes suspension was the major weak-link with our Project Quad. For the time being we opted to go ahead and send off our tired shocks to Laz @ GT Thunder for a full rebuild and re-valve specific to our riders weight and riding style. Ken at BK Peformance also gave the springs a fresh coat of powder to revive the chipped factory finish. As you can see, these shocks were beat!

After receiving the suspension back, I'm happy to report it made a tremendous difference in the pogo-stick like performance our first ride yielded. Proper Shock valving and maintenance is perhaps one of the most important things to understand when building up a race bike. Proper suspension set-up can shave significant numbers off lap times consistently. What a differerence!

Now that our bike is finally rideable, We decided to add the necessary parts to make our machine AMA Legal, as well as add a few performance parts along the way. AC Racing has been providing quality chassis components for years and seemed to be the logical choice as we started to outfit our machine. We opted to use their Standard Series Nerf Bars, XC Wide-Grab Bar, as well as their .190 Aluminum Swing-Arm and Chassis Skid-plates. An AC Racing bumper was also on our machine at purchase, but we will be swapping it out with a unit that offers better front-end protection in the future.

AMA Regulations require a tether-style kill switch in order to compete. We opted for Pro-Armor's Version. It's durable, came with clear installation instructions and has worked flawlessly so far. We also purchased a set of Cycra's Stealth DX Handlebars to complement our controls as well as over the needed hand protection in Cross-Country Enviroments. Although this particular model does not include the wrap around "Bark-Busters" They offer ample protection and look good as well.

On an XC Bike, It is important to make the bike as comfortable as possible in order to decrease fatigue and arm-pump in a 2+ Hour Race. Due to this, a steering dampner of some kind is almost a necessity. After comparing prices, styles and features, We opted to use Precision Racing's Steering Dampner. Although the price tag was higher than we initially wanted to spend, other riders opinions were what sold us on this product and we've never looked back. At right around $500, so it should! What's really great about this product is the the fact that it is safely tucked away behind the front bumper and it's small size does not interfere with other components. The level of adjustability is amazing and can easily be tuned for any rider in any type of terrain. So far we've only had one local harescramble on this product, but the difference we noticed was great. After some minor adjustments, we feel that this product will be one of our favorites of the entire build.

Performance Wise, We didn't do a whole lot for Phase One, but the simple modifications we did do really woke our machine up. First off, the stock 300ex Exhaust System is way to restrictive for any serious power gains and was the obvious aspect that needed immediate attention. Looking around, We found a great deal on used White Brothers E-Series Exhaust that we could not pass up. We jumped on it right away. This exhaust is a great all around system that offers great mid-range gain: what we really need for the type of riding we plan to do. Along with exhaust, we purchased a Sparks Racing CDI to replace our factory unit. This product simply increases the factory rev limit. Although the gains on a stock motor are minimal, we hope to reap the full benefits of this product in a later phase of our project build up.

Finally, We replaced the stock Air Filter with a a UNI Racing Foam Filter. This relatively cheap upgrade is often overlooked by many riders. Often times Air Filters are neglected to the point that they can pose potential hazards to an otherwise healthy engine.. Properly cleaning and oiling the Filter on a consistent basis is cheap security for extending the life of your engine.

Phase One Ride Evaluation:

So how does it ride? "A heck of lot better than we first got it" was the response our test rider gave us after taking a few laps through our test XC Track. GT Thunder did a phenomenal job making the best out of our Works Suspension and the Precision Steering Dampner works flawlessly in keeping the bars seated in your hands when navigating rough terrain. We haven't had a chance to measure the differences in our lap times just yet, but each of our test riders commented that they felt more comfortable and faster on our bike after the initial upgrades had been made. We expect times to improve as we continue to modify our project quad. Each small part added a nice touch to our machine.

At this point, these basic upgrades should satisfy the essentials of a beginner XC Racer, without breaking the bank. We will continue to provide feedback as we put our machine through race after race of the 2009 Season.

Chassis/Suspension Upgrades Coming in Phase Two of our Build! Coming Soon!

How She Sits:

Would you like to see your product used on our build? Contact Adam@AirCooledRacers.com for more Information.