The PERFECT replacement REED material !!!???

[motorbike57]

So, I bought the RSE reed from kingsmotorbike and within 5 miles the 'fiberglass' reed broke ! I tried to call King's about it but could never get them on the phone.

so, I thought - I'll just make my own reed. The original is supposedly made out of fiberglass, but since it didn't last very long... and I dont have any fiberglass, I decided to try thin plastic. My wife has some really thin cutting board mat type things that she probably got from a dollar store. so I cut it to shape, drilled it, and put it back on the bike. it ran ok, but after about 5 or 10 miles I decided to take it off and have a look. The plastic had warped into a nice arc and wasn't working at all.

So, what next? well, lets try thin metal. A buddy of mine has the reed kit from Arrow and it has thin metal reeds.

But where am i gonna find really thin metal ? I could probably go to a dollar store or grocery or big lots and look around for something made of really thin metal.. But then, After thinking about it for a while, it dawned on me....

3-1/2" floppy disks have a metal slider that covers the disk !!!!! PERFECT !?!?

so i dug through my boxes of old disks and stole the sliders. i also found a few that have PLASTIC sliders !!! but I'm not confident that the plastic would not warp again under the influence of gasoline.

I am now in the process of making new replacement reeds from the floppy disks. The only problem I might have is if the metal is not flexible enough to allow air/gas through. But, i'm gonna try it out and see what happens.. stay tuned for final results !!!

cheers

 

[Agreen]

That's pretty thick for reed material. You need some spring steel that is paper thin.

 

[exokinetic]

Treatland sells all kinds of fiberglass, carbon fiber, multiple thickness reed sheets you can cut out yourself pretty cheap.

https://www.treatland.tv/SearchResults.asp?Search=reed+sheet+paper

The breaking reeds might not be the fiberglass material though.

If you look at the intake port, where the RSE Reed is sticking in, because of the angled shape of the port, the bottom of the port has plenty of room, and the bottom reed petal shouldn't hit anything. The top of the port however does not leave very much room at all for the reed petal to open before it hits the top of the port. Sticking the top of the port may have been what shattered your reed petal.

Was it the "top" reed petal that shattered?

I use a dremel tool to modify intake port right above where the reed petal needs to move in order to open so that it has room. I have never broken an RSE Reed valve petal on the two race engine I run them in, so this modification may be necessary.

If you have anymore question don't hesitate to ask!