GKA 250cc

Posts: 15

I got my new iridium plug and 18g rollers and put them on. It helped a little with the get up and go and in the mud Confused

. It still cant climb without momentum though Evil or Very Mad

. I have a spring arriving today Razz

. I will put it on and let you know how it works . Still looking for clutch springs (the little ones) and a high outout coil. If you now where I can get one please let me know. Question

Posts: 15

Now it is running good Razz

The 1500 spring made all the difrence in the world. It will now bark the tires in payvment. I went back to the same hill, its only about 15-20ft, and stoped on the side of it just like before but this time when I hit the throttle it took off like a rocket and pulled my fronts off the ground Surprised

. I cant thank you enough blade. Cool

Posts: 166

johnsonjasonm,

Would you recommend ordering the upgrades you have put on yours at the same time the kart is ordered? Do you think that all three of these upgrades should be done, or just the spring?

Do you find yourself extremely frustrated with the fluid changes, or is it a minor annoyance?

If you do recommend ordering the upgrades, could you give me the specifics on the partnumbers and where to order? I would certainly appreciate it.

Thanks!

dfwright

Posts: 15

I would definently recomend the spring ( I purchased myne from Awsomebuggy.com, There site doesnt have it but you can call and talk to Irene and she will be able to get you one). I dont know how much of a difference the rollers made and I only got the spark plug for the High output coil I plan on purchasing. If I where to do things over again I would get a roomy 150 and just put the upgrades on it. Or maybe even get the 250 from Blade. However "to each his own", The Spyder has plenty of room. I am 6'0" tall and about 225lb and I fit with the seat most of the way forward. I dont think there is a smoother riding buggy out there either. 1 more thing get some lock-tite and lock-tite Exclamation

EVERYTHING Exclamation

as you assemble. The fluids are more annoying then difficult. I am in engineering and I hate it when Designers take the easy way out and dont think things through. If you need any help let me know as I have allready taken myne apatrt and put it back together 3 times (each time I road it for a day). Before starting remove the CVT cover and check for anything that is loose as this will destroy your cart fast.
Jason

Posts: 166

Great Advice, Thanks! I'll save this message in case I do go with the Spyder.

Do you think the Blade 250 would fit comfortably a 6' person? I will look into that as an option as well.

Posts: 15

Im not sure what happend but we beleive one of my new 18g rollers turned sideways and the end resolt was I lost about a 1/4" off the width of my belt and about an 1/8th off the heigth. So needless to say it is now sliping. This was the first real long day of riding and it broke again. I already orderd a new belt from Blade and when it gets here I am going to send my torn up belt in to Allnewpowersports for waranty replacement. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to prevent this problem in the future or any other ideas on what could of caused this? Please let me know.
Jason

Posts: 166

ouch! I don't have any insight to offer, I just wanted to say that I am interested in learning with you. I ordered the Spyder 250, Supposed to be delivered tomorrow! wooT!

I also ordered a set of 17g sliders and the 1500 spring, so I am watching your progress intently! Smile

Posts: 15

Dont be intiminated by my results as I drive the living hello out of it. I dont beleive in taking it easy. I am also trying to make sure to break everything now as I am taking it up to my propery in the Rockies Memorial day. I would hate for it to break up there. I will have a replacement belt with me and I got a cordless Riobe impact wrench for 100 dollars that im taking with me. I hope you have better luck with yours.
Jaosn

Posts: 3728

johnsonjasonm, do you still need the clutch springs? I have a set put away for you.

Posts: 62

Hello, Glad to see someone wrote several good reviews of this type of buggy. I have the cyclone 250 (very similar) with shaft drives (yes bot wheels drive together). I have found this cart to be extremely capable off road. The suspension works very well at keeping the wheels planted and the cart under control. The great suspension makes up for the high weight and large size of this cart. Running this cart and our hammerhead 250 style carts together off road we find the suspension on this cart makes up for the terrible power to weight ratio (when compared to the smaller carts) except when trying to climb steep hills at low speed.

I have been unable to break my cyclone (although I have killed a GK02 and almost drowned our GK 19). We used the cyclone to tow our dead 02 a couple miles back through serious 4-wheeler trails when the gearbox died (see my post on our first outing). I have blown the front wheel off (tire bead gave way) while trying to show my daughter how to transition a power induced slide into a 4-wheel drift to get through a hairpin turn more quickly (this was 3 weeks before I flipped our GK19 into a pond). My daughter and I have taken a 3.5' tall jump at full speed in the cyclone and it just keeps going. My daughter and I have had this cart almost literally on its side (following a narrow gorge down to a creek bed) with no issues.

I too have ordered the tighter spring and a set of 17g rollers for our cyclone. I have not had a chance to install these yet.

Differences: The cyclone appears to be just like the the Spyder250 by awesome buggies, the GKA, and the Roketa GK-29 except it has independent shaft drives similar to the hurricane sold by Awesome buggies. The difference between the Cyclone and the hurricanes rear suspendison is the cyclones drive wheels are locked together wheras the hurricane has a differential. I have photos posted of the cyclone. Because of the shaft and gearbox arrangement, changing the rear drive ratio on the cyclone is not possible. I recommend doing this for the chain driven versions to take better advantage of the CVT in these units (this will also improve hill climbing and possibly acceleration). In this particular case, I do not expect that you would lose top speed because in the case of this particular cart the top speed is limited due to engine power, not gearing.
The other difference between the Cyclone and the other carts of this series is the engine on the cyclone is installed backwards when compared to the GKA, Spyder, and GK-29. This was done to make the shaft drive work. because of this, the cyclones have a much longer exhaust pipe (giving better low end torque but sacrificing top end power) and the muffler is hung with two of the rubber mounts rather than one (although the other carts may have moved to this mounting style by now to solve the high incidence of muffer/exhaust pipe failures).

The only things to make this cart better in my opinion would be:
lighter weight (replace some of the steel with AL), a high-lo transmission, and even more suspension travel.

I also have a few negatives with this cart:
- the layout of the trailing arms and large size of the cart makes maneuvering through tight forest trails tricky. The driver must be constantly aware of where the rear wheels are in relation to trees and other vertical obstacles.
- The high weight makes this cart vulnerable to deep mud. Because it is soo heavy, the cart can sink down so far that too much weight is on the chassis in the mud. At that point, the wheels just throw mud but can't move the cart. This is not a problem with normal levels of mud, even under deep water.
- This cart pushes quite badly on high traction surfaces because the rear suspension does such a good job of keeping both wheels planted. On narrower karts and solid rear axle carts the inside wheel usually unweights enough to slip, thereby improving the turning performance on high traction surfaces. I can usually compensate for this on trails, dirt, and gravel surfaces by merely slowing slightly before the turn and using power to loosen up the rear of the cart. Because of the long wheel base this maneuver is very predictable and controllable.
-This cart needs a grab bar for the passenger. Also, the inboard position of the front roll bars allows branches and other debris to strike the driver and the passenger if the driver is not careful.
-After flipping one of these and ending up hanging upside in 4' of water I highly recommend replacing your seatbelts with aircraft style latches. These are much easier to get out of in a hurry.

And yes, I drive much slower now!