Hi Debi,
I grew up in Renton along with Les Tinius. We used to be able to ride for miles right from our homes near "fairwood". Les is well known here as a mechanic/suspension tuner/maker of gasgas jetting kits & parts, etc.
There is good winter riding about an hours drive from you near bremerton at "Tahuya" - others refer to it as 'belfair' - which is the smallest town close to the area. The ground has topsoil - but once you break through that it is glacial sand and rock. A few big puddles but great traction in the winter. If you need a tour guide - hook up with Roscoe (aka REVERUP) - he knows the place very well.
As far as the bike goes - it has come in two configurations over the years - one with a lighter (more zippy") ignition with less flywheel. And the other with a higher output stator that gives more flywheel effect and throttle control. When you say trail riding - do you like tight trail or more wide open stuff? As a 2003, your bike more likely has the larger 2k3 ignition - see here for identification and details :
http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=164
The heavier ignition will be better for NW trail riding - given that the bike has a plate - I would imagine it has the heavier ignition - if not, you can add a flywheel.
For my old 2001, in that neck of the woods - I ran a honda tlr200 reflex throttle for a longer throttle pull and more throttle control - many here use the g2 throttle tube for better low end throttle control.
The engine has the squish band set up way loose - check the squish and, if necessary, send the cylinder head down to portland to Ron at RB-designs to have it cleaned up - low cost and big bang for the buck. The compression is set to an optimal amount for your riding altitude(s), the bike will run cleaner and more efficiently (improved mpg). Look in the tech articles section of the website for more details.
The clutch drags - using a better oil helps. I like shell rotella 5w40 diesel rated oil -they sell it at walmart. Les mounted a cannondale clutch master cylinder on my bike and it helped quite a bit - he has a spare one - now needs a lever though - we robbed the lever off of the spare master for my husky txc510...
The kickstarter on the 2003 is kinda short and is a bit soft where it meets the knuckle - the newer kickstarters are much better. Hawkeye here figured out that a yz 2 stroke kickstarter fits right on - it is longer and seems like it is made for it - makes for easier starting. You can either buy new or pick one up on e-bay, they get parted out fairly often.
For jetting, it's personal preference and the stock jetting for 2003 wasn't ideal. The previous owner may have installed his own jetting or a jetting kit available from LTR (my friend Les' company, or if you are lucky you might have the carb modified by Ron at RB-Designs. He modifies the carb internally, bores it out to 39mm and installs divider plates to improve throttle response.
For suspension setup - I would highly recommend Les at LT-Racing in Port Orchard, WA (but I am very, very biased as he is a longtime friend of mine). He has springs in stock,etc. He also lowers bikes for many riders - he specializes in gasgas and husky, the latter tend to be tall for many riders. He is also a machinist and has a lathe and mill in his shop -so he machines custom spacers, etc for each application/person.
In summary :
For carb & head work ->
www.rb-designs.com
For suspension & general bike advice ->
www.lt-racing.com
For parts fiche & aftermarket parts ->
www.gofasters.com
That's enough from me for now...
jeff
aka webmaster here...
to match your other interesting scoots in the garage. Did you get a chance to ride it before you purchased it to see how it ran?
