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Is anyone making / selling good quality new 200 iron barrels with standard ports?
The only 200 barrels I see for sale in most dealers and online are Indian stage 4, but I would like to start with something more standard.
Any recommendations?

Al

I would go with the Indian Barrel. They look standard when fitted, and I'm sure the little bit of extra power would be welcomed. You probably wouldn't notice the difference from a standard 200 anyway. I've got one on my Indian GP 200 engine. Make sure that there's 3 to 4 thou clearance with your piston otherwise it might heat seize. Mine runs a 125 main jet in a Jetex carb and a Clubman exhaust.

So is there a market for good quality cast iron 200 barrel with standard port timings for around £100? Or do the complete GT200 and Avanti kits at £400+ fill that space in the market?

A worthy question Al, but I have been asking a similar question about someone building a decent 125cc kit for the small block engine.

There should be enough people out there who want to keep legally below 125cc, but want a bit of power too. the standard 125cc is about 6bhp at the back wheel, whilst some tuned 125cc barrels from motorcycles can easily make 25bhp.

There must be the know-how to make a 125cc Lambretta barrel that makes 12bhp AND a market for it.

my take on this is it would be good for a more standard option with low port timing like a tv200 as you could always tune further if needed but you cannot put more metal back. with the better pistons now available im sure the exhaust port would not be a problem. i dont think going back to full cast iron is the answer but steel lined ally like the sr/ indian kits if only they were made better. if the problems were put right they would still be good value if they cost £50/60 more. the other option is the rapido (which i have used for 15 years) with a few tweaks to the classic format would be a good option, they seem to be getting thin on the ground now i don,t know if any more are to be made? the other thing i wish is there was more options for decent oversize pistons in the 67mm/ 68mm range to go with the reboring possibility of these barrels rather than jumping to 70mm i know those cheap indian types cover that range but again the quality is not there from what i read.

Maybe have a look at the casa kits not the ss ones. they seem to sit in that little bit more than standard, less than a tuned kit area and price point.

This is exactly what the 1st generation Mugellos were like, other than being alloy, with low/standard port timings. They were well received by some but lots of people bought them and then compared the performance to other 'kits' and didn't like the lack of BHP, power and/or top speed for the money. The UK market wanted more from a kit, which is a shame as the porting was then changed to give the majority what they wanted, more BHP at the cost of less torque and more RPM. Unfortunately, this means that the standard spec early Mugello was soon phased out and that now leaves us with one less option Don't get me wrong, the subsequent versions were great at what they try to do, it is just that the kit no longer represents a standard barrel that is a great starting point for the home tuner.

OK, the above doesn't take into account the 'iron' factor that this thread is about but it certainly touches on the 'standard porting' issue raised.

Adam

Scooterlam - I checked the Casa catalog and they list SX and GP iron barrels at €110, Looks like a call into the local distributors might be worthwhile.

Looks like I just scored what is claimed to be a standard SX200 barrel. Time to start playing with options for a matched and polished ports, standard'ish top end using Scootopia Clubman and 22mm Scootopia carb.
Maybe a GT crank and PE or TS250 Piston?
Or SIL crank and 110 rod with an Avanti piston.

Probably not much in it price wise.

Surely there are loads of standard Italian barrels about. I've got a garage full of the fking things.

Eden wrote:Surely there are loads of standard Italian barrels about. I've got a garage full of the fking things.

Really?

I was looking at mine (2nd oversize but otherwise untouched) to top up my pension fund.

Eden wrote:Surely there are loads of standard Italian barrels about. I've got a garage full of the fking things.

Really? I've been looking for one for a 'baby 200' conversion.

Eden's having a jumble.

No I'm not

I might need them one day!