Finally, picture of my R

[J La]

http://img72.exs.cx/img72/6931/2172r12135va.th.jpg (http://img72.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img72&image=2172r12135va.jpg)

[a-camp]

Its not showing up for me

[J La]

Sorry, try it again. I'm just learning.

[smokey]

That looks awsome!!!!

[atczack]

Sweet man. I especially like the inverted forks. :beer

[wheelie king]

That's triick for sure, bro.

I dig it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :Bounce
Honda's rule! (never mind the yammie in the sig... :naughty: )

WK

[a-camp]

Wow tell me about your front end ? I need that.How long on the rear.

[a-camp]

Out with it .Who made the tripple clamp . What bike for the shocks ? Front calliper?

[twgranger]

that is sweet!! any more pics??

[BigGreenMachine]

Holy FRICKIN FRICK!!! That is too sweet, love the USD's and the all red with white scheme. Awsome for sure!

[Troll 2]

Very nice. Yes we need the fork/tripple info. I dig the wheels/hub combo and red seat cover. Are your rear fenders cut? Then what kind of pipe do you run................... :beer

[Maine_Triker]

O my! Awesome man, that is one hot bike.

[a-camp]

Info info Where are you ? Is this top secret ?

[J La]

First of all, thanks for all the comments. I'm always trying to do something different. Here goes the spill on the forks. The forks themselves are from an '89 CR250. The triple clamps are '89 CR250 and '85 250R. I had a local machine shop cut the ends off of the CR clamps and weld them onto the middle of the 250R clamps. That way I was able to use the stock stem and fender bolt holes. The headlight still fits with the straps but they are pretty tight. I had to have the left fork axle hole drilled and tapped for the stock axle and a bushing made for the right side where the axle goes through the clamp. The brake caliper is from an '89 CR, I had to space the caliper in and the disc out to get it to line up. The disc is not big enough so I'm having the machine shop make me a new one as we speek.

[350Xccelerator]

damn thats a kick azz R!

[MO350X]

Awesome R!

Thanks for the breakdown of the fork mods, too!

[TrikerR]

thats fricken sweet

[BigGreenMachine]

now you need one of those holeshot devices that the pro mx'ers use these days.

[vartiak15]

what kind of exhaust is that? do they still make em?

[bonkers_200s]

I'd be scared to ride that, every inch of travel I'd be getting off and making sure nothing is broken or breaking, very sweet.

[86250RZ]

Is it just me? I see no picture

[Mr. Sandman]

Outstanding "R" J La. Now tell us about the motor.

[Billy Golightly]

Very nice work on the forks. Sometime soon I will be doing a similar project on my Tri-Z. My plan is to use shorter length (YZ80) forks, and then have them revalved for the extra weight.

How does it handle with the extra ground clearence and ride height? How close are the forks to hitting the tank when your in full steering lock?

Billy

[J La]

Hey everyone! How's it going? That is a good idea to use 80 forks. I'm sure you could have them valved perfectly for the weight. This thing handles great. It takes whoops almost as good as my '01 CR. If you ask me, it is one of the best mods you can do. The only thing I had to come to terms with is how it sits. The forks raised the front end almost 4 inches. The swingarm is 3.5 inches longer than stock so that helped the rear but I wish it sat a little higher in the back. When the bars are turned all the way it does hit my shrouds but not bad enough to do worry about.

[AZ250R]

Me Likey! :naughty:
well cept for the cut fenders....

[AirManCam]

Looks to me like the whole cr was converted.

[Billy Golightly]

Hey everyone! How's it going? That is a good idea to use 80 forks. I'm sure you could have them valved perfectly for the weight. This thing handles great. It takes whoops almost as good as my '01 CR. If you ask me, it is one of the best mods you can do. The only thing I had to come to terms with is how it sits. The forks raised the front end almost 4 inches. The swingarm is 3.5 inches longer than stock so that helped the rear but I wish it sat a little higher in the back. When the bars are turned all the way it does hit my shrouds but not bad enough to do worry about.


Thanks, that answers alot of questions for me! On my 500X project, I bought some 89 CR500 forks. I did some modifying on them for length and ended up running into some problems. You have a great trike there and I'm sure the suspension improvement is awesome.

[a-camp]

Thanks for all the dirt.Let me know if the tripple clamp works out . I was thinking of haveing one milled from BRP or a local Guy with CNC. That bike just stopped me from bidding on some polished front forks, im going with the upside down .

[Billy Golightly]

One last request! :p Any chance you could get a picture of the clamps where they were welded together sometime in the future?

[3leggeddog]

wow,thats one sic bike for sure,love the forks,and the choice of colors,that thing is tough,what was the cost for the fork swap?

[J La]

I bought almost everything off of Ebay. I payed $55 for the triple clamps, $100 {yes $100} for the forks, I spent $180 at the machine shop {not including the new disc I'm having them make}, and I bought the caliper brand new for $247. I already had a CR brake line.

[Red Rider]

J La, nice bike! I've been wanting to undertake the upside down fork swap also. The main thing that is stopping me is also what you don't like about yours, the ride height. I don't want the front end to be all lifted, or have the forks stick up above my handlebars, and I don't want to put on an extended swingarm to try and level it out.

HondaATC, I was tuning in with interest when you were shortening your CR500 forks, because I thought that might be an avenue to explore. I also have thought about using USD's off of an 80cc dirtbike & then revalving for the extra weight, because they are the perfect length. The only drawback is that the CR, KX, RM, & YZ all use 37mm front forks right now, and I don't want to switch to forks that will be more flex prone than the stock 39mm forks on my 250R. I know 2mm isn't much, but this is supposed to be an upgrade, right?

[vartiak15]

j la cna u tell me about that exhaust? ive never seen one trailprotrailpro.

[Apollo]

J la, great trike! I am really interested in your front brake system. Is your new roter going to be bigger in diameter than a stock R roter? Is your caliper inside the rim like stock? On another note, I thought I have seen somebody else with upside forks and rear suspension of like twelve inches of travel on the internet somewhere. His bike looked level. I do not remember what he did to get the travel. His trike was yellow and red I think. Maybe someone knows who I am talking about. I love your color scheme. Also I had an 89 CR250R over ten years ago and that was the first year of the USD forks for Honda. Have you revalved them in any way? I remember those forks and their midstroke harshness.

[Billy Golightly]

HondaATC, I was tuning in with interest when you were shortening your CR500 forks, because I thought that might be an avenue to explore. I also have thought about using USD's off of an 80cc dirtbike & then revalving for the extra weight, because they are the perfect length. The only drawback is that the CR, KX, RM, & YZ all use 37mm front forks right now, and I don't want to switch to forks that will be more flex prone than the stock 39mm forks on my 250R. I know 2mm isn't much, but this is supposed to be an upgrade, right?


Most of the problems I ran into on shortening the CR500 forks were from my own ignorance on the inner works. I'll try to explain.

Initially, my idea was to just cut the outer fork tubes down 3 inches and not do anything else, that was a far cry from what had to be done. After I did that and I began re-assembly I found that since I had not shortened the dampening rod, springs, or the internal cartridge any, the sliding (Outer) fork tube was extended 3inches above its normal area. This passed the one oil weep hole in the interal fork that is for dampening along with the hard chromed oil/dust seal riding area. So then I cut 3 inches off the fork spring. The next problem was the cartridge, It was still to long which made the outer slider still come up further then it needed to. So, I cut 3 inches off of that not thinking. Well oops, I just screwed up hardcore. I effectively cut off 6 inches of travel instead of 3. If I had been thinking, I would have done 1.5 on the spring, and 1.5 on the cartridge but I didn't.

Then the problem of the dampening rod being longer then the suspension problem cropped up. It has to be cut, re-threaded on one end with a special metric die (I did find one), and then the oil dampeing holes have to be re-drilled, ect.


It was a project with good intentions, and I think I could *Maybe* do it right on the other one, but the guinea pig didn't turn out to well :p


One other thing, I wouldn't worry to much about the 80 forks flexing because of the nature of how Inverted forks are designed. The weakest point, where the forks go in the clamps, is doubled up. You've got the outside forktube (which on my 500 forks is quite beefy), as well as the inner one. In conventional setups, you only have a thin walled single tube.

[Apollo]

Billy is right on the money with 80 forks, my thoughts exactly. Are you going to try your project again, Billy, with your past experience?

[J La]

My new rotor is going to be 9" in diameter. The stock diameter is 8". The caliper sits almost exactly like the 250R system except I had to move the caliper in and the rotor out. The stance of the trike really is not that bad with my 3.5" longer swingarm. The rear end is slitely lower but in reallty It is probably more mental than anything. I will say that I would not do the conversion if I had a stock swingarm.

[Red Rider]

Billy & Apollo, I understand what you're saying, and the upside down forks certainly look beefier, even on the 80's. It makes sense that they'd flex less than standard 37mm forks since the narrow portion is down at the bottom & there's less leverage from the front wheel to flex them. Whereas on standard forks, you have all that leverage from the front wheel, all the way up to the triple clamps, where you find the narrowest portion of the forks. Still, I can't help but wonder why dirtbikes are coming from the factory with bigger diameter USD forks than when they were using standard forks, especially when the front travel has hardly increased.

Billy, thanks for the run down on your fork experiment. When you first posted that you were trying that, I whipped out my CR 250 manual & was looking at the internals for the USD forks. I was having a hard time figuring out what all would need to be shortened to get the desired length also. All it cost me was a headache. It sounds like it cost you the same plus a lot of agravation & a hit to the wallet. Thanks again for sharing your mistakes.

[Billy Golightly]

Sometime when I get enough paitence and time to sit down and figure things out, I will work on it again and get it whooped. I'm confident it can be done, because a few of the suspension companies like Race Tech offer a shortening service. Its just learning how to do it that is hard :)

[Apollo]

I hope you post pictures of the new brake setup once it is installed. You have done an awesome job, your R looks great!