Crazy inverted tricks on a ATCR250R!

[Louis Mielke]

at this point you have 3/4 ATC and 1/4 CR. its a real comfy dirtbike with two wheels in the back!

ummm ok.....whats your point? This post reads like a cut, am I missing something? His bike is awsome.

[Red Rider]

I think it would look a bit better if you angled the front fender up a little to match the tire. Shouldn't be hard to do at all.

That was the first thing I noticed after I got the front end all mounted up. The look is kind of reminiscent of the 86-87 Tecates, whose front fender seemed a bit low in the front, and I like the way the Tecates look. I'll try lowering the rear a tad & see how I like it.

Louis, I think HRC's post is referring to the fact that I call my ATC an ATCR250R, and I've been doing that ever since I first installed the CR250 cylinder on my bike, many, many years ago. Granted, my bike will never have as much CR in it as Speedbumps awesome conversion, but I think I've got the right amount. Thanks for sticking up for the bike though!

[Louis Mielke]

AH!! Now i get it. Totally forgot your bike was custom powervalved! Sorry HRC. I now have the missing peice!

[Derrick Adams]

I'm kind of curious why you went with leading axle vs. the original trailing axle?

[Billy Golightly]

I'm kind of curious why you went with leading axle vs. the original trailing axle?

The 85SX forks are leading axle originally

[Red Rider]

Derrick, as Billy said, the 85SX forks are already leading axle. I've never seen a pair of inverted forks that were designed to be trailing axle. If I spun them around to make them trailing axle, then the brake caliper would be out front, and that just wouldn't look quite right. If I have handling issues, then I may consider trying the trailing axle setup, or as a last resort, returning to the original forks. In hindsight, maybe I should have spun my original forks around to test the leading axle handling traits before I spent all this money, time & effort. Oh well, live & learn!

[Red Rider]

Here are some before & after pics of the completed triple clamps.
Pics #1-2 were taken after smoothing out the external welds, but prior to polishing.

Pics #3-5 were taken after a days worth of sanding & polishing. I've noticed a few slightly dull spots that I may or may not go over again, as I'm so tired of the polishing process right now. The last pic shows the underside of both triple clamps. You can get a pretty good idea of the amount of welding that was done to them in this one.

[Darius1502]

Redrider,

Incredible work. It looks like you are using the CR fork guards on the KTM forks. I heard that was possible..is this what I am seeing in the first pics?

[Dammit!]

That looks awesome man. Good job!

[SpeedBump]

I'm Impressed! Great looking clamps. Once mounted up, it would be hard to tell you BUILT from stockers. Nice.

[Red Rider]

Thanks for all the compliments everyone!

It looks like you are using the CR fork guards on the KTM forks. I heard that was possible..is this what I am seeing in the first pics?

Actually they are UFO replica fork guards for an 04-06' RM 250 that have been trimmed a little bit. The lower, front holes lined right up, but I had to drill new holes for the lower, side mounts. The CR 85 fork guards looked like they'd bolt right up, but I just don't care for the looks of them. For months, I was searching for a set of red fork guards (that would match my fenders & tank), and I thought I'd found some. They were made by Acerbis for a 99-03' RM 250 in "Diablo red", which was very close in color, but they were discontinued by Acerbis quite awhile ago. I'll see how I like the white ones. I may end up designing some red decals to get rid of some of that white down there.

[Red Rider]

I finally finished up the inverted fork project! Well, almost finished up. Some of you might notice it's missing a front brake line. The fact that the caliper mounts a few inches lower than the stock setup, plus the way I have the line routed, all add up to needing a new, longer, stainless steel brake line. I got a set of 40kg. springs from Moto Pro Suspension to stiffen up the front end. John at Moto Pro was a great help determining the proper weight springs to get. This was the same company that Billy went through, when he did the inverted forks on his Tri-Z. This project was a lot easier to do since Billy had already paved the way, especially on the fork springs & the brake caliper.

Thanks again Billy!

Even though Billy did a Tri-Z & I did a 250R. It was comforting knowing that someone else came up with the same ideas to fix the front axle issues.

[Billy Golightly]

Oh man...now thats the way ALL the 250Rs should have came like! Thats hella good looking. Matches the rest of your trike to a T. It looks like you mounted your caliper a little different ( and used the original mounting holes in that plate?). Mines only using about half the pad surface as the Z caliper but its still got enough grip to make you do a stoppy in the dirt Awesome conversion with the KTM forks...glad I was able to get somethign started with that. Maybe I'll be able to provide some tripples to folks interested in doing the same swap soon.

BTW, your fork seals will probably not be long for this world. Mine are already leaking and from what Iv'e read at KTM talk the OEM seals are known to be pretty junky. Supposedly a company called "Synergy" has high quality replacements.

[Louis Mielke]

hmmmmm good to know billy. heh.

[Red Rider]

Oh man...now thats the way ALL the 250Rs should have came like! Thats hella good looking.

If Honda had built them like this originally, then mine would just be a really, really, really good looking ordinary 250R. The fact that Honda didn't do it makes it all that more special. I'm sure they would have done it in 1989 though? One can only wonder.

It looks like you mounted your caliper a little different ( and used the original mounting holes in that plate?).

Actually, I cut the caliper mounting bracket (on the left fork) down some, and then drilled new holes in it. I did utilize the original top mounting hole on the caliper itself, and then drilled & tapped a new hole for the bottom mount on the caliper. Just as you did, I also needed to space the caliper over some to line up with the disc properly, except I was in no hurry (had no ride date set), so I made some nice looking aluminum spacers on the drill press.