XR200 tips wanted

[nzspokes]

Hell yes.

I had an XR200RC. I would love to have another one now.

I've wheelied many bikes but the 200RC was the easiest and best balanced by far.

For 5+ years it was my everyday ride and my weekend forestry trail blazer (every weekend!!).

I had the 230 kit put in mine (one of the first I believe, it was the first one M&V Honda sold).
I thought it was great bike before but as a 230 it was even better.

Mine cracked the frame just above the kick start but a decent tig welder solved that problem,

XR200RC ................. ahhhhh, Happy Days

Are you able to tell me what was in the 230 kit?

[nzspokes]

youll be right mate, we all start at the beginning
..........see if you can pickup a cheap trailer, much more versatile

Agree trailer would be easier but we dont have room to store one. My draw bar on the car has an amazing 100kg load rating so would be happy to hang it off the back. Will probably just make up one out of U channel.

[B0000M]

Budget very low, all just for fun.

lol, thats what we all said in the beginning

[B0000M]

Agree trailer would be easier but we dont have room to store one. My draw bar on the car has an amazing 100kg load rating so would be happy to hang it off the back. Will probably just make up one out of U channel.

weld a couple of pieces of RHS (box section steel) onto the outer edges of your tow bar. slot some 40x40 into these, make your wheel channel however you like. this is the easiest, cheapest and strongest way of doing it. never hang your bike off the tow bar tongue, the side to side twisting will fuck it if the down weight doesnt. if your heights happen to work out you will also retain the ability to tow a trailer.

thing to remember is your bike is allowed to hang out the sides of the vehicle by 250mm each side and 1m out the back before you need flags or lights. if your vehicle is wide enough - eg an SUV or van you may not need anything.

[nzspokes]

My car has a slide in tab, so will remake that to the rack. Rack is rated for 100kg static down load so should be fine. Will have a look under the car to make sure its all good. Will run straps to the boot to help with side loads.

[Jay GTI]

never hang your bike off the tow bar tongue, the side to side twisting will fuck it if the down weight doesnt.

This is true in most cases, but not always.

Standard towbars are generally rated for around 70kg static down weight, however not all are and I had mine custom built for my bike rack (bolts onto the tongue) and it’s rated to 100kg static down, same as with NZSpokes towbar. It still moves around (backwards and forwards, not side to side), but as long as I don’t put anything silly heavy on it, like a fuelled up DRZ400, then it will be fine.

The guy who built my towbar had seen a couple of failures, where the tongue had collapsed and the bike ended up being dragged along the ground behind the car. He’d built stronger custom towbars for them as well.

[B0000M]

This is true in most cases, but not always.

Standard towbars are generally rated for around 70kg static down weight, however not all are and I had mine custom built for my bike rack (bolts onto the tongue) and it’s rated to 100kg static down, same as with NZSpokes towbar. It still moves around (backwards and forwards, not side to side), but as long as I don’t put anything silly heavy on it, like a fuelled up DRZ400, then it will be fine.

The guy who built my towbar had seen a couple of failures, where the tongue had collapsed and the bike ended up being dragged along the ground behind the car. He’d built stronger custom towbars for them as well.

yeah sorry, i meant as a general rule, and unless you really know what you're doing

[nzspokes]

Sounds like the fork rebuild is not that hard. So will get the tank etc back on in the morning then get her running.

Forks will be the arvo job.

[Jay GTI]

Fork rebuilds are one of thise things that put people off, because they seem complex and require some special tools (or good home-made bodges), but once you've done your second rebuild, you'll wonder why anyone would pay someone else to do it.

Correctly setting up and modifying forks is a different matter, but rebuilds are simple.

[merv]

i rode with your brother neil on his later xr200 and dr350 merv
great bloke!

Yeah shame we lost him at the beginning of 2009 as he was one of my main riding buddies. In all he owned about 7 XR200s in the time I had the one and I think we agreed the D was the best model though not very different to the B or C. The later models had a different frame which wasn't as nice to ride as I found the frame rails rubbed against the shins of my boots too much so I never bought one after the D and 15 years service was cool anyway and I sold it feeling like it was still running like new.

[Rhubarb]

Are you able to tell me what was in the 230 kit?

Sorry, I don't know. I was just a hairy arsed teenager at the time. I just gave the repair shop a few weeks pay and rode away.

[nzspokes]

Got her to run for a few mins tonight. Bit of a timing chain rattle, need to work out how to adjust it. And rooted fuel line so will get some tomorrow. Ive got an old chain off the road bike to try. Doubt it will work but worth a crack.

Pretty happy.

[nzspokes]

What do you XR experts think of this filter? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=410463711 . Mines a bit average, plastic bit are knocked around.

I realise I would need to look at jets if I did.

[neels]

Sounds like the fork rebuild is not that hard. So will get the tank etc back on in the morning then get her running.

Forks will be the arvo job.

Forks are not too hard, although you may need a rattle gun to get the bolts out of the bottom if the internals are free to turn, someone will correct me if that doesn't apply to yours.

I've got a '83 XL250 that I stripped and rebuilt, and then have proceeded to trash ever since, awesome fun on the trails for bugger all money.

[nzspokes]

Forks are not too hard, although you may need a rattle gun to get the bolts out of the bottom if the internals are free to turn, someone will correct me if that doesn't apply to yours.

I've got a '83 XL250 that I stripped and rebuilt, and then have proceeded to trash ever since, awesome fun on the trails for bugger all money.

Ive read a few places about that. We will see I guess.

Its a very basic thing, so if I do things right at this point it should go for a good while.