What does it cost to build a motard?

[crash harry]

Recently I've been thinking more about getting a motard for commuting on... Anyone done the excersise recently can clue me in on how much it would cost to convert a KLX650? I'm quite keen on one of those.

And how easy is it to swap back and forth between dirt and road wheels?

[scott411]

depends on how you do it,

you can buy complete wheels for about $2000 new, then if you want to use your std brakes you can do from there,

you can do it cheaper by using your std hubs, and lacing motard wheels to them , however changing back and forward will be a major,
the other option if you are a good engineer (or know one) is to convert wheels off a road bike, (zxr400 or rgv250 etc) this can be done, but it is not easy getting the wheel and brake caliper spacings right,

when i had my RMZ450 set up for motard racing, it took me 40 minutes to change it back to MX Spec, i had a whole front brake master cylinder/line and caliper different so i could change the unit wiht out having to bleed the brakes,

[Denniso]

Scott is right it depends on how you do it , my DR650 only cost around a grand to lace on 17" rims and a few other minor mods , but my RMZ cost a shit load more as there is a hell of a lot more to do to get on the track and the depth of your pockets is the only limit there .

[Mikkel]

For KTMs you can get a set of road wheels with a larger brake-rotor and a bracket that'll move your caliper accordingly - price approximately $2,500.

[rudolph]

There is a guy in howic selling 17" rims and he dose wire wheel building and rim drilling, making spokes the rims wer only $110 each and you could get 3 colors

[Coyote]

My old KX80 motard was also my brother's motocross bike. All we did was got some road tyres for me and to switch over we took off the wheels and took them to the shop to get the tyres switched over. Cheap to begin with, but the cost of getting the tyres switched added up.

You might be able to get decent dual purpose type tyres. A KLX is more of a trail machine than a motocrosser so I imagine you can get away with in between tyres, unless you're a nutter on the dirt

[CHOPPA]

it would be hard to go past a drz400sm wouldnt it?

[boomer]

it would be hard to go past a drz400sm wouldnt it?

in all honesty mate they're gutless; i flicked mine off after a week.

My opinion, for what its worth, buy a bike for a specific purpose. A bike masquerading as dual purpose will in fact be good at nowt.. a waste of your money.

[Mikkel]

in all honesty mate they're gutless.

...is what I've heard as well...

[crash harry]

OK, so what's the guts with using alloy wheels vs spoked wheels? I am a pretty reasonable engineer and I know some who are bloody good, so adapting them is no trouble - but what are the tradeoffs?

I assume alloys are a bit heavier? But does it matter? Also, I guess adapting the brakes is a bit more work than using wire wheels... DO you need or even want twin front discs on a motard? Bearing in mind this would be a road machine not a racer, and I'm not all that fussed about the dirt wheels

[Coyote]

OK, so what's the guts with using alloy wheels vs spoked wheels? I am a pretty reasonable engineer and I know some who are bloody good, so adapting them is no trouble - but what are the tradeoffs?

I assume alloys are a bit heavier? But does it matter? Also, I guess adapting the brakes is a bit more work than using wire wheels... DO you need or even want twin front discs on a motard? Bearing in mind this would be a road machine not a racer, and I'm not all that fussed about the dirt wheels

Stock dirtbike spoked rims aren't air tight so you'll need tubes in the tyres. Though I read in one of my brother's dirt bike mags that there's a new product you put over the ends of the spokes so your spoked rims can run tubeless tyres.

Twin disks or at least a larger single disk is a worthwhile mod. You'll find MX style progressive brakes don't have enough bite for the road, and especially racing.

Not sure about the pros and cons of spokes vs. alloys other than personal style preference and cost. New spoked tubeless rims are a bit pricey, alloy rims from the wreckers not so much.

[scott411]

std mx brakes are better than you think, i have seen a guy run top 10 at pearoa motard class, (he out braked me with my big brake kit at the end of the front straight) for general road use they will be fine, however you could probebly cook them on a road race track

twin discs are a waist of time on a dirt bike, they are not heavy enough to need it,

spokes are stronger than the cast wheels, but also heavier and you need to run tubes, if you are planning to race proper motard (with off road and jumps) you need to run proper motard wheels as cast wheels are known to break on the jumps, however for normal raod and track use it will not be an issue,

[CHOPPA]

what about a 2006 ktm supermotard 640 real good road going motard, i know where theres a cheap one too

[Bulldog]

The DRZ400sms are generally gutless to start with but you can certainly change that with a few $$.

For you to buy a crosser and convert it...let's say an 05 ktm 525 etc you'r looking at say $5000 for the bike, $2000 for wheels, you'll need bigger brakes (if you're serious) $200-500 and depending on the model of crosser you get...you'll have to hook up some type of wiring loom for all the lights and foot brake switches, flywheel to make power etc. Approx $1700 bucks. You'll also want a computer or speedo of some sort...$200-300?

Now this will be a good POWERFULL motard....but you've just spent lots of dollars...there are certainly cheaper ways of doing this like buying one already done and or doing it to a really old bike...say something reliable like a DRZ!

By now you've realised I have a DRZ and yes, the first thing you do is go...damn I need more power. You can spend about $2000 on your drz and gain another 10-15hp....that may not sound like much but it takes it to pretty close to the big power ktms and likes....but is reliable.

This is a pretty hot topic with me as I'm at those cross roads of working my motor with big bore kits and FCR carbs but I'm not sure as yet

[Forest]

OK, so what's the guts with using alloy wheels vs spoked wheels? I am a pretty reasonable engineer and I know some who are bloody good, so adapting them is no trouble - but what are the tradeoffs?

I assume alloys are a bit heavier? But does it matter? Also, I guess adapting the brakes is a bit more work than using wire wheels... DO you need or even want twin front discs on a motard? Bearing in mind this would be a road machine not a racer, and I'm not all that fussed about the dirt wheels

Putting aside the weight differences, alloy wheels do not like taking heavy shocks.

Spokes have a little bit of give in them and will stretch slightly, whereas alloy will crack.