El cheapo Motard conversion

[glice]

thats some good advice. I'm thinking of getting a motard next.

[Tallpom]

No doubt - your CB900 is one sweet bike.

What I'm thinking about for my motard is more a stock XR250 or 650 commuter workhorse with motard wheels and brakes - rather than a high performance race bike that needs a rebuild every 5 minutes. I would like to use it 3 times a week to and from work (50km round trip), so you're right - a typical race motard would be a very expensive mode of transport.

I need a good dependable motor that's good for my lanky height (6'5") and is great to handle through traffic. I also figured if I built up something quite sexy (like your KTM) you could also resell it quite easily because you've done all the hard work.

[slowpoke]

Haven't you guys missed the obvious? You wanna cheap motard conversion then just bang a set of road tyres on there and laugh your way into the sunset.

Unless you are gonna race the thing then you can have heaps of fun without resorting to 17" rims.

If you are just commuting or squirting around the 'burbs or 'taka's then you don't need the big brakes either, your average MX/enduro disc setup will be more than adequate.

[Macstar]

No doubt - your CB900 is one sweet bike.

What I'm thinking about for my motard is more a stock XR250 or 650 commuter workhorse with motard wheels and brakes - rather than a high performance race bike that needs a rebuild every 5 minutes. I would like to use it 3 times a week to and from work (50km round trip), so you're right - a typical race motard would be a very expensive mode of transport.

I need a good dependable motor that's good for my lanky height (6'5") and is great to handle through traffic. I also figured if I built up something quite sexy (like your KTM) you could also resell it quite easily because you've done all the hard work.

Sweet mate - you sound closer to a decision! For the record I am 6ft 2-3, and find the Hornet sweetas - a motard / dirtbike was even better when it came to stretching out the legs!

Sold mine for approx $6K - lost about $3k after having the engine and part of the gearbox completely rebuilt thanks to stray part going through the engine... The $3k loss was worth the 4000km of fun and two track days I got out of it though!

Haven't you guys missed the obvious? You wanna cheap motard conversion then just bang a set of road tyres on there and laugh your way into the sunset.

Unless you are gonna race the thing then you can have heaps of fun without resorting to 17" rims.

If you are just commuting or squirting around the 'burbs or 'taka's then you don't need the big brakes either, your average MX/enduro disc setup will be more than adequate.

Yep that's true - especially for lesiurely commuting purposes i.e. not ripping around a sealed race track!

[Tallpom]

I contacted Motoworks regarding their warp 9 wheel set.

They said that the wheel set comes ready to go - brake rotors are standard so you won’t have to do any modification, wheels will bolt in using the existing axles.

This seems like a pretty good deal to me - the wheels set comes in at $1700, add a couple of budget Shink tyres for $280 and you have a conversion for just under $2000.

[CookMySock]

add a couple of budget Shink tyres for $280 and you have a conversion for just under $2000.

aww the shinkos will be horrible and slippery.. and in the wet it will be really nasty..

DB

[scorry]

Ive put CBR 250 wheels on my wr450,

front went straight onto my axle which was surprising.
all i had to do was get some spacers made up, for that i got some thickish pipe about 3-4mm at the required diameter, then just find out where the wheel sits in the middle and measure how big the spacer need to be.

For the brakes, the std cbr brakes are 275mm and my wr brakes were 250mm, i found a 270mm oversized brake kit for it on trademe and it had the adapter with it, i got my engineer mate to take a couple mm off the cbr disc and that was the front wheel all sorted.

The rear was by far the hardest, cos the hub had to be bored out to fit some new bearings so my wr axle would fit straight in.
You need to do the same thing with the spacers at the back and cut to size.
Then i got my engineer mate to make up a carrier for the brake so that it bolted onto the std holes (note the std cbr disc is 220mm and the std wr disc is 245mm) but then was big enough to throw some bolts through my old disc and the back was all done.

So all up cost:

Wheels $11,000 (LOL i got them with a free 07 WR450) i got the dealer to throw them in when i brought my bike. but could pick them up for $200-$300.
Spacers, 24pk
270 oversized brakes with adapter $120 off trade me
Machining the rear hub and fitting new bearings, $95
Rear brake carrier, another 24 pk
New rear sprocker $50
Super stretchy chain (non o ring) $50
New front & rear brakes $25 off trade me.

Looking around $600 and you have got some cheap racing, or street riding.
I can now change my bike from dirt to road in less than an hr.