Honda XR200R tweaks and ramblings.

[oldskool]

Last week I tried out the bike with this setup:
'98 Front Forks
'98 Rear Swingarm, '98 Rear Shock, '86 (pro)Linkages,
13:51 Sprockets
12 psi in both tyres.
The bike sat lower by about 40mm and felt spongier with the '98 shocks. The '86 linkages have a different pivot point than the '98 link system so the '98 rear shock must be a softer spring rating. The '98 front forks are shorter by about 40mm.
The bike handled pretty good in the forest soaking up all obstacles. But inner tube shifted in rear tyre at 12psi although has rimlock.

This week I'm trying out this setup:
'86 Front forks with a 35mm spacer above the spring. 170cc of fresh ATF 7w fluid in each fork. XL250 Rear Shock with '86 linkaging and '98 swingarm. '98 rear rim with better condition rimlock.
13:53 Sprockets (the plan is to get higher revs in 3rd)
14 psi in both tyres.
The bike now sits a lot higher, before I could sit flat footed now I am on tippy toes. I reckon I've just increased the height by about 55mm.
The front dives quite a bit on a road test and I've pumped in about 5psi of air to try and reduce it. I'm not sure about how much dampening the rear XL250 has so it'll be a lottery to see how well it goes at the Sandpit tomorrow. I'm thinking it is unbalanced because the rear end is now harder sprung than the front. More sitting down time for me!

Will it be a dog with way too much sensitivity and therefore skitterish in the rear or will it ride better than last week? Lets see.

[Motu]

How much travel does the rear end have now? Set your sag on the rear,then balance it to the front,then you can work on damping.I geared my XR200 pretty low for tight trails - they are a bit savage on big handfuls from idle...with the revs a bit higher you can get hard on the gas earlier.

[oldskool]

Thats the trouble there is no damping adjustment, and the spring tension adjustment has only about 30mm of thread. The '86 rear end travel is spec'd at 9.6" in the manual, I reckon I have 10" with the XL250 shock.
What I'd like to do is find a CR125 front forks of the same vintage, that should balance it out, but not sure how easy to find thems are.

[oldskool]

Okay well I tried the new setup at the Sandpit today and I have to say the bike handled better than I anticipated. The road test was not a good indicator at all. Riding tall with more travel just soaked up everything. I pumped about 10psi into front forks just to firm them up a bit more.
Total cost for improvement:
$45, XL250 rear shock.
$55, rear swingarm and wheel.
$40 front forks.
$7.50 ATF fluid.