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293 Posts
Hi all,
A year ago, I bought a fairly stock 2001 Honda XR650R, with the intentions of riding it on the street and taking it to the desert once in a while. In other words, use it as a dual sport. My buddy had the same bike so we went riding a few times together, which was a blast, since we could share each other's knowledge on the bikes. :thumbup:
Let's travel back in time...I discovered SM about 7 years ago, when a class mate of mine in University in The Netherlands (that's where I'm from) had a Husky with 17's. The first time I saw it, honestly I thought it looked ridiculous on a dirt bike since it made the bike look a lot smaller...If I even knew back then what I know now.
I did LOVE the thumper sound though!
So back to the XR...I read a bunch on the Internet about this bike, and discovered that it was a very good base to do an SM conversion. Yes, it's a pig, but a pig with some power up the a$$. :arsenal
I didn't think twice and sort of let the dual sport behind me and started doing the SM conversion. I bought Excel/Talon 17's, brakes, hand guards, some protectors here and there and voila...an SM was born. I never touched my suspension which was always bugging me, up to last week. When I finally tore down the forks and rear shock. I will have these revalved and reprung for my weight.
One big glitch in the whole conversion happened when I tried to adjust my chain slack...yes, one of the adjusters broke flush with the swingarm..Nice one... The other adjuster was frozen as well. The guy I bought it from must have never adjusted these. :headscrat:
I've been :bike: like that for the last year, although it wasn't very safe.
Last week I finally took off the swingarm when I took off the suspension parts as well...AND THAT'S WHEN IT STARTED!
Anybody heard of those 'while you're in there' projects? :lol:
I made the decision to tear down the whole bike and rebuild the whole thing, including powder coating the frame, swingarm, engine and other misc stuff.
I will use this topic to show my progress to you including pictures of course. Also, it helps to keep me going, although I'm having a blast doing it. I can't wait till it's done!!!
Feel free to give any advice on color scheme or other useful tips! I will probably be asking you all for advice on a lot of different things anyway.
This is how I bought the bike.
Here is it in SM trim and how I rode it for the last year.
The teardown begins...
An XR frame next to my buddy's VTX1800, what a size difference. He's just compensating... :rofl:
3 Afternoons and a six pack of Heinekens later...
A year ago, I bought a fairly stock 2001 Honda XR650R, with the intentions of riding it on the street and taking it to the desert once in a while. In other words, use it as a dual sport. My buddy had the same bike so we went riding a few times together, which was a blast, since we could share each other's knowledge on the bikes. :thumbup:
Let's travel back in time...I discovered SM about 7 years ago, when a class mate of mine in University in The Netherlands (that's where I'm from) had a Husky with 17's. The first time I saw it, honestly I thought it looked ridiculous on a dirt bike since it made the bike look a lot smaller...If I even knew back then what I know now.
I did LOVE the thumper sound though!
So back to the XR...I read a bunch on the Internet about this bike, and discovered that it was a very good base to do an SM conversion. Yes, it's a pig, but a pig with some power up the a$$. :arsenal
I didn't think twice and sort of let the dual sport behind me and started doing the SM conversion. I bought Excel/Talon 17's, brakes, hand guards, some protectors here and there and voila...an SM was born. I never touched my suspension which was always bugging me, up to last week. When I finally tore down the forks and rear shock. I will have these revalved and reprung for my weight.
One big glitch in the whole conversion happened when I tried to adjust my chain slack...yes, one of the adjusters broke flush with the swingarm..Nice one... The other adjuster was frozen as well. The guy I bought it from must have never adjusted these. :headscrat:
I've been :bike: like that for the last year, although it wasn't very safe.
Last week I finally took off the swingarm when I took off the suspension parts as well...AND THAT'S WHEN IT STARTED!
Anybody heard of those 'while you're in there' projects? :lol:
I made the decision to tear down the whole bike and rebuild the whole thing, including powder coating the frame, swingarm, engine and other misc stuff.
I will use this topic to show my progress to you including pictures of course. Also, it helps to keep me going, although I'm having a blast doing it. I can't wait till it's done!!!
Feel free to give any advice on color scheme or other useful tips! I will probably be asking you all for advice on a lot of different things anyway.
This is how I bought the bike.

Here is it in SM trim and how I rode it for the last year.

The teardown begins...



An XR frame next to my buddy's VTX1800, what a size difference. He's just compensating... :rofl:

3 Afternoons and a six pack of Heinekens later...
