[YakiddyYak]

Hey whats up everyone? My name is Trent and I have been surfing the site for awhile now trying to increase my knowledge of all things supermoto. I inhereted an WR426 from an old room mate that is movin out and have decided to take it the super moto route for commuting to work and fun on the weekends. My plan is to tear her down this winter, clean her up and maybe freshen the motor a bit then start with a fresh slate to start the modding. Let me know if you have any suggestions on where I should start and some tricks of the trade along the way.

thanks,
trent

 

[Bizzel]

Nice, Gotta love the "hand-me-down"! welcome Fello Nueb....


Bizzel

 

[JasonR107]

Wow, I'm surprised someone else hasn't dropped their 2 cents in to help out already. IMHO it really depends on the condition of the bike to determine what needs to be done, what could be done, and what would be a waste to do. I have a 2001 WR426F and have LOVED the bike. I slapped some supermoto wheels on it and geared it to 15/44 for track and street use. When I'm sporting dirt wheels I run 13/49. Maintenance wise I just change the oil every so often (all dependent on how much I ride it) and I pick and fix things as I go along, changing out bearing, spacers, and gaskets as needed. Just this summer I did the 01' wr426 to 05' yz450 plastics conversion. Involved swapping out the gas tank, sub-frame, all the plastics, the air box and the pipe. It made a HUGE difference in the riding style and ergonomics of the bike and it looks pretty damn good too. If you're just looking for an ergo upgrade however, you can switch to a yz426 gas tank and seat for similar results.

Changed the bike from this:

To This:

As for supermotoing it out. Plan to spend about $1000 for a decent set up. Wheels, hubs, spokes, rubber and an over-sized front brake rotor with an adapter.

 

[crash279]

Wheels are gonna be up to you on cost. As far as making it road worthy you'll need a brake switch, handlebar switch, and a ballast for the headlight bulb. Should be around $60 for all of that. The brake switch will wire right up to the tail light. That's really all there is. The WR is street legal in other parts of the world so making them legal in the states is pretty straight forward.

Feel free to pm me with any questions.

 

[LMW1970]

When doing the tank and shroud swap did you have to do any mods or did it bolt right up? Also are you using the stock seat?

 

[YakiddyYak]

I appreciate the responses and the good direction. My "old" room mate decided he wanted it and then traded it for a pistol ha. We had it worked out that he would not pay his last months rent and just leave the bike but no dice. I'm gonna be in the market for one when I get back from deployment and have been looking into the xr650r lately. Atleast I recieved some money to play with for the rent I guess, so not all bad. Thanks again and I really like what you did with your 426 updating it with new plastics.

Thanks,
Trent

 

[JasonR107]

LMW1970:
The tank sits fine right where the old one did but the bolt for it doesn't mount up. You have a few choices here. A) You craft a bracket which bolts up to your upper engine mounts, you will have to get longer bolts for this to work. B) You craft a bracket which bolts up where the radiator meets the frame. C) You just let the gas tank sit where it should and don't bother with the bolt, which is what I did. Some people don't like this but in my experience it's perfectly sturdy. Once you put the seat on it locks it down pretty tight and after bolting the shrouds on which connect to the radiator, it's not going anywhere. I've been riding it this way all summer doing supermoto, motocross, and some pretty rough trail riding with no issues, so this is my suggestion, plus it's easiest. As for the seat, it is a stock seat, but one for an 03-05 yz450. Pretty easy to find a used one on ebay. The only really difficult parts of the swap and really they were that difficult, just took a little time. One was the subframe, the parts that bolt to your frame are a little too wide, so you have to grind them down a little. There's info on doing this in other forums. And the shrouds, due to WR's using larger radiators, on the inner part of the shroud you have to sand or cut some of the inner plastic down so that they clear the radiator. Overall it was a pretty painless job and I'm extremely happy with the results.

crash279:
I think the XR650R would be an amazing supermoto bike, especially if you plan to use it on the street as well. I've considered this for a hooligan/canyon carver style ride. There's also info I saw somewhere about swapping out the forks for some CR450 ones. Gave the bike a pretty mean look IMHO.