Suzuki dr350/ atc350x conversion

[nick walke]

I am currently undertaking my third project a suzuki dr350/ atc 250r/ 350x hybrid. I have previoulsy restored a 84 air fooler and road registered it and 2 years ago built a zzr250 supermoto trike for road/ green lane use, and now its time for something else. I ave learnt the hard way how to make a good three wheelr and the key is to keep it simple. You need at least 30-35 horsepower, around 100 kilos weight and adequate suspension to ensure good handling . My donor bike is a 95 dr 350 s suzuki and i have fabricated a rear swinger by using a 400ex swinger and axle set up , and am fabricating 350 x tripples to hold the drs 43mm forks with a 350x front hub. I follow this site religiously and have leanrt from some of the big names the 450 crf is one of the best conversions but having green laned for years the dr350 with a 400 kit knocks out 40 -45 horses and is absolutely bulet proof . I will enclose photos if any one is interested- and am always in need of decent atc parts Nick

[MonroeMike]

There's always a interest in photos.

[shortline10]

Yeah lets see some :pics:

[audioworks04]

Any pictures of the project yet? Sounds different and interesting. Would like to see how those front forks worked out.

[nick walke]

Yes mate i do have some pics taken on the digital camera - i will post the build so far asap

[nick walke]

quick mock up to see how dr350 swinger might line up with trx axle

[nick walke]

fortunately for me the standard 350x axle fits perfectly into dr forks 43mm and easy to work with - only issue is small gap at one end which can be easily remedied with a spacer- Also the dr axle clamps needs shaving to grip axle end-

[nick walke]

350 x hub and rotor turned out to be bent, never mind got a complete triz wheel tyre and hub for £25 on e bay and bolted straight up - used a 2004 crf 250 front caliper to bolt to dr350 forks and it also lined straight up although custom disc may be needed as the pads only touch by half an inch- unless you guys no of a bigger discs that will fit tri z hub?

[nick walke]

finally got hold of a dr350 on e bay - it was a stolen recovered supermoto, which when i stripped it came with full adjustment ohlins rear shock,keintech engineering air box and kouba links and oversized titanium front pipe- havent stripped the engine but would expect to find a wiseco or similar under there
- heres a few pics- have sent off for a log, then will register the bike later in the summer- if all goes well

came across my first real problem - have been trying to find out why a 400ex swinger wont support a trx 450r axle and it because the rear clamp in 5mm to long- but that needs to be machined anyway to even stand the slightest chance of lining up the sprockets with a 450r carrier fitted - check out the photos and offer any ideas please.ie could the front sprocket be moved out slightly to help , could i run a spacer on the rear to move the sprocket in a bit , any feed back would be helpful

[audioworks04]

On my crf conversion I had to flip the front sprocket inorder to get my alignment to work out. I dont know how the dr motor is set up but it wouldnt supprise me if the front sprocket also has an offset that would allow you to simply flip it over and see how close that gets you.

[nick walke]

thank you- finally some feed back - i tried that today but looks likes still about 10mm out but macine down swinger 5mm and re-check - 250r yorks are at the machinists and should arrive monday - pics soon

[nick walke]

Got the 250r tripples back from the machinist and he accidently cut into the first few threads of the bolts holes - pissed me off but had to move with it as this tripples over here are very rare. Decided to turn the clamp bolts down by 2mm on the lathe and the forks slotted right it- I decided to fit the front wheel and with a few spacers and a dr350 front disc mated to the triz hub - everyhting should bolt right up . PIcked up 2x trx 9inch rear wheels - so now all need to get down is front and rear fenders and lots of powder coating - Will keep you posted.

[nick walke]

a few more pics looking like a bike now- just waiting for tank to be painted, front brake to be sorted
and front fender to arrive -

[200x350xtriz250]

Looks ok but do you want that much rake on the front? If not, if you swap your forks around it should bring the front tire closer to the frame - help the rake. Also if I remember right the 250r triples have rake built in them - you might be able to try 200x or 350x triples to bring the rake back even more. Did you get the sprockets lined up? How?

[vector292]

looks pretty good you need to get that rake fixed tho

[nick walke]

thank for the feed back,front rake is clearly an issue, i will try and swap the forks round to give trailing front axle and poss lower the forks 30mm to help, as for the sprockets,will have 14mm offset front sprocket made by talon ,and everthing lines up

[nick walke]

swappped the forks around to help with the rake - what do you guys think?

[the great gazoo]

He77 yes, nice work! I agree about the rake, but it looks great. I loved thr DR350 motor, bulletproof & electric start.
Give us a ride report, OK?

[Dznutts]

Man that thing is nice. I love it... ..

[jeddy]

As a heads up, you will probably want to add some sort of gusset to the rear of the frame to strengthen it. I noticed this on my 600X, I'm guessing the bike frames just don't like the torsional stresses that a wide axle add. If you can just make a piece that goes in the frame rails around the back of the seat it will do some good. You could probably even make something that bolts in if you don't want to weld it. If you don't, I imagine that you'll see that curved peice that is under the seat crack after some decent riding...Otherwise looks good, can't do much else about the rake. I did the same thing on my 600X (flipped the axle) and it helped a lot. Have fun,
-Jed

[nick walke]

Guys - need some help - have hit a brick wall as far as the front brake is concerned. Initially tried to use the stock dr 350 caliper with a modified dr 350 250 mm disc but even with machining the front caliper fowled on the inside of the wheel . I am using the triz 12 inch front wheel and so then moved to a crf250 front caliper but now the triz disc is too small to reach . Its a 203mm stock disc and i think i need a 230mm disc with a 4x 45mm mounting set up with a 40mm centre hole . Does any one know of such a brake disc before i wedge up £200 to have one made by ebc !!! . I am now having sleep less nights thinking about this and cannot seem to move the caliper in unless perhaps i consider cutting the forks mounts. All you clever boys , please give me some ideas! photos to follow .

[nick walke]

here we go some photos of the triz disc mounted to triz hub with triz wheel and crf 250 caliper

[nick walke]

some of you may have now spotted another issue - i will get full brake effort on one pad and 75percent on the other - if you look at the first photo this will become clear so i dont see any other option than to cut the fork mounts off and start again !!!

[audioworks04]

Could you just build a new caliper mount instead of hacking off the fork mounts? Not sure if this would help or not hard to tell without it infront of me. Worst case you would have to cut the mounts off the forks, but then you have to weld mounts back to the cast lower fork tubes, so you would probably be best off just shelling out the cash to have ebc make you a rotor and then you would also gain in your braking abilities. Trike looks great is this one going to be streetable also?

[nick walke]

thank mate - will bear that in mind, think i pay have sorted it stock double caliper is at the shop having excess material trimmed and then will retry the set up- done pics available soon hopefully

[thestud25]

Nice Build. I wish my mind could come up with a build like this.

[jeddy]

I would consider making your own disc, but I have access to a CNC plasma and some other really nice tools. For me the front brake doesn't do much other than give me something to grab while I'm riding wheelies. Seems like if you're careful you could cut one out of a steel plate that was the correct thickness. To make it easy, you can draw it up on a computer (even on Paint or powerpoint or something else) then print it out and use spary adhesive to stick it to the metal. You can then easily center punch all your holes and trim the outside. Might not last real long, but it would be cheap and at least maybe then you could make one and find out if you need to change anything before you commissioned EBC to cut you one for big bucks...

I wonder if there's some way you could use a sprocket. You would have decreased area for the pads, but maybe you'd luck out and get the bolt pattern right? Just ideas, thinking out loud.

[nick walke]

Came up with the solution, i think , i already have a dr350 250mm brand new disc so i have a local machinist making an aluminium carrier to match the triz hub - its na 4x 45mm hole set up and should be perfect with the standard twin pot nissin caliper . I will however need to machine down the caliper its self cos its hugh to fit inside the 12" triz rim - looks dead simple with a good lathe ! Can someone please tell me what clearance you run between the caliper and the rim - i should have 5mm and tnink with a true rim and new bearing this should be fine not to mention much better brakes- I will take a few snaps soon -Nick

[nick walke]

Heres a few pictures of my latest frustration - began machining the caliper bit by bit to squeeze it in there and as you can see still not enoughto make it fit- making a caliper bracket is now not a solution because its made to allow to correct disc alignment and circumference so making the caliper fit is the only option!!

[nick walke]

Bike is coming together now - TALON sprockets sent me the new 7mm offset front sprocket so i have put the chain on wired up the lights and installed the fender- sorted out the chopper rake and adjusted ride height so as to sit level and all in all i am very pleased - what do you guys think!!

[the great gazoo]

I think it's cool as hell Nick! Way to go, bud.

[nick walke]

may have sorted the solution , measured everything and stuck with 250mm brake disc but had adapter plate machined and will try on sunday to fit and start the bike - also machinined 5mm off the contact area on the caliper-
tank came back from the painters and removed all dents and painted in retro white with 1985 rgv 500
stickers

[oldskool83]

looks better, still is raked out good i think. what rear fenders you planing on using...white LT250r might look and line up good.

[nick walke]

tank is on and fired up the bike- it runs nice but has no compression and can kick over like its a 2 stroke
125 - will remove cylinder head cover and see if decompression lever is sticking . Just need some luck now . Got the front brake on still some minor adjustments to do - but its on and looks ok

[nick walke]

bike is finally is finished and gone for mot testing , rides nice plenty of power with new wiseco piston and is very comfortable without being very tippy to ride. Placstics are all 86 260r with major section removed without comprimising strength and sheet aluminium plate for re-enforcement were needed .114176114177114178
nick

[bcredneck]

if you dont want to mod the frame to get rid of rake you can get costom tripple clamps made from aluminum

[Sublunacy]

Sweet Dr350 or is it a dr450...jk
Haave you ridden it? how is it?

[audioworks04]

I know old thread, but somehow I must have missed this. I would try and work you front end out a little better. You would be amazed by how much the rake affects your handling, that is ALOT of rake.

[HorseMcHorseman]

I’d love to do this! I hate my dr350 never ride it, trying to get rid of it. If I could make it into a 3 wheeler I’d absolutely start using it again! Too bad I don’t have the know-how, time, or anything. Wouldn’t know where to start, parts to get, etc.