Hey there! I have been on this site browsing this site for a few years, I now have a trike that I have been requested to debut. First off the trike is a 1985 Honda 250SX. I bought it a couple years ago from a guy in Louisiana. He was selling it because he didn't ride it much because the shifter would stick in the up-shift. I found through searching this site that the shifter problem was most likely a broken pin the the right engine case. Sure enough thats what it was. Easy enough to fix. After I fixed that it was time to hit the trails. The trike ran great! That was until we got about 5 miles into the woods and the bike died in the bottom of a gully. This is where the modifications started.
After we drug the trike back to the truck, we found out that the CDI had went out. GREAT! went on the hunt for a new CDI. dang things are expensive for the 85. So, I bought an 86 CDI and pig tails and rewired the trike so that the 86 CDI would work. Awesome! now the trike is ready to hit the trails again. This is where the next modification comes into play.
The brakes on this trike were terrible if you were running through any type of water or mud. I would have to change the brake shoes after every third ride. I got tired of that real fast. Now that got me wanting to upgrade the brakes. what better than upgrade to hydraulic disc both front and rear? Let the research begin. After hours and hours and the web, this site, and in the salvage yard, I thought I came up with a plan.
The front brakes were going to be easy. Just swap in a 200X front end and done. Not quite. I wanted to keep my SX front head light and fender, so the 200X forks will fit into the SX triples. Awesome! Then I had to create spacers to center the 200X hub in-between the forks. Not too bad, a few .860" spacers later and the front end was complete.
I had the replace the master cylinder and the fork boots. The 200X master was a little pricey, so I found a pair of honda silverwing masters on Ebay. Those things fit and worked perfectly. I also ordered some black fork boots and a kenda K284 tire to finish the font off. But the boots were too long for my taste. I ended up cutting 4 billows out of the boots and they turned out great.
Now that the front was done it was time to focus on the rear. This was going to be a bit more of a challenge than the front. I first had to find a rotor and hub that would clear the rear axle tube. That was finally found after searching a local ATV salvage yard. The owner was extremely helpful providing tools and tractors to lift and move the ATVs. We spent all morning hunting for something that would work. below is the parts I used.
- stock 250SX rear hub bearing carrier
- 05 Yamaha grizzly 450 left rear rotor and hub
- 03 yamaha front brake caliper (I used the front because it has twin pistons)
- 95 CBR 600 F3 Rear master Cylinder
- Honda Silverwing front Master Cylinder
- thestuntfactory junction valve (connect the front and rear master cylinder to operate rear brake)
- Speed linez braided brake lines
First step was to remove all the stock brake assembly. Then I pressed the bearing carrier out of the backing plate.
I attached the bearing carrier using some socket head bolts and nylock nuts. Then I machined a 3" diameter hole into the yamaha hub.
The yamaha hub has the same 4/110 bolt pattern as the SX, so I made 3" spacer bars and tapped then for an m10x1.25 thread and welded the other end to the back side of the stock SX lugs. I then bolted the yamaha hub to the spacer bars marring the SX and yamaha hubs.
Now it was onto fabricating brackets for the rear master and the caliper. I few card board templates and 1/4" plate with the torch and the brackets came into shape. For the master, I welded the brackets to the foot peg so that I could easily remove it in the future for maintenance. The rear was a different story as I seen no other way than to weld directly to the swingarm. I also installed the junction valve in the rear master. This way I can control the rear brake with either hand brake or foot brake. This comes in handy on the trails and especially the hills.
Now that I have the silverwing hand masters, they have the brake light switches, but the SX only has a tail light. Dang. Well lets see how well a 6" LED trailer light will look on the back. Not good! I noticed the LED board looks to be about the same size as the stock housing. I took the lens off the trailer light and did some quick measurements. Look it this! The LED board is almost perfect fit for inside the stock light. Time for some dremel work. The LED fits!! wow. now to remove the old light put in the LED secure using some hotglue( ok, ok, ALOT of hotglue) and do some wiring on the trike and PRESTO! LED tail and brake light on the SX. Looks very similar to the stock 450R tail light,
I have a couple more mods, but those will have to wait for another day. Thanks! Hope you enjoy!
- Matt a.k.a Cajun1104
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