Looks like I'm in!
Looks like I'm in!
That looks like a lot of fun! I think it would look cool with a wind shield on it. How fast does it go?
RIP - Yamahondaman!! You will never be forgotten!
RIP - Sam Brehm!! Gone but NEVER forgotten!
RIP - Sandpuppi101 - You will live on in my mind - I miss you friend!
I need one of these in my life
Tpc 450
86 250r
86 350x
86 200x
86 250sx
85 225DR
(2) 84 YTM
(3) 85 Atc 70
Super cool build! I bought a 2018 XR650L that I would like to convert over. What would I be looking at in price range to have this done? I’m from Illinois.
Your first hurdle will be finding someone to build it for you unless you can do it yourself. My builder said this was a very challenging build, and not putting words in his mouth, but I am not positive he would build another one. However, if you do find someone who is willing to do it, I would have to estimate between $5000 - $7000 in parts and labor.
RIP - Yamahondaman!! You will never be forgotten!
RIP - Sam Brehm!! Gone but NEVER forgotten!
RIP - Sandpuppi101 - You will live on in my mind - I miss you friend!
Informational update: It's been nearly 2.5 years since I picked up my build from 211 Motorsports. Everything was mint except it would not rev past 1/2 throttle. The long and the short of this situation was that the stock CV carb is tuned so lean from the factory for street legal emissions, yet there is practically no "tun-ability" to the carb. You can get into the carb and cut off a "stop" that only allows the fuel air screw to go so far. Being as though the stock airbox and intake does not work with the trike sub-frame, I was unable to get the bike to run very well. After talking to several people (HarryJR, Garry Crum, Dave Colman aka Tapper190, and Jason Hall - carb tuning legend) I was told I needed a FCR carb if I ever wanted this thing to run right. And so I bit the bullet and bought a used 40mm FCR carb off of a 2004 CRF450R from eBay. Installing the carb was fairly straight forward. It fit pretty good in the stock intake boots, and the throttle cables from the stock XR do indeed work on the CRF FCR. The only real change is that the XR's CV carb has a cable driven choke that is located up on the bars. The FCR has the choke on the carb body and a hot start which is mounted on the bars of the CRF respectively. I used the stock choke cable and lever on the bars to control the "Hot Start" and now just choke it from the carb itself. Perfect really. Once installed I knew it was extremely lean. I spoke with Garry and Jason regarding where I should be with jets. I went from the stock CRF jets of 152 main / 42 pilot to 185 / 52. Before replacing the jets, and while messing with the air fuel screw - something seemed off. Upon further inspection, the rubber o-ring in the thumb screw for the air/fuel was destroyed. A previous owner had the insides of that little thing all kinds of wrong which equaled an air leak which equaled a lean condition. I ordered up a new one and installed it when installing the jets. This thing now is near perfect. Easy starting, quick powerful revs thru the entire RPM curve, flawless idling. As a side note, when I had this in bike form (I bought it new in 2008 and rode it as a bike until 2016) I had installed a Big Gun exhaust on it. I could never really tune it with the stock carb and this set up. It was lean - lots of popping on deceleration. Now all of that is tuned out. The power increase is significant with the FCR carb. When looking at it on paper - the stock carb was a 42.5mm and this carb is a 40mm. However, my intake is much larger, and the exhaust is oversized. With the much fatter fuel circuits and jet sizes in the FCR, it feels night and day different. The biggest difference is how much faster it revs. 1-3 gears on dirt just light the tires right up. It is a bit less linear power, and a bit more light switchy, but the improvement gained is so worth it.
I now must re-gear it. Before, not being able to run past 1/2 throttle, it felt pretty good. Now with being able to take it to the top or the RPMs, it is much much too fast. I can get 30MPH out of 1st and 50PMH out of second. This will make trail riding near impossible, especially if behind a slower rider. Currently it has a 15 tooth front sprocket on it. I am going to order and install a 13 tooth front and see how much it changes it. As is with the gearing, 60 MPH road cruising is the very bottom of high gear, which would be OK if I only rode it on the street, but this is to be a true "Dual Sport" trike and needs lower gears for off road. I will be taking this to the Imperial Invasion this year, and think the super tall gearing will not be in my best interest there either.
Now I need to decide if I run knobby tires in the sand or paddles. I have ridden both in the sand and I like the feel of knobbies. I think I will keep what's on it pictured below, and I have a Sand Star 22X9-10 on order.
I will continue to update as I move forward. Something I should have done 2.5 year ago. I ended up parking it and drooling over it, but never riding it because of the carb issue. Now it is ready for service!
RIP - Yamahondaman!! You will never be forgotten!
RIP - Sam Brehm!! Gone but NEVER forgotten!
RIP - Sandpuppi101 - You will live on in my mind - I miss you friend!
Nicely done Tim, they are a torque monster. As the CG and seat height are higher on the XR’s I’ve found using a 10” diameter wheel for paddle tires feel more stable with less tire roll over due to low tire pressures to make the paddles work. The 450’s have been taking over as the more common conversion. Hope to see you at the Invasion next year.
"HJ"
’84 YT60
’85 350x (423cc) with ’81 XL500 head conversion
’83 XR500 (628cc) converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’73 CB750 K3 converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’86 TRX250R chassis XR650L engine hybrid
’89 TRX250R (stock )
’90 LT500 Quadzilla
’85 FL350 Odysses ( water cooled head )
Lost (sold) but not forgotten ’80 ATC 110 (205cc on alcohol ) ’83 200x ( 222cc ) ’83 200x ( 185s eng ) ’85 350x ( stock )
added to the collection recently, (2) '70 US90 Aquarius Blue and '74 ATC90 Daytona Orange
Thanks HairyJR! By the way, you came to mind firstly last night when I realized I need to re-gear this trike. May I ask, what are you running gear wise on your XR conversion?
The CG on this bike may be lower than some, as the sub-frame is re-worked and not stock XR.
I will be at Invasion this year - and this bike will be with me. Hoping I can get some riding with you this time, rather than recovering from appendix surgery like last time I was there.
RIP - Yamahondaman!! You will never be forgotten!
RIP - Sam Brehm!! Gone but NEVER forgotten!
RIP - Sandpuppi101 - You will live on in my mind - I miss you friend!
OK the XR500 (628cc) final drive gearing is 14/44. My hybrid quad with the NX650 (same as your XR650L) gearing is 15/42. The Sand Skate (Sand Tires Unlimited) 21-12-10 (10” wide) seem to work better with less tire roll over. Now the Haulers 21-12-8 have a little more flex which helps to smooth the suspension ride as 8” x 8” wide wheels. Lost my beloved 8x 9” wide Hauler set (Jason Hall & I traded paddles) last season. The wider wheel flattens the contact patch along with reducing tire diameter therefore lowering gear ratio.
If your wanting to lower final drive gear ratio, also lowering first gear primary drive ratio pick up a XR600R clutch basket and crankshaft gear (70/32) (2.187 ratio)as the “L’s” is (69/34) (2.029 ratio). Only requires pulling the clutch cover to change. If ever you split the cases change 2nd gear to the NX650 2nd gear and also install the FMX650 5th gear, acts like an overdrive.
"HJ"
’84 YT60
’85 350x (423cc) with ’81 XL500 head conversion
’83 XR500 (628cc) converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’73 CB750 K3 converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’86 TRX250R chassis XR650L engine hybrid
’89 TRX250R (stock )
’90 LT500 Quadzilla
’85 FL350 Odysses ( water cooled head )
Lost (sold) but not forgotten ’80 ATC 110 (205cc on alcohol ) ’83 200x ( 222cc ) ’83 200x ( 185s eng ) ’85 350x ( stock )
added to the collection recently, (2) '70 US90 Aquarius Blue and '74 ATC90 Daytona Orange
Those knobbies will do just fine in the sand, and will be a blast to ride on. You can pitch it sideways & roost at will, and your 250R will go anywhere you want. It will have a lot of wheel spin trying to get going in the deep stuff, and you may dig a hole or two, and bury the bike in the process. Paddles on the other hand will give you tons of traction, and better acceleration, but will want to wheelie a lot more, especially while climbing hills. Trying to slide it with paddles will be a bit precarious, as it will want to lift the front wheel, as soon as you get on the gas in the slide.
Red Rider's Sand Machine Updated 07/23/14
’84 YT60
’85 350x (423cc) with ’81 XL500 head conversion
’83 XR500 (628cc) converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’73 CB750 K3 converted 3 Wheel hybrid
’86 TRX250R chassis XR650L engine hybrid
’89 TRX250R (stock )
’90 LT500 Quadzilla
’85 FL350 Odysses ( water cooled head )
Lost (sold) but not forgotten ’80 ATC 110 (205cc on alcohol ) ’83 200x ( 222cc ) ’83 200x ( 185s eng ) ’85 350x ( stock )
added to the collection recently, (2) '70 US90 Aquarius Blue and '74 ATC90 Daytona Orange
Mr. Clean was running knobbies less aggressive than those on his ultra trick 200 when I was there.
I’d asked about using 4 Snow’s before I went and the Keister boys said they were a good balance between knobs and shovels, but that I should call them 3 Snows.
I got stuck once after trying to climb in too tall a gear with my engine sputtering on me, probably would have dug a hole with any tire. Having been in the dunes only once, I still consider myself a sand virgin of sorts, but I wouldn’t hesitate to go back with regular knobbies, from what I saw they turn better and are a lot easier on your butt riding over hard pack, so unless you’re strictly hill climbing or racing in a straight line scoops aren’t needed.
Just a word of caution here...... and not trying to get this thread off track, but keep in mind that the guys running knobbies in the dunes have been riding the dunes for a long, long time. It is a totally different world than riding terrain with rocks and trees and creek beds. These guys out west go off the top of a 300' dune like it's nothing to them. As someone who has ridden the big west coast dunes 5 times, I would tell a noob to run paddles every time (yes, 3-Snows are paddle-ish). They make paddles for a reason, and as a novice we need every possible advantage. The good news is, these are trikers. Even if you have the 100% wrong tire setup, someone is sure to loan or sell you what you need. I've seen it happen. Now, back to that sweet, sweet 650 convo!!