Honda XR650L Thumpster

Crazy!

Wild. Never seen one quite like it. Looking forward to hearing it!

Yet another exhaust configuration...

Found this on craigslist for $75, it a like new exhaust off an '07 CRF250. I modified the couplings to tie into the front half of the stock xr650 exhaust.

This is by far the best performing and best sounding exhaust config I've tried so far. I can actually feel a difference in power. I was interested to see what the 2 into 1 into 2 exhaust would do and so far I'm sold. New wheels are coming back from the shop this week laced up to some 17's. This seems to be turning more into a supermoto project than street tracker but lots more to explore before putting a label on it.

I'd like to try my hand at sand casting aluminum in the near future, looking for any ideas if you have em.

250 exhaust looks great on there. One thing you can try for a first time sand caster, take the heat shield off your pipe and try to replicate it, would at least be good practice!

Good idea Coyote. Thanks!

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Finally got my wheels back from the shop after 1.5 months. There was some miscommunication between the service dept and the spoke mfg and things took longer than they should have. Anyways.

The rims and tires were given to me but I purchased the hubs and spokes from RAD Mfg. They were very helpful if you just give them a call. Tires are Pirelli Diablo Rosso. Rims are Excel Takasago

Rear: 160/60 ZR 17x5.0
Front: 120/70 ZR 17x3.5

And....the rear rim/tire is too big!!! The tire presses agains the chain. It's tight, so tight the wheel won't spin. It looked like it would fit when I test fit it, but that was without the proper wheel spacers and sprocket on the wheels at the time. The front wheel fits.

Now i'm looking into replacing the rear rim and tire with something slimmer. I'd like to keep the same rim/tire combo to match the front and I can find the following size in the Pirelli and 17in Takasago.

140/70 R 17x4.25

But still, there's no guarantee it will fit. Anyone else running larger than stock tires in the back on a XR650? How big can I go without chain interference?

The nice part about the 17in rims is that it lowers the bike a bit. I'm 6'1" and I can now flat foot it when stopped.

The last pic is a tank I got off ebay from a Hodaka Ace. I thought it would look cool but it will take some heavy modification to fit the XR.

What about an offset sprocket up front?

coyote13 said:

What about an offset sprocket up front?

Click to expand...

This.
It will be cheaper to make up a spacer for the rear sprocket and have an offset front made than it would be to get a new wheel and tire setup.

Hmm...I'm listening

Have you guys done this before. I'm a visual learner, any pics of how you spaced out the front sprocket? or the rear?

Thanks for the suggestion. I would love to keep the current rim/tire setup. I'm just worried both sprockets would have to be spaced too far. How far is too far when worrying about damaging the front sprocket drive shaft?

Example http://vulcanworks.net/store_4/product.php?productid=17121

Wow. Please take this dude's suggestion....^^^ Those wheels are too nice to give up for a sprocket!!

Cool. I will definitely check that out. I've been reading that some people have fixed the chain rubbing with this size rear wheel by "dishing" it to the right. Essentially offsetting the hub towards the left so the tire pushes to the right away from the chain. Is this safe? Is this common practice?

Looking closer at the rear sprocket this mornin there is little to no room to space it any significant distance.

Ill have to look at the front closer tonight.

Kepp the suggestions coming! Super helpful!

I got home from work and took some measurements. If the rim could be offset by the hub 8mm I would have the perfect amount of clearance on both sides.

I looked at the front sprocket and really saw no room for spacing it out. The chain would run into the frame quickly. Same for the rear, the sprocket bolts would come too close to the swing arm if I put a spacer back there.

Is this something a wheel tech would know how to do? Offset the rim from the hub by a specific amount? I imagine this comes up every once in a while.

It is just a matter of tightening the spokes on one side and loosening the ones opposite.
Of course its not as simple as it sounds I'd imagine ;D

After reading this whole thread I can be totally honest when I say this... I'm bummed out that you are no longer using a bathroom handrail as part of your header. When I read that and saw the picture I just about shit myself. Seems like such a simple idea and I would have never thought that far out of the box. So kudos to you for being creative overall so far with that exhaust. Also, those wheels look slick man, hopefully you can work that out!

I'm in on this one.

Thanks Drey! I didn't trash the other exhaust, I still have it and will probably revisit that approach one day, but for now I'm going to stick with the duals. You can't say no to performance. I hope someone else will see the totally available and cheap option of using the bathroom rails and work it into one of their builds.

As far as my wheel dilemma goes I'm gonna stop by a local shop on the way to work this morning and get some more advice. I drive by Santa Monica Moto Club every day and they're always wheeling out an assortment of Dirt, Supermoto, and Street bikes. I'm hoping someone there has dealt with this before.

That's always good to have a place to go that you trust and can get advice. Especially when advice is free, that's the best part.

SONIC. said:

It is just a matter of tightening the spokes on one side and loosening the ones opposite.
Of course its not as simple as it sounds I'd imagine ;D

Click to expand...

It actually is pretty easy but I don't thing that would be a good idea. Wheel wouldn't be true.

crackerman said:

It actually is pretty easy but I don't thing that would be a good idea. Wheel wouldn't be true.

Click to expand...

The wheel can be true and dished, it won't be centered over the hub, but people do it all the time and I dont think theres any problem with it.