mrmikkelsen

Darn it, out of upload capacity, and I have two more pics to post. I've been riding the bike a bit now. The footing position still needed to be just a tad more rearward to get the front end feeling neutral and easier to lift. I welded on footpeg extension to the back side of the pegs to widen the pegs into more modern proportions and the balance of the bike feels right. Also, I was getting as much steering turn as I wanted, 15 degrees less than the TY175 seemed to be the issue. The fork legs were bottoming against the tank. I didn't want to swap for something like CR250M triples that stick way out, so instead I grabbed a section of 1 1/4" chromemolly frame tubing and used it flatten the front edges of the tank. The bars now to the same degrees of rotation as the TY and it steers much better through the tight trials type corners I've been practicing on. Unfortunately this was post-painting. I taped over the area before shaping though so paint damage was minimal, and I used some DupliColor Chevy Orange engine paint to touch it up- a surprisingly close match to the two-part automotive Flash Red used otherwise. Fun bike, much more grunt than the TY175, taller to suit my 6' height well. I'm only getting about 1/2 kickstarter stroke until bottoming on the footpeg, but thankfully that seems to be plenty to get her running. Now the only problem is figuring out which one of these fun bikes should I keep and which one should I sell.

Well, I was going to put a bunch of detail pictures up here but it looks like I've reached my upload limit. Fitting I guess. Here's the last one that fits, the top view with the narrow side panels, tank rear cover, 1979 pennies capping frame rails all proudly in view.

Three and half years this thing has been in my work space, several other bikes have come in later and gone out sooner, but finally this one is done too. It fired up today and sounds like a brand new bike. I removed a bunch of brush on one side of our house to make a trails area, and I can't wait to get out there and learn how to ride trials.

I really like your tank color scheme, it looks classic British. One of those TLR kickers would be nice to have too. I get about 1/2 stroke with the stock kicker before it stops on the rear mounted footpeg. The single shock xl suspension sounds perfect for trials too. Soft & cushy, and springy enough with the damping adjustability. Nice rig.

A local decal guy made me some stickers pretty close to the originals. The white border isn't true to the originals, but it allowed him to stack the layers of colors easier. I need to find a tough clear overlay as these are quite thin and I'd like them to last. Is there anything better than plain old contact paper? The front brake cable is too long since it is designed to go around all the lighting and instrument stuff that this bike no longer has. Flander's still supplies cable ends, so I ordered some and plan to shorten the cables. We used to make cables in the shop where I worked decades ago, so hopefully I can get that done. I need to revalve and respring the shocks and I don't know a hill of beans about trials damping. I have a ty175, so I guess I'll try to make the shocks feel more or less like those? Light on the damping and light on the springs sounds about right. If anybody is actually following this old thread and knows something about trials shocks I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I know it is a tiny step, but the front fender really makes it look more complete to me, so here it is. The control cables are way too long. What is the go to place to buy solder-on cable ends so I can shorten the cables?

The custom 15x37x12 bearings finally came in all the way from China so the original front wheel can work with the bigger axle forks. $20 and the local M&M Machine shop kindly bored out the backing plate to match. My brazing job on the front fender mount broke when I tried to bend the tab so the fender would fit right. I guess it is good to catch sub-standard work before it causes a failure in the field, eh? A careful eye can spot that the side stand is now on the swingarm instead of its original spot on the frame. That frame spot is now taken by the rear set footpegs so the stand had to go elsewhere. The stand is about 5" or so longer now, two stands are grafted together to make the one long one. I hope the spring is strong enough to keep the longer stand in position while riding. Remaining is the drive chain guide, reworking the shocks, sorting the rear brake pedal, front fender mount, and little details.

While I'm here, here's a picture of the motor in process. The engine covers were painted silver stock, but I know I'll beat it up and make any paint look awful. The new CRF's come with bare metal engine covers, so I stripped the paint, cleaned the parts with an acid solution designed to pre-clean aluminum before welding. They look like they just came off of the casting machine on the production line. The hardware all went out to Hayward Electroplating for a fresh zinc coating. That's the best $150 ever spent on a restoration, spokes, bolts, clips, everything looks brand new for what amounts to not a whole lot of money. The rod small end bearing was seized so it got a new rod kit. That's a big finned cylinder from an atc bored to 66mm to fit the new high compression Wiseco piston which should give it a bit more grunt. It needed the top end work anyway because a choke plate screw fell out of the cheap aftermarket carb it had on it. The screw was missing but there were a zillion indentations in the combustion chamber to tell its story. I left the stock transmission in it. Though the gap between first and second gear is wider than what the Seeley trials or the TLR had, what is a guy to do? I thought the xl125 six speed tranny would help, but the 1-2 gap is just as big in that gearbox. Maybe I should have fitted a TL125 lower end or tranny in this lower end, but I can't find anything on compatibility and didn't get one in my hands before I ran out of patience and put this one back together. Any ideas on that front would be welcome.

I painted the body panels, not a perfect match to the DC fenders, but for a rider it will be just fine. Stickers are made, including extensions for the rear tank cowling. I don't want to stick them on until last though. The motor is waiting for camchain guides. I bought some aftermarket ones, and they kept sending shorter ones, like they are made for the 125 shorter stroke motor. Not much left now! Seat pad, front wheel bearings, finish the motor, rebuild the shocks and figure out springs and damping, then put the pieces all together and make them get along.

Hi Gord, I have thought about this, so I've been collecting flywheels to compare. I made a race bike out of one of these motors a while back and just removed the added on flywheel weight to gain more throttle response. This one though I expect will benefit from more weight. The XL's stock weight disc seems to be about the same as the atc200x flywheel that I have. I was hoping the atc's would be heavier. Since the stock weight comes off so easily, it might also be easy to have one made thicker the riveting it to the flywheel in place of the stock one. I'm going to ride it before doing anything like that though.

Thanks Gordh, My riding buddy Ken Faro taunted me some time ago when I couldn't find proper side panels for an xl125 motocrosser I was building. "You can make those" he said, so somehow I did. First make them in paper. Then cut out a thick plywood piece that same shape. Then cut the 1-2mm thick aluminum sheet a little bigger. Clamp the al to the wood and hammer the edges around the plywood to roll the edges over, cut seams to allow them to fold nicely, and weld the gaps. Rolling the edges around the odd shapes that weren't wood-blockable was easier than I though it was going to be. I clamped a car tire iron tightly in the vise and using the tongue shaped tip as an anvil, I whacked the edges in shape with a dead blow hammer and it was surpringly cooperative. Tig welding aluminum is something I've wanted to try for years and it is just like golf for me. Just enough goes right to keep me trying but it is otherwise 90% frustration and expensive. Time and pressure Andy, time and pressure. - Red, from Shawshank.

I've been playing with aluminum fabrication some more. My welding skills are awful, but my grinding and filling skills are really coming along..... I wanted the side panels to be stock shape, but narrower. These will get painted the standard stock flash red maybe even with the proper oem style decals. I wanted a flat trials seat base for a foam pad, but it left the rear tank mount exposed which looked awful. I built this little shell to cover that part of the tank to extend the tank line back I

I am learning how to weld aluminum, so I built this airbox for the xl trials conversion. I know it is a terrible waste of resources, but I just didn't want to run an exposed sock filter. Though a sock filter fits nicely protected inside here now. I still need to give it a drain.... Next step, making a trials seat pan with an integral cover for the exposed rear tank mount, and a set of side panels designed to sit flush with the frame rails, but to otherwise look just like the stockers. First step, make them in card stock. More aluminum welding practice to come!

Hey Gordh, I love it! How'd the gearing work out? What sprocket sizes do you have on there, and is first gear just the right speed? Neat little trials sized tank too. What's that thing off of? My original tank looks HUGE! Updates are coming soon. Thanks for sharing, Jon

This project is a great break from reality. The rear frame rails needed cut to allow the trials rear fender to fit in there. The new fender mounts were cut from the removed fender loop, and the 1979 pennies soldered in nicely to cover the holes. Now what would be super cool is to have the dual exhaust from a crf250r mounted up to each of those bulky eyelets a few inches forward. Probably not going to do that, but sure am thinking about it. Does anybody know a good replacement gearbox or just first gear for this thing? The 185 cases are supposed to be a bit narrower internally than what the newer 6 speed bikes require. The gap is just a little wider between first and second than I'd like to see. I've been scoring atv specs and only the xl125s looks to be equipped with a narrower 6 speed transmission that importantly has a little tighter 1/2 gap. Not much though, and I don't really need 6 speeds since I doubt I'll ever get beyond third. Back to grading papers for school. Thanks, Jon