hi all. a friend of mine has a honda xr200 rolling chassis that he wants to convert to a trials spec. has anyone done one that can offer any practical advice? any info at all will be appreciated. he has a single fiberglass seat/tank unit from a tlr250 already, other than that its a blank canvas.

thanks, paul.

Edited January 22, 200917 yr by paul w

Is it a twin shock version or the later pro-link one?

Keith Wells from the Midland Centre uses a twin shock XL185/200 for LDT's to great effect.

Here's a picture of one in a Miller Classic trial. Sorry, I don't know the rider.

Edited January 21, 200917 yr by scorpa3

sorry, should have mentioned its a twin shock.

paul

I have seen XL185s converted, thoughI would of thought the XR cam would make it a bit firey maybe a Tlr200 cam would soften it a bit. Here is a bike converted from a Chinese copy of an XL, may be give you some ideas.

Check out the current Baker award winner on the ITSA homepage ...www.twinshock.org , I think thats kinda what it started life as ...

Glenn

Edited January 21, 200917 yr by axulsuv

This one.

YUP ! and it works great too !!!

Glenn

It might be aswell to build it back as an xr all hondas seem to be popular and gaining in value

then get something a bit softer to convert.

but in the end you can turn anything into anything for a price,how well it works is another thing.

Hi all, came across this topic. I am helping my friend to do up his 1980 XR200 (I think that's what it is, pictures attached).  At the moment its a bit of a 'mash up' regards front wheel, tank, side plastics and broken rear mudguard. Not sure if we should get it back to XR200 or try and make it like a TLR 200.

I think it will be cheaper to get it back to XR200 but he is looking to sell on so he can get a crosser, and from what I can see he will get better money back for a TLR200.

Your advice would be helpful, thanks.
 

To be effective as a trials bike the steering head angle or at least the fork yokes will need to be modded/replaced to give steeper and quicker steering. Repositioning the rear shocks will have a similar effect but with the XR there is not a lot to play with. You will find that there are lots of Hondas out there masquerading as this model or that when in fact they are nothing of the kind, this is especially so with the TLR and RTL types in both 200 and 250 guise. You say ‘rolling chassis, do you have an engine?  Because a genuine Honda Trials bike is worth so much more than a cobbled together version most buyers are very wary of being caught and know they their stuff. Your best bet might be to go for a trials camshaft for whatever engine 200? and look at jacking the rear up a bit to quicken the steering, dropping the front forks through the yokes a few mm might help too! Keep all the XR stuff safe and you will have two bikes for one. Dont get any welding done to keep the frame original ie repositioning the steering head and footrests unless it can all be reversed back. Then you have the electrics to sort out as the XR has a wiring harness much bigger than for a trials variation.

Hi section swept. 

Thanks for the detailed e-mail, I appreciate it.

Oh yea I see the difference in the steering head gap.

He has the V5 somewhere but the **** can't find it at home, I think we will just try and put it back to original, I am pretty sure that its a XR200. However looking at  pictures online they don't have rear pegs like he has?

Trying to source proper side panels and a petrol tank, mud guards are easy enough to source. Going to just leave the front wheel as is. Probably get a new seat cover.

Something like picture attached.