XR650R hybrid fab pic's got any?

[Hasteloy-X]

I'm interested in any fab pic's of XR650R hybrids anyone could share, horror stories, or any problems encountered.

I'm trying to figure out whether I should start a project like this or not. I don't want to get wet feet after taking the plunge.

I have a complete XR650R motorcycle for the doner and a 400ex. I'm kinda leaning towards a custom frame... I'd like to see what others have done first.

Thanks in advance.

[tayyo789]

Do a custom frame. All the conversions I have seen, including myself, have taken at least a year to finish. The motor is so tall, it's not going to fit very well in anything that handles well, and the kick start has such a long throw, that basically everything on the right side of the bike is in the way. This is not just a "for fun" type of conversion. Putting a motor that is too big for a frame in, causes more problems than you can think of when building it.
However, in the end, if it is done right, the thing's are absolute beasts.
I unfortunately built mine, without taking any sort of pictures of the process, so I can't help you there, but I here is a shortened version of the basic modifications to get it almost functional that was part of a message to another member on the site:

tayyo789 wrote on 03-17-2010 03:56 PM:
first things first, put the motor in the frame and put the swingarm bolt in. make sure you have the swingarm youre going to use in at this time too. you will probably have to make your own spacers for the bolt, as the hole in the back of the 650 motor that the bolt goes through is a larger diameter than the one on the 400. but before building those, GET THE CHAIN ALIGNED. by all means, get the chain aligned. i made this mistake and it resulted in many many hours of headaches, and custom parts.
now that these are done, youre going to have to build brackets and mounts for the upper rear motor mount, and the bottom mount of the engine. you can go about these however you please, because there are almost unlimited possibilities. for the front engine mounts, i wanted to use the stock 400 aluminum mounts, so i didnt have to make any. in order to do this, i had to cut the frame rail that comes down from the a arm area and put it at a steeper angle, because the 650 comes further forward in the frame. the last mount is the top one.
the 650 sticks about 2 inches higher than the 400, so i just built mounts similar to the stock ones, but that stuck up farther. so thats all the motor mounts.
for the radiator, i built a custom bracket below and above the space where my radiator is located. i had pwr build me a custom radiator to my dimensions.
my exhaust was built to fit by the original owner of lrd, so i didnt have to worry about that either.
i took a 400 subframe and modded it to resemble a 250r; no battery mounts, removable grab bar, and gussets.
my airbox takes a ds450 air filter, fitting to a custom intake tube built out of turbo piping for a diesel truck. the back half of my airbox is actually where i moved the oil tank to. in my pictures you can see my stainless lines running to the front of the motor.
due to the extra height of the motor, i had to melt and form my gas tank to clear the motor.
the gas tank and plastics were not intended to work together, so i had to cut the plastics to fit the gas tank.
the rear fenders are trimmed to avoid being hit by the kickstarter.
the kickstarter has another 650 kickstarter knuckle welded to the original, to space the kicker out to clear the frame.
as the kicker comes down, it hits the foot peg, and the brake lever, so both of those had to be redesigned to be out of the way.


There is of course a lot more work that needs to be done to make it work, but these are just the main things that I did. Another helpful source is a member named RustyATV. He has been building one for a few years now, and documents his struggles and progress via videos.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4kZ0XwA4KQ
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhib8kGU-IM&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDl9V_JO3ts&feature=related

As far as I know, he isn't finished, but he did some cool stuff on his so far. Most all of the ones that you will find will all be 400ex conversion chassis.

[Hasteloy-X]

WOW!!! Thanks for the info. The vids on youtube were definitely helpfull!!!

It's really hard to visualize all that needs to be done to the stock frame. Rustyatv did an awesome job.

I see what you mean about it costing as much as a custom frame with all the spare's he had.

I emailed laegers today, hopefully they respond sometime within the month.

[tayyo789]

I believe they were the ones who built the 650 that was in Dirtwheels about 3 years ago, so they have an idea of what needs to be done. However on that project, they didn't stick with one ATV model for the rest of their parts. They sort of mix and matched things from different bikes and made them work. It was intended for desert racing, so of course 400ex parts weren't going to be the best for them to use. What kind of riding are you looking to do with it?

[Hasteloy-X]

Mostly fast trail riding. I was originally hoping for something that was: unique, fairly light weight, reliable, great handling, lots of low end, but with a fast top speed.

There really isn't anything out there that matches what I want. Everything seems too heavy, expensive and needing alot of upgrades to get near what I desire.

[tayyo789]

If your trails are very technical, it won't be the best choice. You aren't going to be able to putt around or go slow on it. Plus you'll lose a ton of ground clearance with the rear sprocket you'll have to run. However you can gain the clearance back by running 22 or 23 inch rear tires. I ride mine in the dunes, with a 44 tooth rear and a 14 tooth front. I wouldn't feel comfortable running smaller than a 13 tooth front, which would still probably be geared fairly tall. The motor can pull very high speeds though, so if you're looking for top speed, you're in the right place