Thursday, March 5, 2009

And Thus It Begins


I'm hoping to make this aluminum frame conversion blog to be more like a how-to guide rather than the typical show-and-tell style. Since I've never done one of these, I'm not really qualified, but I've managed to do a variety of these types of projects (engine conversions, car restorations, etc) and have them come out farily good the first try, so I'll give it a shot. But you've been warned (the 'for dummies' refers to the author).


I picked up this 2002 CR125R that hade everything but the bottom end for $300 on craigs list. Apparently someone blew the engine and took it in for a rebuild, then managed to get divorced, broke and move before it was finish. (How fickel life is, eh?) It came with a new nickel plated FMF pipe and silencer as well as a cylinder and head, carb, and a variety of other parts. A few of these parts I sold on ebay for about $250, which I used to buy the new set of UFO plastics ($120) and the new SDS complete seat ($90), which you see in the pictures. The bike was in fairly good shape, except for needing a fork rebuild and new chain guide rubber and dust seals for the swing-arm. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty swingin' deal.

4 comments:

  1. daryl, this is a cool project ,and have you let the people at cr500riders.com know about it? i think many many people there would love to follow this. i hope you will continue to post, but maybe you are stuck on the project at this point? all best. . . mike

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  2. Thanks Mike. I'm mostly finished now, just haven't had time to update the blog. I plan to do so soon. Stay tuned. I think I started a thread on CR500riders, but I'm not sure that I got very far, I can't remember. I think I will finish it on blogspot.

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  3. Hello, i am very interested in following your work too. I have an 87 CR 500 and would like to convert it to the af. Am looking forward to seeing more of your progress.

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  4. Wow, It's the weirdest thing. I actually picked up a 2002 CR125 with a messed up engine for $450 on craigslist, and sold the engine for 650 on ebay, and then went on to make my cr500af. We ran into many of the same issues, what air boot did you use?

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