picked up a 2001 xr50 the other day in trade for doing some work on a guy's wife's bike. i guess he heard me say something about missing my old 50. in any case, it didn't run, but i came up with some dirt cheap fixes for typical 50 problems, figured it might come in handy for someone.

- busted stator-
i'm sure pretty much everyone has seen the threads here about winding a stator for lights, but no one ever mentions the windings for the ignition. that was my main problem, no spark. so... rather than go spend a bunch of money on a stator i figured i'd rewind it (the ignition part). if you put a multi-meter across either end of the coiled wire for the ignition part of the stator and it's doesn't have continuity, it's broke, like mine was.
anyway, if you your stator craps out on you, go to radio shack and pick up the $5 magnet wire set they carry. cut off all the old windings, and rewind it with the 30g wire in the set. use the WHOLE roll (200ft). solder either end of the wire to the points where the old wire was connected, and it's good to go.
spending 5 bucks and an hour or two of your time rewinding is alot better than the 50+ bucks they're going for on e-bay.

-cheap bar kit-
i'm broke (court fees and lawyers are EXPENSIVE, lol) and i can't afford a big bar kit, but i can barely sit on a 50 with stock bars on it, so here's what i did. i took the stock bars/mounts and ground the weld down where the bar meets the mount until i could get the bars free of the mount. then i spread the mount apart a bit and bolted the mount back onto the stock upper triple. find some steel bmx bars and put the bottom in the groove of the stock bar mounts. now you can sit on the bike and hold the bars where you want them while someone tack welds them in place. after you get it right where you want it just finish up the welds so they're nice and strong. then get a cheap 7/8" throttle and brake perch, and fit them up, and you're good to go. my bar setup cost me a grand total of about $20, including the throttle and the bmx style shorty lever and perch. the bars (old skool peregrine freestyle bars) i had laying around. it's beat on the bars pretty hard and haven't had any problems with it (but i just ride street and some trails, no big air). just make sure if you use chrome bars that you grind away the chrome where you need to weld it, or it won't be very strong.

i made a home-grown lift kit too (suspension, not those cheesy seat/tank lifts) but i'll have to get some pictures taken so i can explain how it went together. the rear doesn't require any special tools other than a grinder, a dril and maybe a file, the front does require some welding though. i'll try and get some pics of it soon.

anyway, glad i finally got another 50. my nieghbors already hate me though. seems circles in the court i live in don't win cool points with them, .

 

Now this is a true ghetto fiddy :YEAH

Post some pics. of your creations

 

kudos for some great ingenuity and a great write up...the stator alone should help a lot of people...the bar kit is one i've done myslef as well and it works great... good job :YEAH

 

now all ya need is some 1200 dolla chrome spinnas!!!!!

 

Whats up with the suspension Im going to atempt to do the same idea. Ive got a mig so anythings possable. I'm thinking of using 1/4" alumium flat bar for the rear.

 

ya'll r trippin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just ride the damn things dont ghetto em all out