Kevmo7

Yo, havent started a thread in ages!

Straight to the point tho, I just sold my 450!

As I want a road legal motard as a stuntbike/road bike and my 450 was an R model so i couldnt get it rego'd

My question to stuntlife, is what to get

I was dead set on a DRZ400SM until i heard you gotta gear the **** outta them for circles, and that wont make it practical.

I can handle a few teeth in the front and in the back, but not so much that the bike has a 55mph top speed...

Also stoppies are my favourite stunt, so a decent front end and top speed is a must

So what do I get?

I have about $6000 to $7000 NZD to spend (about 3500 - 4000 usd)

Needs to be:

Motard, Road Legal, Decent stunter, decent practical wise and fit that price bracket

Ready Set GO!!!!

E-Loc540

I got my stunt CRF250R street legal here in the states. Its kinda small for the streets but it will still blow the doors off those annoying imports all day long (8.3's in the 1/8th).
I have 2 sprockets (stunt/street) that are 2 piece so I can swap them without takin off the wheel. I also run 2 master links and I add my chain extension as needed with the bigger sprocket. Its kinda a pain in the butt but 15 minutes and some dirty hands and your converted. I just bought a crf250x motor so I have wider ratios so that will be even better....

NINER

DRZSM isn't that bad. A lot of people have circled them with stock gearing. It has the RM250 inverted front end and it will get out of the hole decently fast. I'd say if you don't want to ride highways drop a tooth or two in the front and call it a day. You can build up the engine to the power of a stock CRF450 with no reliabilty/extra maintenance issues.

Kevmo7

Yeah but if i drop a say 2 teeth in the front and went up a few in the back and just said i wasent gonna use it on the highway, would it still have a decent enough speed for stoppies? would it be alrite to circle then too? (not too much clutch work)

Tomball_D

What about a crf450X, it comes with lights and a title can you register it where your at. I've got a dr35o thats on its way to motard status, needs brake and power upgrades, then wheels.

NINER

The DRZ is an interesting bike to ride. It likes low RPM's to make power. I'd say go -1 and see how you like it. It is a big difference on the bike. You can still ride the highway, but don't expect to go much faster than traffic. But that is also true of the sike bone stock. It can zip around town all day under 60 MPH and run circles around traffic, but you have to buzz the **** out of it to keep up with highway traffic at 75MPH. Even stock it pulls first and second pretty fast so it would be fine to accelerate for stoppies.

Tomball_D

Thats why I like my dr350 cause it has a 6th gear, whereas the SM comes with only 5

Kevmo7

Yeah, would probly be alrite like that aye, I can also get a good deal on a KTM EXC 525 supermotard, but the maintence on them is the same as my crf which sucks

Schooler

a 6th gear doesnt have anyhitng to do with speed....its the ratio..as in a 5 spd is
1 20mph
2 40mph
3 60mph
4 80 mph
5 100 mph
or
1 14 mph
2 36 mph
3 48 mph
4 60 mph
5 75 mph
6 100
eiyther way your gona hit the same top speed..

12oclocker

use my gear calc tool to figure out your top speed with different gearings on various bikes... http://www.12oclocker.com/gearcalc.htm

As for what bike to get, I was scoping out the new WR450F's but they are not fuel injected yet, I've already got the WR250X, and it circles like a dream, better than my CRF in sitdown circles, much smoother feeling.
If I had unlimited cash, I would fit a 450 with fuel injection system from the WR250X and remapped it with a power commander.
Or I would fit a CRF450X with fuel injection from a CRF450R.
the WR and CRF are good bikes, and very light, the DRZ is rather heavy compared to the WR and CRF.

Zarrell

But the 6 speed will require less gearing than the 5 speed to make 1st gear slower will it not?

12oclocker

all bikes have different tranny ratios, use my gear calc tool to figure out the "speed" at a given "rpm" to determine your optimal gearing, that's how I've been gearing my bikes, and it works perfect every time.
Some 5speed bikes (like the CRF250X) dont require any regearing at all, they are perfect out of the box for stunting, but the CRF250R requires regearing, its first gear is like 2nd gear on the CRF250X, it also has a slower top speed compared to the CRF250X, because its transmission is a closer ratio, and the X model is a wider ratio.
All bikes are different.

Kevmo7

Yeah think I might go with the DRZ, it what I was orignally gonna go after

But still unsure, why does everything have to be so hard!

E-Loc540

Thanks man but I coulda used your gear calc tool just 2 days ago. I spent 2 hours figuring the different ratios between the crf250/x models. I didnt realize it but the crf250x and crf250r bottom ends are completely different. Even the primary ratios are far off......

E-Loc540

like 12 o'clocker said it depends on the bike. If its a close ration 6 speed then yeah the top speed figures should be close to that of a std 5 speed tranny.

12oclocker

yep! the CRF250X is PERFECT out of the box for stunting, thats my main stuntbike, no regearing needed.
The wide ratio bikes are always better for stunting, because they have a slower first gear, and faster 5th gear.
Whats crazy is honda decided Not to change the primary (crank) teeth on the CRF450X from the CRF450R, so the CRF250X actually is geared wider than the CRF450X because the CRF450's share the same primary crank reduction.
Which is really stupid I think. Why the hell would anyone want a more powerfully bike to have a more narrow transmission! What was honda thinking?
They need to hurry up and put FI on the CRF450X, and change the primary reduction ratio to match the CRF250X, and heck just go ahead and add a 6th gear in their while there at it..

Kevmo7

yeah the crf250x sounds like the best geared bike, but the maintence is gonna be insane, just like my 450

Im honestly leaning towards the DRZ400SM right now, because we dont get the wr250x here so there is only slim pickings

and i used that gearing calculator and it said with the gearing i want the DRZ400sm will only do 115kph, which is too low, ill need ATLEAST 120kph to reach my personal goal of 300ft+ stoppie

Sikgixxer750

has anyone tried out the husqvarna 510? I've been wanting to ride one for a while now.