XR650R Baja 1x Dream Bike Build (The Frame)

My 2000 XR650R (Aussie spec, road legal with uprated stator and all the electrics) was not the most ideal base for this build. There were many signs of its age showing, and as new shiny parts started to arrive I knew I had to make the old things look new again!

The first thing to tackle was the frame. I took it to a local bike paint shop and came out feeling let down. The guy I spoke to was friendly but he didn't look positively on getting my frame sanded and painted/powder-coated. His exact words were: "it'll take a lot of hours", "won't be cheap" and "I have never done a dirt bike frame before, the oil tank is a problem".

With pressure building on getting the build done right, I thought I would find a better solution and do it myself. I looked at what is actually on show once the bike is fully built, and also what on my frame was looking tired. Years of leaking coolant had pitted the lower cradle and the side uprights were scuffed (the tubular parts of the frame, I polished the cast bits but left them as they were)

I decided to sand these areas by hand, using first a 240 paper and then a 400 to finish. It took several hours and also an electric drill with wire brush bit to get at all the corners and provide an even finish. I had to sand lightly to finish, and only in one direction to create a nice 'brushed' aluminium look. End result is it looks great! It will be open to the elements and I don't expect it to stay this nice, but I can always maintain it my lightly sanding it again.

Using a top quality aluminium polish also adds a layer to protect the exposed aluminium from the elements.

**For any purists reading this: I discovered that the 1x bike also had 'brushed' aluminium on the uprights, so this method is in line with the real thing ** :)

XR650R Baja 1x Dream Bike Build (Update 1)

XR650R Baja 1x Dream Bike Build (update 1)
10/01/2013

So two months on and it's 2013. I have slowly been getting the bike stripped and ready for the piece by piece rebuild. My unit resembles an XR650R graveyard with bike pieces scattered across two balconies and various cupboards in our kitchen! What I would give to have a shed...


As you can see by these photos the build looks far from complete. Like any bike tear down though, there are always more things that end up needing to be bought before reassembly than first thought. Whilst it is stripped I have decided to go through everything from bearings to hoses and bolts to work out where there is fatigue or corrosion, this will hopefully ensure that by replacing them I won't need to tear anything down for a while.

As mentioned before the engine is how I want it so nothing will be changing there for this build. In fact with the hot cams stage 1 and the air box mods along with the Vortex ignition this engine is more than enough for a race bike replica.

The parts so far that I have sourced have mostly been superficial but crucial nonetheless. As in the picture below I have had fun trying to find quality decals like the originals.


And then just a few other bits and pieces like clutch perch accessories and stainless bolts for some of the frame and plastic bolts.

I got my hands on the CR500 rear shock which will act as a donor along with the stock XR shock to build the hybrid shock like the Baja bike had. The main advantages with this shock was that the CR500 shock had a high speed clicker adjustment and it was also designed for stiffer use. The biggest attraction for me is that it also raises the height of the rear a little. I will be sending this to Suspension Matters for gold valves and the spring selection as well as for building the shock from the two donors. In an ideal World I would send them to Precision Concepts in the US to build exact replicas, but that would be an extremely expensive exercise and one I simply can't afford. I will however keep my eyes peeled as some people have told me that they occasionally come up for sale in the US on the used market, so I could always fit one later.

So the next big development is the Pro Circuit race pipe. I got the muffler on Ebay dead cheap from someone in Australia who wanted to go back to stock, but as he didn't know the history if these pipes he kept the headers to polish up and use with his stock muffler. It was like a crime to the informed, but hey that's life, and he didn't want to sell the headers no matter what I told him! The chances of just the headers coming up for sale are minuscule so I had to come up with a compromise. I had heard that XR's Only made a hand-made pipe that was based on the same principles as the PC pipe, with similar headers. Some came up for sale on Ebay in the US so I jumped on them. The result - they fit so well and look so similar that maybe even Johnny Campbell would know they were not the PC headers! Nice result (pictured below) and once again I will keep looking for the original ones still.

The rest has been mostly cleaning and polishing of every little piece of the bike to look for damage and also to neaten the bike up generally. I am becoming somewhat obsessed about finding the bits and I have received some awesome info from forum members and people like JCR, Precision Concepts, Team Honda, Works Connection and Pro Circuit who all seem interested in the build and have done their bit to help with tracking down parts etc.

The most illusive part is still the rear brake, as they were built in small numbers by Nissin to fit to Jean-Michel Bayles CR500 back in the days, and only three were used on the XR for team Honda. From my understanding two are still in known existence and both are unlikely to come up for sale. Unless I can find one on a CR500, I will have to fashion up something or just stay with stock....grrrrrr.

The next bits on the parts list are the suspension mods and then getting the tired 2000 model frame powder-coated so that I can begin the rebuild onto the main frame and acquire parts as I go.

Watch this space, it may be the Worlds slowest build but it sure will be a beast once it is done! If I am not expert on the 2005 Baja bike by the end of this I will be very surprised!

Happy New Year!