Of course, the usual lets see whos done it web searching for a couple weeks, and I settled on how my bro and I were gonna pull it off.
Now I 've heard of some cats just takin the forks off their 250/450 and spreading the clamp to get the forks in, shimming with beer cans, etc., sorry dudes, I'm calling monkey on you. It mite just be me, but that's the November one six six echo romeo way of doin it.
I decided to get a whole CRF front end , in my case an '07 250, and put it in there. I chose a 250 for the reason the stock spring rate was the same as the specified spring rate for my regular 500 set up, .45. Yes, I know, 2 different forks and valving, but going in blind, it was at least nice to have a familiar number to work with. Ended up working out perfect, but more on that later.
Theres 2 ways of pullin it off, the All Balls conversion bearing kit, or making a whole new steering stem. I decided this time to go the conversion bearing route, just to see how simple we could make the job. The CRF's stem is the same size on the lower end, but bigger on top. I believe the CR's upper stem is 24mm, the CRF's is 30mm. My biggest concern with the conversion bearing is that its not as tall, 12mm compared to the 15 that is stock for both bikes. But then again, this is a trail machine, and we don't fly too many doubles.
The CRFs stem is also a bit longer. The bearing kit, I think, trys to make up for this with the washers they give you, but we did end up having to make up a couple extra spacers, one each for top and bottom. We wanted to try and keep the heights as close as possible, I reckon after all was said and done, I maybe lost .100".
The other parts I found I needed to do the conversion included a front axle from a CRF, the wheel spacers(of course the 500's front wheel works), the brake caliper, and the disc cover. The 500 fork guards bolt right on, the disc cover does not. I also had to make a mod to the steering stop on the frame. Essentially, I just lengthened it , the only welding required.
I did test it out, 24 miles on the Leetsville trail sunday morning. What the hell, I turned the screws to full soft, both rebound and comp. Just dialed em up as I went along.
It did take a little getting used to. The main thing, those beefy ass triple clamps. The CR's, by comparison, are toys. The first thing I noticed, once I half way got it dialed a bit, the stability in the corners. I found it much easier to keep the wheel in the line, super straight thru the whoops, just plush as can be on the square edges. I'll certainly say, it is quite an improvement. Honestly, I'm kinda pissed I gave Bowman all that $$ to do original KYB stuff, like I said, they did a good job, that shock has fresh oil in it and it was better than excellent on sunday. But for what I have into this kit, o well
Nuff bullshit, how bout some pics
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/ed4d93bd4de5d70b439b7023bcd35556.jpg)
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/382c55d00643e8d351d0f87e860bdbf7.jpg)
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/f672b8d43281ebe09ee40e1f689686f7.jpg)
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/e9e9643da32cff074f2715f444a62897.jpg)
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/674043f36bd6841c411794986b9336ed.jpg)
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/6bc904bff776f1bde53e29e04d97388c.jpg)
Yup, that's a real Michigan license plate.........
![Image](https://bannedcr500riders.com/images/auto/297b630bfa12e04cf3eaf4fb2511d5dd.jpg)