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i have a couple of questions about 87 hundys

1) will the suspension ( inverted forks, rear shock) swap from a later bike to an 87? if so will the front wheel fromt he 87 still be used or the later model?

2) any way to modernize the 87's looks ie; newer subframe, tank/plastics ?

3) any model year specific drawbacks?

4)will the pipe and silencer from an 89+ work?

No No and ...NO......

Not to be harsh - but there is no way

Get a 1991 or Newer CR5 that'll work

IMHO, sell it to someone who wants to preserve it mostly the way it looked back then and get a newer bike....

i looked at the same deal for my '88, the airbox, frame, subframe, pipe, silencer, kicker, shock mounting, tank, fender, and more all choke that bike to swapping only with your 87. number plates are shared til 90? thats about it.
After riding the other years i have tho, I do prefer the 88's handling and suspension for hard bush and trail riding. the others don't do the squat before the tire comes off the ground like i'm sure you're familliar with. they take some getting used to. And where its strait the bike is arrow strait.

bigjay wrote:i have a couple of questions about 87 hundys

1) will the suspension ( inverted forks, rear shock) swap from a later bike to an 87? if so will the front wheel fromt he 87 still be used or the later model?

2) any way to modernize the 87's looks ie; newer subframe, tank/plastics ?

3) any model year specific drawbacks?

4)will the pipe and silencer from an 89+ work?

1. Yes they will swap over but you will need a new lower headstock bearing and will need the center piece of the tripple machining down to fit the older style smaller bearing (the lower part of your headstock is smaller than the bewer ones) you will also need the matching wheel and caliper.

2. You can mount a newer subframe to mount newer style plastics ( I think this would be a nightmare and wouldnt personally try it)

3. The 89-91 tranny SUX

4. Not without a lot of chopping and welding, IMO the older pipes have a better hit anyway.

Freemer wrote:No No and ...NO......

Not to be harsh - but there is no way

Get a 1991 or Newer CR5 that'll work

Wow I guess god has spoken, Mr been there done that


Sell your bike and buy a new one 'cos freemer said so.

the trans is the same 88-92
subframe is 87-88 only. Its longer because of the shock mounting (which is higher than the 89+)
you probably like the twisting of that knob on the rear shock, that you;ll loose going newer.
The wheel would work by swapping bearings and parts.
use the caliper from the matching fork.

basically your looking at 700-800 ebau bucks of somebodys used, unknown condition parts, to get the bike to be rideable, likely only as good as it is now.

Ive got a complete 89 front end I'll sell ya if your gagging for USD forks.

Roostius_Maximus wrote:the trans is the same 88-92

I can't stand the close ratio, 3-4-5th are like 200 RPM difference

my bikes a 90' but i was considering buying an 87' and just wondered what i could swap from my bike to the 87', mainly concerned with the pipe and shock and forks, the only 500 ive ridden is mine so i dont know how the 87-88's ride, for all i know that may be a waste of time and i may like the way the older bikes ride, i was just assuming that the inverted forks on my 90 would be a good upgrade to the 87 and also thought if the shock dropped in it would be great since im planning on putting a heaveir spring on it and even though race tech set it up for a 200lb rider it seems to work well with me and would be alot better with the new heavier spring on it. the looks of the 87 dont bother me, its like driving a 70 chevelle around, obviously old but still SIC i just dig the 91+ plastics selections and straighter rear fender.

I know in 93' I rode a new CR500 and thought the forks sucked and the motor was lame compared to the 87'. Matter of fact, everyone who rode them agreed on the forks, only a few agreed on the motor. Most preferred the "non-hit" of the later motor compared to the massive hit the 87' has. It may or may not be faster on the track but it sure is alot of fun.

the HIT on my '86 is KICKASS, not too fast up top, but the hit makes it more fun!

I also like the rangy bikes over the docile throttle responding top-enders.

We had a little episode where the creek crossing washed away, so out of a pebble and clay creekbed we had to get up a 10ft virticel and hit a 4 ft wide cattle gate at the top, then carry on up a goose-crap slippery 45degree face for another 150ft. My 88 500 went hard, stuck to the hill like glue, would pick-up tire rev whenever and wherever i needed, and i was up at the top lauging at the impending 450f wreckage. My bro, with some serious clutch-dumpage at big rev slammed the '00 up the hill and got up the trail perfectly aswell. Now the stoy takes a turn, my uncle came at us like he was going to park the thing high in the trees, picked it out of the creek, and took another shot at it thru the curtain of steam the bike was puking out. He didn't commit the talent to make the whole hill, but we had a side cutter and got the barbed-wire out of the sproket and helped him nurse that rattle box to the top. I've yet to see something snuff out of power quicker than a 450f on traction. He always tells us how much torque it has, and ya it;ll bark when you ride in slippery crap, but it gets un-rideably hot in the bush, and the 500's have yet to steam at all for us.

If u guys ever rode an 02 250 compared to a 00 250, the 02 is a stump puller, and the 00 is like milking a 125 out of the hole, but the 04 is somewhere between the two

bigjay wrote:my bikes a 90' but i was considering buying an 87' and just wondered what i could swap from my bike to the 87', mainly concerned with the pipe and shock and forks, the only 500 ive ridden is mine so i dont know how the 87-88's ride, for all i know that may be a waste of time and i may like the way the older bikes ride, i was just assuming that the inverted forks on my 90 would be a good upgrade to the 87 and also thought if the shock dropped in it would be great since im planning on putting a heaveir spring on it and even though race tech set it up for a 200lb rider it seems to work well with me and would be alot better with the new heavier spring on it. the looks of the 87 dont bother me, its like driving a 70 chevelle around, obviously old but still SIC i just dig the 91+ plastics selections and straighter rear fender.

An 87 is a great bike and if you can get one cheap get it, if you put a 88 swingarm on it you can run a oversized rotor from a newer 250 and putting modern forks on it should work great to keep it from flexing.

Roostius_Maximus wrote: If u guys ever rode an 02 250 compared to a 00 250, the 02 is a stump puller, and the 00 is like milking a 125 out of the hole, but the 04 is somewhere between the two

now, wasn't the '01 supposed to be the best of them all?

dannygraves wrote:

Roostius_Maximus wrote: If u guys ever rode an 02 250 compared to a 00 250, the 02 is a stump puller, and the 00 is like milking a 125 out of the hole, but the 04 is somewhere between the two

now, wasn't the '01 supposed to be the best of them all?

never rode an '01, but it could have been

dannygraves wrote:

Roostius_Maximus wrote: If u guys ever rode an 02 250 compared to a 00 250, the 02 is a stump puller, and the 00 is like milking a 125 out of the hole, but the 04 is somewhere between the two

now, wasn't the '01 supposed to be the best of them all?

There all just real light variations of one another except for 2002 up big change, I thought the 2000 model came with a PWK and I liked that aspect better.

I love my 88 and wouldnt change it! I have ridden vintage bikes all my life and am just used to the conventional forks I guess. I get on my buddys with upside down forks and it feels so damn stiff that I dont like it. The conventional forks have a plush feel when riding trails. I dont do the 50 foot jumps so I dont notice bottoming out. mine has the progressive replacement springs from works connection in it with 15w oil. works great for me.