XR650R 1x Baja 1000 Replica Build

So anything new?

Hi mung! a few minor bits only like a Ironman front sprocket (I decided to break from the Renthal for better longevity), new swing arm linkage bearings and I fitted one of the XR's Only air box mod kits to the side cover:







I'm still waiting on the forks from the suspension shop, and once they come back I will be forced to bite the bullet on the triple clamps and Scott's damper.....

The XR 650R number plate just looks proper when its modded that way. If you want to use a candy blue powder coat instead of anodizing on the triples let me know. My buddy does some insane powder coat work and he has a Candy Blue that looks better than anodizing.

If you are running a hotter cam than stock the airbox cover cutouts work very well.They do allow more dust to get to the air filter.To help with that I have long strips of duct tape on my front fender.If we need to ride through a silt field or it is going to be a very dusty day I just tape over the vents.Seems to help keep the airfilter cleaner when you are swimming in silt.Good choice on sprockets-my set is at more than 30k miles and they look fine.Got almost 40k miles from the first set.

Thanks bobbed, that may be a good solution! I'm assuming you can powder coat directly over anodizing? (The ones I will buy come black anodized I think)

Yeah I'm running the stage 1 and the combo with the T4 and the air box mod before I started the build was great in the mid to top end.

That's a great idea on the tape, I hadn't thought of that! That's some incredible mileage on the Ironman's, even half of that for me would be an improvement. I'm going to run the expensive DID that the Baja bike ran so hopefully that will last just as long.

Needless to say I am very happy with my Ironman stuff.My trick is to never lube them.If I ride next to the ocean or in salt flats then I rinse the chain in WD-40.Every once in awhile I take the masterlink apart and grease the pins but other than that it gets no lube.Gently brush off if it gets muddy.I usually make it from Tecate to Cabo in 15 to 18 hundred miles with no chain adjustments.Saw that you live in the Brisbane area.In 1980-81 I worked at Geoff Udys Suzuki/BMW shop in Toowoomba.You have great riding in your area.

That's interesting, I have always been an advocate for 80/90 gear oil as per the manual with regular cleans, but not lubing at all is revolutionary for me! I will give it a go.

Yeah there is some beautiful riding here, fewer and fewer places all the time but compared to Europe where I lived before, it is heaven! It's easy to find the fast wide open riding I love, whilst most bikers are caught up in tight wood sections, it means there's room to open up the big XR :)

Yeah, he can powder anodized parts. PM me when you decide what you wanna do and I will send you his info and a gallery of work.

Very nice bike! I love watching these builds :)

I am starting to go this direction myself, mostly because I am lazy. But I do question the effectiveness of lubing an o-ring chain. If the o-rings are working, the oil isn't doing anything but maybe keeping the o-rings soft.

My experience with O ring chains is the less lube you put on the outside the longer the chain will last.It has all the lube it needs already there on the inside where it is needed.Anything that is put on the outside usually attracts dirt and makes a good grinding compound to work on the O rings.If it does get mucky I let it dry,take a soft brush[toothbrush?] and clean it up and spritz with wd40.The newer chains that have a plating on the exposed metal make them easy to maintain and keep most of the corrosion at bay.

Would the WD40 not just wash out the grease from the O-rings?

Not in my experience.The seal between the 0 ring and side plates is quite tight.I have taken an old 0 ring chain apart and usually there is still the original lube there in good shape.If the chain is washed with high pressure I would say you could force water or solvent past the 0 rings and then eventually you would have trouble.I use the wd for a rinse to get the salt and alkali off the chain,not as a lube.

Very cool build, I have this hanging in my garage

Cool find. From 2005?

Unfortunately, Bell's team had problems this year, kind of like last year with the blown motor, Dave Pearson ran out of gas, then Robby broke a hub. Couple that with KC66, and well....

Nice, in my research I have not found any team honda (1x or 4x) XR's running an unmodified side cover, I would be interested to find out when this one is from.

Yeah it was a very tragic race this year, very hard to take in the positives of the race over the tragedy.

Yeah I don't know, I bought a ton of stuff from the rider Eric Brown. I got a complete truck load of stuff from him and found some random Baja stuff. He has some videos on YouTube of riding the Baja, I got the twin lights from him too. I miss my XRR now

Awesome, the lights are another thing I hope to get one day too.

Yeah I can empathise with you Alpina, selling my first XRR was the biggest bike mistake I ever made, even the vastly more 'trick' KTM 690 didn't come close in my opinion, so I came back to the pig!

I would have to agree on the non chain lube ...Quality chain and sprockets will last 20,000 kms no worries ...i have done it twice on the xrr ... i think lube attracts the fine crap and thats what kills them .... i also use a pressure washer to clean my bike ...but i use common sence on the moving parts


shit hot looking bike lostsaffa ...i been watching