RG250 Mark 1 Dual Sport

[Pezz]

G'day all,

I am about to start to build a bike for a fundraiser I run for Down Syndrome NSW and Australia called the Scrapheap Adventure Ride. www.scrapheapadventureride.com.au

Basically you have to buy a bike for less the $1000, fix it up and make it roadworthy, the ride to a destination and we have a party and fundraising night. We have raised over $220,000 over the last 4 years. I have ridden my XR460/4 which was a CB400/4 which I converted to Dual Sport.

For 2014 I am building a new Scrapheap bike and have been given this nice RG250 and will be planning some pretty decent suspension mods to get it ready for some dirt action. I picked up a 1984 DR600 swingarm and linkage and modify this to fit in the back of the RG frame. I will not be butching this bike, and it will be able to be returned to stock afterwards.

I plan to keep the engine stock as it will go plenty quick enough for a dirt bike

Pezz









My bike from last few years.





I am posting this on other forums, and appreciate the local forum support. If you would prefer I didnt post here let me know

[Pezz]

Well I think ebay was kind

I picked up this 1986 DR600 Dakar for the sum of $184.50

Both Bikes run a full floater rear suspension setup and I had hoped the rocker pivot is the same distance on both bikes. Long shot I know, but they were 20mm different







When the RG has arrived at the Skunkworks. I had it sitting in the shed next to the donor bike. It is a tiny bike. I have taken a few rough measurements and looks like the complete DR600 Front end will need to be bolted on. Had a look at the DR front rim and it has numerous cracks and will need replacing too. Then a closer check of the rear wheel and it has two big flat spots opposite each other .

Looking at the rear floater suspension rocker pivot and the differ by about 20mm. I may just use the RG swing arm and stick the DR rocker in and see how that works. Then get a heavier spring for the RG shock.

I put the 7lt Nomad tank on the rear seat and it fits right in there

I have to pick up a box of other bits from Andrew this week and then I will see what I have.



That photo is not a true representation of the bike. There is much not servicable. Forks are rusty and pitted, most of the fittings, bolts and brackets are missing, it also has clutch issues, no airbox, no sidcovers. Basically a perfect place to start building a Scrapper

Also I am not cutting anything! Even the XR460/4 could easily be returned to a stock CB400/4. I have boxes of the original bits for that bike in the shed.

The Full Floater rear end is a bolt out and swap in. The tripples from the DR600 will slip right in the front end along with the forks etc.



The Fairing panels are sitting there held on with tie wire.



Next post will cover the tearing down of the DR600

[Pezz]

I intend to use the front end and as much of the rear susppension as possible



Forks out now to the back end



The rear axle was a bent tent post.



The Full Floater out



Whats left, to go back on flea bay



A few things to cogitate here . . . . .

Looking at the front end, the RG triple trees have a decent amount of offset, so I will need to do some basic trigonometry after some careful measurements to work out of the DR600 forks will suit.



I picked up a boot load of spares including spare tank, some sidecovers, engine sidecovers, a clutch, 2 x wiring harness's and a couple of spiders and cockroaches.

Best of all a stock airbox!!

I want to run the stock setup as I will be riding on dirt roads



Once OldDog and I installed the front end we thought we would put the panels on and check for clearance issues
Need to remove some excess bits off te lower tripple clamp. Also move the Radiator down about 12 mm.

On initial measuring the front wheel wont hit either the header pipes or the Radiator



A few more from other angles. Steering head angle looks to be less than 30Deg but will be adjusted during the build. The screw drivers will be removed before its finished



The rear end is under contemplation next. Seat height will be around 880mm

[Pezz]

Thought I would add up some pictures of the RG without the body work.

The front end looks pretty straight forward and I can do some adjustments to get the geometry perfect.



I now need to focus on the rear end and coming up with a rear suspension that wont destroy me or the bike



Not a lot of space in there above the airbox. The swingarm will have to be extended to about 600 - 620 mm to make it work.



When I got the RG swingarm out and got a chance to do some measuring . . . . .

The RG's alloy swing arm is very light, I can see why the can crack . . . .

A quick measure of its width at the swing arm pivot was 190mm. D'oh . . . .





The DR600 steel swingarm is 210mm width, and is substantailly heavier than the RG.

The plan from here is to take 10mm of each end of the DR600 swingarm, remachine the bearing races, and possibly make some bronze bush's with grease nipples.



I am still going to extend the swingarm 120mm, and lower the bottom shock mount 17mm.



Well whilst waiting from the swingarm to be extended I went to the Phillip Island Classic races.

I spying this Trident engineering replica of the Heron Suszuki superbike.

On closer inspection the rear full floater setup caught my eye.

I think I may be able to incorporate some of this into the RG's swingarm setup???







I also picked up a set of DRZ400 wheels for the RG250.

The ones I got with the DR600 donor bike were not much chop

The front rim had cracks all around and spokes missing, the rear has 2 massive flat spotsopposite each other. I also want to run a disc rear brake.

[Pezz]

Oh and I also need a kick start lever if anyone has a spare one laying around??

[DuncanB]

Good on you, Pezz!
Looks like you get to have some fun, and support a worthwhile cause.
Someone else on here is doing something similar to a KR1 lol

[JonW]

WOW! great project! Please do let us know how you go

[Pezz]

Thanks Duncan and Jon

Lot to get my head around but the swingarm should be back in a few weeks. I will get photos of it being built too.

Trying to pick up a cheap DRZ front end, but if unsucessful I will stick with the DR600 forks and run the DRZ400 front wheel

[Pezz]

G'day

Just got a few Phone pics emailed through of the progress to date.
Pivot has been machined and narrowed 20mm
Bottom shock mount has been removed ready for lowering 18mm
and it has been cut ready for the 120mm extension to be welded in.
Should be done in the next week or so . . . . .

[JonW]

Exciting times!

[Pezz]

Oh well, that didn’t turn out quite as I had expected . . . . . .

I think the best way to share my current situation is by being a bit philosophical about it.

When you tell someone under NO circumstances are you to touch or modify the frame, apparently that isn’t clear enough.

I took the RG250 to a fellow who had previously modified the fuel tank on my XR460/4. We sat down and I explained what I was after, he took notes in his big book and said it would take about 4 weeks as he was away racing the next week. A price was agreed, and given that I drove the bike 7 hours each way, thought it was reasonable.

After waiting 4 months, I finally get a time to pick it up with 2 weeks’ notice. However it seems like he is in a panic and rush. I get a few calls 2 days prior to pick up he says 'gee it’s a tight fit in there, I have just started to grind the frame to make it fit'
You What????? I replied. Please Stop!!! I said I will be there the next morning don’t touch it until I get there. Unfortunately when I got there he had ‘finished’ so to speak???

The result was a long way from my expectation. It wasn’t fitted at all, and to my eye, and my friend with me, it was twisted. The fellow said 'Just get a G clamp on it and it will bend back . . .'

I think he made a simple mistake. He extended the swing arm first, welded it up in a jig / welding bench, but it needed to be narrowed 20mm to fit in the RG frame at the swing arm pivot. Once he cut and welded the swing arm the second time it wasn’t in a jig and as a result its twisted.

Rather than argue, I sucked it up knowing I had done my cash. As we loaded the bike in the back of the Land Rover he then says I owe him an additional $200 for machining. Unbelievable!!! Given I had 2 swing arms, travelling expenses, the agreed price, the additional $200 it works out to about $1200 to make the steel swing arm unusable. Sad part is I lost 4 months in the process.

It has taken a bit of the wind out of my sails at the moment. It now sits in the shed and I will get back to it in the coming weeks.

Such is Life 'eh!!!

[Gazzah]

Ahh....bugger !
Sorry to hear that Pezz, thats a dissapointment....
maybe try not to think about it for a few weeks then you will be able to re-asses with a fresh and enthusiastic mind again.

[JonW]

Geez that sucks Pezz. Tough break. The bloke's an arse, best to name n shame i reckon to save us from him

[BRG1200]

Jeez, you should have made the swing arm fit up his back end. He knew perfectly well he'd fucked your frame. The complete bastard. Like Jon says, name and shame, that's an outrageous rip off by a twat with no moral conscience. Hope you get it back on target.
(but if its too much to resolve, there's a few bits on there that the RG fraternity on here will buy off you)
Your bike was starting to look quite Transalp-y. Reckon you're onto something.

[Pezz]

Thanks for the support !!!

I wont name and shame online, and as he is a bit out of the way.

The grinding was on the back of the footpeg exhaust carriers and it was about 2mm worth of thickness. It has been dressed up and it is hard to tell now. It was the principle of it that annoyed me the most. I was VERY clear on not touching the frame.

It will get back on target. I still have both ends of the second DR600 steel swing arm here as I took all the bits when I picked it up. Thinking I may get some 2mm sheet bent into box seciton for welding, then bracing. Build my own jig which is what I should have done in the first place.

I am getting back into it and agree it will be a great little bike once its built!!!