1982 XR200R dual sport conversion?

[Bruce1]

Hello all. I have been looking at a small light dual sport bike mainly to ride gravel and from trail head to trail head. No real extended black top work. I was thinking of the Kawasaki KLX250/Yamaha WR250R/Suzuki DR400/Yamaha XT250 bikes but honestly, after riding my 1982 XR200R next to my friends 2016 W250R I came away very impressed with how good this little old bike is. I'm 61yrs old now and 6'1" 190 lbs. I ain't as fast as I used to be but I still like a good thrash now and then. One thing I don't like is how hard it's getting digging my bike out of the muskeg and sand that seems to be everywhere up here in central Alberta, Canada. I can't imagine digging out a DRZ 4 or 5 times a day. So instead of selling the XR I started thinking about keeping it and converting it to dual sport mode. I have done some re-valuing to the rear shock which has transformed the rear end. Gold valves are available for the front forks. I already have it insured and registered for street use so it really only needs proper lighting, mirror and a horn so it can bear up under scrutiny in the field. I was thinking of a Baja designs kit but none is offered for the '82. Has anyone had experience fitting an '82 with this kit? It would be one hell of a lot cheaper than buying a manufactured dual sport and probably, at around 200 lbs. the lightest bike of the bunch. One other question. It seems that after market exhausts are only made for the '85 and later bikes. Don't they use the same motor as mine? Wasn't it only '83 and '85 that had the twin carb engines? Couldn't the '85 exhausts be adapted to my frame with a little bending and re-positioning of mounting tabs? Thanks for all of your input in advance!

[Daniel627]

 The '84-85 were the rfvc dual carb models. I believe the '83, and '86+ shared similar chassis, and the '82 was a different chassis. I may be mistaken. If Chuck chimes in, he has better knowledge of the older XR's.

You already have head/tail lights, a horn shouldn't be hard to wire in. You might not be required to have turn signals, not sure of Alberta's laws, but you might want them for safety factor I dunno. Clamp on mirrors aren't hard to come across. You might be able to get everything done without buying an expensive Baja Designs kit. 

As for the exhaust, that might be a tricky one. Have you checked into all the major exhaust brands? 

That's a really nice looking '82 you have btw!

[Bruce1]

Thanks for the compliment! It was a labour of love. I truly think it is one of the nicest looking bikes of it's age. Great design. I think the trick with these old bikes is to not over modify them in the fatal attempt to try and modernize them. They work so well if ridden inside their limits. I can see this one benefiting from a suspension tuned to my body weight, riding style and letting the engine breath as well as it can. After that why bother. 

As to the electrical. Right now it has no key switch, no horn, no brake light switches or 3wire brake light socket. No headlight switch and no signals. The lights fire up when the bike does and they stay on until the kill switch is grounded. I wouldn't mind having a bike that any cop couldn't fault meaning: High beam, font and rear brake light switches, rear brake/running light, horn, mirror, etc. I don't mind dropping $600.00 or so to facilitate this. To me the bike is worth it.

As to the exhaust. My two main issues are weight and flow. I actually have no problem fitting a generic slip on to the existing header but, DAMN they can be expensive! I'd love to come across a used Supertrap. That would suit my needs just fine I think but I'm open to others convincing me otherwise. I have already removed the intake snorkel. Any advice on jetting? 2300 feet above sea level.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Bruce1

[pdunlop]

In Australia, these early XRs were fitted with indicators and horn as standard. They ran a voltage rectifier/regulator and large capacitor (pictured below) behind the headlight to provide the power to that part of the circuitry.

 They are still an awesome little bike - I only recently sold mine, which had a later model headlight and taillight fitted, along with an XR250 disc front end. I still have 2 others though, waiting for future restoration.

[chadzu]

The biggest problem I ran into with my '82 was with the stator power.  The '81-'83 bikes used a very small stator that puts out such a small amount of power it was always a struggle to keep all the street equipment up and running.  I ended up using a pedal bike type electronic horn which actually works pretty well.  I used a reg/rec   so  I go all LED for the lighting and installed a Lithium Ion battery.  It worked pretty well, but it  seemed to drag  the battery voltage down over time.

I found a couple of ways around this.  The most elegant solution is to find the elusive xl200r stator and stator cover.  There is one year, I think '83-'84ish that had the correct looking cover and also had the newer style stator.  Getting to the newer style stator opens up some options on producing more electrical power.  You can also use the '86+ 200r stator and cover, but the cover is shaped slightly different.

You can also go "total loss" with the street equipment.  Just install a small LI battery and run the signals and such from it.  You will need to pull the battery and charge it once in a while, but it works fairly well.

My final solution was to use the XL cover and stator, rewound to use all 6 poles "I cant remember is the XL stator was fully wound or if I had to do it" Then run it into the Trail Tech reg/rec.  I added a battery to finish off the system.  The TT reg/rec has a timed power output lead so you can hook all of your loads to it and not need to have a secondary power switch which helps to keep you from running the battery down by mistake.  I have the same set up on my 230 powered bike and the electrical system has proven to be robust and problem free.

[Bruce1]

5 hours ago, pdunlop said:

In Australia, these early XRs were fitted with indicators and horn as standard. They ran a voltage rectifier/regulator and large capacitor (pictured below) behind the headlight to provide the power to that part of the circuitry.

 They are still an awesome little bike - I only recently sold mine, which had a later model headlight and taillight fitted, along with an XR250 disc front end. I still have 2 others though, waiting for future restoration.

Nice bike! I got slotted brake pads on mine and they seem to do the job for what I do. I have thought about putting the whole XR250 front end on mine but that is a pipe dream best left on a shelf in my mind for now. I'm going to go with the gold valve/spring upgrade first. I here it really improves things on every level.

Thanks for this! I would be interested in doing this electrical setup. Frankly, I will never ride this bike in the dark so having a proper setup isn't the issue. What I need is something that would pass an anal forestry officials/RCMP inspection. "Do your signals flash........" that sort of thing. I imagine just a rear brake switch would do the job but I'm sure I could figure out how to wire in both. I could probably use a front brake lever from an XL. Is there an Australian site I could troll that might have some of these bits for sale from blokes who removed theirs?

[chadzu]

Given your requirements I think a total loss system is a good choice for you.

[Bruce1]

Definitely something to consider.........Thanks for the input. 

[nobade]

Might check out the Tusk dual sport kits at Rocky mountain ATV also.

[mcdirtclod]

We think alike, Bruce1...  The XR200 is one of the most under-rated trail bikes of all time.  Light, reliable, bullet-proof and handles just fine for what it is.  This one is plated with only lights, horn and a folding mirror and has covered most of southern Nevada.  Revalved shock, aluminum XR250 swingarm and CR125 front end.  Re exhaust...some may argue that the stock diameter headpipe actually offers better low end than aftermarket options.  It's the muffler itself that makes most of the difference.  You should be able to adapt most any slip-on.  I had this old SuperTrapp laying around, and had a muffler shop make me a cool little adapter (see pic.)  Runs great, reasonably quiet, and Forest Service compliant spark arrestor.  Sure, I'd love to have a new KTM 150 XC-W, but the little XR just keeps going, and going, and going...

[On2Whls]

Tusk kits hold up pretty well, I'm using one on my 230F. and other that the internal LED rattling in the front turn indicators, which a bit of silicone takes care of. It's been solid the version with a battery might serve you well too.

[Daniel627]

12 minutes ago, mcdirtclod said:

 

That bike is pretttttttty! I love the color combination you have! The black frame, the seat cover, the black tank with graphics, everything just goes great together! 

Where'd you get the seat cover? I'm in need of a new one and I like the black side/red top with white logo. 

How'd you do the tank? Is it wrapped completely? Or painted flat black with graphics on top? 

I've been going back and forth on how I want my bike to look. It's a '90 XR200R, white with red fork boots, red seat, and originally had blue vinyl on side plates. I've wanted to powder coat the frame red and do the '85 look with red and blue, but thought about keeping it white and red. I'm so torn. 

Now you've given me more you think about!

[mcdirtclod]

Seat cover and vinyl tank cover are eBay items, but I think one is from New Zealand and the other is from Bolivia.  You have to look around a bit...  I like the full tank cover, because as you know, no graphics will stick to the plastic tank for long.  When I tear this down again someday, I'll probably go with a red powder-coated frame.  In its first rebuild version for my daughter, she wanted the frame black.  I made the bike as low as possible for her, but she was still not comfortable with the height and went back to her CRF100.  That's when I added the 18" rear wheel and CR125 front end and fender.  

[Bruce1]

5 minutes ago, Daniel627 said:

That bike is pretttttttty! I love the color combination you have! The black frame, the seat cover, the black tank with graphics, everything just goes great together! 

Where'd you get the seat cover? I'm in need of a new one and I like the black side/red top with white logo. 

How'd you do the tank? Is it wrapped completely? Or painted flat black with graphics on top? 

I've been going back and forth on how I want my bike to look. It's a '90 XR200R, white with red fork boots, red seat, and originally had blue vinyl on side plates. I've wanted to powder coat the frame red and do the '85 look with red and blue, but thought about keeping it white and red. I'm so torn. 

Now you've given me more you think about!

Don't bother powder coating the frame unless you have money to burn. Clean it, sand it, Spraymax 2K primer, any colour you want (black, silver or red calliper paint works great, then Spraymax 2K clear will provide a super tough, fuel resistant coating for WAY less than powder coat. 

You can't paint a plastic fuel tank. The fuel venting through the pores in the plastic will attack the paint and it WILL start peeling off. There is no way to avoid it. As well, you can't use most graphics on your fuel tank. The fuel vapours attack MOST decals and they will bubble and peel. Try Wicked Tough graphics designed for plastic tanks. You CAN paint your fenders and side plastic though. Most modern paints are flexible enough but a shot of duplicolor plastic prep over a scotch brite scuff helps as well as using 2K paints. 

[Daniel627]

2 hours ago, mcdirtclod said:

Seat cover and vinyl tank cover are eBay items, but I think one is from New Zealand and the other is from Bolivia.  You have to look around a bit...  I like the full tank cover, because as you know, no graphics will stick to the plastic tank for long.  When I tear this down again someday, I'll probably go with a red powder-coated frame.  In its first rebuild version for my daughter, she wanted the frame black.  I made the bike as low as possible for her, but she was still not comfortable with the height and went back to her CRF100.  That's when I added the 18" rear wheel and CR125 front end and fender.  

How is the fit and durability on the tank cover? Does it look as good in person as it does in pics?

All I can find on eBay are tank covers from Argentina, and they're listed for xr400 and xr600. I messaged them to see if they had anything for the XR200R.

As for seat covers, I remember looking about a year ago and found a guy here in the states that offered a nice seat cover but haven't come across his stuff since. Wish I had gotten it when I saw cuz he offered choice of colors as well as gripper. Now all I can find are the "pit replica" or whatever they are from China 

[Bruce1]

10 hours ago, nobade said:

Might check out the Tusk dual sport kits at Rocky mountain ATV also.

I did some checking on the Tusk stuff. I noticed in their video of the WR conversion that they mentioned if you don't have a battery then you will need their ni-cad battery. It appears that this is turned into a total loss system then as there doesn't seem to be a way to charge their battery off of the XR stator. I was told by the guys in Edmonton selling the Baja stuff that my stator was too weak and would need to be re-wound. Can anyone out there confirm this?

[Daniel627]

As Chadzu stated in a previous post in this thread, the stator in the '82 is rather weak. So the guys in Edmonton are probably giving you proper advice. 

If you went the battery route, you could wire up a battery tender plug and just plug it in at night. 

Sounds like there are a few different options, some work better for different situations, you just need to decide which will work best for your needs

[Daniel627]

The problem with Li batteries, is when they're going dead, they die without notice. At least with a NiCad it kinda gives you noticeable warning in advance that it's time to charge. But then you have the weight difference between the 2. 

Tough decisions. My bike is trail use only, so I'm just going with stator powered headlight and maybe taillight

[nobade]

My KX100 has an additional lighting coil added, maybe Enduro engineering? The PO rigged it up with lights and plated it. It's not too impressive with the normal bulbs but would be plenty for LED. That may be a way to go on your XR, with or without a battery as the rules require.

[Bruce1]

As with all old motorcycles......nothing is simple. LOL!