Here are some photos of the bike when I got it and how it's become. It had been in a fire and was really messed up looking. Trying to finish it up.
Got it in the truck with another cheap bike.
Yarn for my sister 'wrapped' for her birthday
Someone had cut the front brake attachment off, it only had a rear drum brake and a front wheel from a different bike. The fire had damaged the airbox, wiring, side panels, seat and tank.
Decided to put the front end from a DR350 on there, bike has good cartridge forks, larger diameter as well as a front disc brake.
DR350 triple is on the left, XR200 on the right
Here is the DR triple in the XR tree, bottom bearing is too big. I ordered new bearings using all ballsfork conversion.
http://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/forkconversion
A great system that makes fork swaps the way they should be. You just put in the bike which frame you're using and the bike which fork's you're using and it gives you two bearings that make them work. Comes with new races which I didn't use. The top bearing seemed to be the same on both bikes so I could have reused it but I'd already ordered the parts.
It's worth noting that as long as the donor forks have the same length stem or longer it will work, I had to use some spacers (big washers that came with the bearings) on the bottom of the steering stem as the XR200 head tube is shorter than the DR350 head tube. It all worked out well though.
This is a picture of the top bearing and stem from the DR350 stem fitting in the XR200.
Pressing out the DR triple tree. That slot in the stem is for the steering lock.
If you've never done this before it's pretty scary, you can 'feel' the force going into the steering stem, like it's trembling so fast you can't see it, we put a board up in front of the press because we half expected it to slip out and kill us.
Anyway, when you press the steering stem DOWN through the bottom of the triple clamp, the bearing can't fit so it pops UP off the stem.
Front end from 95 DR350 with cartridge internals, white fork gators from 90s CRF, Scotts Applied Racing top clamp (allows fat bars). Painted the frame with duplicolor engine paint.
Note above the bottom triple clamp you can see the spacers. Without them even with the nut on the top of the stem tightened all the way, you run out of thread on the stem and the bearings are still loose in the headtube.
If you look I put the forks as high in the triple clamps as possible because they are much longer than the XR200 forks. I left a small gap, any higher and they would touch the bars. The bike actually handles pretty well, it's a smaller bike anyway so the steering doesn't feel sluggish and the increased rake probably help the bike feel more stable.
Front headlight from a CM250. Rear fender from one too, I didn't end up keeping it because the chrome piece was really heavy. I put a battery in there above the airbox, the XR200 is normally just a dirt bike so no electrics. Luckily since the Lifan engine is electric start I trust the stator to be adequate.
Here is the 15 tooth counter shaft sprocket, covered in grease and silver marker. I ordered a XR200R 15 tooth sprocket and although the size were very similar it didn't quite fit. I not only had to file the inside of the sprocket down a lot (the marker is there because of the filing) I also had to cut away some of the aluminum engine case with a chisel. You can see here it barely fits.
Note: When I filed down the inside of the sprocket, I figured out which side the counter shaft would be pressing against, then I filed the other side, this way the motor is pushing against the factory cut edge and not my ghetto filed part.
Wiring and fuses, this was the most difficult part. I consulted several LIFAN wiring diagrams and drew up my own using 3 relays, two triggered by the key switch to turn on the lights and a third to control the hi and low beam headlight wired from the battery. I installed two 15 amp bladed fuses, one for the headlight and one for the rest.
Relays are great and everything was available at autozone although you get better prices online. I got a generic regulatar/rectifier and I was confused about which wires go to which but it seems to be working. I hope it's large enough, you can see it in the photo above the motor.
Many parts from different bikes, you can see the speedo drive from the DR350, headlight from CM250, here you can see the welded header. I put high temp epoxy over the welds to make them look cleaner (the bands)
The tank was really messed up with lots and lots of paint and melted spots, parts where the black paint had melted into the red tank and couldnt be removed. I spent a few hours sanding from 100 all the way up to 1500 grit sand paper and it looks a lot better. Some years of XR200 had metal tanks and I think one of them with some polished bare steel would look cool on this bike.
You can see how dirty the white gets just from being touched, I like to grease many bolts and things as I put it together so as my dirty hands put finger prints on everything it looks kinda crappy. I might regret the white paint as black spray paint tends to look better than white, if I was going to sand blast and powder coat it might be different. We'll see after a good wash.
Rear fender which is a cut DR350 front fender, generic XR/DR tailight, bicycle rack riveted and modified.
Recovered the seat with marine vinyl, and cut the foam down so that it's good for my sister's height. I left the back bump so if she's cruising for awhile she can slide back and be comfortable.
Quick beauty shot, this was taken at night. I wanna get the bike a little more cleaned up. You can see I still haven't aimed the headlight, cut the zip ties holding it, and the side covers have been left off because I'm still tinkering with it. Have a few wiring bugs and the rich running etc but here it is.
