86/87 CR250 rear brake

[studerp]

Not sure if this is the place for this or not but......

I have an odd question maybe. I own an 86 cr250 which as you may or may not know has a drum rear brake. I know someone that has an 87 cr250 that he is parting out. Would it be possible to use the rear wheel(hub etc...) and the disk brake assembly on my 86. He would practically give me anything I wanted off the bike, but I dont know if this is a feasable thing to atempt or if it is even possible at all.

Thanks for any input, or insight.
Paul

 

[IrishEKU]

Paul,

It wouldn't be feasable at all unless he was willing to give you the swing arm so it would mount correctly. If he is, order all the linkage berings and maybe a set of wheel berings. Service the entire rear end and replace the pads. Another problem you may have is mounting the master cylender. I am not familiar with the model year of your machine, but since you are wanting to mod your bike with one that is a year younger, why not buy your buddy's machine outright and mod away.

Regards,

 

[jmics19067]

is the 86 and 87 the same basic chassis? If there was no major redesign between these two years I would think of instead of installing a disc brake on the one take the motor out of your 86 and put it in the 87 chassis/swingarm. maybe more wrenching but no welding of mounts for disc brake conversion. The final product would probably have a better fit bolting everything onto the 87 frame/ swingarm then trying to fabricate.

Wasn't the 87 the best year for Honda right side up forks? another case for buying the whole thing or trading most of your parts for his.

 

[vipros]

Both bikes are identical except for the disc brake. I had an 86 and wished I had a rear disc like the 87. You can go either way- swap swingarms or swap the motors. Either way they'll bolt right up. It just depends whose bike is in better shape. Good luck.....p.s. the 86-87 were bikes of the year in many mags.

 

[MikeT]

See if you can get the '87. The '87 has a better seat/tank configuration, you will like that. If you can't get the whole bike, I bet Irish is right on, you'll need the swingarm. You should be able to weld a little tab on your frame to hold the master cylinder.

Tell us what you intend to do..

 

[jmics19067]

although the swingarm is a direct bolt on and welding the mounting tabs shouldn't be a big deal I still think swapping out the frames would be better if an option. I would also be concerned about the brake pedal itself and its mounting. make sure that will switch over easily

 

[MikeT]

Ooh, didn't think about the brake pedal..... Good call jmics!

 

[jmics19067]

I am not sure how they even look they may be close enough that it doesn't matter. But I have always found it was easier/cleaner looking when done that if making some type of significant swap,is too use as much as possible from what somebody else has done. In this case Honda did everything you need to have disc brakes on the 87chassis. I am only assuming that the 86and 87 are close enough that the motor and pipe are a direct bolt in for either chassis.

Plus when and if you go thru the whole thing you have a chance to do all them nice things that are usually neglected on an older bike; suspension fluids/bearings frame cleaned and painted etc etc.

 

[MikeT]

You know, come to think of it, not just the pedal, but the rear master cylinder mount...... Without that, you won't have anything to mount the cylinder to...

 

[studerp]

Thanks guys for the input, you made a lot of points that I didn't even think about! Sounds like it will be a lot of work one way or the other, I'm going to have to talk to my buddy and see what kind of shape his frame and all is in. I do believe he told me that the frame was not in very good shape but I don't really remember.

I was hoping it would be a lot easier than that but as usual you have all brought me back to reality lol!

As far as the bike goes, It is the first dirt bike I have ever owned, and I love it, has plenty of power, for an amateur like me, and the older style forks seem to work great never had a problem with them bottoming out real bad or flexing real bad that I have noticed. The only thing that I have a real hard time with is the rear brake, It is real touchy and locks up quite easily it seems. I have tried to adjust it but it doesn't seem to help much.

I'll let you all know what I plan to do, if I plan to do anything :-)
Paul

 

[jmics19067]

If his frame is junk and you dont trust you abilities or dont have the equipment to weld take his frame and your bike to a welding shop and have them give a guestimate to do the cutting and switching of the mounts. having the disc brake is definately a mod that I would think of doing in this situation... IF all the particulars line up to a situation/cost that you are comfortable with.

If you are not in the market for a newer bike and you really enjoy/know this bike. lets say you need to spend 200$ to get the disc brake job done 200$ is rather cheap for a major performance boost for racing and a significant upgrade in my opinion. A lot of people would easily spend 200 dollars for a pipe on a new bike to help them get around a track faster /easier, going from a drum to a disc would probably be a much more drastic improvement.

 

[studerp]

Good point, I'm definatly not in the market for a newer bike at this point, kids seem to have an amazing draining effect on the ol' bank account! :-) I have riden bikes with rear disk brakes and they seem to be much more responsive as far as braking goes, or course I'm not what would be considered a veteran rider by any means. Your right even if it cost 200 bucks to do, it would be a fairly major upgrade. Probably more so than any 200 pipe you could buy!

I'm gonna have to do some investigating this weekend!

 

[bclapham]

Originally posted by jmics19067
Wasn't the 87 the best year for Honda right side up forks?

the 87cr250 was the best bike i ever rode!:) warms my heart just thinking about it.

 

[MikeT]

Originally posted by bclapham


the 87cr250 was the best bike i ever rode!:) warms my heart just thinking about it.

I had one. Wasn't exactly thrilled with how fat the gas tank/radiators were. The '88 was MUCH slimmer. Not saying the '88 was a better bike, it just had WAAAAAY better ergonomics.

 

[Rcannon]

The rear drum brakes were not bad with fresh shoes. Try that before driving yourself insane trying to rig it up.

 

[bclapham]

i had the 88 also, lots of power but i am still sore from the suspension, (it was aftermarket though). the 87 just handled really well!