xr50 rear shock

[dmdee99]

I have a 2003 xr50 that I got for my 3 year old son but he is still to young to ride it. (Does not know how to ride a bike yet and has no sense of what slow and safe means.) So until he gets a bit older like 4-5 years old he will not be riding it soon.

Since he is not able to ride it I plan on making it my little pit racer. I have arleady got new triplle clamps and pro taper bars on it but I want to change up the supension a bit to make it more forgiving. I really do not want to go all out on the bike since I will have to put it back to stock for my son once he is ready to ride.

I was looking on ebay and found a few shocks that I want to get for the bike but I am unsure if they fit.

So my question is if I could use a 10, 10.5 or 11 inch rear shock on this bike with out getting a new swing arm.

Has anyone tried this and if you did what kind of problems did you run in to or did it just bolt on and fit perfectly?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks :cool: :cool:

 

[Patman]

Longer shock will jack the rear of the bike up further which will change the geometry up causing it to handle quite a bit differently.

 

[dmdee99]

Thanks for the replay and yes I understand that the bike would be a few inches taller if I go with a longer shock. I think that is what I am going for because at the moment the stock shock on the bike is not cutting it. I am already planning on changing the fork springs in the front to stiffer ones that are about 1 inch longer to give it some more wheel clearance and a better ride. So the geometry of the bike should not change much if I swap out the front and rear supsension.

So back to my question do you know if a 10, 10.5 or 11 inch shock would fit into the xr without getting a new swing arm or modifying the frame??

Thanks

 

[Patman]

How do you know it's all going to work out if you don't know how long of shock you are looking at and if you may or may not need a new swing arm? Since you appear to be looking for the cheap route by just swapping the front springs why not just swap the rear spring and keep it balanced? As I mentioned jacking up the rear will screw up the steering and it will also put more weight towards the front thus making the problem even worse. Let's also realize that having more travel out back will give you the option for more aggressive riding which will tear the fork op in a heartbeat. If you are keeping it a putt putt pit bike then do it with springs only and be done, if you want more then do it right and swap the shock and fork out just be prepared to buy a new footbar and frame at some point not too far off as well. Do you really want to put your kid on a bike that's been beat and has potential unseen / unknown issues after you abuse it? I know I sure wouldn't.

 

[dmdee99]

After thinking about what you said I think you are right. It would actually be within my budget just to swap the springs out on the bike and keep it as close to stock as possible. I do not plan to ride anything crazy with the bike since it will be for my son. I just want it to ride a bit better if someone bigger decided to take it for a spin.

Thanks for the good advice.

Also do have any suggestions on what type of springs I should get for the bike???

 

[Patman]

Red Baron sells good stuff as does BBR. It's also possible to add PVC spaces to the stock front fork springs, since it will be a temporary thing that might not be a bad option. It's easy to get excited about pit bikes and that's how people end up with THOUSANDS in them.

 

[dmdee99]

Patman,

What does the PVC spaces do to the front forks? If I put the PVC spaces on the front forks do I still need to get stiffer springs or can I just use the stock ones? Also do you know who sells them and were I can buy them?

I want to explore every option and try to save as much as possible.

Does anyone have any opinions or experience with the Applied Racing fork and rear shock springs. And how about the Two Brothers front and rear shock springs. These are a few bucks cheaper than the Red Baron and BBR springs.

Again any advice or suggestions would be very helpful.

Thanks