- Dec 26, 1999
- 19,765
- 1
Mini review:
At DirtWeek last year I chucked my project XR284 bike deep into the woods after making a bad judgment call in a whooped out section of single track. The only damage ended up a tweaked subframe so I got off easy, or so I thought. Anybody that has priced a OEM replacement will know this is a crazy expensive piece of CrMo and there a no aftermarket options listed, that of course would not stop me. I adjusted the bent unit to where it’s worked fine the past year but it was always bugging me so I decided to replace it with something better. Aluminum subframes are infinitely better than the stockers so I decided this was the solution. I looked at several XR400’s and decided the measurements I’d taken would indicate it should fit the XR250 frame. I called XR’s Only and consulted them and they were “positive” the XR400 subframe would not fit, I on the other hand was sure it would. Rich & AJ both told me that there is no part that can’t fit another bike if you have a hammer and torch so I had that going for me too. As luck would have it one of my club members has a slightly tweaked XR400 subframe he let me borrow. Well I’m going to burst a bubble here, the three different people I spoke with at XR’s Only do not know everything there is to know about XR’s. The XR400 part bolts on perfectly and all the fastener points are exactly the same for pipe, airbox & plastic, the only difference is that the XR400 piece has a tab for a chain roller and is missing a hook to hold the XR250 rear brake line away from the exhaust, that all. I did end up ordering the aluminum subframe from XR’s Only because they had a decent price and I was getting a couple other items from them anyway. The parts arrived and I matched up the aluminum piece and it looked pretty much like the factory part. The fitment was another story, but this would apply to it fitting an XR400 as well since the OEM piece I fitted to be sure was indeed a XR400 OEM subframe. First the spacing on the lugs where the unit attached to the top of the main frame had 10mm too much material on them, nothing a little grinding couldn’t fix. With that out of the way the part slid right on and bolted to the main frame perfectly. The air box fastener points were the next problem they were all off in different areas so more grinding allowed the airbox to fit properly. The side panels went on without a hitch which was a nice change but….. the rear fender was yet another story, it’s now fitted but there is going to need to be some reworking of the mounting points under the seat before the bolts will even get close. The seat slid on well and only required a little force to make the rear bolt holes line up. The missing wire that holds the rear brake line away from the exhaust is not really necessary but is easily solved with a black zip-tie if it ends up bothering me. The lug for the chain roller is completely out of the way and could be cut & ground off is needed but I think I’ll leave it.
Soooo, my verdict is that the aluminum subframe is a good option a less than ½ the cost of a stock unit provided you have some time and to make it actually fit your bike be it a XR400 or 250 so the cost / benefit ratio is great. As far as initial quality the welds and bends were all pretty good but somebody needs to get them a correct frame jig.
At DirtWeek last year I chucked my project XR284 bike deep into the woods after making a bad judgment call in a whooped out section of single track. The only damage ended up a tweaked subframe so I got off easy, or so I thought. Anybody that has priced a OEM replacement will know this is a crazy expensive piece of CrMo and there a no aftermarket options listed, that of course would not stop me. I adjusted the bent unit to where it’s worked fine the past year but it was always bugging me so I decided to replace it with something better. Aluminum subframes are infinitely better than the stockers so I decided this was the solution. I looked at several XR400’s and decided the measurements I’d taken would indicate it should fit the XR250 frame. I called XR’s Only and consulted them and they were “positive” the XR400 subframe would not fit, I on the other hand was sure it would. Rich & AJ both told me that there is no part that can’t fit another bike if you have a hammer and torch so I had that going for me too. As luck would have it one of my club members has a slightly tweaked XR400 subframe he let me borrow. Well I’m going to burst a bubble here, the three different people I spoke with at XR’s Only do not know everything there is to know about XR’s. The XR400 part bolts on perfectly and all the fastener points are exactly the same for pipe, airbox & plastic, the only difference is that the XR400 piece has a tab for a chain roller and is missing a hook to hold the XR250 rear brake line away from the exhaust, that all. I did end up ordering the aluminum subframe from XR’s Only because they had a decent price and I was getting a couple other items from them anyway. The parts arrived and I matched up the aluminum piece and it looked pretty much like the factory part. The fitment was another story, but this would apply to it fitting an XR400 as well since the OEM piece I fitted to be sure was indeed a XR400 OEM subframe. First the spacing on the lugs where the unit attached to the top of the main frame had 10mm too much material on them, nothing a little grinding couldn’t fix. With that out of the way the part slid right on and bolted to the main frame perfectly. The air box fastener points were the next problem they were all off in different areas so more grinding allowed the airbox to fit properly. The side panels went on without a hitch which was a nice change but….. the rear fender was yet another story, it’s now fitted but there is going to need to be some reworking of the mounting points under the seat before the bolts will even get close. The seat slid on well and only required a little force to make the rear bolt holes line up. The missing wire that holds the rear brake line away from the exhaust is not really necessary but is easily solved with a black zip-tie if it ends up bothering me. The lug for the chain roller is completely out of the way and could be cut & ground off is needed but I think I’ll leave it.
Soooo, my verdict is that the aluminum subframe is a good option a less than ½ the cost of a stock unit provided you have some time and to make it actually fit your bike be it a XR400 or 250 so the cost / benefit ratio is great. As far as initial quality the welds and bends were all pretty good but somebody needs to get them a correct frame jig.
