Wally King's XR200 Hopups

The following letter I received from Wally King regarding the modifications he has performed on his XR200. As you can see, a little determination is all it takes to highly modify anything!

I have been riding since I was 7 on a 1965 Z50r. A year later the engine blew, so I saved and got a 1974 XR75 (Bored to 80) After about three years, I was ready to upgrade and bought a 1989 XR100. This lasted me a while until my dad bought a brand new 1993 XR200. I liked it so much that I bought myself a 1990 XR200. (Jeeze, talk about going through the Honda four stroke lineup!

There were several differences in the suspension and size of our bikes, it seemed that my bike was made for harder riding boasting better suspension and components. At the time, I was fourteen, and around that age I began to ride more competatively, eventually I discovered your web page (a couple years later). You have inspired me to modify just about anything and everything on my bike. I am now 18 yrs old, and about to enter college, so I could not afford a larger bike; which is why I upgraded instead. Here is a list of my modifications. (You may feel free to include them in your page if you wish, since they pertain also to other XR's, otherwise, you may notice many of them to sound familiar.)


Anyway, the result was very pleasing. The suspension feels like that of a motocross bike, the engine purrs with happiness, the thing handles like a champ, heck, It accelerates harder than my friends XR250 and handles just as good as the stock bike. My most impressive modification was the KX front end. I bought the bike (minus the engine) for a mere 100 dollars, and with a couple of spacers, special steering bearings, this bike had the sturdiest off-road front end for a XR200 than anything I know of. The rest of the bike I sold for 50 dollars. This made for an excellent, and cheap upgrade.(A good Idea for anyone who is willing).