Project XR-RR

So, we have our Supermotard chassis… time to go horsepower hunting. If you thought the previous parts were expensive, here is where we could easily drop some serious coin. Cashing in college funds, 401k's or selling body parts (my own or close family members) was not a realistic option. Never fear, Honda anticipated a typical XR owners speed habits and offers an enhanced engine hop-up kit to ease your, our pain(s), we ordered ours from our local dealer Champions Honda.

This hop up kit comes in a box stamped - HRC. The very letters that gives goose bumps to performance hungry Honda owners. For less than $1000 buckaroos, a HRC lettered box can be winging its way to your abode full of up-rated performance goodies for your unsuspecting bike. The kit comes with a lumpier cam and pumped up cam chain, a high compression piston, up-rated clutch springs and a book offering secret recipes for max performance sauce. True to form, the bike awoke. From a slumbering giant to a… umm giant.


The kit comes with additional jetting and recommended airbox modifications. The bike retains the auto-decompression feature that endorses its easy start status. Power is now just silly - everywhere.

The only poo poo of this newfound power was that after a monster midrange hit, the power trailed off too soon, offering no overrev for those in-between corners were you want to grab an extra gear, but can't. After chatting with the Arrow exhaust distributor Gio-Moto at the Indianapolis trade show and having them confirm that they indeed had a Supermotard specific pipe available for our bike. We decided to sell our first-born child to finance the purchase of this system.

As warned by Gio-Moto, this pipe is ear-bleed loud… but the power, oh the power. The bike can be trickled around the streets off the cam, quite effectively, if not briskly. Give the bike some welly though and be prepared for a complaint or three. Thumpers? Power equals noise I'm afraid, I can restrain myself though… really I can.

Oh, I almost forgot, the stock XR is geared for around 99 mph, give or take. Vortex Racing kindly supplied us with a 42-tooth sprocket, down from a stock 48-tooth. The bike easily wheelies in the first four gears and 5th is more like a relaxing overdrive (not). Top speed should be around an estimated 120 mph(ish).

The stock bike dynoed at a disappointing 38bhp. We've yet to rerun this version. We did enjoy a night at the drag strip whilst in a semi-derestricted mode (enlarged intake and hollowed out baffle, sans exhaust or HRC kit). The bike also still enjoyed its knobbied tire selection and I ran this setup against the Supermotard prepped KX250 of DaveW (which dynode at 48.8) the action was pretty tight with two wins apiece and a final best of 13.9 on the XR. A rematch is on the cards

So the bike's not street legal yet - It will be. Part 2 (or is that 3?) will showcase a decent street legal setup - It'll probably feature an over-the-top kit that'll have turn signals too. I can't express the joy of going around the outside of a sportbike in a tight corner with your turn signal on, all whilst tooting the horn… I also have a Summers Racing Components fork brace to firm up a floppy front end, some general detailing and, of course, a full ride report. I'll also come back with a final Dyno power figure and a much improved drag strip time so DaveW can enjoy a proper arse kicking too.

Now a lot of what I put on this bike was kindly donated or discounted to help complete the project and to showcase how effective this bike could be in SM guise. In retrospect everything you see on this bike would still of been purchased regardless, quite simply, because it was the right piece for the best job possible. I did try to keep an eye on the total budget and of course I went silly in places. However, if I was breaking into my bank account, this is what I would have swapped my George Washington's for.

My original intent was to supply a cheaper route for wheels and brakes; I think I found that with MotomasterUSA. The rest of the goodies I used were no less important and the nice thing about Supermotard is that once built, it's low on maintenance but high on fun factor.

In part three, I'll supply a priced shopping list. If you can't wait you can look around the site to click on the suppliers banners or on the direct links above.

Pricing aside this is truly three bikes in one; off road, dual sport or repli-racer… your tire choice and your call.

See you at the track.

MikeE

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