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I will credit AJ for keeping the breed going, and overall the bikes are decent. The fact remains that some of S/Hs welds are substandard. I doubt he can afford to pay a top notch welder to work there, and that's another fact. I doubt the margins are THAT good in cranking out AFs. Overpriced? Can't say. If you are happy with what you paid, that's what matters. I had my own conversion done with a 500 and 450 I already owned. Having said that, I couldn't justify dropping the coin on one. Too spendy for me. Notice I said "ME".
Is it fair to say that you comment on peoples or their comments without knowing the facts? Just throwing that out there.
Work of art.
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I also like the Mugen idea mentioned earlier.
certainly looks different anyway!
I have rode the A/F since 1999. Had quite a few of them with no issues at all. The bike is what I like to ride, and I have seen some pretty horrible welds come out of the factory. Not sure how many people HS thier machines, I do. Not a piddly 4-5 lap race and wipe off the dust, but rather 2 hours of mud, rocks, high and low speed stuff. Going into my third year on this bike. It is holding up great, and ya know what?????
What kind of money would a person get out of a 450 that three years old.?? LOL I know what this bike will sell for next fall. More then likely those "used" bikes in the shop, one of them was mine. 150.00 still does a top end and I can do it, oh wait!!! I have never had to. Just alot of rear tires.
I have heard of service honda's snapping, and actually seen one service kawasaki that snapped! (and lots of other AF conversions from other companies!)
If i was going to do a 500 conversion I'd like to try the 500 engine in an rm 250 frame, think that would be a cool bike!! There was a 500 conversion in a 2008 ktm 250 2 stroke (steel) frame last week, that looked nice!
Pit Row
Where's Stillwelding when we need him?
6000 and 7000 series pretty much all need heat treatment after welding because material strength degrades after welding. If you want this strength back you need to heat treat the material. This is also the case with ChroMoly steel!
There are some aluminium alloys which do not require heat treament. I believe it is called 5032 alloy.
If you do not heat treat your frame it is at your own risk. If you put enough load on it, it will simply break. However, as time passes this risk decreases because the material will 'age'.
Can you refer to the information you are referring to in your post?
Now, what duration of "aging" is considered acceptable, I don't know. Evidently, Honda must have a window where those frames are welded and then sit. The engineers know more than I do. Well, except in the 4-stroke/2-stroke thing. Lol.
and then the CRF250R based models in 2005 to present 2012.We have thousands of units out there, and held countless world distance records,and have been building 500AF's 15 years,
that is basically as long as Honda themselves produced a water cooled CR500.
Honda acknowledges we purchase enough CR500 Parts, that its the majorituy of the world market,
and that they should have us produce the parts (perhaps thru their vendors) and buy theses parts from us instead..
burn- FWIW-
the 500AFs' have been tested countless times since I started in 1997?
almost every major magazine stateside, in Europe,or Australia.
None have ever complained about handling, and in fact raved about it.
Test Riders like McGrath and Larocco have felt it was the *best open class bike ever built*
Their words at the track...and big grins all around while putting in blazing laps.
Try to get lechien or some of these guys off it..
It is not the bike for everyone, its just another choice out of many.
but handling is certainly very good, it lighter and quicker handling than any 450, and on par with most 250F's..
I never have any problem diving in under a 450..
The internet is full of lots of opinions, some with real product experience, and insight, many without.
It's also fuli of very cool bikes from a lot of manufacturers..odd ones, and everything in between..
keeps things interesting for us all right?
Post a reply to: interesting look for a 500AF