Cr 250 1996 forks converting

Foxcroc13
Edited Date/Time 5/15/2015 1:49pm
Hi Been restoring my 1996 cr 250 for a while and during this time i bought another one to ride to make sure i would like it. Love riding it but have realized the forks on them are awful !! I have heard of people putting newer crf or cr forks on them, What forks are people putting on them and would i need the change my caliper or front wheel ? I plan to use my triple clamps just swap the legs over. i did speak to my local suspension tuners and he says it would be best to get newer forks then get them all re valved to get them spot on and the bike handling lovely !

Any in put would be great

Thanks

Carl
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Uncle Tony
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Uncle Tony 5/7/2015 5:57am
5/7/2015 5:57am
I put 2008 Showa forks on my cr500, the 500 use the 96 cr250 forks, Showa forks slip right in to the stock clamps you just need the axle and wheel spacers from the Showa big improvement
Foxcroc13 5/7/2015 6:43am
5/7/2015 6:43am
Uncle Tony wrote:
I put 2008 Showa forks on my cr500, the 500 use the 96 cr250 forks, Showa forks slip right in to the stock clamps you just...
I put 2008 Showa forks on my cr500, the 500 use the 96 cr250 forks, Showa forks slip right in to the stock clamps you just need the axle and wheel spacers from the Showa big improvement
I have found a pair of 2005 showas at a reasonable price. Im guessing these wont be much different from 2008. did you then get all set up or just chuck them straight on and rode with them ?
Uncle Tony
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Uncle Tony 5/7/2015 8:00am
5/7/2015 8:00am
I messed with the spring rate, oil, and clickers I didn't get a revalve, the 2005 outer tubes are a bit longer I belveive then the 2008
kelroy_leon
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kelroy_leon 5/7/2015 11:40am
5/7/2015 11:40am
Was the outer tube a different length for when they had the 20" front wheel option?

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RealityCheck
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RealityCheck 5/8/2015 5:26am
5/8/2015 5:26am Edited Date/Time 5/8/2015 5:30am
I've been running Showa TCs on my '96 for 4 years now. It's an easy, inexpensive swap that makes a huge difference. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however.

First, the lower clamp holes are slightly too large and need to be shimmed. 2 layers of aluminum soft drink can work perfectly. Failure to do this will result in harshness and rapid bushing wear due to the forks being pulled inward (towards each other) when the lower clamp bolts are tightened.

Second, you will need the correct axle and spacers. In addition, I had to use a 1mm thick washer (one of the internal kick starter shaft washers works perfectly) to get everything lined up correctly. You need to make sure the brake rotor is centered in the caliper when everything is torqued down.

Finally, later year forks (2004 and later, IIRC) use a different brake caliper bracket.

I had mine valved by Factory Connection (as well as a few other internal FC bits) and the suspension is fantastic. Better than the stock suspension on my 2011 CRF250 and 2014 KX450F. Light years better than my 2014 KTM 150SX.




Foxcroc13 5/12/2015 1:44am
5/12/2015 1:44am
What year forks have you used reality check ? Do the shimming with the layers of can hold up well ? Where does the 1mm spacer ?? All in all it seems fairley simple and i should notice massive gains really !!

I think i will go ahead and get the 2005 front forks brake hanger spindles and spacers. Then get the forks sent of and set up for me. And put them into my triples clamps and hopefully then il be away !

Thanks for the advice !
Goodluckmonkey 5/12/2015 2:32am
5/12/2015 2:32am
I just swapped in a whole CRF front end.

--------------------------------------------------

all Balls racing sell a conversion bearing specific to the job, which allows you to use the CRF yokes.



I made up a steering stop extension, so that I can always trim it back off to return the frame to standard if I decide to go back to OE forks (I've had this bike 14 years now)



The front plate has to have the bottom end trimmed slightly to allow a suitable position to tap a thread into the front face of the top yoke.



I had to slightly enlarge the hole in the plate for the brake line guide to make everything neat.



The whole wheel/spindle/brake/fork setup is 2008 CRF250R.
RealityCheck
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RealityCheck 5/15/2015 11:14am
5/15/2015 11:14am
Foxcroc13 wrote:
What year forks have you used reality check ? Do the shimming with the layers of can hold up well ? Where does the 1mm spacer...
What year forks have you used reality check ? Do the shimming with the layers of can hold up well ? Where does the 1mm spacer ?? All in all it seems fairley simple and i should notice massive gains really !!

I think i will go ahead and get the 2005 front forks brake hanger spindles and spacers. Then get the forks sent of and set up for me. And put them into my triples clamps and hopefully then il be away !

Thanks for the advice !
The forks in the picture are from a '98 CR250, but I've also had '00 CR250 and '07 CRF250 forks on the bike. Externally, tube diameters on Showa Twin Chambers remained unchanged for many years.

I don't recall on which side of the axle I put the 1mm spacer, but it will be obvious when you assemble the bike because the brake rotor won't be centered in the caliper.

The soft drink can shims have held up fine. There's been some discussion about this on All Things Moto and Thumpertalk, but I know of only one case where someone claims to have had an issue. I've taken some really hard hits (flat landings and coming up short on jumps) with no issues. I'm pretty safety conscious and wouldn't run this setup if I thought it was unsafe.

Goodluckmonkey's setup looks to be the ultimate answer if you're willing to do a little fabrication work.

Goodluckmonkey 5/15/2015 11:39am
5/15/2015 11:39am Edited Date/Time 5/15/2015 11:41am
I went with swapping out the yokes too because I wanted the rubber mounted clamps.
My 125 does one race a year - a 3 hour cross-country in the middle of summer. After two hours it's just chop everywhere, and the bar mounts become a real God-send.

I wouldn't be adverse to the shim method. As it is, you can't go doing up the bottom clamps too tight as you deform the outer tubes and stop the forks working correctly. The top clamp does most of the work.
Tracktor
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Tracktor 5/15/2015 1:49pm
5/15/2015 1:49pm
Goodluckmonkey wrote:
I went with swapping out the yokes too because I wanted the rubber mounted clamps. My 125 does one race a year - a 3 hour...
I went with swapping out the yokes too because I wanted the rubber mounted clamps.
My 125 does one race a year - a 3 hour cross-country in the middle of summer. After two hours it's just chop everywhere, and the bar mounts become a real God-send.

I wouldn't be adverse to the shim method. As it is, you can't go doing up the bottom clamps too tight as you deform the outer tubes and stop the forks working correctly. The top clamp does most of the work.
You can use any year uppers with the shimmed lower just top be clear. I have shimmed '96 CR250 lowers on my 97 CR125 and 2006 CRF450 uppers with rubber mounts. I have ridden it as hard as you can imagine with no slipping..........

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