2004 cr250 hrc frame modifications

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Look up Chad Watts at Watts Perfections.

I have a Blackfoot Honda in my shop right now. Canadian factory Honda. It is Blair Morgan's 2002 bike.  The Subframe is shortened and heavily gusseted. I had to modify the plastic to fit onto it.  I have not looked at it very close for a while. Few years or so . So my memory might be fuzzy, but other than the Subframe , it looked like there were other non OEM welds on the frame.   I have had a lot of Aluminum framed Hondas from that time period and some welds stuck out. I have a customer that knows a lot more about welding and metalwork than I do that is coming by soon. I'll see if he can see anything they did and describe it better than I can. He has a couple of the same generation CR's he is working on right now too so it should be easier for him to spot. 

I hope that others post some of what was done to the US Honda's , so I can look and see if the Canadian bike had anything similar. 

 To me, the Blackfoot bike looks like a really nice privateer bike, so I would be  surprised if it shared much in common with the US HRC bikes.  But it is still a cool bike to have on display. It is a customers bike not mine.

I remember reading the Chad watts frame mod isn’t visible to the eye, but I’m not sure how that would be possible 

In -02 i ran a cr125 that was a left over bike that a Dutch GP team should have ran in the 125cc class. But in the last second they pulled their 125 effort and opted to run the MX3 class instead with a 490cc crf450.

Eric Sorby should have run one of the 125 bikes but he went to PC kawi instead (my bike had ES stamped on the suspension) and Antti Pyrönen should have been on the other bike but he ended up on the 490.

any way, that 125 had the subframe shortened -5mm so i feel that cutting the subframes on the 02-07 cr’s was a ”standard” thing to do.

My bike had nothing else done to it regarding frame mods.

Yah the subframe being shortened was  one of the most common mods. Even on other bands from what I remember of that era.  This subframe has a lot of added gussets /braces.    I'll try and make some time and pull some plastic off and post some photos. I would guess the added stuff was for durability on the bike that I have here. 

That is cool You had that bike. Back then the better suspension was harder to get ahold of than it is now. Awesome You were able to get the bike with it still on it. Back then a lot of the old team bikes that I saw people buy had  new stock suspension put on to sell the bikes.    

This is how the bikes looked. The team was located in the same building as Racetech in the Netherlands. They had a Swedish guy working as a tuner.

Almost all 125:s ended up here in Sweden at the Swedish racetech company.

In 2008 i stumbled over another one of those bikes for sale here and the seller had no clue what he owned so i bought it and still own it.

My first -02 i striped from all the engine and suspension parts before i sold it in -03 so i have those parts laying in the garage to.

The team used Haan wheels and got their Factory hubs that were more machined and lighter than the regular Haan parts that people can buy, so i got a set of those wheels to.

They had special pipes made by FMF that were stamped with the teams name so i have one nos pipe and one used of those special pipes. Just some fun stuff to have laying around.

I’ve had a 04,06 and a 07 cr250 done lots of Motor mods to them to get more low end out of them. I always thought they handled amazing. I actually try to get all of my Other bikes to handle like them. I’ve had many crf 450s as well and I do get the harsh feeling from them. To combat this I went down 20% on all the torque specs on things like motor mounts, subframe mounts and swing arm pivot and linkage. There is a lot more maintenance with this as you have to check all the bolts every ride but it did make a significant improvement in comfort and feel from the bike. You could try this and see if it helps. 

Nothing high end or ground breaking here but:

If you have an aluminum skid plate on it.  Ride it for a while, rip it off, and ride it again. 

Back when i burnt enough gas to feel things this made me never want to run one again. 

Or at least go to something softer. 

I don't think reduced torque values would make a difference unless it's so loose that the metal surfaces are moving...

The forks are harsh mid stroke take the susp to a good tuner! My son loved his 04!

From reading this, a good first step towards improving the bike would be to cover the basics and stop listening to guys like Keefer on the internet who have no business telling anyone how to maintain their chassis.  By reducing the torque (which is directly proportional to the clamping force exerted by the bolt to the joint), you run the risk of turning a rigid joint into a slip joint, which is NOT a good thing if you're looking for a consistent and predictable chassis.  At best you'll just ovalize the holes in your frame over time as the two parts move relative to each other, at worst you can end up with a broken mounting bolt because the installed tension is not enough to overcome the forces the bolt is seeing during riding.  Again, like I said before, vet your sources before believing everything you read on the internet. . .

The 04 is a good chassis out of the box.  I think the best thing you could do to start with is remove all of the main chassis mounting bolts, clean the hardware and mating surfaces, grease where appropriate, and reassemble using the correct factory torque specs.  This will give you a solid baseline, then tune suspension from there.  I don't know of anything so inherently wrong with that chassis that it would require any outside modification, keep in mind just because a race team did something to the chassis 20 years ago doesn't mean it was actually well thought out or a step in the right direction.  The engineers who designed the bike are not dumb and I can guarantee that they are a lot smarter than me, so I tend to trust their judgement and practices when it comes to critical fasteners.   

Interesting read. I’ve owned several 02-07 3rd gen AF CR250r’s & haven’t felt the need to modify the chassis. 
IMHO that chassis is as good as it gets. This is coming from a vet rider that has owned & ridden many brands through 4+ decades.

Not sure if you’ve done the suspension, but it will take that chassis to the next level.  I’ve tried many suspension companies with FC having really good specs..  They know that CR model era very well. 

Just wait until you hear about “floating” axle blocks…

Racetech is a good suspension company.  I haven't dealt with them for about 30 yrs., at the time they did the suspension on a 93 CR250r for me. 

I just looked them up & they do seem to offer a good option for a DIY project.

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Do you have a 2004 model ?  Going off the thread title..  I just noticed your avatar pic has the earlier AF gen CR.

I also owned a 97 1st gen AF & an 01 2nd gen AF CR2's..  Those AF's weren't as good & exhibited some of the traits you mentioned in the top of the thread. The 2nd gen AF 00-01 was a tad better than the 1st gen AF 97-99 from my experience.   

If you're interested I have 3 sets of 05-07 CR250r's complete suspension for sale.  Two are done by FC & the 3rd one is done by Graeme Brough.  Let me know.  Thnxz..

I forgot to add that the Showa forks can be made to work just as good as the SSS units from my experience. RG3, Enzo & PC are also very good companies to work with.     

They're setup for a 200# + mx rider.  One of the sets is a B-kit from a 07 that was done by FC. I'm about your weight at 235..  Send me a PM with your cell # if you want to discuss in detail.  Thnxz..