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The R&D that goes into it a major part. Any machine shop that had the right materials and tooling to make the pieces could theoretically "make" it, but engineers have to design it first. Mitch had a shop in Europe that was making transmission pieces a long time ago, but it is a very intricately engineered part of the bike and not even remotely simple.
I thought about this too, might be a liability issue. The factories probably do rigid testing and have some base data on what works. A satellite team might need a year of testing to reduce risk enough to deploy.
I still think once it had been designed, a multitude of shops could produce it. If Honda wants Chase to have a chance to succeed, they just need to share information.
Pro Circuit sold transmissions for the 04 KX250F for around 5 grand.
Lots of unknowns - exact dimensions, dimensional tolerances, fit tolerances, materials spec, hardness, surface finish specs, gear tooth profiles etc.
Could probably reverse engineer something close but it would take a lot of testing and trials to make sure it’s good enough.
Who wants to buy transmission parts when the functionality and reliability have question marks over them?
The Shop
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There's places that do all of this for car racing transmissions, surely a lot of the knowledge and skill translates?
I'd make sure the shop had absolutely nothing to do with working on Triumph trannys too 🤔
Moto-Gears in the Czech Republic is just one manufacturer of transmissions. Send them the specs, and they will make it for you. If I ever get around to building a KX500 the transmission for it will come from them.
HRC used to produce their own wide ratio kit for CR500s, there was an aftermarket copy available through I think IMS for a little bit, and now someone in Canada may be trying to make them now.
"Back in the day" there were multiple places building custom transmissions for TRX250Rs.
Getting the right steel and the right heat treatments done are the easy part, it's the dimensions that take the time. But with modern CAD it wouldn't be that difficult to reverse engineer and then produce any modified gear set someone would want if they are willing to spend the $.
I've built my fair share of non stock transmissions, but so far they have been all KTM group bikes or Beta. Have been able to swap gears around from other models to get where I wanted to go, although my current Beta project required some machining to an individual gear to get it all working right.
First, you have to know what you want. Then making 1 of something is very very expensive. Let's say 1 gear. Maybe it takes 2 hours in documentation, .5 hrs to order and receive material. .5hours to place on wire edm, but only .5 hrs to actually cut. Then heat treat, then grind to perfection. And you still don't know if it's ideal. Maybe you guessed wrong ratio? And now you only have 1 part but need all the parts. And not all machine shops have high precision equipment.
I’m not a Honda fanboy, but for professional racing, I believe the 2027 CRF450 is just that good. Herlings and Vialle have praised it all year. Chase is most likely looking to put himself on the best bike out there and this new Honda is a massive step forward from the current 450 machines. I believe we will see many Pros choosing this bike over the next two years. It’s looking like it does everything very very well. A 2027 CRF450 with some basic motor work, a GET or Vortex ECU and A-kit Supercross suspension will more than likely be everything Chase has been wishing for and a vast departure from the outgoing KX450 he has spent a year on.
Pit Row
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