What motor would you stick in here?

[steveo247]

Of course depends what would fit, but would be incredibly fun.
xs650? yz490? tt500?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380293396887&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:AU:1123

[frostype400]

I would put a wr500 cr 500 or kx500 in there.

[BAHNZY]

A stick of dynamite!
Its a 9 year old 02 model, the suspension will be toast, the wheel bearings will be loose in the hub, blah, blah, blah.

[DR]

a chev..small block probably

[Davey Crocket]

There will be 1,000's of them for sale soon.....the motors are worth more than the bike to repair...a smart man will be buying up all the late model 2 strokes to put in the later alloy frames.

[Nathan S]

TTR250 or TT350.

A TT/TTR motor gives you a reliable 4-stroke and actually improves on the original TTR.
The other likely options usually involve bastardising a good bike.

[BAHNZY]

Not so many years back if you crashed your YZ-F, WR-F, CR-F etc and needed a set of forks, it was almost cheaper and easier to put a set of aftermarket Ohlins or WP's on the bike than get a set of forks from a wrecker or god forbid a genuine part. Now days you can pick up a set of 01 to 04 forks for less than a slab of Wild Turkey. One of the wreckers that we deal with is no longer interested in wrecking early/mid 2000 MX 4 strokes where an engine has failed any more as there is no commercial return on the original investment. The only parts that make them any money is the electrics, airboxes and the hubs, after that the rest is rubbish.

The biggest battle that we see is bikes that should be wrecked are "fixed" or "dummied up" by unscrupulous shops and individuals and on-sold to some poor unsuspecting kid that has worked his arse over the school holidays to buy his dream bike only to be confronted with a $2500 plus dollar quote to fix the engine. See it all the time and it sucks.

[Nathan S]

Really? I thought they'd make a killing by selling wheels at $300+ each, and airboxes for $160, etc...

I'm continually amazed at how little money it costs to buy a complete running late model bike, and how damn much wreckers want for individual parts in comparison. Are people really buying single used wheels for $330 +  postage when you can buy a brand new pair for ~$800 (and possibly cheaper if I cared enough to search)?

[BAHNZY]

There will be 1,000's of them for sale soon.....the motors are worth more than the bike to repair...a smart man will be buying up all the late model 2 strokes to put in the later alloy frames.

These alloy frame style conversions are a major disaster hiding in the wings. Service Honda aside, the majority of the alloy frame 2 stroke conversions are hack jobs at best and should be nowhere near a race track. It never ceases to amaze me that the idea of fitting a 55HP 2-stroke engine into a 5-10 year old frame that once held a 125cc/250cc engine is a durable proposition. The amount of rolling chassis KX5 and CR5 available is crazy. I picked up a low hour (they usually all are as no one can ride them ) 98 KX500 the other week for less than $1000. With a spare KX5 engine on the shelf i'll have a super clean KX5 for less than 2K.

[BAHNZY]

Really? I thought they'd make a killing by selling wheels at $300+ each, and airboxes for $160, etc...

I'm continually amazed at how little money it costs to buy a complete running late model bike, and how damn much wreckers want for individual parts in comparison. Are people really buying single used wheels for $330 +  postage when you can buy a brand new pair for ~$800 (and possibly cheaper if I cared enough to search)?

Nathan,
The wreckers are smart; they will price a used hub, which by default is a complete wheel, for $50 less than a TALON or similar hub. They know that there will be around 2 hours labour to de-lace & re-lace the damaged wheel, there will be at least 6 spokes that will snap or be seized, so the $350 aftermarket hub becomes $500 to $550. They sell their 2nd hand wheel for $300 and the punter thinks he has got a ripper deal. Yes you can buy a complete set of wheels for $800 odd but most of the people that are shelling out the $300 for the 2nd hand wheel can barely afford that, and to top it off the bike is probably worth $1500 to $2000 anyway and needs another couple hundred spent on it just to make it safe.

[Nathan S]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess my inner tight-arse cringes when I see the asking price... Particularly when you see dozens of the bikes being wrecked and the wreckers all want $300+ for the wheels - are there really that many people f$%king the wheels on their moderns?!

I also reckon that Mr Pre85 has the right idea - sell the complete roller at a not-obscene price rather than try to scrape out every last dollar by wrecking it (and end up with tons of worthless shit instead).

[lukeb1961]

it looks like the ideal bike to hold a Suzuki GT750 triple.

[Davey Crocket]

Now your talking Lukeyboy, or even one of those 500 twin Titan motors.....or one of the famous TM400 motors, imagine pulling up to the startline with a new RMZ chassis with a TM400 motor in it , including a down pipe......that would "blow their minds" so too speak.

[Davey Crocket]

Imagine the work ol' GMC would end up with....throw those HL's in the bin......this could be the real "retro motocross"....and it would tick all the boxes....doing our bit for the enviroment..recycling...and Nathan would finally be happy ....dont ya love when it has a happy ending!!!!

[GMC]

"Ideal for that donor for the ultimate VINDURO Weapon"
Errr no,
It's not quite eligible for a Vinduro

Imagine the work ol' GMC would end up with....

Yes, I can imagine a whole new breed of penniless rider with dreams of building the "ultimate" bike but not wanting to spend any money.

Reminds me of a Team Smitty (Cycle News) comic from ages back...
Team Smitty goes into a bike shop asking for all these trick parts to build the ultimate bike.
He babbles on and on with this big spiel about how great the bike is going to be.
Once he see's the price he asks what else the shop owner has to offer that may be within his budget.
Final scene; Team Smitty is seen walking away with the old dunger that was mounted on the roof of the shop.