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I'm focusing some attention to my son's CRF50F now that he's starting to really ride it. He rode before, but now he is starting to show signs of progress that may be limited by the bike.

We did the first mod with tires. A MUST for any kid riding in the dirt and not the grassy field next to the house. The stock tires are designed for trail terrain. And I can't even think of any type of trail where they would perform well. In the dirt, if there is any type of mud or tacky track conditions, they turn into chocolate donettes. They just don't clean out.

The stocker:


We went with a another site special, F & R combo Artrax Intermediate terrain, $42. These little buggers are kinda tough to change actually. Getting them on the bead isn't hard, but the beads are so close together, it's hard to get the schrader valve into the rim hole with one side of the tire on the rim. Took me like 5 minutes to get the valve through the hole!! lol...mounted: 2.75 x 10 out back and 2.50 x 10 up front.



My first impression is they make the ride a little more stiff and responsive. We'll see what the boy says about it this weekend...

Those look wicked... But I think you need one of these.




It is worth its weight in gold.

Those look like some nasty meats!!!

Use one of these for the valve stem...makes quick work of it for $ 7.

http://www.crfsonly.com/catalog/product ... ts_id/1351

great minds thinking alike?

Next was the bar setup. The stockers are steel, have a silly welded bracket on the bottom, and bend when you look at them funny. They don't provide the kid with much control when they start to push a little when riding. The problem is you can't just upgrade the handlebars like a regular bike. The stock bars are ~3/4" and ofcourse we all know aftermarkets are 7/8" and fatbars.

7/8" options are plentiful with the all the mini and pitbike companies/products out there. Problem is, most of the setups are for adults. 8" bars are kinda standard with a +1" from the triple clamp. Little tall for a 7yr old!

The stock bars are roughly 7" from triple to handle. There are kits out there for as low as you can outbid them for, but the average is between $175 and $230 depending on the deal you can get. Comes with clamp, bars, grips, throttle asm, brake lever w/clamp, and extended cables. I managed to piece together some stuff from eBay and I think it worked out ok. I paid about $190 for what would be considered "upgraded" components from the std kits available. Even got a cool anodized red (soon to be pink I'm sure) ASV knock-off foldeable brake lever dealio.

I won a barely used BBR clamp for $40. This was the bread and butter of the deals. It shoudl only raise the bars about 3/4" from stock


I got a set of ProTaper mini-play bars (~7")
eBay'd a Motion Pro "CR Pro" XR50 throttle kit
An Emgo kill switch
Tag grips.
Outlaw foldeable brake lever.
The result:




The bars needed cutting a bit (~1-3/4"), they were a little too wide. Careful to measure the throttle and brake clamp to make sure there was room.
The Emgo "CR Style" kill switch is a piece of crap. It's a latching style switch and very difficult to tell whether it's "down" or "up", and looks like a regular momentary push button like our big bikes. The clamp on it is chinsy and not well built. The wires are about 3" long. Overall, I wasted $11 and it will go in a box I call "moto-junk"... I have a CRF450 kill switch on the way and will modify the length and connections with the OE Honda bullet style terminals. I have the technology!
The result is big improvement in looks and I feel he will have much more control. The overall height difference isn't as much as I thought, but it really opened up the ergos. He doesn't look like a begging dog when sitting on it anymore. The true test will come when we hit my track this weekend.

i'll post up some follow-up. Those with kids on 50's, this is a must imo...

I was thinking of those exact tools as I was trying to fish those little bast@rds through the rim hole.

"If only I had one of those %@$# things!"

bocephus450x wrote:great minds thinking alike?

Oh yeahh

any feedback from your son yet? I'm looking at doing similar things to our fiddy.

teRRy702 wrote:any feedback from your son yet? I'm looking at doing similar things to our fiddy.

Oh yeah. These mods were a must and he rode better from the start. He's now moved up to a KTM Pro Sr. My daughter is riding this one (well...when I can get her to actually ride it). Worth the money.

One tip - The tires are stiffer and I couldn't keep tubes from popping when I rode it. You need to wrap the rim with electrical tape, make it a thick wrap.

Never mind - I figured it out.

Would you be able to use the stock cables for the handlebars and riser you chose? I have found all of the parts you used but would like to use the stock throttle and cables if possible. Thanks for posting!