[bholmes]

Hi all- here's a little howto on dualsporting a bike in WV. The bike I did is a 2003 Honda CRF450R. I didn't get picture of all the wiring harness which was probably the majority of my time in the conversion. So here is what I did:

1) get bike that has a clean title or MSO. I had neither and ended up shelling out some jack for a frame with a good title and switching everything over to that chassis. That's not recommended. I'm not sure about any other state but in WV the DMV is very difficult to deal with and wouldn't even discuss any options as to how to deal with my problem of needing a title. I tried to track it down but it was virtually impossible so I gave in and just got a titled chassis. Also to note, just because you get a bike that's already been converted doesn't mean you won't have to go through the process for your particular state. The chassis I bought actually had been street legal and had an OH street title, but when I went to title it in WV they wouldn't title it as a street bike until I went through their conversion process.

2) Now that you have the bike you'll need some parts. State law says you Only need a single beam headlight, mirror, horn (supposed to be electric), tail light, technically a license plate light. Turn signals are not required if you can find a knowledgeable service station to inspect it (good luck!) SO I bought a polisport halo headlight, it's reasonably priced and has an H4 bulb which is better than a standard bulb. I went with a polisport LED tail-light/brake light. The brake light is triggered by a hydraulic switch that's on the front master cylinder (it's made by tusk), I have a mirror from MSR, I used a horn and switch pod from my ZX10 that is just sitting (since I can't keep out of trouble on it). I also used an LED license plate light from my ZX10. You are supposed to have DOT tires, but there's some good ones out there reasonable (kenda trakmaster II). Also to run your lighting you'll need a stator. I went with one from steahly racing. I have no gripes with it, and it was cheaper than anyone else by a good bit. You'll also need a voltage regulator. I went with trailtechs regulator, I like it because it's adjustable. IF you don't care about bulb life you can make them really bright! Lastly you have to have an odometer in WV. I used a bell cyclocomuptor from walmart for 10 bucks. The nice thing about them is you can program in for your wheel/tire size and get them to be pretty accurate. Just not the most durable part on an offroad bike. So recap on parts- headlight, tail light/brake light, brake light switch, lisence plate light, horn, switch pod, stator, voltage regulator, Speedometer/odometer.

3)Now comes the fun part. Wiring! You'll need alot of wire and some skills! I'll post my schematic when I get a chance to put it into electronic format. Things to note is your horn and if you elect to use turnsignals, they will not run off AC current, you'll need a battery of sorts. I have a standalone rechargeable battery that I use solely for my horn. Make sure when you wire your bike that you allow room to move your handle bars without restriction from your wiring. Also make sure to put in connectors where you can pull stuff apart if you need to work on the bike or change stuff out WITHOUT mangling your harness.

4) Make sure it all works and print off a 202 form if you're in the state of WV and take your bike and insurance to the inspection station and have them fill out the 202 and inspect the bike. Take pictures of your bike and all it's "legalizing" components. Now take the MSO/title, 202 form, insurance and pictures to your DMV and they should change the title over for you to a street legal title and get your plates then!

5) Have lots of fun!



I'll try to post some pics of my machine/build and once I get where I have my receipts talk about how much it cost me. I think I paid around $300 for all the parts. I'll also try to get a few pics other than the finished product so you can see the wiring a little bit.

[Cardinal]

Nice write up...would enjoy some of those pictures.

I've heard that the R's are hard to plate so I'm impressed. Good work.

[bholmes]

Glad you enjoy it. Sorry I didn't get any pics until today, it's kinda cumbersome to post pics on here compared to how I'm used to posting them. The first picture is what I started with and the others are pics of the finished product for comparison. I need to take some of my wiring etc and do a schematic but I'm coming into finals week. I do have plates but still no title so I won't claim to be awesome until I get the street legal title in hand!



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[bholmes]

Here is the link for anyone from WV to go to educate themselves on the laws pertaining to motorcycles on the street and their requirements. Of particular note is §17C-8-9 which is about not needing turnsignals if you are able to use your arm to signal, §17C-15-23 is the headlamp requirements (single beam is OK in wv), §17C-15-5 is for taillamps.

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/Cha ... m?chap=17c

This is a summary of WV minimum motorcycle requirements law stole from a friend on another forum.

"Headlight must reveal a person or vehicle at not less than 100' when under 25 mph, and 200' when over 25 mph.

Must be at height of not more than 54", nor less than 24".

Horn must be audible at 200'.

Tail light visible for 500' at height between 20" and 60".

License plate light must be wired so as to come on when headlight comes on. Must illuminate the plate from 50'.

In addition, you must wear safety glasses of some sort, an ANSI or DOT or Snell approved helmet.

Your bike has to have a muffler, but of course they all do.

Oh, and DOT tires are not required "


Here is a link for the WV DMV 202 form

http://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/Fo ... 20Form.pdf

And depending on some other circumstances that can be at play the following for may be needed I'm told.

http://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/Fo ... VIN-wf.pdf

[bholmes]

Here's a list of what I bought and my costs. All prices include shipping except the frame. I probably spent $25 in gas to get it which is negligible to anyone duplicating this procedure....however buying a frame with title should be negligible in most situations too! I really bit it on that one. Oh well.

Frame with street legal title (DOH!)- $325
Insurance- $102 (annually)
Steahly stator- $120
Polisport brake/tail light- $22
TrailTech regulator- $14
Tusk brake switch- $13
MSR mirror- $14
Polisport halo headlight- $70
Title, registration and license plates- $108
License light, Horn and switch- free (scavenged off my stationary ZX10)
Inspection/202 form- $20
Cyclocomputor- $10
3 miles of wire and a bunch of connectors and tape- $20

Total for conversion (including frame) = $852
Total w/o frame = $527

This is the comprehensive cost as you can see, titling and all that crap is figured in there. It really can't be done much cheaper unless you have alot of used parts or something. My only two sources for parts was steahly and rockmountain. Rockymountain was overall cheaper on the cost for all the items and they had free shipping too for that order quantity/cost. I will say I badly want a side stand, but it wasn't NECESSARY for the conversion so I will do without for now.

[bholmes]

Just wanted to let ya'll know I got my title and registration today so I'm 100% street legal (barely!)!

[crfsonly]

sweet! i wish i could get my CRF450R SM licensed for street use. btw, what's a ticket run for doing wheelies these days?

ken

[bholmes]

sweet! i wish i could get my CRF450R SM licensed for street use. btw, what's a ticket run for doing wheelies these days?

Thanks! Hahaha! The wheelie thing is just what my dad mentioned to me tonight too! I have a Kawasaki ZX10r and that thing got me in ALOT of trouble so I got a KTM 620 RXC and got into the dualsport gig to stay out of trouble. Then I happened across this CRF and now that it's legal I just hope I can exercise restraint! I imagine getting a CRF450R plated in cali is pretty much impossible. Hard to believe that a state so rich in motorcycling and motorcycle history could be so anti-motorcycle now. I mean, C'mon it would cut down on pollution, right!?

[crfsonly]

you are absolutely right about California. it's not just motorcylce history but aviation, auto racing and the list goes on. shame.

ken