I sold the RM465 almost a year ago to a guy that took it home to Italy. You can check out my main site to see the real scoop. I you are really interested in all of the stuff that I did during the rebuild, feel free to click around.
These pre-printed number plate background were purchased from Badbrush Designs in Holland, Ohio. They took care of everything when I ordered, including giving me some good advice on how my logo at the top should look.
This is how my front number plate looked the night I finished the bike back in March 2007.
This is how the plate looked when I pulled it off of the bike today. These stickers wore like iron, stayed put, and really made my bike stand out at the races. Want even more reasons to buy these? They keep your order on file! I called up last week to order more of these for another project I have going and they were able to make me new backgrounds the same day!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
These stickers were purchased from Vintage Suzuki at a cost of $35.00. You can go back and look at my comments I made in March of 2007 when I put them on - even then I knew they would not last.
They sure looked great when new though! However, after an 8 race season and 4 play days the stickers really looked horrible.
They bubbled, they peeled, they faded, and dirt got between the clear outer coating and the color part of the sticker. Awful. I was afraid to even get the pressure washer close to them!
The bottom line here is that you should only purchase these stickers if you never intend to put gas in your tank.
Here are some pictures showing how the rest of the conversion went. Not much to write about, as the rest of the assembly is identical to how you would assemble the front end of the 1980 RM250.
When you stand back and look at the bike you really notice how much larger the forks are.
The straight pull spokes, the newer generation brake cable, and the spring combos that are available for these forks all make this a great conversion.
The bottom of the triple clamp clears the tank just fine, and the fork tubes come close, but clear the tank, too.
You can see below that the steering stem stops fit perfect - almost like it was made for the bike!
Looks really good - now I just have to finish up the million other details!
This is a little off topic but I have found a ton of questions on the Vintage discussion boards about this mod. My 1980 RM 250 had small 38mm forks. I had them set up pretty well for my weight last year, but each time I would take a big jump I really could feel them flex. The only way to fix the problem was to go to bigger forks.
Since I already have the RM465 dialed in with later generation 43mm forks I decided to use the original 43mm fork setup for a 1982 RM465 for this project. I got another set of triple clamps off of eBay for 15 bucks, plus a 1982 RM250 complete front wheel for another 25 bucks.
The first thing I did was to take apart the existing front end on my 1980 RM250. Suzuki used a loose ball and race configuration. I used a long, thin punch to take out the old races and installed new generation tapered bearings on the top and bottom of the steering stem. I used my new bearing race installation tools - it was totally worth the 38 dollars for the installation tool.
The next step was to determine how close the old and new steering stem and clamps would be. The machine shop guy I have can do most anything, but I would prefer to do this swap as much on a budget as possible.
I first checked the steering stops and the centers of where the fork tubes would be. I did not want to run into problems with the tubes hitting the tank, nor did I want to have problems with my turning radius. Check out the next picture - bottom clamps are positioned so that they are bottom to bottom. The casting marks are in the same exact spots!
So, it was clear that the 43mm bottom clamp would set up just fine for steering stops and turning radius. Now, what about the stem itself? I knew it would be too good to be true if the steering stems were the same, and of course they are not. The 43mm stem is much thicker through the body and is shorter than the 38mm stem. Below shows the height difference and the thickness difference.
So you HAVE to press out both stems, and then press in the 38mm stem into the 43 mm clamp. I was worried that the area where the stem presses into the bottom clamp would be different on the 2, but in fact they are exactly the same. My machine shop guy could not believe it, because when you just eyeball it up they look different. When you mic them, they are the same! Some sort of strange optical illusion.
Now you need to look at the “lip” at the top of the steering stem you just pressed into the 43mm bottom clamp. You will find that with the new tapered bearings that there is not enough thread showing for you to properly tighten up the triple clamps. You need to machine down the lip so that all of the threads are showing when you place the tapered bearing on the stem. It should look like this:
The bottom bearing should look like this:
Then, after you lube everything up, it should look like this when assembled on the bike:
Next installment I will show how the forks, wheel, and fender bolt up!
The Bell Moto 6 is the helmet that I wore for all of the races this year. The picture above is a stock photo and you can see what it looks like in almost every picture I have on my main website.
Specifications:
This helmet was worth every penny of the 100 dollars that I paid for it at the beginning of this year. It is even more of a deal now that you can pick them up for 50 dollars. The liner was easy to remove and wash, but it did take a while to dry the cheek pads. I am not sure what Bell means by adjustable ventilation - there is not a vent closure system on the helmet .
I can tell you from experience that this helmet provides excellent protection.
I hit the ground so hard that I crushed part of the headliner and had a bruise on my temple for about a week. The helmet did its job and is now hanging up on the wall at my work.
WHERE TO GET THIS ITEM:
eBay or your favorite seller of close out motocross gear
WHAT DOES IT COST:
49.95 plus shipping
WHAT DO I THINK:
Fit and finish are first class, excellent protection, good looking graphics, works with a wide range of goggle sizes. GET ONE!
This will be my first try at a product evaluation. I believe that my blog should not only tell everyone about my bike, but also about products that I have used - along with my opinions of them. After the end of the season, I hope to share what I have learned about the Shift gear I have used, the Scott goggles, the Fox boots, and the MS gloves. I also will give my opinions on some of the wear items on my bike, like tires, chains, and lever/perch combinations.
This first evaluation will be for an item that was brought to my attention by one of the subscribers to this blog. For a long time Suzuki was not making the cable guides for older RMs. The cable guides on vintage bikes are either missing or worn out. The front cable guide on my RM465 was worn out when I got it, but I had to make do with it. Check out the picture below:
The guide on the left is the original one off of my RM465. You can see where I had to rotate and tape the plastic insert in place - because the insert was almost worn all the way through. On the opposite side of the tape you can see where the cable was wearing away the “good” side of the insert. That much wear came from just 6 races and some practice.
The center guide is a NOS item that I paid WAY too much for on eBay. Great looking unit but it will wear away in no time.
The guide to the right is a trick billet cable guide.
Installing the billet cable guide is a snap. First, remove the brake cable from the perch. You really notice how light the billet guide is when you have the old guide off of the bike - the billet actually feels lighter than the OEM part!
Remove the 2 pinch bolts and take off the old cable guide. Run the new cable guide back down the cable and install the same way that the old guide came off. The fit of this was perfect. NOTE - the new billet cable guide is thicker than the old cable guide so make sure that your bolts are long enough to get a good bite in your triple clamps.
Once installed you will find that the new guide has a very good look and actually keeps the cable tucked in better than the OEM part.
2 full motos and practice and the cable guide shows ZERO wear.
WHERE TO GET THIS ITEM:
flyingdg480@yahoo.com OR eBay Seller ID flyingdg480
WHAT DOES IT COST:
39.95 plus 2.00 shipping to the States
WHAT DO I THINK:
Very trick item, fit and finish first class, works better than OEM part, well worth the price. GET ONE!
That title might sound harsh, but it is the truth. Southwick had me worried even before I showed up on Saturday morning - because the track is a sand track - and I pretty much flounder in deep sand.
For pictures and a recap, click here:
I spent a bunch of time practicing in the sand near my house in the weeks leading up to Southwick. I almost felt comfortable. The bikes were both running well. I thought that if I stayed upright during the races I might finish inside the top 5 in my classes. Well, the good news is that I did stay upright in both of my classes - because the bikes both DNFed for the day.
Both DNFs were my fault. The RM465 ran well in practice. About half way through the first moto the bike started to act like it was running out of gas. I run my tank half full when racing these short motos, so I thought that maybe the big uphills and downhills were moving the fuel around enough for the bike to starve just a little now and then. Even with the bike switching between bogging and running, I did okay. In the pits I put plenty of gas in the bike and checked nuts and bolts like I always do between races. The bike started fine and I rolled up to the gate for moto 2. Of course, the bike did the same exact thing as in moto 1……..
I hate to admit this, but sand had packed itself into the carb vent hoses just enough for the carb to not be able to supply enough gas at full load. DUH. I had forgotten about cutting the hoses at an angle to avoid this problem in mud and sand……. Between shaking down the bike for normal glitches that occur from a frame up build, I also have to contend with a rusty memory on all of the little tricks I learned 20 years ago. To cap the day off, I blew a head gasket on the RM250 because I failed to continually check the head bolts. GRRRRRRRRR. More failing to remember the past. The heat and cool cycle on the RM250 is such that the head bolts will loosen - again, a lost memory in my head that came back to bite me at the races.
By next year I hope that I have this down a little more….. Post race checkup on the RM465 revealed nothing, as I put in about 6 laps total with it.
Oh well, there is always next time.
These bikes were owned by a friend of mine. Please keep your eyes open for these bikes and contact Karl directly at the email and phone numbers below:
1981 Suzuki RM250 and 1982 Suzuki RM465, beautifully race prepared, readied for entry in the AMA’s 2007 Vintage Days at Mid-Ohio. A full years successful effort at restoration.
Bikes were lifted from the bed of my pick-up by unknown miserable thieves during a rainstorm in the wee morning hours of Friday 27 July 07 while I slept in the Mansfield,Ohio Comfort Inn North on Trimble Rd. I never got the chance to race them.
Serial numbers as follows:
1981 Suzuki RM250X, frame# JS1RJ11A182100983? (number obscured after powder-coating),engine#RM250-102316.
1982 Suzuki RM465Z, frame# JS1RM11A9C21D1274, engine#RM465-104362
$2000 for information leading to their return.
Contact: Karl Poindexter (859) 623-2224 poin1334@bellsouth.net
OR
Mansfield Ohio Police Department (419) 755-9750
For a full race report:
Hurricane Hills was much the same as Central Village - tons of jumps that were designed for modern bikes. During the riders meeting it was actually put to a vote on removing some of the jumps - specifically, the 10 Commandments. See the race report link above for more information about that.
Check out these pictures:
I managed to break a peg! I jumped the largest jump on the track and came up a little short. The impact was hard, but not hateful. It felt like my foot had slipped off of the footpeg and so I tried to return my foot to the peg - only to find that the peg was GONE.
I have never had a footpeg fail before. My guess is that the guy that has been welding on the peg extenders for me forgot to temper the peg after a welding session. So, this time around I only got in about 6 laps of pratice and 1 lap of racing with the mighty RM465.
Rick at Vintage Iron is putting together a complete line of wide footpegs for most popular vintage bikes. He currently has Honda CR and Maico pegs in stock. I sent him a spare set of stock pegs for my RM and also sent along a complete list of all the model years that are the same. Hopefully he will do RMs next!
If you look back at my blog you will see that I recently got a shock from Computrack Boston. The shock worked very well for the jump infested track. It actually made the forks work better as it took some of the load off of them on landings. A few more pratice sessions and I will have to re-adjust the preload, but other than that I expect plenty of hours of use from this shock and spring setup. Just as FYI, I run my shock with 100 mm of sag and the clicker on the 4th setting.
The post race check of the bike is going to sound like all the rest in my blog - NOTHING is coming loose, looking worn out, or giving any signs of future problems. This peg breaking is more of a fluke than anything else.
Next race is at Southwick, August 18th!
See you at the races!
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