The beauty of dual sport bikes like the Honda CRF250L is that it can be two bikes in one... with the stock knobbies, you have a capable off-road bike, and by adding a set of 17" supermoto wheels and tires, you can also have a capable corner carver for the street.
Conversion
Converting a Honda CRF250L to a supermoto is pretty straightforward. All you really need is a set of 17" supermoto wheels like the ones we use from Warp 9 Racing, and then some sticky supermoto tires like the Bridgestones or Dunlops we use (see details below). There are a few things you need to do to fit the smaller 17" wheels/tires. Up front, in order to clear the smaller 17" supermoto tire, you have to re-route the front brake line to the outside of the fork leg and also trim the plastic lower fork protectors so they clear the front tire. You also need to source a shorter kick stand.... we just ordered an extra OEM kickstand, had it cut down by about an inch, and the foot welded back on.
Gearing
As for a rear sprocket, the gearing you choose is a personal preference type of thing, but on our bike we went with a 42T rear sprocket and left the stock 14T front on. I've heard some of the SM guys are doing 15T front and 42T rear, which seems to work nicely with the smaller 17" SM tires.
HONDA CRF250L SUPERMOTO WHEELS:
We use Warp 9 Supermoto wheels on all of our supermoto conversions. Their wheels are available in spoked or forged mag style, with a lot of different color combinations, and they will include a rear sprocket as well as front/rear brake rotors.
Honda CRF250L SUPERMOTO TIRES:
For the CRF250L, some customers who've converted their bike to an SM will run a 120/70-17 front tire, but we've heard of rubbing issues on the front forks with that 120 tire, so we stick with 110's on our bike. For the rear tire size, you can go with a 140/70-17 or a 150/60-17 (we use the latter). We've put together a separate CRF250L Supermoto Tire Guide which you can access at the link below...
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER:
Changing to 17" tires will throw off your speedometer/odometer, so we recommend re calibrating it with this nifty product from 12oClockLabs...
Skid Plates are popular on off-road bikes, but we also use them on all of our supermoto's. They help keep the front of your engine and frame clean, and they are much easier to clean off than trying to keep the underside of the engine and frame clean. We like the Moose plastic skid plates...
The stock footpegs on these bikes are way too small. We always switch to a nicer footpeg that's more durable, larger in size and also provides better traction. We like the ones from DRC and Zeta Racing...
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