     HONDA CRF300L SUPERMOTO CONVERSION GUIDE: The beauty of dual sport bikes like the Honda CRF300L 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 and/or commuter for the street. For street riding, with 17" wheels and sticky tires, you will quickly discover that the CRF300L will handle much better and is more fun to ride. The lower center of gravity, smaller 17" front tire, and stickier rubber just makes for a better street bike... it totally transforms the way it rides. Conversion: Converting a Honda CRF300L 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 some sticky supermoto tires (see Tire Guide link 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 (very simple) and also trim the plastic lower fork protectors so they clear the front tire (also very simple). Gearing The gearing you choose is a personal preference type of thing, and really depends on the type of riding you want to do. On our CRF300L SM conversion, we went with a 40T rear sprocket and left the stock 14T front on. For reference, with this gearing, at 60mph in 6th gear, the engine is turning about 6500rpm. So far I'm happy with this setup, because we rarely ride this bike above about 65mph on our local backroads. HONDA CRF300L SUPERMOTO WHEELS: We use Warp 9 Supermoto wheels on all of our supermoto conversions. Their wheels are available in a lot of different color combinations, and they will include a rear sprocket as well as front/rear brake rotors. Honda CRF300L SUPERMOTO TIRES: For the CRF300L, 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 CRF300L 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... The stock mirrors are OK from a functional standpoint, but they don't look very good, especially on a supermoto. We've got the answer with our under-handlebar mounted supermoto mirrors... 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 also protect it from road debris. It's much easier to wipe off the skid plate than trying to keep the underside of the engine and frame clean. We like the Moose Racing and Acerbis plastic skid plates... Your stock front fender might look a little big once you put the smaller 17" front and rear wheel/tire setup on, and if you don't like the look, try a smaller supermoto fender like the one from Polisport... we use it on our CRF450RL supermoto conversion and it looks much better than the stock fender IMHO... 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... Kickstand: Typically when you convert a dual sport bike to a supermoto, the 17" wheels/tires will lower the bike enough that your stock kickstand ends up being too long and the bike will stand too upright. However, the stock CRF300L kickstand is already pretty short, and many complain the bike leans over too much with the stock 21/18 dual sport wheels/tires, but when you switch to the SM wheels and tires you'll probably be OK thanks to that too-short factory kickstand. If you've done suspension work on your bike though, and changed the stock ride height, your stock kickstand might not be ideal. If that ends up being the case, you can buy an OEM kickstand and shorten it, or source an adjustable kickstand like the one T-Rex Racing makes for the bike. It will let you fine tune the kickstand length to suit your needs. |
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