Laeger CRF

[CADWELL]

Well I just joined the site today and I really like what I see from the browsing I've done. I figured I'd contribute a little bit and share what's been in the works for me for about 2 weeks now. It'll be the first hybrid rebuild I've done although I have done some YFZ rebuilds, this hybrid and motor will be new to me.  One thing that's always worried me about these Laegers are the limited availability of parts. I'm a huge Walsh fan, but when a trade presented itself for my previous all Walsh YFZ for this Laeger, I couldn't pass it up.

I took this hybrid straight to the track without revalving my shocks and it handled great. I rode the **** out of it but its been well over a year since its seen a track. I pulled out all my MX DVDs and have been slowly getting the itch. So I figured I'd get back into what I love doing and give this thing a little love.


I really wanted to get my hands a Walsh/'04 YZ hybrid, but I ended up finding this one in Cali and traded it straight up for my freshly built Walsh YFZ along with some other stuff and a lonnng ass drive haha.This is what it looked like when I brought it home after 12 hours of driving to San Bernardino and back to Tucson.




Started the tear down



I hate these kind of surprises...needless to say it did set me back a bit as I was only planning on doing a top end.



Here's the motor




Just about ready for PC!



Parts started coming in.




Still trying to figure out what to do with these.

[sameltoe]

Saweet! Man with all these hybrids....gets a guy thinkin.....

[jamieg45]

Welcome to the site and nice find man, it looks like you got a great bike and a awesome build too.

[CADWELL]

Nice start for sure

Thanks man, nice site BTW.

Saweet! Man with all these hybrids....gets a guy thinkin.....

Dive right in! If you race or ride MX at all, they're definitely very nice and easy to ride.

Welcome to the site and nice find man, it looks like you got a great bike and a awesome build too.

Thanks!

Yeah I got real lucky acquiring this thing in that the guy I got it from did a trade with me on my Walsh Yfz. The YFZ wasn't a slouch by any means, but he didn't let go of the Laeger that easy...I included some other YFZ stuff that I had to sacrifice. I've never turned back or regretted it though...love this thing.

[CADWELL]

Not much to report on today other than I tore down the FCR. Needless to say I figured out why my Hotstarted really didn't perform like a hot start haha. The plunger was getting hung up and was gummed up pretty bad. I lobbed up the cable and cleaned out the carb with break cleaner.

[CADWELL]

Just thought I'd share this pic of a Gibson YFZ build I did back in '09, the grey on this frame is what Im going with again on this build. There will be a lot of this grey featured on the bike along with a Cardinal Coatings RD03 90% gloss.  I'm anxious to get all the PC back because sometimes it's a toss up on the end result...the color charts are hard to judge most of the time...

[CADWELL]

Well I got home from work today and took apart the Sparks. One thing that I can really care less about this bike is how the exhaust silencer bottoms out on the caliper. I'm not sure even the best valves shock in the world can avoid this unless its stiff as shit haha.

First thing Monday Ill be calling Sparks about a new pillow and see if they have replacement Cans. While browsing on their website I noticed they offer a Sparks CP piston for a reasonable price so Ill be inquiring about that.

To the fellow Hybrid owners out there, what do you guys do to avoid the dented Can?.........I've tried a spacer on the mounting bracket, but I could only go so far out without jamming the mid pipe into the frame down tube...

Freakin end cap was damn near seized on there.


Packing was in pretty bad shape.


All apart.

[ryanowarrior]

With my sparks on my laeger I've got like 3 1/2 spacers in there lol! I also cut off the lower mount to where it mounts to sub frame! Also usin a 450r rear caliper it's a lil different as to where it mounts / how it mounts

and yes my pipe is right up against the down tubing of my frame and yes it pisses me off lol

[CADWELL]

With my sparks on my laeger I've got like 3 1/2 spacers in there lol! I also cut off the lower mount to where it mounts to sub frame! Also usin a 450r rear caliper it's a lil different as to where it mounts / how it mounts

and yes my pipe is right up against the down tubing of my frame and yes it pisses me off lol

LOL

I'll tell what man if I had someone that could machine billet aluminum, I'd like to talk to them about this issue and see if having a custom brake stay made to rotate the caliper backwards about 45 deg more can be done...I wonder if that would do the trick.....

[ryanowarrior]

I have the dream brake stay that uses the 02-03 crf450 front caliper that I was gonna put on my Walsh build wonder if it mounts any different?

[CADWELL]

I have the dream brake stay that uses the 02-03 crf450 front caliper that I was gonna put on my Walsh build wonder if it mounts any different?

When you mentioned this Dream bracket, I remembered removing a bracket the mounts to rear brake stay caliper holes and then has separate holes for the caliper. It's not a Dream though, but I think it's a Honda part because it has the name Nissin on it. The caliper on my setup though mounts directly underneath the exhaust....I tried Googling the Dream one but can't find any pics on it.

[rk88r]

The crf caliper is slightly shorter ~1/8" and protrudes to the right ~1/4" less also. I haven't tested it for clearance yet though.

[05450r]

Andy at Maul Tech can set up the crf calipers to work. Another option is to see if you can get an exhaust kit unwelded. The p/o of my Houser got the Motoworks kit for an 04-05 450r then tig welded it up,no frame rub or caliper dents.

[CADWELL]

Andy at Maul Tech can set up the crf calipers to work. Another option is to see if you can get an exhaust kit unwelded. The p/o of my Houser got the Motoworks kit for an 04-05 450r then tig welded it up,no frame rub or caliper dents.

I'd love to get an unweeded kit, but I'm a beginner at MIG myself so I'd definitely have to pay some one to do it. At this point I have so many little things to cover on this build that I really can't afford to go that route. A while back I talked to the original builder of danhung's Laeger EFI CRF450 who had a shop in PHX who said he'd fab up a DASA for me which is what I'd love to have.

[CADWELL]

Well not mush to report at this point. I talked to the powder coater last week and I should be getting a call any day now to get my stuff back. It's hard to believe its been 3 weeks since I dropped the stuff off, but it was a lot of it and the majority of it had old PC and chrome on it which was gonna require a lot of blasting and prepping. There will be NO chrome on this build BTW...

I did however get the motor parts ordered. I made trip up to PHX to visit my friends at Dirt Fiend Racing and had Rudy order the rest of my parts. It really bothered me that I was gonna split the cases and not replace the crank so I had him order me a Hot Rods which turned out to be a set back financially, but better in the long run.

My absolute favorite about rebuilds is suspension. I felt like a HUGE weight was lifted of my shoulders when I finally sent my shocks to Micah at Custom AXIS. He's answered all my questions and gave me his honest opinion about some stuff so I'm excited to get them back. As much as I wanted to go with Ti springs I decided to skip them. The cost to benefit was just not worth it after talking to Micah about it. So I'm going with a piggyback triple adjust upgrade for the fronts, PRS upgrade for the rear as well as a dual spring set-up for the rear and service and re-valve for all of them.


Gonna take 7 days to get to the other side of the country...$45 to ship with UPS....




Got some new beef for the rear...new Axecaliber with new LSR. Anti-Fade