Have seen a couple smokin deals come across factory supermoto bikes here locally. Anything other than rims and tires??

The reason I ask is I was talking to a local KTM dealer that over ordered a bunch of 950 supermotos and he had said one main problem was the front brakes were to much for a dirt bike?

Last bike I saw was a Husky 510 or 610. I could get myself in all sorts of trouble with something like that

I think they have 17" wheels. I researched the Kawasaki KLX250SF because a dealer would sell it so cheap. You CAN get 17" DOT knobbies, just search for your size and see what's out there. For my application all I felt I needed was the knobbies, but I think the whole suspension is different, if you wanted to change that I imagine you're getting into thousands of $$$.

Mainly wheels and tires.

Factory SuperMotards probably have shorter suspensions along with bigger brakes & different wheels.  I think KTM might have been the only company to offer a true SM/dirt bike combo with the SMX(?) models that included both sets of wheels.

Brian

Probably dual discs? Revome one roto and caliper and buy a brake line without a "T".

I assume it would still work fine on the street with one rotor?

My Harley has one rotor and 2 was an option, so yes. Personally I don't see why 2 would be bad for the dirt, just don't squeeze so hard.

Converting a SM to a decent dirt capable machine would require:
-18 or 19 inch rear wheel set
-21 inch front wheel set
-front rotor 245mm or smaller
-front brake caliper bracket
-possibly front caliper
-serious front/rear suspension valving modification
-spring rate change
-very possible that the lower fork lugs would have to be changed to accomidate the front brake hardware (several types of fork lugs are basically impossible to remove without damage-KYB's must be replaced, not sure about KTM WP forks or Marzochi)
-easier to buy a DS front end, really.

That will get you started.

What is the OP looking to use it for? Need it to do? All I wanted was a little more traction for riding on dirt roads. Is he talking running a MX track? Jumps? What I'm saying is; would he really need or benifit from all of those mods? It benifits me also, because I am looking at getting a supermotard also.

I am looking to have a dual sport that I can explore all the desert around here and maybe ride to work.



What are we talking money wise? Couple grand?  Am I just better off buying a damn dual sport

Oh yea, two discs up front are too much brake in the dirt.

You two win a perfect for those posts.

You mean for asking a question and repeating what was told to me by a KTM dealer Thanks. I never said dual discs were too much for the dirt, I said he told me that he thought the 950 supermoto had a little too much front brake for the dirt.

Why do they put bigger brakes on the street bikes

It really depends on how "dirt worthy" you want it to be.  If you want to be "woods/single track capable" figure $2500.  If you only need to ride open desert or groomed trails you can get away with leaving the suspension alone figure $1800-2000.  How much of the stuff I listed is directly related to how fast you can SAFELY go when off-road.  If you are going to spend a fair amount of time off-road,  just get a DS. SM's are fun, but more of a one trick pony.

FWIW, you wouldn't catch me riding off-road with large rotors or dual rotors for that matter. To vulnerable IMO.  Bend/damage one of those huge rotors and you're done. It could be just one rock impact away.

How much desert exploring? In loose sand or mostly on trails? What bias of offroad/onroad riding? You can most certainly take a factory supermoto (like the KTM 510, not some goofy streetbike like a superduke) offroad, especially with dirt/street tires like Avon Distanzias. It's not as good as a true dirtbike with knobbies, but you won't be wanting to ride on the street much with knobbies either. When I did the opposite conversion on my bike from dirt-street the only change I made that would take any time at all to reverse is the front brake upgrade. I know guys who have complete second brake setups (rotor, caliper, master cyl and line) so they can just unbolt the whole thing, take off the 17" wheel with 320mm rotor, remove the master cyl with line still attached (no bleeding on reinstall) and put on the dirt stuff. I still have my dirt rims/wheels and even swapping out the caliper it would only take me maybe 30 minutes to do the conversion. I'm thinking of getting some 70/30 dirt/street tires for the dirt rims for when I want to do some off road exploring, since my 17" Supermoto tires (nearly DOT slicks) would not be very useful off pavement.



ETA:  I hate to keep pimping other forums, but this one has a lot of guys that ride supermotos on dirt/street and you can answer the questions you have there:



http://www.supermotojunkie.com/