PROJECT CRF50

I never liked how low the front fender is on the stock CRF50 so I started thinking of some way to raise it. When Yamaha developed their CRF50 look alike the TTR50 they obviously thought the same thing. Their way of raising the fender was to only use the front half of the fender and attach it to the fork legs above the bottom fork clamp. I came up with a different way to mount the CRF50 fender higher.

STEP 1: Basically I used a hole saw and a drill to cut a two inch hole in the fender for the head tube to pass through. To get it onto the head tube I cut a slit in the center of the rear of the fender with a sharp scissor. After you install the fender apply a bead of super glue to the seam and hold it together while it dries and/or use some red duck tape on the bottom side. (see photos)

STEP 2: To mount the fender to the bike I made a bracket out of a piece of aluminum strip. By bending the strip into a “C” shape and drilling holes in the appropriate location (one on top and bottom) I was able to attache it (using the stock fender bolts) to the original front/center fender mounting hole on the bottom side of the fork clamp and have it go up and over the clamp to the location I needed to bolt the fender to it. I used some screws, washers and bolts to mount the fender to the aluminum strip. Since the strip only attached to the fender using the front/center hole I glued two dummy screws onto the fender with silicone just to make it look good. (see photos)

Although the fender is only attached by the front/center screw it stays in place really well because it rotates around the steering head. NOTE: the hole has to be large enough so it has clearance for the steering stop welded to the head tube.

For a pretty easy modification I really think it changes the whole look of the bike and makes it much closer to the scale of a full size motorcycle. I realize it might seem a little confusing, if you want to try to do this modification yourself and have any questions you can e-mail me and I’ll try to help you out.

TEXT AND IMAGES COPYRIGHT PROJECT CRF50 2008

You can now also use: www.HondaCRF50.com to get here.

TECH TIP: The front end is subject to a lot of vibration. Make sure to use RED Loctite on the bolt, screw and nut so you don’t have to keep tightening them.

The BIG Hole. Note the Seam.

Raised Front Fender

Front Top View

Front Bottom View