2020 YZ450F turned FX/WR/Dual sport

So some of you may remember or know that I won the 2020 PulpMx raffle bike. Fast forward nearly a year and I’ve only put 5.5hrs on it and I was really getting the itch to get a 500exc/501fe or 450L. I even went as far as posting a sale/trade ad but as soon as I posted it I just didn’t feel right so I decided to go a different direction which is what you’ll see here.

In her moto glory before the “procedure”.


I started out first by going on a casual trail ride so I could calculate mileage and determine if this thing would even be reasonable to dual sport from the house or if I’d be a mobile gas pack with 7 fuel bags ziptied to me. I wound up using less than a gallon in 45mi so I settled on the Acerbis tank which is listed at 10.5L or about 2.8 USgal. Typically I’ll do 110-140mi from the house so this should make it. I may end up with a green chili setup and a spare fuel jug at some point.



Other parts ordered were a host of the Tusk dual sport parts like wiring harness, signals, horn, control switch etc. also ordered some new plastics in classic YZ blue, so the sponsored up kit (thanks to all the people who were a part of the raffle again) can stay ready to swap on for track days.




Thanks to a forum member here (Wintyfresh) who had posted a nice little plate holder that fits the stock WR tail/brake light, I went ahead and ordered one of those from Tim Clark for myself, as well as my pop who is converting a recently acquired WR250F. Incredible work from Tim on the mold and production of the piece.


Now the WR/FX/DS conversion can take place. I started at the back and pulled the rear fender, side plates and exhaust. Then moving forward I pulled the stock tank and transplanted the pump to the Acerbis 2.8er. (Note: Acerbis offers the largest tank for the F model as it has a larger fuel pump than the FX/WR. IMS only offered a 2.0 for standard F.) While the tank was pulled I laid the Tusk enduro lighting harness in place and secured it in a few places along the way. Acerbis tank fit without any troubles, as well as their rear fender. A little bummed that no aftermarket company offers a replacement WR fender with the mounting bosses molded into the fender, so had to drill 3 holes. Would prefer the look without the hardware coming through but it wasn’t worth the $70 for a OEM fender, and the likelihood that those screws could strip and I’d end up with a dangling tail light and plate.









A couple other things to do at this point like the hydraulic brake switch on the rear master, and try to run/conceal wiring. Then it was onto the front headlight panel and blinkers. Pretty simple both front and rear. I went with the OEM Yamaha headlight plastic and decided to order the Baja Designs XL Pro. To source a stock headlight assembly and then do an upgraded cyclops LED in it was going to run almost as much as the BD unit. So buy once, cry once there.






Onto some small bits while waiting for parts. Sourced an MT090 plug which is the same plug Yamaha uses for their tail light so spliced that into the tusk harness. Also got the trailtech vapor unit in, put the inline coolant temp sensor in place, ended up mounting the computer behind/below the bars. Not how most do it but I like It’s placement more this way, and routing the wires beneath the air box keeps it clean. Tusk control switch is easy to install, just have to give the black wire power for the headlight unit. I tried to thin the harness down a bit and actually kept almost all my plug connections down the frame by the radiator/air box as opposed to a rats nest behind the number plate. Soldered up a few connections for adding power and what not for the vapor, installed front wheel speed sensor and magnetic bolt, double take clamp works perfectly with the clutch perch so 1 less clamp on the bars. Forgot to buy ziptie anchors then I used my big brain for a second and remembered I have a 3D printer so I printed some up and used them to keep the rear fender wiring up and out of harms way. YZ blue side plates also came in so I can pretend I’m on a 2021 now. She’s getting closer..











After a couple impatient weeks I reached out to the vendor who I ordered the Baja Designs kit through, only to be told 2-4 weeks lead time still. Irritated and working in the area of BD I called them hoping they’d have one in stock. No luck there, but to my surprise when I got home the XL Pro was waiting on the door step.. sorry for being an impatient prick! It comes with an H4 plug which works with the standard WR setup, but I’ve got tusk headlight wiring so snipped that off and ran the bullet for power and grounded to the frame. There’s also a secondary ground which when activated dims the light 30%, may work on that to act as a low/high beam as it’s bright as shit. Also installed the SicAss racing key switch for a little piece of mind.





Other than that I’m really just waiting on a couple back ordered items like fastway kickstand and a seat concepts complete seat, but those things won’t stop me from logging some miles! I’ve also got to source a complete 18” rear wheel setup but in the meantime I’ll run what I’ve got. FX transmission gears are on my radar should I need a lower 1st gear and a taller 5th but need to lay some miles down before I make the decision to split cases and get that deep in her. It should only take 1.5-2hrs for me to swap everything back to the moto setup as well, so I dont show up to the local track with blinkers and a kickstand LOL

Planning to go hit a couple local single tracks Sunday morning, weather is giving us a nice break for a change.