As the XR series has been out of production for a few years, parts are getting harder and harder to find. Especially for XR’s that date back to the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The secondhand markets offer some of the best places to look when you are looking where to buy Honda XR parts at lower prices, although it does come with it’s own problems. The main issue is you just dont know what you have bought until it arrives, and only then can you assess the condition and know if it is what you were expecting and if it is up to scratch.
Some parts are alot harder to come by than others and in this post I aim to be able to point you in the right direction or a least places you can use to help you in your quest for XR parts.
How To Find Part Numbers
The best approach to finding the right parts for your make and model of dirtbike is to find the part number. By searching for a part number instead of a part name you will make sure you have the right part for your model and year.
If you were to search using a part name, such as ‘exhaust’ for example you are going to run into problems. Is it all of the exhaust that you need? Is it the back end of the exhaust for which many call the ‘muffler’ although some people call it a silencer. You can see that people call parts different names and will list them differently. A part number eliminates this issue.
Also by having the part number it will correspond to the exact year so you will know you are not buying a part from a later model which may not be compatible with yours. Bikes that have had long production runs, such as the xr, would of had changes and upgrades, so a part from 1990 maybe totally different to that on a 2003 model.
So your mission should be finding the part number and the best way I have found to find these is by using one of the following websites.
https://www.fowlersparts.co.uk/browser/manufacturer/honda/
https://www.partsfish.com/oemparts/c/honda_motorcycle/parts
They are both good at identifying the parts and numbers, Fowlers Parts is UK based and Partfish is US. Both sites offer original Honda parts and will list if the part is still being produced and available to buy or if it is now discountinued.
Each link above will take you to the Honda related page where you then choose options to narrow down you model and year. If you need dirtbike parts that aren’t Honda, then go back to the home pages and start the navigation from scratch.
The above pic is a screen shot taken from fowlers for the front fender of an xr250r from 1991. The diagram in the top of the picture shows an exploded view of the parts relating to the fender, all section are given a number. This particular part shows 2 fenders ion the drawing because this year had two different coloured fender options available.
The parts list under the diagram shows 2 fender colours, however in the ‘stock’ column you can see the top fender ( I believe to be red) is no longer available where as the white is available but not in stock.
The part number is shown directly under the title of each component and is shown in grey. (see pic below)
Now you have the part number you are better equiped to search the web for second hand parts as well as brand new. Although personally i’d be buying from Fowlers or Partsfish anyway so would get them in the basket and hit the checkout.
How To Establish Your Bike Model and Year
One of the problems I had when I first started buying parts for my bike was making sure I had the correct model and year. I did have some information from my v5 log book, this is the road paperwork in the UK, but I wanted to verify what I had as I have had vehicles in the past that have slightly different info on the log book.
So how do you find it out. The easiest way I have found to do this is by using a couple of different websites. The first is FowlersParts as mentioned above and the second is German site – link below.
I go to the German site first and enter my vin number. This can be found on the small plate stuck on to your frame when the bike was manufactured. You will find it located at the top of the frame where the steering stem goes through the frame.
For my XR250R the vin number started with ME06 then had a hyphen followed by another 7 numbers.
Go to the site and enter the vin number without the hyphen and hit enter.
The next page it displays will look like this one.
It will show you the exact model, what region it was from which is important because different regions had different specs, and even a pic of what the bike originally looked like. I found this to be awesome if for when I was restoring my bike as I was unsure as to the original look.
The only thing this site doesnt tell you is the year and that is where Fowlers comes in. Hopefully you have a idea of the year, if you do it will make life easier. From the German site, select a part from one of the diagrams below the info listed and note the part number.
Next go to fowlersparts.com and navigate to your bike model, year and region. Select the same part and compare part numbers. These should be the same.
If you arent lucky enough to know the year then you will likely be doing a bit of trial and error. You could use Google images to search for your model, then add a year to the end and see if the pics are the same as the pic shown on the German website. This would be quicker and give you a head start before hitting Fowlers.
Original Or Aftermarket
On many of the parts you buy brandnew you will be able source both OEM parts and aftermarket parts.
OEM -stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and are genuine parts. They are usually more expensive but you know 100% that the part is right for your model and year, as long as you have researched the part number correctly that is!
If you buy aftermarket parts then you can normally save yourself some cash although depending on the part you may wish to consider OEM because after market parts can be of a lower quality, and in some cases may wear quicker, be weaker, or not fit quite right. All which means you could be replacing again sooner than you would of liked, or perhaps they will impact another part which may of otherwise been ok.
Trying to find feedback on aftermarket parts that you are looking to buy can be a good idea if the part is a vital one. Some thing like a fender I wouldn’t be to concerned about but an engine part would be worth double checking.
The Second Hand Market
Second hand can be a great option, especially for original parts that are no longer being produced. People are regularly selling parts from dirt bikes that have been broken down, as well as others selling run down bikes and unfinshed projects.
If you are buying parts that have been listed as part of a bike brake then it is likely the person selling knows what they are talking about and will likely have a decent description on the condition and functionality of the part. They may well have the part number also which by now you would hopefully have to hand.
If it is a run project bike or maybe just someone selling their much loved toy they have had for years which happens to be the same year and model as yours, then this could be an option to buy a parts bike which you can use on an ongoing basis as a donor bike to yours.
The gamble with this is you dont know that what you are after from the bike is either working, original or even present. If you are considering this option because you want a certain part then it would be wise to ask the seller as much as possible to try and make an accurate assessment before making the purchase.
Where To Find Parts
Lets break this down into a couple fo different sections. First up the sites that are good for new OEM Honda parts. As mentioned above, these are great for researching the parts numbers even if you are deciding to try and buy from aftermarket or second hand sites.
Next we will have a look at some aftermarket sites and finally some secondhand sites, after that how to create a couple of handy hacks for used parts.
Honda OEM Parts
| XR’s Only is an awesome site. Based in California, USA these guys ship internationally. Link is to their OEM page | https://www.xrsonly.com/manufacturers/honda-oem-parts |
| Fowlers Parts – As previously mentioned in this post, UK based, great for part numbers and buying OEM. Will ship internationally | https://www.fowlersparts.co.uk/browser/manufacturer/honda |
| Parts Fish – US based and can be shipped internationally | https://www.partsfish.com/oemparts/c/honda_motorcycle/parts |
| Bike Bandit – US based can be shipped internationally. Deals in all major bike brands, link to Honda OEM page | https://www.bikebandit.com/honda-oem-parts |
Honda After Market Parts
| Bike Bandit – Mentioned in OEM and Aftermarket table. Well established site with quality aftermarket parts – link to aftermarkets page | https://www.bikebandit.com/aftermarket-parts |
| XRsonly.com is also mentioned in both sections. A good selection of all parts for Honda and other main brands – link to general Honda page | https://www.xrsonly.com/dirt-bike-parts/honda-dirt-bike-parts |
| DennisKirk – US Based. 50 years old a good selection of aftermarket parts available. Will ship internationally | https://www.denniskirk.com/ |
| eBay. Need I say more, what can’t you get on eBay. Loads of aftermarket parts but watch out for poor quality. | https://www.ebay.co.uk/ |
Second Hand XR Parts
Im sure many of your, if not all of you have used sites like eBay and Gumtree. Well these are still some of the best places to find second hand XR parts… if you are patient.
Ebay has a regular supply of new XR listings but less so for individual original parts. You are more likely to find hundreds of aftermarket parts which is why it’s listed in the above table. Gumtree lends itself more toward people selling bikes rather than parts so this gives you a good source for buying donor bikes. Listings are generally fewer than eBay.
There are probably over hundred other websites I could list that are selling second hand bikes, from auction sites like eBay to classified ad sites. I wont be doing that as they are pretty much all the same. It is pot luck as to what is for sale at the time you are looking to buy.
Instead lets look at how you may make the most out of technology by setting up a couple of search hacks to give you the best chance of finding used original parts.
eBay Search Hacks
The thing with eBay I hate is filtering through all of the unwanted listings to be able to find the ones you want. Well what if there was a way to filter the results??…cue the search hack.
Search hacks are just a cool way of saying you are using search strings to filter results.
For example you can tell the search engine (ebay in this case) not to show results. This could be as follows.
honda xr -crf -ktm -dtThis tells the engine to display results with Honda XR in the title but not CRF, KTM and DT. This could be handy if you want to show a particular year and exclude other years.
Another search string that will come in handy is to display results that must have a certain word, or one of a number of words in the title. Take a look at the following example.
honda xr 250 (oem,original,factory)This will bring up results for ‘Honda XR 250’ but must have one of the words from the brackets showing in the title also. Now we are starting to narrow down searches to original parts.
However some listings will have titles like ‘Honda xr 250 clucth lever aftermarket not OEM’ This means with the above search query it would still get displayed in the results because it says ‘not OEM’ which triggers our serach criteria, but we can sort that.
Lets use the 2 examples I have given and combine them together.
honda xr 250 (oem,original,factory) -aftermarket -replicaNow the results will show a clutch lever that states OEM, original or factory in the title but not aftermarket or replica. Using search strings like this can give you some really good quality results by filtering the junk. Especially when combined with my notification guide below.
You will find my list of useful search strings towards the end of this post, just scroll down.
Guide: Notifications For New Listings.
This is where things start to get super powerful, I will show you how to setup a search and get notified when a new item gets listed under the criteria you have selected. That means you just wait for an email, you don’t have waste your time by keep checking eBay.
- Create New Search
- Apply filters
- Save The Search
- Setup Email Notifications
- Wait For Notifications Of New Listings
Step 1 – Creating the search
Starting at the eBay home page you will be entering your chosen search query into the search bar. Try and be as acurate as possible and make as many inclusions and exclusions in the term as you see fit so the results will be well refined. You will find my list of search queries below this short guide.
For this example I will be using my Honda XR 250 and I have chosen to search for OEM front forks and the year of my bike is 1991. After checking on Fowler Parts I can see that these forks where being used at least until 1995 and likely longer although that is the year I checked up until by comparing part numbers.
So my search query is going to be as follows.
honda xr 250 forks 91 (oem,genuine)Im telling it to search for ‘Honda XR 250 91’ and in the title it should include either the word ‘OEM’ or ‘Genuine’
Because the results have been narrowed somewhat the they only showed 2 listings. Both of which were from the US when I am UK based so lets assume I am holding out for a UK seller, or at least Europe.
Step 2 Applying Filters
Next before I go ahead and save my search I want to apply a filter or maybe more.
For me I am just going to select the listings to show the newest first. In this example it is not overly nessecary as there are few items but still I want to know that when i get a notification and click through to the listing that the new listing will be sat on top of the pile.
I change this on the right hand side as seen in the pic below. At the same time if you have other requirements then now is the time to add them in either using the above the listing, or any number of the filters to the left of the listing column. These are filters such as location, mile radius, auction or buy it now, uk, europe or worlwide. You get the idea.
Step 3 Save Your Search
Now we just need to hit the save search button to add this search to our list.
Step 4 Setting Up Notifications
First you will need to navigate to your saved searches. Do this by clicking on the ‘My Ebay’ link on the top right toolbar. Then find the ‘saved searches’ link on the left toolbar on the following page.
You can see your list of searches will appear in the middle of the page like in the pic above. From here you will see an ’email settings’ column to the right of the listing. It will likely be set to subscribed and if it is you are set for email notifications.
If you are not subscribed or later wish to insubscribe then you need to hover of the saved search and click the subscribe (or unsubscribe) option.
Step 5 – Just Wait For A New Listing
If you have followed the above steps then you will get an email for any new listings meeting your criteria. When you click through the search results will be set to show the newest at the top so you now what triggered the notification.
There is no limit to my knowledge as to how many you can set up for these notifications so you may as well take advanatge of them. They are great for if you have set your criteria to the ‘BUY IT NOW’ option because you will know as soon as it’s listed and hopefully be first to the purchase.
Obviously with the auction format you will still have to fight of competition to win the item.
Search String Query Ideas
Here are some search query ideas to help you along.
Placing your item first followed by years in brackets is good for searching for a part that you know covered a model in certin years. This is because someone may list it as 1991 because that is the year of their bike but you know it will fit your 94. Swapping out the word exclude for something else means it wont include searches with that word in the title
product name (91,92,93,94,95) -excludeAdding “ ” around a word will tell ebay to search for that exact word so
Honda XR “1991”This will bring back results that must have 1991 in the title but could have honda and/or XR
Adding “ ” around more than word but in seperate instances will make ebay return all of those words in the title but in any order.
“honda” “xr” “250” “swingarm”If you put “ ” around a phrase then it will return listings with the words in the same order.
“honda xr 250 swingarm”So the above would have listings with “honda xr 250 swingarm” included in the title in exactly the same order.
