Thursday, January 30, 2014

XL500 front wheel shenanigans

Those who have a long memory will remember this front wheel I created for my DR400 vintage supermoto build. Its a CB175 hub, custom spokes (136mm long) and a rear aluminium rim from a late 70s YZ250 which is 17 x 2.75. Pros - a large range of tyres will fit, axle is the same size, fits snuggly between the fork legs, can use a cable speedo ex Honda CB (23 inch front wheel speedo very hard to find for stock front wheel).Cons - finding a way to secure the brake stay to the fork leg. More pros than cons, so thats good! With the speedo, an original 2.75 x 18 front tyre is very close in diameter to a 110/80 x 17 tyre, about 10mm in diameter taller so the speedo will be accurate.

Of course there is an option 2....The other 16x3 wheel fitted with a front tyre (brand new). I got a CB750 triple clamp from 66 motorcycles to see if it would space the fork legs further apart in order to fit in a wider front tyre. This clamp is 20mm wider, but the wheel still needs to go to the brake side by around 5mm amd I'm not sure where that is going to come from! There will be a little bit of custom fab work to fix the brake plate to the forks and how to mount the brake cable!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Great XL500 rewire of 2014.....




.....has begun. David and I spent yesterday afternoon starting the rewiring process. The second pic shows some of the dodgey old wiring, all fixed now. The harness is a good fit and wiring up to the alternator and cdi was pretty straight forward. We used brand new bullet connectors and utilux plugs just like the factory. Also wired the tailight and rear indicators.So thats about 20% done. Just need to source horn, flasher unit, battery etc etc etc etc etc....

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Re-used ZX12 switch blocks on XL500

I also have these ZX12 switch blocks left over and will use them on the XL500. The left switch will be used exactly as is, but the right one will be re-tasked so the kill switch will be the headlight on/off and the start button will be the kill button.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

ZX12 chain guard re-used on XL500


This is one more part that is getting reused. I recently parted-out my ZX12 as the crank had spun a bearing and I still have quite a few odds 'n' sods left. So I thought, if we can make it work then we will! After a bit of cut and shut it works well, and you will always know where it came from!

XL500 stripped bare & ready for wiring installation

Everything has been removed that is necessary for us to add the wiring. Still a long list of parts to procure though. Indicator, headlight ears, chain guard, exhaust heat shield, horn, mirrors, speedometer, battery and pillion pegs? Also resprayed the rear shock springs last night.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Steering bearing troubles






I noticed there was a fair degree of movement in the steering head, so I thought I would switch out the bearings from the XL250 as they are the same. The ball bearings are loose and not caged, and so I discovered on pulling the triple clamps out of the 500 that there was one ball missing top and bottom! So, regrease the races and put in the missing bearing top and bottom and it should be fine. The trick is to use lots of grease so that the balls stick to the races and do not fall out upon re-assembly.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Rear axle modifications






Bottom image shows rear axle arrangement bodge up. Somebody welded on a piece of angle iron to attach the chain adjuster to. It does not work, so I ground part of it off and attached a different style of adjuster. Also there was no split pin hole perpendicular through the axle, so I drilled one to accept a split pin. I also contacted PPSR to check there was no money owing on the vehicle and to make sure it was not stolen, all clear. The VIN plate is missing so I contacted Transport WA with the chassis number to see if it had been registered before, and it has, so getting it re-registered will be straight forward.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

XL250 tank now fits XL500

With a few modifications, the XL250 tank now fits the XL500. I still want to remove most of the paint-work from the tank, while leaving the decals on the sides intact.

Free electrical parts

Thanks to the guys at 66 motorcycles, who gave me these bits 'n' pieces for the XL500.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Video of XL500S running


Click on the link below to see the beast running!

XL250S tank paint scheme

I am thinking that a great way to retain some of the patina on this tank, would be to remove all the paint, but leave all the decal areas intact. Then add a clear coat to the entire tank.

Messing around with fuel tanks




When we bought the bike we also got a few XL250S parts (frame, tank & front end). The pic directly above is the XL250S tank, which is nearly identical to the 500 except that the tunnel underneath the tank is narrower on the 250 and does not clear the decompression mechanism! The tank could be fairly easily modified to fit, I think. The upper two pics show the XL185 tank that I have fitted, this will take a lot more modifications to fit, but I like its compact aesthetic.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Crispy XL500 is go




On the weekend we picked up this Honda XL500 of 1980 vintage. And unlike my previous Suzuki DR400 project, this bike is assembled, runs and rides! This is a joint project, thanks to Cameron and David for becoming joint partners. It has a noisey top end (see video above), so will be investigating this first. Then we need to procure a wiring harness and lights etc so we can get it road registered. see my previous post for potential design schemes for the old girl.