How to make a motorcycle rear wheel a front

This is how the brake plate is as a rear wheel......

.....first you must cut off the torque arm.....

......and then cut two slots to accept the keeper plates.......

......then figure out and mark up the piece of 40x10 aluminium flat bar and then spend hours and hours whittling it down to the right shape so it does not interfere with anything inside the brake drum......

.....now the keeper plates fit nicely and snuggly into the slots, ready for TIG welding. This set-up mimics the stock XL500 front brake set-up......

 You can see from this image where the new keepers will be welded at the back as well......

 Side view of keeper plates......

Front view of set up......

thanks to Justin @ 66 Motorcycles for doing a nice welding job.......

....and after a little cleaning up its ready for polish or paint?

Final Concept XL500 vintage sumo tracker

Final Concept XL500 vintage sumo tracker........

Triple clamp swap from CB750 to XL500S part III

Bolted the fork legs into the triple clamps........

.......with my freshly modified front axle.......

......so now even the front wheel fits, just need an axle nut and spacer and etc etc .........

and finished it off with new bars and vintage style grips.

Triple clamp swap from CB750 to XL500S part II

Rather than replace the worn out steering head bearings with new loose ball bearings as per the factory, I decided to go spend the extra cash and go with tapered roller bearings. What this image also shows is the area below the washer below and the bearing is now 'space' where I removed 'material' from the triple clamp. This is because the CB750 clamp is slighly thicker here and does not allow the stem to protrude through the upper bearing far enough to allow the lock nut to screw on (confused - read on?). I then pushed the bearing all the way to the bottom of the stem!

This image shows the lock nut in place and tightened up! And now everything works properly, including the steering stops which are in the same place.

And now the top triple clamp goes in place with its lock nut....Job done.....Now just have to make the wheel fit the forks!

Triple clamp swap from CB750 to XL500S

The reason I am installing CB750 triple clamps on my XL500S is to allow installation of a wider front wheel (wider rim & hub). The fork tubes are 20mm further apart to allow for this, but still accept the original 35mm fork tubes as they are common to both bikes. The CB750 stem needs to be removed as it is too long for the XL500S steering head. The CB750 stem is welded into the lower clamp and is also an interference fit. The above pics shows that the weld has been removed and the stem is starting to come out.

This pic shows the correct size socket being used as a drift in order to knock out the old stem. This requires a large hammer and a little patience. It eventually comes out!

This pic shows the old stem, spacer and lower bearing seal as they have come apart.

I have a spare stem which I have removed from an XL250S. This stem is clamped and glued in place, a large hammer and some patience is required for removal.

This pic shows the XL stem in the CB triple clamp. It is quite a loose fit, so some shims need to be installed to take up the slack, the stem is 27mm diameter and the hole in the clamp is about 29.5mm.

Lastly the stem needs to be fully welded to the lower clamp, as this pic shows. Once the lower bearing race and seal are reinstalled you are ready for reassembly.

XL500 vs KZ650 rear wheel to front conversion - brake plate modifications

The lower image shows the stock KZ650 rear brake plate. The torque arm mounting needs to be completely removed as the XL500 uses a groove arrangement. I cut a couple of aluminium pieces will be welded to the brake plate and will slot into the fork leg locator.

Honda XL500S with 16 inch wheels - but what colour?

Like the yellow........