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first time into the hills with a street tracker project!

NOTCH1

Listens to Enya
Joined
May 21, 2006
Location
east bay
Moto(s)
honda xl 600 street tracker
It's been a 2,1/2 year work in progress with all manner of interruption, and today was the first time I reached past my neighborhood's threshold, dawdling up Tunnel Road and then Grizzly Peak, stopping briefly at the Wall to look for loose bolts and leaking gaskets. Not the best picture but good enough to document the event!

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That's a Hypermotard right behind with a small group of nice guys regaling each other on the state of MotoGP. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect respite from it all.

Bike still has lots of work to do. Suspension is in dire need of tune. Showa forks came from a 1989 CR-500. OEM shock is clapped out. The bike started out as a 1984 Honda XL-600. I always liked the mid 1980's RFVC dual carb engines Honda made and am lucky to have been able to find a roach and rebuild it into a street tracker:

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The whole project is covered here. If you don't mind, I'll indulge with a few highlights.

Here, we start with a roached out Craigslist find, only ran when the dude would spray half a can of starter fluid into the airbox and flail away on the kickstarter:

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I had a significant amount of help from James Banke down in Felton who set the chassis up with the right wheels, new brakes, and adjusted suspension (basically all the hard stuff)

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I rebuilt the engine

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And set to work on the intake, fuel tank, and other body parts. This is my first significant fabrication with epoxy and fiberglass. Learned a lot along the way and I surely would have done a lot of it differently had I the time to do it again. So it goes!

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BONUS FOR THOSE STILL PAYING ATTENTION!!!

Here's a cute hack I learned from instructables.com on how to repurpose a used spray can to pump up with air for cleaning parts. When air compressors are not part of your studio apartment's equation:

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I will give it :thumbup:thumbup

oNce you sort out the suspension .. you have to give us an update on how it handles :ride
 
I LOVE IT! :drool That's my Hyper parked behind it, and I was one of those regaling. :laughing

Like I said, that's a proper motorcycle! :thumbup Even more props to you after seeing this post about build up. :cool We need to get you together with jdubau to field teh BARF Street Tracker Team!

Cool tip on the compressed air car. Just take a presta valve stem off of wasted inner tube, drill a hole in the can, and epoxy it? Brilliant!
 
Awesome!

I think that bike's final pie'ce de re'sistance would be if you searched around and found cast aluminum wheels for it.
 
very nice. I really like how that turned out. :thumbup
fucking genius that mini compressed air gadget!
:applause
Very nice!
I will give it :thumbup:thumbup
oNce you sort out the suspension .. you have to give us an update on how it handles :ride
Very, very rad!!!
EPIC BUILD!
that thing is badass!

Thanks you all it's been a good project and if you have the time (or rather: INFINITE patience) then I recommend you giving it a shot.

I LOVE IT! :drool That's my Hyper parked behind it, and I was one of those regaling. :laughing

Like I said, that's a proper motorcycle! :thumbup Even more props to you after seeing this post about build up. :cool We need to get you together with jdubau to field teh BARF Street Tracker Team!

Cool tip on the compressed air car. Just take a presta valve stem off of wasted inner tube, drill a hole in the can, and epoxy it? Brilliant!

Oh, well HELLO Mr. Hun! And thanks for the compliments, aye that is a presta valve from a bicycle inner tube and a little JB Weld to fuse it into the hull of that spray can. Works okay, but it takes a lot of courage to go much past 80PSI when pumping the can up. Please, kids, wear safety glasses when doing such things: My dad used to rant "I can fix anything but eyes!" and being a spacecraft engineer for Boeing Aerospace, I'd believe it.

Awesome!

I think that bike's final pie'ce de re'sistance would be if you searched around and found cast aluminum wheels for it.

Ya I've seen some that look really trick not sure how they affect handling. Ive got a 19" rim up front and 18 in rear. Renowned street tracker builder Richard Pollock of Mule down in SoCal is interviewed in the latest Sideburn magazine, and says 18's are better. I'm inclined to agree for pavement but think the main thing is to try to get my suspension a bit more sorted.

Had it up to about 65 around briones reservoir yesterday and it felt pretty solid which was a good thing. Start changing suspension and wheels around on a bike and you can end up with some screwed up geometry. I was worried about that part the most in this project because it's the least "fixable" if there's a problem. so far so good, but if anyone knows where I could source a manual for the Showa forks (1989 CR-500) I'd appreciate.

OK, well thanks again for clicking :)

Adam
 
Well done, glad to see you finally got to ride the thing. My tracker is in similar need of suspension fiddling, if you want to compare notes that would be great. I've been following the build on your blog for the better part of a year, nice to see you got the thing done (or as much as any project can be).
 
Well done, glad to see you finally got to ride the thing. My tracker is in similar need of suspension fiddling, if you want to compare notes that would be great. I've been following the build on your blog for the better part of a year, nice to see you got the thing done (or as much as any project can be).

thanks! ya, they're never really done...i suppose that's part of the charm. what are you building again?
 
WOW man! that is badass, very nice work:thumbup
The bike seems like an excellent platform for your build too.
Good on you for making your own tank and tail section as well. I need to try that someday.
I can't wait to see the bike in person:ride

I'm gonna go check out your build log
 
bitchin!

a common fork brace would make a big difference to that front end, especially with that big rotor and the sticky flat track tires
 
WOW man! that is badass, very nice work:thumbup
The bike seems like an excellent platform for your build too.
Good on you for making your own tank and tail section as well. I need to try that someday.
I can't wait to see the bike in person:ride

I'm gonna go check out your build log

Thanks, man. I've followed your harley tracker pictures here, too, really good stuff. I've seen other flat track builders using the honda XR/XL platform. My first inspiration using an XR650L was very influential
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Here's a guy from FLA with a very successful XL600:
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Funny thing on Sunday I helped a guy load his KTM 950 into his truck after blowing a front tire. Just happened across him while I was parked letting my engine cool and he takes one look at my bike and says he did the same damn thing with an '83!

Anyway I would only recommend building your own tank if you a) had no other choice, or b) were entirely insane.

bitchin!

a common fork brace would make a big difference to that front end, especially with that big rotor and the sticky flat track tires

I've wondered that - I know these particular 43mm forks are what were also used on XR650Ls, too (I used to have one). So hopefully should be able to find one that applies. That's a 320mm rotor...it stops well, just thinking the word 'shit' locks it up :lauging.

My sense is that the wale snot needs to be drained from the sinuses of the fork cartridges. thorough cleaning. new oil. new seals. latex gloves. then we'll see...
 
thanks! ya, they're never really done...i suppose that's part of the charm. what are you building again?

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'82 XL500 frame, '82 Ascot 500 motor, E start, Hi Comp piston and polished head, 1998 CR250 front end, A&A Racing 19 inch front wheel, stock 17 rear, EBC 270 front rotor, Yosh GSXR exhaust
 
'82 XL500 frame, '82 Ascot 500 motor, E start, Hi Comp piston and polished head, 1998 CR250 front end, A&A Racing 19 inch front wheel, stock 17 rear, EBC 270 front rotor, Yosh GSXR exhaust

^^^^^
Now there's a project. Like the downpipe. I see those forks have the axle offset forward; wish I knew that before using these conventional forks of mine since I figured they were the only option to preserve the leading axle geometry of the stock layout...ack!
 
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