86 500 xc

u need a pair of trials Looniversals tyres instead of those "let go" specials you've got fitted....

Not familiar with them...got pics? Ill probly end up swallowing my pride and order a drag slick...otherwise a soft compound dual sport.

sorry, "trial universals" is pre 1985 speak for dual sport...

Roger that. That's is most likely what ill end up with.

More sanding...more polishing. Plan to polish spokes, will be leaving hub black for now. Probl paint a black strip down center o rim where rim bubbles to meet spokes.

while its not for the purists, I love how different style ideas appear on these custom jobs...keep at it its looking great

Thanks.
Got the expansion chamber wraped and sprayed with black sylicone, to seal it and prevent rot. Threw a quick shine on scilencer.

i like the idea of having a husky motor in a street chassis, but in my project i would be more concerned with handling, braking and speed. kudos to doing a custon job tho, its just not my style..maybe this thread will inspire me.....of course, with ohlins

Everyone has different tastes and that the butie of building one... You get to decide how it all comes together. To me this bike handles great! Even with dirt tires. It is so light that I hardly notice there is no rear suspention! Same with the brakes, not having all the weight transfer to the front and diminishing rear brake power. It still does some as the forks compress but it definatly stops faster now. The stretch of road the last video was filmed on is brutal! I would ride my sportster at 70 max and that's is I was running for someone! This bike handled bumps without a problem and to my suprise was very stable in hard cornering, although it took a while for me trust it.
I really figured I would have got a lot of grief from the "purists" and am suprised how many positive responses I've got during the course of this build. I figure its better than sitting in my pops garage waiting to rust apart. (He never sells anything!)

Nice job, was not sure about the gold frame, but I like how it turned out! Now we need some more videos.

Thanks. Still waiting on head! Once it on ill get more video.

Aren't we all?

But seriously, when I came across this thread and saw what you were planning, I was pretty well shocked. Not my taste, but much respect for having your vision and seeing it through. That's definitely a unique bike and it'll be turning a few heads.


But you are crazy for polishing all that. I tried to polish some stuff once...it didn't take long before I decided I'm not opposed to the cast look.

once its done though it looks good!

so how do you shift it? take your foot off the peg??

Need to extend the shifter...rite now the lip on my boot catches it for up shift and hell for down. I've left it cuz it works fine for easy shifting. Not so well for banging gears tho.
Polishing is no fun but the end result seam to be with it! Can't count the hours I have into polishing tho!

maybe have to make a linkage like most streetbikes to work the shifter..if its lengthened enough to work with your peg it will have like 4 inches of travel at the tip to shift..shouldnt be too hard but would have to sacrifice shifter. cut off the shifter leaving only a stub that clamps to shaft. attach a heim joint to it and another heim to the rest of the shifter...youve seen it on other street bikes, you know what i mean

I had toyed with the linkage idea... If that's what it takes ill do it. Trying to stay with stock style shifter as the linkages slop up the shift. Same deal as forward controls. They don't respond as quickly. There is a long list of things to take care of... Right now getting it running and running well, is on the top of the list.
Thinking I might try to ad an extension between the carb and air filter, something to act like the air box. I'm guessing ill have to end up buying a new carb to solve the problem tho.

I was recently contacted by a "sponsor" from the UK. They offered to donate a alloy ignition cover. Long story short it arrived and is installed! It looks sow much better! Wish I could give credit to the responsible party but they asked to remain anonimous. To you, thank you so much! Cool to know the world isn't FULl of self serving people!





I also meet with jack(TIG welder) about head today. He had to make a fixture to hold the head at an angle for welding the plug in and offered to use his mill to drill and tap plug to recieve the compression release. I kno it's not that technical but the mill should produce much better threads than I would. Plus it will be perfictly aligned with plug/hole. I chose to do a top mount since there is no plastics to interfere and it will keep valve more protected compaired to side mount

How good is that!! somedays are diamonds and some are polished alloy...looks great

The head is done! Well back to me ready for sanding and polish then install. Anyone run a decompression valve? How big of a hole is needed into the cylinder?