"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
04/13/2020 at 10:26 • Filed to: None
5
13|
"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
04/13/2020 at 10:26 • Filed to: None | 5
| 13 |
I told myself when I picked up this new to me XL600R that I was going to ride it as is for the season before I started making changes, buuuuuutttttt...... since I can’t go out anyway, and the weather here is still very winter like, it’s parts swapin time.
See, of the the two bikes here, the XR600 is the bike that I really want, but the XL600 is the bike with title and all of the street legal requirements. Since they are essentially the same bike, I decided to make the best of both worlds, and take the best parts of the XR, and swap them over to the XL.
Last weekend’s project was the handlebars.
The XL came with a set of steel bars, while the XR had a nicer set of aluminum bars, with risers that are also adapters for fat bars should I choose to go that route. The brand new grips also made their way over, and the blue compliments the XL nicely.
This weekends project was a little more ambitious . The full rear suspension swap.
The XR in this case came with an aluminum swing arm that is one inch longer , compared to the steel swing arm of the XL. The XR also has a dual adjustable remote reservoir shock compared to the single adjustable non remote shock of the XL. It also had a brand new tire. I do lose the cush drive setup with this swap however, but with a loose chain and keeping the bike primarily on gravel this shouldn’t be a problem.
This was a bigger job than I anticipated as I spent more time cleaning than I thought and the upper shock mount on the XL needed some clearancing for the larger shock from the XR. I didn’t clearance quite enough which made the shock install a PITA, but it’s in and everything seems to cycle smoothly. If this ever needs to come apart again though it’s going to need more work. This job still isn’t quite done, the XL is together and needs some final bolt torquing , but the XR, and all of my tools are still in a pile on the floor.
Next on the list is the front suspension, the XR has 43mm tubes compared to the flimsy-when
-
new 39mm units on the XL. This will take a little fab work as the upper triple from the XR doesn’t have the locations to mount the XL gauge
and key barrel, but that shouldn’t be too hard. This age of bike still had basic damper rod forks,
which honestly are probably fine for the riding I do
, but doing the swap now sets me up for a future
cartridge fork swap, or cartridge emulators,
should I feel that they’re needed (there’s
a slim
chance that I might already have one of these based on the other upgrades the XR had).
The XR still has a few upgraded parts left over, such as it’s higher compression motor with an upgraded stator, plus an expensive Supertrapp exhaust system, but I think I’ll leave that in the XR. I may be putting the “lesser” XL parts back on it, and it will be a functional motorcycle again, but I’m not content to leave it at that. I’ve got plans, plans that involve the Lego like way all Honda’s are built, leftover ATV parts from a friend, and cheap parts from 3 wheeled death machines. A high compression 600cc 3 wheeled frozen river monster/trail rig.
I fail to see any flaws in this plan.
Speed
> Pickup_man
04/13/2020 at 10:44 |
|
I’d love to have a bike to tinker with while we’re all on lock down, especially one I could take to work and on the trails like those. I’m trying to talk my dad out of the non-running ‘89 CR500 he picked up.
shop-teacher
> Pickup_man
04/13/2020 at 10:55 |
|
Wow, I cannot wait to see what you have in store!
|
Pickup_man
> Speed
04/13/2020 at 10:58 |
|
A CR500 would be an awesome bike to tinker on, they’re monsters of a bike as well from what I’ve heard. I’ve never owned a running two stroke, but it’s high on my list as soon as I clear out some space.
|
Pickup_man
> shop-teacher
04/13/2020 at 11:06 |
|
It’ll be interesting but I’ve got a decently solid plan in my head already. The hardest part will be fabbing/adapting the swing arm to work with the bike frame. I’m going to have to cut, extend, align, and merge the front half of the bike swing arm to the rear hal f of an ATV swing arm. T he front end is literally all bolt on parts from various Hondas. Full width fenders will probably need a new subframe which will need to come later.
The project list this summer is already long, but I really hope to have a functioning, if not cosmetically perfect, trike by winter time. Hopefully this year the river freezes well enough to ride as well, but if not, the lakes always freeze plenty thick.
bob and john
> Speed
04/13/2020 at 11:12 |
|
Id hope its not your first dirt machine...hopping on that for your first dirt bike is like hopping on an R1 as a newbie.
it ends poorly
|
shop-teacher
> Pickup_man
04/13/2020 at 11:26 |
|
That’ll be really cool!
|
Speed
> bob and john
04/13/2020 at 12:16 |
|
Wish me luck
|
bob and john
> Speed
04/13/2020 at 12:24 |
|
*sets up video camera*
Nom De Plume
> bob and john
04/13/2020 at 13:09 |
|
Howwa youse doing over dere ?
Fuckkinja
> Pickup_man
04/13/2020 at 13:31 |
|
I am so glad the XL is getting some love. The part swaps will make a huge difference on the bumps.
I added a Yamaha Vino 50 moped to the fleet. It is so different going so slow down the backroads my big bikes rip on.
|
Pickup_man
> Fuckkinja
04/13/2020 at 14:03 |
|
I’ve put about 100 miles on it so far and it’s been a blast. The weather got snowy and cold again this week but hopefully I’ll have it out again soon!
oldmxer
> Pickup_man
04/13/2020 at 15:40 |
|
i like this, i have similar stuff in the planning stage i’m using this for inspiration
|
bob and john
> Nom De Plume
04/13/2020 at 21:24 |
|
i’m recovering well to be honest. bones are back to 100%, all I really have now is a torn rotator cuff that still needs to finish up (has a BIT of pain in the top part of the motion)
BUT, i’m driving again, and i went to the crash site and found my gopro, so thats a plus