My new project... XT500 supermoto

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hondaror
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Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by hondaror »

Hey, did you ever get new boots?
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

nah, no real need these days as Im not about to buy an off road bike anytime soon.
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
tankslap
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Location: cairns australia

Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by tankslap »

Image

Hey JonW, here's a pic of my unfinished motard.
Must be going on to almost ten years ago when I started!

And then I rediscovered two strokes!

Plenty of brackets to make still......;)
tankslap
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by tankslap »

And another.

Image
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

haha ya bracketmeister! :D

They do make great looking motards, even part finished I love em...

I sat on mine today and made noises... I still need to redo the front brake caliper bracket as Ive stripped the thread on the one I made in steel and really should be making one in alloy now Ive proved the concept, but two strokes have my eye again... as you've discovered, they do have a habit of doing that :/
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

A forum friend was at my place a few weeks back and to my shame he noticed a glaring error on this bike... The mirrors had been spaced and measured but I had yet to source the spacers. ooops.

Image

Today there was a delivery by my door... two stainless spacers that he hard turned up for me, wow, what a star!

I quickly painted them and they were fitted before the day was out. Perfect!

Image

Thanks mate!
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
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L.B
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by L.B »

:smt023
BRIAN TURFREY
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by BRIAN TURFREY »

Cool supermoto project... what are your rear shock ? how long are the from bolt to bolt? Look like they might be just what i am looking for; for an old Suzuki PE250 that needs shocks.
Thanks Brian.
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

Thanks for the kinds words Brian. Shocks are YSS, I will measure them for you. I originally bought some NOS redwings but fitted them to my MT250 instead as they were a bit old skool for this build since its a roadie. YSS come in many flavours and im sure they have one for the PE250 come to think of it.

EDITED after a Google...

Try this, has the number of the model you need, ignore the silly rip off Aussie prices, sigh...
http://store.suspensionshop.org/suzuki/ ... -twin.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

I bloody hate rework...

A mate of mine is a builder. He always moans about something that in the trade is called ‘double handling’. This is where you have a product delivered or move something to a spot, and then instead of just using it you move it ‘cos it’s in the way before you get to use it. This usually refers to a pile of earth or sand or something, not a single brick or board as that’s fair game of course, but rather something that demands serious effort to shift around site.

I get what he’s saying, I hate having to redo something I’ve already laboured on. And the past few days I’ve been having to do just that.

A while back (few years now!) I sanded and painted the magnesium XT side cover with some kind of (PJ1?) heat resistant paint. It looked great but after about a year it started to flake off. I cleaned up the flaked area, feathered the edges and recoated locally and it looked ok, but a few months later it was peeling again, and a year or so on it looks like a Brit on their 3rd day on Bondi Beach. Damn...

Image

To be honest I’m really not sure why this cover peeled, I've painted lots of engine parts with these paints and they usually survive well. I can only think that magnesium and the paint weren’t friends, or I left some oxidisation under the paint in the old corroded areas or somehow moisture got under the paint and as anyone who has used magnesium knows these are mortal enemies - the MT250 engines suffered badly from moisture and most clutch covers for those bike are holed from water residue sitting in the motors while the bike was on the stand, causing porosity leading to oil leaks.

Anyway, how it got there is a moot point, it looked awful and let the rest of the bike down, so needed to be fixed.

Removing the XT500 clutch cover is a pain, and reminds me why I love the simplicity of my two strokes where you can lay a bike over and whip off the clutch cover and redo something if needed, but this is not so with the XT. The list of tasks runs (for the whole job) something like this:

1, kick starter off
2, foot peg off
3, uncouple rear brake (mine is a modified hydraulic system of course)
4, drain oil from engine
5, drain oil from frame
6, remove oil filter and cover
7, remove points cover
8, unclip the points wire from loom
9, remove points (mark them first)
10, Remove advance mechanism under points
11, remove ‘TDC window’ cover
12, remove all the bolts around the cover
13, Hold rear brake pedal down and pull off cover making sure to keep points drive in place
14, refit points drive spindle/gear {grumble}

And for repainting
15, remove oil ball valve
16, remove kick starter seal
17, blank off with bolts or remove the other parts / seals

I then cleaned up the whole cover with paint stripper (17) and blasting with glass (18). Once I could see any damage I refinished it (19) which is really easy with magnesium as its very soft, and then with yet another blast (20) I had a surface fit for paint.

This time I used VHTs heat resistant primer (21) as well as their satin black (22), both from the Engine Enamel range. Fingers crossed they stay on this time.

And of course reassemble the cover parts, points parts, fit new filter, fill with oil etc etc... Ive given up counting by now, but its around 30 tasks...

Image

The only part I needed to locate was a new kickstart seal but I didn’t like the feel of my kicker so it was time to think about cleaning that up or maybe repairing/renewing it... Watch this space...
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
vmxwinn
Posts: 469
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by vmxwinn »

I always use VHT engine enamel and have had good luck with it. I think you will be fine
85 Y/B, Toomey pipes, PWK 28's, JJH Needle #2, 45 pilot jet, 145 main, Pods, VForce 4 reed blocks, +3 ignition, Milled head 1.1mm squish, R6 Shock, Progressive

Many Vintage MX Bikes, 03 ZRX1200R, 86 Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans MK IV, 86 VFR 750, 74 GT 550
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

Yes me too... to be honest I may even have used VHT on this side case... I was just thinking out loud when I said PJ1, hmm... sadly I just dont remember now....

What I do know that I really don't want to be doing this one again, it was a lot of work for a bit o peeling paint :/
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

One of the things that I always wanted to redo (well more like finally finish to my satisfaction) was the fixings and brackets for the rear brake master cylinder.

To be honest, Ive ridden this bike and what I had was probably fine, but it wasn’t quite as solidly mounted as I would have liked, so since it's a safety item I tidied this up this week.

Of course, the pressure from the rear brake pedal doesn’t actually act on the body of the master cylinder, it only pushes the piston into the bore within the body, and since its contained buy stops if its setup right then it wont ever flex the mount and try to move the master, but belt n braces is always good with brakes.

But, I didn’t want any reason for the master cylinder to move off its alignment as that could mean the plunger binding as it pushes the piston, which could cause issues for the system; bad feel and locking up perhaps.

With this in mind I created a new bracket for the lower master cylinder mount, you may recall that the upper is bolted through the hole in the frame strengthening with a simple L bracket. All these hidden fixings are tough to get to and to fit, but its a neat solution from the outside.

Image

The new bracket was actually a modified version of the first bracket I made during my initial foray into fitting a rear hydraulic brake system to the XT. Back then I used the original KTM rear master (same base model Brembo but with the outlet on the top – ie really too tall due to the exhaust pipe) and bracketed it off the engine mount bolt. That was never planed to be a long term solution, it was just to prove the validity of the brake master location and led to the solution I have now which uses bespoke fixings from the frame only and the shorter Brembo unit. I also have a small heatshield over the top of the master as well to help protect it from the exhaust which I think I mentioned a while back.

With everything in place I rechecked and reset the pedal stop and tested the brake. Feels like factory, perfect. :)
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
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JonW
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Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by JonW »

Next up was the front brake caliper mount.

Originally I made this from solid steel plate, but it was really only a working mockup as I always planned to redo it in alloy since along the way I learnt a lot about what was needed and this bracket no longer ticked all the boxes, plus it was heavy.

Image

One thing I was never completely happy with was the sweep of the pads and wanted to investigate a slightly modified design by moving the caliper a little. This bracket now a one off fitting since no one does an aftermarket fitment for these old WP5060 forks any more. Back in the day you could get them for the 4 pots and also for the OEM caliper, I had one from Talon on my 98 620SC, but they now say they don’t have the design anymore. Sad really, its a CNC file, surely if they could find it they could just rerun the job and make me one... Pah! Worse still, Talon also make me deal with the local importer too and he doesn’t seem to be interested unless he has it in stock, shame really, Talon used to be my go to for wheel and brake parts for motards :/

Anyway, bought a block of 12mm alloy of a decent grade and proceeded to cut it down to a rough shape and then borrowed a mill to surface it down to the sizes needed for the caliper. Simple to do, just flat cuts, the outside was sculpted with my B&D powerfile etc.

When complete it was much lighter than the old one, as expected :)

Image

With the new mounting holes for the caliper, I also needed to grind a little off the back of the caliper, and may do a bit more as the spoke are quite close. Such is the life of modded bikes...

Brake works great now. Solid and dependable.

Image

Image

So tidied up the speedometer cable run while I was here, it was very angular and defo wouldn’t have lasted long in use.

All in all a good bit of work and ticked off a few more of my imaginary boxes. :)
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com
hondaror
Posts: 2828
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:44 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: My new project... XT500 supermoto

Post by hondaror »

Nice work!
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine
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