A bike I tried to forget I had... XL500R

[JonW]

Once upon a time I didnt own an RD or and RZ and I was still reasonably new to Aus and its climate. Back then I needed a project as I had just sold my second (and final) Caterham (an R300)... so I bought the first thing I saw that amused me, which was overpriced tat if i am honest. It was this...

(beware it looks ok in the pics... it would only just run and bear in mind that you dont know what I paid for it LOL)















Sadly these are rare bikes, which makes owners think they are worth something, really theyre ok, but nothing special like say an XT500, and prices are not high, they are just few and far between...

[JonW]

What did i get myself into... hmmm... well this is why it didnt like to run..



With that cleaned out I did ride it and test the gears and it seemed to work, the drum brakes were scary tho... LOL!

Well... this is a 'one year bike' in most countries and the first of the mono shocks for Honda. I always wanted one when I was a kid, I had an MT50 and the MTX50 was based on the Pro-Link XLs... which were a whole range, 125R, 250R and 500R... and the XRs followed suit... but with disk brakes on some models and more powerful motors.

One year bike... sounds ok... but it means that parts, especially bodywork are long NLA. I stripped the bike and asesed it, and then started searching for parts. That search took me round the world and most of the parts weren't that great. After I wasted a lot of money and time (and had bought a KTM to use on the road) I was searching ebay one day and found the black RZ I bought that brought me here... and the XL then went to the back of the garage in boxes and I thought little more about it, other than letting the ebay searches run.

Early on, when i was still excited, I did pick up a 1985 XR250 front end complete so that I could do a disk brake conversion - the original XL front wheel actually had a rotted tyre and perforated alloy rim! ...and I did get some carb parts and a rear light, plus I also did repaint the engine and fixed the leak from one of the rockers and a few other things etc but by then my heart wasn't really in it anymore... Id overspent and it was still a mess...

Very occasionally I would buy something, parts are slow to come up, especially bodywork, and I watched other people's bikes sell in nice condition for less than this one owed me... sigh. Ebay finds included a headlight mask in aftermarket bright yellow (what that whole bike would have looked like I can only imagine!) from Austria, a NOS side panel from Italy and a NOS tank from Germany... both in white, and both not actually NOS... bloody ebay. Both were once fitted to bikes, probably in the showroom and were 'warranty replacements'. The tank has a small ding, from a static tumble) in it which sadly has split the paint, and the side panel has an almost broken off locating tab. And there were many more tales of parts procurement like this, but they were bought as and when they came up and when I could be bothered to bid... LOL!

[JonW]

The other problem with this bike was that I didnt think I had done a great job on any of the bits I had done. {hangs head in shame}. The frame was painted with a can after wire wheel and rust eating fluid and looked ok, but patchy. The frame also has a crappy repair from a crash on the muffler side at the far end of the subframe and I should have sorted that out before moving on, another reason I didnt continue the build. The seat had been repaired by me and recovered, but you could see the repair under the cover and i was told to use a bin-bag under the cover, and you could hear it wrinkle if you pressed it. I couldnt fully remove the fork bottoms and as time was short gave up on them, and didnt ever fit the new seals... So many reasons to not continue, but there was more... i still didnt have an original rack or muffler. The muffler i could get a copy version from NZ or a real used one from somewhere like the usa (as I had done with the header), but the rack was impossible. Absolutely this bike was in the too hard box...

The past few months with the discussion about historic registration I realised a couple of things. 1, I had a 1982 bike that i could rebuild standard enough for a club to be ok with it, and one that would be ok for cheap transport locally on historic plates, and 2, I didnt actually have to do it beautiful, i could reuse most of what I had. and, 3, Id finally get rid of some clutter around the garage...

I figured 2 out as by now I had pretty much 2 of the hard to find parts like the rear shock linkage (plain bearings, grrr!), bodywork etc.

But then this weekend something bizarre happened. My ebay search threw up a bunch of XL500R parts, and they were about 5km from my house. One listing had a great original seat and one a very usable set of front and rear guards (both mine were trashed or cut) and that set also included the hard to find OEM rack! Mine was some aftermarket thing as I reckon the OEM one was trashed in whatever accident bent the subframe. I emailed the seller and after a chat we agreed a deal... which also included his usable side panels and an OEM muffler! How bizarre that he had all the parts that I needed... and so close to home!

I picked the parts (plus some extras like footpegs) up on Sunday for what was probably the going rate, no bargains with parts like that for an XLR, and the seller and I chatted XLR's... He had bought a very tidy bike and then done what he wanted with it. He fitted 73/4 CR250 Elsinore side panels, alloy front and rear guards and an SR500 seat, and finished it with a Supertrapp muffler and some larger pitbike pegs. He bike looked very good and he loved it.

So... question was what to do now...

[JonW]

So while I was deciding I pulled out the swingarm from a box that i could see from my bench in the garage, and punched out the collar and bearings... Naturally the collar is long NLA from Honda and mine was rusty and marked where it had sat with weight on the rusty needle rollers, of course... has anyone ever pulled one that wasn't I wonder?!

Interestingly, the swingarm bearings looked very familiar and after a quick search I found I had a set in my spares box...wow! With some google'ing on the collar part number I found someone listing one as a NOS part, and amazingly, and it was a guy in NSW, Aus! A few emails later and I've actually bought the last two ever in the world from his spares stash, I'll keep the other for a bit in case I need it, having a dead collar would mean an unusable bike, so its always a shame that mfrs delete these parts, theyre not easy to make as theyre hardened as they form the inner bearing race. Ive actually been lucky with NLA Honda swingarm collars, the MT ones are also long NLA and I found the last two in the world of those as well when I did them from a US seller that time (the MT has two types if you ever rebuild one, they are dimensionally the same, but one is 2mm longer, go figure!).

Now I've been told that both good and bad luck will also 'come in threes'... so maybe this is the end of the good luck (parts being local, bearings being in my stash, and NLA collar not only available but also in the same state as me), or maybe this is just a sign that this bike should now be built up... hmm.... what do you think?

[JonW]

The silence says to me that you're not impressed LOL!

So, Since I wrote the last bit Ive remembered some things...

When i got it home the stand seemed a bit long as the bike didnt sit right on it... I pulled out the suspension pump and immediatly saw that one fork was zero... I pumped it up. Then started on second fork leg and found that it was -1... eek! I pumped it and suddenly the bike jumped up as the forks lifted a good inch! It then stood correctly on the stand and wasnt about to topple every time you walk past. Obviously these hadnt seen any air for a very long time... hmm...

When i took the carb off it was remarkably clean inside with minimal wear. Some of the jets and passages were blocked or narrowed with dirt but a clean had it looking better. The only part that was a worry was the accelerator pump diaphragm which whilst not ripped or cracked wasnt in the best flush of health, not helped by a bit of rust on its shaft that came from the water that had got into the chamber which also pitted the carb body. The clean was a huge improvement at least and with a new filter I felt that it should run better. I decided to bolt everything back on and test the bike up and down my driveway before doing a full dismantle ready for painting and new parts

So I added new high octane fuel and kicked like a demon. It was better and could tell it wanted to run but something was holding it back. It would fire and die... a lot.... sigh. With these big singles I find that it's always a bit of an art to get the choke right and you need experience of the actual bike itself, theyre all different. So with no idea if it needed more of less choke I was kicking in the dark really. It almost went a lot of times, but didnt... Even tried rolling it down the hill of the driveway, in 4th or 5th and with decomp lever in and then drop the decomp lever instead of the clutch... but the compression just locked the rear wheel... big thumpers are like that... recalcitrant buggers! lol.

Then it decided it wasnt firing anymore at all... grr... I ripped it apart again and tested the spark at the plug... precisely none... Pulled the plug and it wasnt seated properly.. wtf?! Tried to test the coil with a meter but couldnt get a reading that I wanted compared to the manual. Clipped the HT lead ends and remade the connections. Cleaned up the plug and re-installed it. 3rd kick it started and idle'd! Wahooooo!

Went for a quick blast up the driveway and tried first 3 gears, played with the idle and ignored the looks from the neighbours, it was quite loud. Seems the lack of running was a combination of things, dirty carb, pathetic airbox maintenance and also old oxidised connections on the HT lead. I let it run for a while to get warm.

Amusingly the big vibes and the short rides through the gears with hard braking ('interesting' with that drum front!) started a cascde of dust and dirt where I had not bothered to clean it yet, leading me to think that the bike may not actually have been run much (if at all) since it was caked in mud, probably a good thing... who ever owned it really didnt have much of a clue!

In case people were wondering; I think the silver colour scheme was probably Europe and Aus only though, but I could be wrong... same thing with the tacho I think, I know the US didnt get tachometers on theirs.

And yes... The headlight on this has been messed with, its some bizarre square thing that a previous owner fitted and then cut-n-shut (and filled with car filler! ...like that was ever gonna work on a viby big single!) the original round aperture plastic shroud to fit... if only he knew how rare those are now... long NLA at Honda and ive not seen one come up for sale for 3-4years.

Im kinda thinking this might be a very quick build if i did it cheaply and just used what i have, no repainting other than cans and only replacing things like bearings and seals on the chassis... or i could powder the frame/swinger and rack and then leave the rest... tempting...

[JonW]

No one seems that bothered about even chiming in on this thread, but I will carry on building the bike I guess...

Ordered steering and wheel bearings and started to put the frame back together. One thing about old Hondas from this era is that the bolts were rubbish, Suzukis were the same. On this bike I failed to undo one of the bolts holding the airbox to the frame and brass captive nut ended up spinning in the plastic of the airbox. Today I finally freed the blind nut and refitted it by using heat to melt the plastic back round the nut to lock it in place. I refitted the airbox with new OEM filter (came oiled which was nice) and a new seal.

I also repaired one of the captive bolts that a PO had snapped off the speedo case. This time I gently drilled up into the case, tapped the plastic and the Araldite'd a stud with a nut in place - the nut does up, smearing the glue into its threads and also against the flat of the case holding the stud straight, and then the rest of the glue sets round the nut. Should hold it.

I also added the OEM (and now NLA from Honda) 'Pro-Link TM' stickers to the repainted swingarm, I bought those from my Honda dealer back in early 2008. eek. I then tapped in the new bearings, refitted the grease nipple and fitted one of the very last NOS OEM (now NLA) swingarm collars that I found locally. I bought both and will sell the spare one on.

I also took the decision to go with standard for the front end at this time, so it will be fun to ride a bike with drum brakes front and back... I do have a complete 85 XR250 disk brake front end that is basically a bolt onto this bike, but really it needs a new new rim, tho I have rebuilt the brake already.

Next job is forks, but one of the fork boots is perished... and yet again this is a "MC4" only (1982 XL500R & 1982/3 XL250R) part so long NLA... Ive got feelers out but its not looking good at the mo :/

And it looks like in the 2 house moves since i stripped this bike Ive managed to lose the left and right handlebar switches. Tho, I did locate the clock bracket and the throttle parts in my 'generic spares' box, so Im hopeful the switches have not gone too far as only the right one is available these days... of course...

[Morty]

Reading with interest just nothing constructive to add, keep posting

[steveloomis]

I guess we are all so involved with our own 2 strokes, we don't have that much to say about your 4stroke. I am about to commence working on my '86 XT600. Replaced all plastic and graphics so that is new, this year i am going to clean carbs, replace all oil seals and a little engine painting to sharpen it up. Head and cylinder will probably come off to verify cam tensions/followers, cam chain condition as well as cylinder and rings. Adding new sprockets and DID X-Ring chain. Hopefully all else is well. Bike only has approximately 15k miles or so. Bought it new way back then....

[JonW]

Thanks for chiming in guys, Its good to know that Im not talking to myself... I'm not actually mad... really! (?) ;)

Great to hear you have an XL as well Steve, and fantastic to know you bought it new. Sadly I dont own anything I bought back in the day, but of course I have also moved country a good few times since then as well.

Will try and get some pics today of the things I manage to do. Ideally Id like to whack this bike back together and have it in one piece and then decide what to do with it. With a bunch more googling I found another NLA part last night, a small plastic dashboard cover, its stuff like that that makes it all worthwhile... but there are still a few parts that I need that I just cannot locate as yet, sigh... Unloved one year bikes...

[steveloomis]

At one time I had an XL500, 82 or 83 year model or so. I liked it but it had an oil leak from the rocker box that I could not stop. I think it was warped a little and there were NOT enough bolts to fully pull it tight as it should have been.

My XT600 is only seaping oil from OLD seals so I am anxious to get her dry again and add a little cylinder paint plus buff the edges shiny again...

[JonW]

Interesting you say that Steve, the rocker box leak is one of the things everyone mentions on these. Amusingly mine didnt leak there, it leaked from the rocker pin seals. Ive done those, so it will be interesting to see now that ive disturbed it all if it leaks now, hmm...

[Off Road]

The silence says to me that you're not impressed LOL!
.

Hi Jon.
It's not that I was unimpressed, it's more like I was.....uninterested.

It's a 4 stroke, and it's a dirtbike.
My mother always told me to stay away from them, because they're dangerous.
You could fall off and hurt yourself.

However, I did read through your posts last night, and I must say, your posts are well thought out, very informative, and nicely written.
I certainly get an good understanding of the difficulties & obstacles that you are facing trying to restore this bike.
I also developed a mild curiosity about the bike, so I checked Kijiji to see if any were for sale in Alberta.
I only found one listing for an XL500. It was a 79 model and he was asking $1999.00.

Anyway, you've got me hooked now, and I'll be tuning in to see all the pictures of your progress. (hint, hint).
I wish you the best of success with the bike.

[steveloomis]

Interesting, I had not heard that the rocker box leak is pretty common. I can see why as it was poorly engineered. Other than that I loved the way it felt and the power it had. The low seat height helped with my short legs as well. It is gone now and I have to tippy toe my XT600 Yam... Love it too....

[JonW]

The silence says to me that you're not impressed LOL!
.

Hi Jon.
It's not that I was unimpressed, it's more like I was.....uninterested.

It's a 4 stroke, and it's a dirtbike.
My mother always told me to stay away from them, because they're dangerous.
You could fall off and hurt yourself.

However, I did read through your posts last night, and I must say, your posts are well thought out, very informative, and nicely written.
I certainly get an good understanding of the difficulties & obstacles that you are facing trying to restore this bike.
I also developed a mild curiosity about the bike, so I checked Kijiji to see if any were for sale in Alberta.
I only found one listing for an XL500. It was a 79 model and he was asking $1999.00.

Anyway, you've got me hooked now, and I'll be tuning in to see all the pictures of your progress. (hint, hint).
I wish you the best of success with the bike.

This is one of my favourite posts ever!

(the 79 is a twin shock, its the previous model to this one, an XL500S, lower seat but basically the same engine.)

pics... er... yeah... I'll have a look... LOL

[JonW]

Interesting, I had not heard that the rocker box leak is pretty common. I can see why as it was poorly engineered. Other than that I loved the way it felt and the power it had. The low seat height helped with my short legs as well. It is gone now and I have to tippy toe my XT600 Yam... Love it too....

I did read online of one guy saying proudly that the bike he bought didnt leak oil at all... about a month later he found out why, it had no oil in it and it seized on him. ooof!

Low seat? you sure it wasnt a twin shock model? this 82 is massive... unless youre over 6ft? I reckon its the same as an XT6, something like 35inches IIRC.