The 520 Chain Cafe: June 2011

6/21/11

XT stuff

I've been doing some more work on my yard sale find XT500. The plan was to make a no frills road bike. Basically just a stripped down stock XT, but set up just for pavement use. I'd made a few missteps along the way, like going with mag wheels and disc brakes front and rear, when it's really better off with a drum rear and spoke wheels. I'd looked at several seat options, including using an old GS750 rear cowl, but I'm going to use a stock seat.

As I got it...

...and this afternoon.

I'm going to recover this stock XT seat. The stock rear fender I don't care for though, so I went through the parts stash and found this one I like. It's from an old Yamaha Maxim, and is a nice fit on the XT. I'll make a tag and light mount for it, and it'll be painted white. There's a new VM carb and some other stuff on the way also, so I should be making good progress on the bike.

6/19/11

Zephyr 1100

http://www.bagus-mc.jp/

TW200

source

6/17/11

23

http://bikelife.nifty.com/cs/catalog/bikelife_bike-event/catalog_101122041839_1.htm

6/16/11

Bridgestone

http://www.bridgestonemotorcycle.com

6/14/11

exhaust painting

I got the XT exhaust painted. I used Rust-Oleum flat black 2000 degree paint, which I've had great results with before. It's about $8 a can at Autozone, and also comes in silver and white. The key is to sand blast first, which gives a rough surface allowing the paint to make a mechanical connection. I then let it slow bake in the sun all day.

6/13/11

MX250

source

XT500

I've been seriously slacking on my project XT. I'd been making good progress, but got side tracked by a few other projects. Anyway...
I welded up an exhaust for it today. I'd planned on using a nice SR500 header I'd bought, but it ended up on my SR, so I put this together. I sand blasted it and should be painting it tomorrow. The end cap for the "muffler", if you want to call it that, is part of an old car clutch throw-out bearing. I think it looks pretty neat.

6/12/11

today

Colin Edwards

The Texas Tornado gets a podium finish at Silverstone 9 days after breaking his collarbone in 7 places. That's bad ass right there.

source

6/10/11

54

http://blog.livedoor.jp/factoryr54/

6/8/11

Reynal

http://www.reynal.jp/

http://reynalworks.blogspot.com/

6/7/11

Upcoming Indiana area events

Mid-America Motorcycle Speedway flat track racing June 18th in Indianapolis

Moville Groundshakers Fathers Day Motorcycle Race - Bunker Hill Dragstrip on June 19

Indiana Flat Track Association season opener June 25th at Columbus, Indiana

Bunker Hill Speedway flat track racing July 2nd

HotRods N' Hillbillies July 30th Nashville, Indiana - go to
http://graveldraggers.com/ for information

MotoGP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - August 25-28