The free DT

A co-worked gave this bike to me 2 days ago. He finally pulled it out of the garage for the first time since 88. One owner bike. Motor was rebuild back in 88 and ridden once before it was put away to rot for the last 26 years. Pretty much completely original, not really missing anything. It is dirty and has some rust and pitting on the forks and piggy back res shocks but the wheels are in great shape minus a huge flat spot in the rear rim.

Not sure what my plans are for this thing yet but it only took a few hours of owning it to tear it down to the bare frame. I really need to go easy on this one as it's not like I have two other ground up XS650 builds that are bleeding me dry or anything. Two design concepts I have thus far:

1.) Japanese style influenced - lowered custom rear seat and frame tail section, 1-2" under shocks and rebuild / lower the forks, stock tank, wheels & brakes. Strip and de-tab frame, replace bearings and seals, some paint or powdercoat, polish the aluminum, bend up some bars and call it a day.

2.) Vintage trials style - fab / modify a TY style seat and rear tail to fit the DT. Rebuild forks and shocks, stock tank, wheels and brakes. Strip and de-tab frame, replace bearings and seals, some paint or powdercoat, polish the aluminum, bend up some bars and call it a day.

Either way I think Im going to fit a DT1 style exhaust to the 360 as the stock crossover one is horrible. Love that huge grill style heat shield.

After tuesday evening this is how she sat:

Wednesday night: Frame and swingarm stripped and cleaned. Forks completely disassembled, cleaned, and ready for new seals and oil. Popped the flywheel cover and it looks like this thing was submerged in water at some point. Haven't had a chance to pull it to assess the rust damage. Drained the oil...looks brand spanking new.

So over the last ten days I have managed to degrease / clean / strip just about every part on the DT. Still working on cleaning up the engine but things are coming along. In the process of polishing parts which is rather slow.

Stock seat pan was in pretty bad shape. After a couple acid etch baths and some abrasives it looks better. Began cutting down the stock seat foam as a mockup for the shape I want. Once I get the form right I will duplicate it from some rebond. Think I will end up fabbing up the pan from scratch as the original pan will be more trouble than it's worth to modify.







Seat is starting to take shape.


Threw on some bars I originally made for the XS650 spare parts build.

What bars are those?

fury413rb said:

What bars are those?

Click to expand...

He made them himself for his XS build.

Yeah had some 7/8" tubing laying around so I made those a few weeks back. Little too narrow for the 650 but they seem just right for the DT.


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I'd vote for vintage trials style and will look forward to seeing photos of whatever you decide to do with it!

Not much in way of progress. Waiting on parts right now so I've been working on the other bikes lately.

Decided on the trials theme direction before I realized the Ty seat pans are nearly impossible to find. After some more thought I will be keeping this build as more of a restoration than anything else...with a few subtle modifications:

- Custom seat pan and lower profile seat. Still plan to utilize the flip up style for electronics tray access.

- Pre 74 high pipe adapted to fit the 360. Might build a custom expansion chamber modeled after the high pipe at some point.

- 12v with modern electronics and led tail.

Possibly shorten the rear fender or have one made to match the bike.






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It looks like you should put huge wheels on it and drop the frame on top of them. I think that bike would be sick that way. found this pic, kinda the look i mean

NakedWing82 said:

It looks like you should put huge wheels on it and drop the frame on top of them. I think that bike would be sick that way. found this pic, kinda the look i mean

Click to expand...

Yeah I love the boardtrack look...someday.

Time for an update:

Been busy disassembling and cleaning everything and finally starting to put stuff back together.

Hubs / spokes polished and wheels laced up:





Also got the frame stripped and free of rust



Engine cleaned, cases polished, and cylinder head painted



I originally planned on having all the chassis parts powdercoated but seeing as how I am currently limited on funds I decided to paint instead. I have some black dupont polyurethane basecoat that should work well.

Primed:



After two coats:

That's coming along great! I wish a deal like that would swing my way. I like the skinny tank.

Paint and clearcoat are done on the chassis parts. It's a really high gloss but it turned out pretty good.

Tank and fender still need to be addressed.

Let's see how the assembly process goes...








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Got the paint stripped on the sheet metal and started the paint prep. Lots of little dings but nothing some good ole bondo can't hide.





Started the assembly process.











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uuuuhh im gonna sit there and watch...pure yam porn!!!

Alright. I'm on board.

Yeah,
It looks OKAY
I guess





Badass amigo

looks great man. I would like to maybe do something like this with my KL250.

Thanks guys. This bike is still having an identity crisis at this point. I keep going back and forth from trials style, vintage tracker, and bone stock...

I'm leaning towards stock. The wheels look fantastic.