need ideas for 79 XR500

cbrianroll

Coast to Coast
here it is, cleaned carb runs good! Woo hoo! Now what to do with it?? Kinda think it'd be fun to make it more street friendly. Anyone got any ideas?
 

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you need a different frame not much you can do with that the steering neck is very high
dont try to change it its a great bike for a dual sport and plenty streetable
why do you think its not streetable ?
those engines are highly sought after by the vintage flat track crowd
you could do a framer look at them on vft.org
 
By More street friendly I was thinking tires and signals. I haven't really researched them yet and figured this model was made for off road only and may need suspension work or something done I'm not familiar with yet.
 
cxman said:
"Now what to do with it??"

sell it to me


LOL! I think we're quite a ways apart! I'm in Washington....unless you plan on driving through sometime soon. Are these that sought after?? It fell into my lap, wasn't looking for a new project....funny how that works. Are you on the cx500 forum also?
 
i am murrayf on the cx forum

thay are not that rare i just really like them lol
 
I wouldn't ditch the frame. Here's a really neat one that looks more streetable and shows the potential of the bike: http://www.bikebound.com/2015/08/13/1982-honda-xr500r-tracker/
This guys seems to have raised the front end but thanks to the smaller wheels, the visual balance of the bike is still intact. of course, he also has a modern aluminum swingarm.
Those are cheap, and if I were you and had some fabrication skills I would think about the swingarm conversion first because of the benefits of a single rear shock. Then I would look into the forks and front wheel because what's on there now is a monster that's not gonna be great for the street. Looks like 23 inches. Even going to a 19 will level out the high steering neck problem.
 
Keep it as a big traillie, but rebuild it in the style of British 'scramblers' of the fifties and sixties.
 

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Thanks guys,....sorry I hadn't responded sooner, I've actually been working instead of checking in here ha ha
 
Been a while with this one, haven't touched it since then. So I'm looking for parts and not having much luck, anyone know what is compatible for the motor? Timing chain, guides, etc...i either gotta sell it or fix...thanks

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