Honda Xr350r Street tracker

[catsy]

Bought this XR from a bloke in newcastle for cheap regoed, was very pleased with it, performed well,
serviced regularly and recent top end rebuild HOWEVER, the bike was primarily used around a property
and thus aesthetically its was pretty rough.
This is how i got it

Its a flattering photo, but there was surface rust on the rims
a messy weld on the frame holding the aftermarket muffler
sun fading to the seat and tank decals (as well as pealing)
deep scratches to most of the plastic
the clutch cable was fraying badly and a the headlight was held on with
zip ties.
This all said 2 priming kicks, and 1 good hard one and she fires up everytime.
The idea with this build is to increase the bike performance and appearance,
keeping all original parts safe somewhere to leave resto as a possibility as these get harder to come by.
this will be a fairly slow build as its my rider, so ill be aiming to have it good to go again after each days work

 

[catsy]

i gave the bike a pressure hose wash down to remove the caked up dirt.
I also painted the front fender side covers and mudguard as they were the worst
affected by sun bleached as well as bends/scratches. the paint is a light coat more to mock up
a look and is easy removable from resto perspective.
I wrapped the header pipes, which gave it a surprisingly deeper not
as well as a matte black mock up on the the top end.
This is how it sat in the street

parts wise, ive ordered
- K&N airfilter
- K&N crankcase breather
- NOS decals
- a new capped tracker style headlight
- a new set of indicators
- new clutch cable


in the works is a Staintune exhaust off a WR400 and a harley sportster small tank
(the current tank is in relatively good shape and i think id rather just clean it, put on new decals and put it aside)
and a honda XL 1982 seat that ill be recovering/chopping.

 

[catsy]

inspiration bikes!

 

[nedmmo]

nice one mate. im currently into a 84 XL350r build.
thanks for those two bikes...i havent seen them before and have given me some inspiration for my front fender.

 

[compoundcycles]

Awesome, I've been wanting to do a project with a bike exactly like this. Please post lots. Good luck with the build.

 

[catsy]

picked up a staintune exhaust (used)
honda xl250 seat and got a new headlight!
will post picks tomorrow when its good to go

 

[compoundcycles]

Loking forward to photos

 

[catsy]

Hey sorry for the wait
Its in serious ugly duckling mode but you can get an idea of where im going with it!

The vinyl just wrapped around it im gonna properly upholster it later but there ya go

 

[nedmmo]

man the xr forks are long compared to the xl!

but looking good mate. loving the 3 indicator...that will show the ADR ahha

 

[catsy]

today i dropped the front fork height by 350mm to change the stance a little.
but ive been think about subbing in a different front wheel all together.
iv thought of turning it into some sort of oldschool rat motard
with a big front drum on an 18" wheel. question is what tires.
im not really familiar with how tire sizing works exactley when moving away from stock sizes.

eg if i had a 17" rim 90/90 3.00 - what is the biggest tire i could fit on it effectively?

 

[catsy]

will upload photos tomorrow but its looking a lot better!
in regards to the tire question scratch th 19".
is there such thing as a fat 21" tire?

 

[ako]

There is a chart that has been posted on this forum. It has the tyre combinations that work for each rim width. You will need to search, I can't find it on my mobile device....

 

[catsy]

as it sits with the lowered forks .
Trying to hunt down a mini metal fender of an old dirtbike but not much luck so far.

 

[nedmmo]

this is the front fender I stumbled upon. dimensions are perfect if your looking on ebay for something
http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=200925086079
gone rogue or in the shed

 

[catsy]

what a gem! haha to find a good fender you need to sift through hundreds of aftermarket plastics bit of a drag.
i thought while im here may aswell post my pretty, but out grown cafe which was my everday rider for the past two years!

 

[nedmmo]

yep that was my prize after a week solid of trawling through the crap! fits perfect with a couple of spacers under the triples on the back two bolts to tilt it away from from the down tube.

like the cafe...what is she?

 

[scrambledpegs]

Ha 81 gsx ive got the same bike that I am battling with to get on the road. Dont see many of these little gems. Good luck with the build

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bert Jan]

On XL500's you can swap a rear rim to the front if you have a spare rear wheel. Spokes from the rear wheel and spokes from the old front wheel combined are exact the right size.
Not sure if that counts for XR as well, but a smaller front wheel would be sooo much better visually and technically!