XL600 Tracker

[CurtisR]

Alright guys. After a few weeks of lurking, I thought I'd post up my build thread.

I started looking for bikes last year, I knew I wanted a thumper.
This was the first one I looked at...

It wasn't exactly all there and had a nasty oil leak. I also wanted a clean slate to work on.
Last Memorial Day a much cleaner bike popped up on Craigs.

I dig the 80's colours, but wasn't a fan of the stickers. I rode it all last summer and started wrenching once school started. I've been working on the bike on and off. I'm in college, so I'll try my best to update the project as much as I can.

 

[VonYinzer]

Im excited to see what happens here... Always wanted an XL600. Its begging to get the full flat track treatment.

 

[BIG E]

I am on board good wrenching

 

[Mark in Seattle]

Go crazy on it! Just finished my 76 XL250, but I'd love to do a monoshock next -


3-4 rear.edit by Mary Mack & Mark, on Flickr

 

[CurtisR]

Thanks guys!
My first post was a little vague. So, a little bit of an introduction.
The name's Curtis (obviously), I'm located in Washington and currently go to WSU.
This is my first time taking on a project of this scale.
I started getting interested in street trackers last year and started collecting pictures for ideas.
Luckily I found this clean of a bike to start on, it's a 1986 XL600.

I always get a good laugh seeing the kickstarter label, as if we didn't know...

Like I said earlier, I've been working on and off for a year now on the bike. My goal is to have her up and running by June. I'll start posting the project pics tomorrow or Friday.

 

[CurtisR]

Go crazy on it! Just finished my 76 XL250, but I'd love to do a monoshock next -

Thanks man! Good to know there's a fellow Washingtonian here. You got one sexy bike.
Monoshocks are nice. Until you have to figure out a setup for pods/foam filters... lol

 

[Mark in Seattle]

Ha its not really Curtis - I just used the "sexy" filters in photoshop! I almost did an XL500 mono but kickstarting those big thumpers is gnarly - have fun, looking forward to your build

 

[CurtisR]

I was sure to start the tear down with a stocked beer fridge...

Just a heads up, most of my pics are from my iPhone. They probably wont be the best quality.lol
After thinking about where to start and humming the Monster Garage theme song I started wrenching.

Notice how the PBR matches perfectly with the 80's colour combo.

In these pics you can see how much of a pain the air/battery box was.

I was going to be swapping in a new smaller shock, so the old one came out. This also helped with the air/battery box.
Don't mind all the clutter (or the cinder blocks) in the background. My parents don't have a garage and I was cooped up in their shed.
She kind of looked all sad with her wires dangling down. But she was about to get a fresh new look.

In the next update I'll post all the parts I ordered and my plans for them.

 

[CurtisR]

I got the majority of these parts before college had started, so I was able to get them on the bike. Most of it was for mock up reasons.

This box of goodies was from a motorcycle scrap yard, The Cycle Barn, in Moscow. The sell a bunch of stuff on ebay and are great guys to work with. I ordered a 17" rear rim from a XR250, a Xl200 rear shock, and some Pro Taper handlebars. I really wanted this thing low.

Here's a comparison of the stock shock (blue) and the XL200 shock (red).

Here's the comparison of the 17" XR250 rear rim to the stock 21" front wheel. Basically the poor mans method of getting an Excel like setup.lol

A week or two later the XRWO fender/seat from Omar's Dirt Track Racing came. Another great company to work with. Here it is just laying on top the frame. I knew it was going to require some cutting up to fit, which I wasn't looking forward to. (I'll have some better pics of it up later)

I also got a good laugh opening up the box. I got some nice Tootsie Rolls along with my fender!lol

 

[CurtisR]

Next up was getting the front rim laced/trued. I was able to find someone local to do this. Although I wish I would've done it by myself as I need to learn. Maybe on the next project...

Here's the front rim getting painted.

It actually looks pretty close to the stock gold.

The front rim all done.

I also put the XL200 shock in. Getting that low low look (with awesome teal handlebars on...)

After getting a new front tyre I was able to roll her around. I also hiked the forks up a little bit.

This was the point where school had started, so she pretty much stayed the same for a while.

 

[SONICJK]

Looks good!
Are you going to have ANY rear travel with the shock that short?
Seems like your tire is about to eat your rear subframe before you even put weight on it?

 

[fuggers]

Apart from the steering being weird,how are you going to stop the subframe from shredding the rear tire? The shock is way to short.

This is what I was thinking, look how close that is without a rider.

 

[CurtisR]

haha woops.
I guess I should've said this before I posted the pics.
But, yes I will be cutting the rear subframe and modifying it for clearance.
Trust me, I know it wouldn't be a good idea to ride it like it is.

Thanks for the concern!

 

[CurtisR]

Once school had started I didn't have much time to work on her.
But while everyone else was down in Mexico celebrating springbreak properly, I took the tracker over to a good friends so we (I say we, but I was mostly watching.) could work on getting the seat/fender mounted.

We started by cutting the rear subframe off.

Then we ground down the old mounting points.

After getting the frame smoothed down, we mounted the gas tank to see where we could weld the subframe on.

Here is the subframe welded back on, after being cut down.

And finally, here is where she stands currently.

Like I said earlier this paint combo is growing on me. But I'm definitely painting the engine.
I'm still up in the air about using the stock gas tank. I'm considering looking for something else.
Do you guys have any suggestions/input?

 

[PHeller]

That fork needs dropped considerably before you'll get even remotely decent handling. I'd say if you drop the fork 3-4", you'll then need to raise the rear again in order to get the frame off the ground.

What I'd do is take the springs out of the fork and let it compress almost completely, and snap a picture from the side. Remove the fork boots as well, you can always put them on later after you've got it dialed in travel wise.

 

[mrwolf]

dude no offense, but that thing won't handle very well. if you want a low down look, get a slightly longer rear shock and move the rear sub-frame further down over the tire. that rear shock is just too short to work properly.

 

[Bert Jan]

Exactly what they said. Your bike will ride shit this way. Really don't wanna be a bitch and i think it's cool of you to dig in this way, but i personally think you should have read (learned) about geometry and such before raping a perfecly nice XL. Cause to my opinion, that's what you're doing to it...

 

[andycafe]

If your gonna keep the front end like that I think you need to go back to the 21" front?

 

[Bert Jan]

Nope. a larger front rim will increase the angle of the forks even more. Keep the small wheel.

i strongly recommend placing the original spring back in the bike and lower the forks by sliding them thru the tripples a little. (3 or 4 inhes)

edit; what pHeller said

 

[andycafe]

i was just looking at it from a looks point of veiw, front just seems like the rear wheel of a penny farthing to me? Bit lost out there? Love from the headset back though.......