Swamp Donkey 2.0 Fat Tire Bikes Make the Rockin World Go Round'

Looks pretty damn good to me. That thing sis going to be a hoot to ride
 
I do enjoy a good mock up ;) My tire OD was smaller than on the original 18'' wheel so I was able to shorten my swing arm. From the pics it looks as if you could shorten a little if desired. Looks epic,
 
At second glance, I think you'd better be finding some good hardwood for those parts rather than that spruce, if you get into much mud and wet in your trail riding the durn things will warp and throw your geometry all off!

:rolleyes:
 
Say it ain't so.... ol Hurco is changing up the plans again.

About a month ago, @Mr.E found and procured for me a street titled xr400 with a sploded motor cheap as chips. That pulled the heart out of this project to be used to get that bike back on the road.

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The plan was to continue on with the fat tire bike, using my pile of xr500/600 stuff. I haven't gotten much done on that when another proverbial wrench was placed swiftly in the gears, but in a good way.

@Deviant1 , who ended up giving the first swamp donkey a better home than I, sent me a link to a crusty tw200 "fairly close" to him. My man jumped in the truck and went and grabbed it for me for a cool $100. He's also keeping the stock rear wheel with him in gulf shores for a project that I can only hope he posts up here on DTT when it happens. In another show of DTT networking awesomeness, my good friend @ridesolo is "fairly close" to deviant where he winters and will be delivering the bike to his home in about a week, which is only 20 min from my plane.
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Thanks a bunch gents!

Here she is. I'll know better when I get her home, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this thing will run easy enough once I get it home. Sure the xr600 powered bigwheel would have been rad, but I love the tw200 powerplant with its wide output shaft, making it not require a jackshaft to clear the wide rear tire. This one will be a bit different in appearance still, with closer to stock bodywork, but with upgraded forks, the disc front wheel and an extended swingarm.
 
...so darn fickle! Man, the guy changes his mind like some people change socks!

Me and a friend will be heading out in the morning for a quick trip over to Gulf Shores to "rescue" yet another Swamp Donkey.
 
OK, the deed has been done. Had a beautiful day for a trip from Mississippi into Alabama and back again; sun and hardly a cloud in the sky. @Deviant1 saw that we got to his location safely and assisted w/ the load up. We got a picture of us together w/ "John Baluchi" just to prove it really happened.

@Hurco550 will, assuredly, turn out another ride-worthy machine but he's got his work cut out for him. I took the front wheel off and discovered that somewhere along the way a length of all-thread had been used for a front axle and a pair of sockets used as spacers! (Ever see socket sets at flea markets that have sockets missing and wonder what happened to them? Now you know!)

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OK, the deed has been done. Had a beautiful day for a trip from Mississippi into Alabama and back again; sun and hardly a cloud in the sky. @Deviant1 saw that we got to his location safely and assisted w/ the load up. We got a picture of us together w/ "John Baluchi" just to prove it really happened.

@Hurco550 will, assuredly, turn out another ride-worthy machine but he's got his work cut out for him. I took the front wheel off and discovered that somewhere along the way a length of all-thread had been used for a front axle and a pair of sockets used as spacers! (Ever see socket sets at flea markets that have sockets missing and wonder what happened to them? Now you know!)

That front axle looked like something I would pull out of one of my rescues. Today I discovered that one of the 6mm holes for mounting the intake runners had been helicoiled. To a 6mm? No. 7mm? Try 5/16-18 and then they didn't even put a 5/16 -18 in it, but jammed in a 6mm!
 
I saw the allthread axle but missed the socket spacers! That bike has had a tough life. And someone gave up their favorite Macho Man t shirt around 1995 to make that rad seat cover.
 
The eagle has landed!

Pile o tw200, as procured and delivered by @Deviant1 and @ridesolo .

Jay Florida, to gulf shores Alabama to Galion Ohio! Thanks again gents!

I am officially committed to having to make something out of this.

Mrs. Ridesolo and Mrs. Hurco were battling for first place of who was most "impressed" by this fine looking piece of equipment.

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It needs some loving for sure. Subframe is a bit tweaked, pleny of oxidation and a bit of jb weld case repair, but I aint skeered.

Ive got a line on a neat front end setup, as the rmz450 forks will be excedingly to long. Ill wait until i actually procure them to make a post though, as to not jinx the deal.
 
I am starting to question of the taste of at least one missus, considering she refuses to drive the pure glory of an Astrovan. So, hopefully she becomes more "impressed" with time. LOL
 
I am starting to question of the taste of at least one missus, considering she refuses to drive the pure glory of an Astrovan. So, hopefully she becomes more "impressed" with time. LOL

She doesn't actually care, but she said something along the lines of "that one is pretty bad, even by your standards" lol

Hard to disagree with that statement...

Though... the astro van in a bit unforgivable...
 
Bit of bike market envy from the buttcrack of Canada where these things show up for sale never.
 
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