XT500 Cafe Racer

[Pete12]

Lately I've been pretty keen to build an XT500 cafe racer in the form of a TD/TR3 Yamaha. I have an old xt500 motor in the shed and remembered that I had a mate who had an XT500 frame that he wasn't using. Unfortunately that memory was around 10 years ago so on the off chance that he still had it I called him up and, lo and behold, it was still hanging up in his shed. He lives close to the ocean (about 1/8 mile away) so it was a little rusty, fork tubes mainly, but still in good shape and nice and straight. After many brown ales I finally took it home and got it up on the bench so I could work out all the details. I plan on using the 18" twin leading front brake wheel that was a spare from my CB450 tracker project and a 17" rear wheel from an XT250. I will get the forks re-chromed and use a set of XS750 fork sliders so that I can use the mudguard brackets to hold the mudguard, and one of the disc mounts can be used to hold the stay for the front brake. I have a set of old clip-ons that I have bored out to 36mm to fit the forks and I made up a new top crown to alleviate the issue with the XT500 handlebar mounts and instrument brackets. I have lowered the bike considerably but still managed to maintain a fork angle of around 29 degrees and around 4" of trail. The swingarm is still below horizontal so it all should work OK. I am hoping that Teazer sees this post and advises me of the rear set positioning so that I can make them up and put them in the correct spot.

 

[Maritime]

Lately I've been pretty keen to build an XT500 cafe racer in the form of a TD/TR3 Yamaha. I have an old xt500 motor in the shed and remembered that I had a mate who had an XT500 frame that he wasn't using. Unfortunately that memory was around 10 years ago so on the off chance that he still had it I called him up and, lo and behold, it was still hanging up in his shed. He lives close to the ocean (about 1/8 mile away) so it was a little rusty, fork tubes mainly, but still in good shape and nice and straight. After many brown ales I finally took it home and got it up on the bench so I could work out all the details. I plan on using the 18" twin leading front brake wheel that was a spare from my CB450 tracker project and a 17" rear wheel from an XT250. I will get the forks re-chromed and use a set of XS750 fork sliders so that I can use the mudguard brackets to hold the mudguard, and one of the disc mounts can be used to hold the stay for the front brake. I have a set of old clip-ons that I have bored out to 36mm to fit the forks and I made up a new top crown to alleviate the issue with the XT500 handlebar mounts and instrument brackets. I have lowered the bike considerably but still managed to maintain a fork angle of around 29 degrees and around 4" of trail. The swingarm is still below horizontal so it all should work OK. I am hoping that Teazer sees this post and advises me of the rear set positioning so that I can make them up and put them in the correct spot.



View attachment 237672


View attachment 237673


View attachment 237674

cool

 

[Pete12]

Got my front wheel sitting in place, I think I'll cut some breathing holes for air flow and make up some little mesh filters to keep out any unwanted items.

I stripped both wheels and will get started on cleaning them up ready for polishing. They are aluminium and both have the small steps on the rim edge which I think looks good. Once I have cleaned up the hubs and make some new stainless spokes I can then assemble them. The rest of the bike assembly will just get roughed together prior to finishing but the wheels will need to be assembled in their finished state at the start, and then looked after carefully during the rest of the construction.

 

[irk miller]

Thumpers for everyone.

 

[Pete12]

Made up the front wheel spacers yesterday. It was a bit tricky as the hub has 15mm bearings and the forks have 17mm bearings. Getting 17m ID with the same OD is not easy so I just made a spacer with a sleeve in it. The other side has the large piece that is clamped in place and it was undersize as well so I just shrunk and welded a sleeve over the top of it and all good.

 

[doc_rot]

Following along!

 

[Pete12]

Made up a new axle clamp as the forks had an incorrect one. I know they're only a couple of dollars but I had some time last night I thought I would do it myself. It doesn't match perfectly but looks OK