bcthomas
XS650 Addict
I've been sitting on some nice Japanese parts from webike and just started putting this 78 together. I've got a nice Beams exhaust and a VM36 carb to install and I'm upgrading the brakes front and rear to YZF R1 blue dots.
Nice! It's great to see a SR500 without the boat anchor cast wheels!
Re. brakes, you'll want to install a floating rotor with the solid blue dot caliper to maintain pad contact. In the rear, there may be a modern system that uses a solid caliper and a floating rotor, but I've never seen one; the OE stuff is enough to lock the wheel, and that's really as much as you can use.
It's hard to tell with the gaiters in place, but your front end looks a little short on fork travel; how much do you have left after laden sag is taken up?
I hope folks are paying attention to this thread for an example of doing things right. There's style and there's substance, and it's too seldom that they meet.
What rear wheel are you using and did it require a custom sprocket be made? I'm going to try an XT500 one, direct bolt-in swap, same sprocket, axle, everything, drum though, not disc.
That's not the stock rear wheel. SRs in this country only came with mags. Your front wheel most likely came from a 650. They're a direct swap and that flanged alloy rim is a pretty good indication.
I already have the XT wheel. A TT wheel is not the best choice because it has no cush drive for the sprocket.
The SR was imported here from '78-'81. It only came with mag wheels at that time. If that guy bought it that way new, it wasn't made by the factory, the dealer might have converted it. Did you notice the rim styles don't match? You have a flanged style front and normal style rear rim. Got any close-up picks of that rear hub, from both sides?
Nice man, I just did a ground up hot rod build on a 78, let me know if you have any questions!
These bikes are pretty simple though.
I made a short thread here:
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21328&highlight=thumper
Have you ridden yours yet? The cast rear wheel has a cush drive that those wire wheels don't have. Wondering how it feels.
SR500forum has a wealth of information on these bikes.
It's not a "I guess I'm used to it" thing, it's a major wear concern. Little bikes have 10 or 15 HP. Your SR has 30. You need some sort of damping between the motor and rear wheel or else you will wear or break components quickly. As I mentioned earlier, the XT500 wheel has a cush drive (blackbetty seemed to miss this point).
You all know me as somewhat of a "voice" on these 650 lists. I had an SR500 long before this and still own it. You think I know about 650s?