buildin' me a tracker

[pregrid]

Thanks again Pre. Do you have any idea how much grief you save people building a streetracker?

I gotta rough idea but it's a case of what comes around goes around. I couldn't have built mine anywhere as easily as I did without all the support and information on this site. Great place! And yeah, Japenese welds of this vintage leave a lot to be desired, at least beauty-wise.

 

[Beemerboy]

Pre, I'm having trouble getting ahold of Hugh. When you sent him your forks, did you send just the lowers or the whole thing? The reason I ask is that his website talks about new seals as part of the turning and polishing package.

 

[pregrid]

I just sent him my lowers. It's obviously gonna be cheaper if he doesn't have to disassemble and clean them.

 

[rusty rocket]

Hey Dave, Did you coat the inside of your omars tank with a sealer or do nothing? I live in S.dakota and we can still get fuel without ethenol but its hit and miss.

 

[pregrid]

It came coated. Heard all kinds of horror stories (ok, one over and over) bout ethanol in gas eating up the lining in Omar's tanks but I've not had a problem. Here we have 6% ethanol and in the 14 or so months since I've finished the bike (and it sits most of the time) I've never had a problem.

 

[Beemerboy]

Pre- At one time I recall you had trouble contacting the guy that wired your bike. Any contact since? Also, is there a diagram somewhere of the wiring system your bike has? More questions- Did you use Pamco ignition? Do you have any photos of the battery box setup and the locations of reg/rectifier? Thanks again

 

[pregrid]

Pre- At one time I recall you had trouble contacting the guy that wired your bike. Any contact since? Also, is there a diagram somewhere of the wiring system your bike has? More questions- Did you use Pamco ignition? Do you have any photos of the battery box setup and the locations of reg/rectifier? Thanks again

Wiring guy is off the grid. No wiring diagram. If you do a search there are many, many diagrams available. I did use a Pamco and highly recommend it. I bolted the rec/reg under the battery box. You want that guy to be in the wind. seat measurements are coming.

Dave

 

[Beemerboy]

Pre- Been studying up on the electrics. Some folks on this site are down on 300 watt PMA's such as Hugh's as they create too much heat that needs to go somewhere. That's of course the reason the rec/reg needs to be in the wind. What charging system and reg/rec did you use and have there been any problems in that area after some miles on the bike?

 

[pregrid]

I'm running the stock charging system with a rec/reg from Mike's XS. Other than the first rec/reg taking a shit (not sure why, the second has been fine) it's been cool.

 

[Beemerboy]

Pre- I recall you installed longer rear shocks. What length did you wind up with? Also, are there any problems with the side stand(or in Harley-speak "jiffy stand") as a result? Saw your bike again in the new issue of Cafe Racer. Any photos of the under seat area?

 

[pregrid]

In order:

14 3/8"
No
No

 

[Beemerboy]

Pre, Didi you notice any problems with braking after drilling the rotors? A guy up here says that since the brakes were not engineered for drilled discs, that I will notice diminished braking capacity with the stock calipers because there is now less area for the pads to work on.

 

[jbbishop2]

Pre- I recall you installed longer rear shocks. What length did you wind up with? Also, are there any problems with the side stand(or in Harley-speak "jiffy stand") as a result? Saw your bike again in the new issue of Cafe Racer. Any photos of the under seat area?

Speaking of underseat wiring, there's a really nice example on the Mule Moss Landing Assault Vehicle street tracker. Check out the pictures about halfway down this page:
http://www.caferacerxxx.com/blog/20...ding-assault-vehicle-by-mule-motorcycles.html

Posted via Mobile

 

[pregrid]

Pre, Didi you notice any problems with braking after drilling the rotors? A guy up here says that since the brakes were not engineered for drilled discs, that I will notice diminished braking capacity with the stock calipers because there is now less area for the pads to work on.

Um.....not sure what kinda background your guy has but I'm betting it's not motorcycles, or automobiles, or anything with brakes. A little research will show you that the small surface area that is lost by drilling rotors is negligable in stopping power and the main purpose is to dissipate heat when braking thus INCREASING braking efficiency, especially when used in conjuntion with scintered metallic pads or the like. I was quite happy with the end result on my 650. Hope this helps. (My apologies to "a guy" if I have offended him).

 

[racerdave]

I've read opinions on drilling both ways. To add to Pre's side, the holes are said to help clean the pads, and the holes are said to add surface area because of the edges. Just repeating things I've heard/read.

 

[Beemerboy]

Racer, I've seen it both ways as well. How do the holes add to the surface area? Incidentally. if the drilled holes are chamfered, the hole is essentially bigger by as much as 30%. My BMW has drilled rotors front and back. I have no doubt that the Germans calculated the effectivness of the set-up. My question to Pre was prompted by a discussion with a friend who did a cafe job on a Norton and had the rotor drilled for a racy appearance. As is the case with the XS 650, the Norton brake was designed without holes. He told me the initial brake bite was substantially reduced. The Brits had crappy brakes anyway.

 

[rusty rocket]

Well the way I look at it dave is still alive and kicking after he rode the bike with drilled rotor along with all the other guys that have done the same thing.

 

[gggGary]

Here's a link to some brake tech. Everything is a trade off, drilled or slotted rotors weigh less, give a place for gas generated under the pads to go, aid in quickly and repeatedly cleaning dirt water FOD from the pads, and the #1 reason....
They look cool.
There are specific formulas for hole size and spacing. Old British bikes ran cast iron rotors, slightly different friction characteristics.

PS it is a no no to chamfer drilled rotor holes.

 

[Beemerboy]

Now they tell me about chamfering! I looked back at Dave's build thread and noted that his drilled holes are chamfered. As rusty rocket said, Pre is still on this side of the grass. Thanks for the link on brakes, very informative. I learn something new every day on this site.

 

[XSLeo]

From the freading I've done as long as the holes are not larger than the rotor is thick the area surfsace of the rotior increases. Once the holes get larger than the thickness the area surface gets smaller. The area refered to is the total area of the rotor, noit the friction surface. The friction area gets smaller but as mentioned the pads off gas as they get hot from working. This gas can and does lift the pads off the rotor. The holes release this gas build up.
On drilling it doesn't really need a lot of holes. They need to overlap enough so the whole swept area of the rotir is covered. A slight chamfer on the holes is ok, enough to see the angle of the bevel isn't.
As you use the brakes friction between the pads and rotor wears off bits of the rotor and pads. This stuff imbeds in the pads decreaseing the grip the pads have on the rotor.
The holes need a sharp edge to clean this build up off the pads. That's also why the holes need to overlap and cover the whole swept area of the rotor.
All these things increase the grip of the pads over an undrilled rotor. The drilling patterns with more than three rows of 4 holes and three rows of five holes are just for looks. It's more holes than needed. My slotted rotors have 6 slots. Work great. They can be curved or straight. Just 6 rows of holes needed. Many more and the friction surface will be reduced more than needed.
Moden bikes use rotors that have many more holes but also use calipers with 4, 6 or more pistons. This increases the clampnig forces of the caliper and compensates for the too many holes.
Leo