THE EVOLUTION OF MY SR500 CUSTOM.
aka The Postie Bike since most of it has come through the post
I bought the bike in March 2008, from my neighbour.. I paid $1800 for a running, but tatty, 1978 SR500 with 83000 km on the clock. It's completely original except for the crappy muffler and the Koni shocks.
March '08
The one in this picture isn't mine, it's in better condition, but this is pretty much how the bike looked when I rode it home.
A spare stainless muffler from my BM R90S sort of fitted onto the SR. A leaky junction but it's only for a little while. New tyres made a huge difference to the ride and suddenly the little SR was fun to throw around. Not a lot of power there but I wasn't having to change gears too often OR slow down as much in the twisty stuff. Mate Jeff borrowed it to get home when his ST2 Ducati fried its regulator and stranded him at my place. I had a phone call from him when he stopped to fill the tank, requesting (breathlessly) hints on starting technique. Best advice I could offer was "Don't switch it off!"
The aim was (still is) to build something along the lines of a British cafe racer. This photo from a Japanese company has captured the idea reasonably well.
The challenge now is to get from pic 1 to pic 2 in under $5000. Spending to date is $3100, plus purchase cost. See costs page for a more detailed breakdown.
May '08
eBay was the saviour with this job. I was able to source just about everything I needed at sometimes affordable prices. The front brake, from an SFC 750 Laverda, came laced to an 18" Borrani rim. This was shipped from Germany in May 2008. Fortunately, I bought this just before the Australian dollar dropped against the Euro. The Borrani will go on the rear while the drum will be laced to a 19" XS 650 rim
I bought a Yamaha XS 650 19" rim and had the brake laced up to that for the front wheel, while the Borrani rim is yet to be mated to an SR 500 rear drum that came from England. GC Motorcycles in Blair Athol made the stainless spokes and laced the wheels.
June '08
I had to make new front wheel spacers to centre the hub properly, using the original axle. It was easy enough once I'd worked out a way of using my drill press as a lathe (no lathe in my shed) in order to get a straight cut on the over-long spacer I bought from the wreckers.
The Daytona fuel tank, glittering polished alloy, came from Bangkok and was held up with the blockading of the airport there. It turned up eventually though.
Peter (original owner) dropped in the other day and thought I'd bought a BSA Gold Star when he caught a glimpse of the bike with clipons and the alloy tank fitted. Closer inspection soon told him otherwise, but obviously the look is getting there.
Rear sets and front mudguard came from Queensland, as did a high comp Wiseco piston and rings. A new set of clutch plates arrived from Canada, clip-ons from the UK and another set of alloy clip-ons from a friend locally. Collecting the parts has taken the best part of 12 months, but with the exception of the rear mudguard, I have just about everything I need. The exhaust system will be custom made by Reband in Sedan. The cylinder is being bored out to 87.5 mm and the 10.5:1 Wiseco piston will be fitted. This is being done by Rhemac Motors in Gawler. I'm having the head gas flowed by Walkom Performance Engines in Aldgate who are, by all accounts, very good. Should lift the 32 or so horsepower a little. Kick-starting it with 9.5:1 is a trick, what it will be like at 10.5:1 is a bit of a worry. The decompressor lever is going to earn its keep I suspect.
August '08
Dec '08
The forks are being polished at the moment after I removed the disc caliper mounting lugs and once that's done, I'll begin building the seat. I have a fibreglass base (from Queensland) which I need to either mount on the rusty steel original or pack with rubber cushions to attach to the frame securely as did the steel base. It then needs to be upholstered.
I cut the rear section of frame off - those ugly great indicator mounts looked pretty industrial. A light alloy rear mudguard will be easily mounted from the remaining frame. Alloy guard from Modak in Melbourne.
The frame has been grit blasted and painted. Tapered roller steering head bearings will be pressed in and the forks refitted.
I've bought a 36mm Mikuni carb which has a single cable to operate, so the twistgrip can be replaced with something smaller than the current twin cable assembly. This is important because the front brake is now cable operated and the original front brake/throttle assembly was for a hydraulic unit and is too bulky to allow Tomaselli style levers to be fitted..
From this point on, the rebuilding has begun. The frame, the starting point, has been painted and I fitted tapered roller head bearings before refitting the triple clamps and forks. I have fitted the front wheel, which has had the brake plate and cover plate soda ash blasted. Levers, springs and fiddly bits await chroming or zinc plating and there remains a bit more fiddling with spacers to get the wheel just right. I've fitted the rear wheel, with an SR500 drum laced into a Borrani rim, but have to make new spacers to centre the wheel in the frame. Many hours with the steel wool and polishing mops has brought the corroded hub and backing plate up to a nice shine.
I've decided to fit the smaller 6" headlight - not sure what it's off, an old small capacity Japanese 2 stroke at a guess - because it looks nice. That's my whole motivation in building this bike, practicality has nothing to do with it although it must be rideable. Cafe Racers were designed to be quick between coffee stops so it won't be ridden for much more than an hour or two without a stop.
22nd Feb 2009
Latest pics March '09
The new top bridge is an improvement, not too sure about the mudguard though. And the rear suspension? That is only a temporary measure while the shocks are being rebuilt.
April '09 Developments
Looks like new shocks will be an easier option than having the existing Konis rebuilt and rechromed. That will need to wait until I've saved the money. The motor is now dis-assembled, after a long argument with the clutch basket retaining nut.
I won.
The motor was in excellent shape, seems it had a new piston fitted and had hardly been run in before I stripped it down. I'll clean up the cases and begin re-assembly once I've finished restoring the R90S It will have a painted barrel, polished clutch, alternator and valve covers, new clutch, high comp piston, ported head, custom cam and lots of TLC in its construction.
May '09
The box of chrome bits is back so I can rebuild the front brake linkage now. I've almost finished the R90S so the SR will be getting some more attention soon. I have all winter to work on it so that it's ready for a Springtime first run. I suspect a bit of work will be needed to get the engine sorted with a different carby, cam and piston. I'll post more pics this week.
Dec '09
So much for new pics this week! Work really cuts into my hobby time. The Springtime first run was decidedly optimistic.
I bought a seat from Japan (NitroHeads) to fit neatly onto the frame. These are sold on Ebay by a bloke who imports them from Japan. By buying through the company direct, I saved $100 on the price and it still only took 2 weeks to get here. The barrel and cylinder head have been soda blasted and came up well. I fitted the Mikuni 36mm carb and pod filter just to see how it looks. There are a bunch of bits to make the engine a bit more lively - the already mentioned port and polish and a bigger camshaft; different carby; lighter, stronger valve springs; larger diameter exhaust header; new clutch plates; better tappets and a high performance ignition module. I also need to design a decompressor lever that allows me to kick the bugger into life because there is no room on the new handlebars to mount the standard lever.
I am building a tail light unit from an old BSA light with the "beehive light in the centre of the reflector - sticking a bit with the pommy theme I suppose. I have adapted a set of levers and switches from my R90S for the Yam. They are pretty neat and will give me a degree of familiarity between the 2 bikes, as well as saving time and money adapting different switches and levers.
