gatosbros XR600/650L scramblers

Question: if we were to have these tanks roto-molded, would anybody want one? We're thinking that we might make kits available (would include things like the custom subframe, carbon/kevlar rear fenders, airboxes, custom seats, etc.). But that stuff is no big deal, because we're making these parts for ourselves anyway and they don't require much of an up-front investment in tooling. The tanks on the other hand, are going to be expensive to have rot-molded, so we'd love to know if there's any interest before we decide how to proceed. They would be available as part of a complete kit, as mentioned above, or could be purchased separately if anyone wanted to do their own thing with the rest of the bike (making their own subframe, seatpan, etc.). Not looking for any commitments, and we won't be taking any money before we have parts ready to ship. Just trying to gage interest...

Fit-up the new 41mm FCR carb and confirmed that there's plenty of clearance. Now that I know where the carb is I can add volume to the underside of the tank without worrying about interference. Also removed the intake boot from the airbox to see how it lined-up and what length adapter I should order from Noss. He makes them in .5 & 1.25" versions, and I think that I can get away with the shorter one. May or may not end up re-using the stock intake boot and air filter assembly. Would be just about perfect, except that the new subframe is a little bit narrower than the stock one, so with width of the air filter retaining thingy might be an issue.

Wow your build looks really promising. Depending on the $$$ I'd be interested in a complete kit. I recently picked up a 09 650L and plan on doing some longer distance rides on it. The scrambler set up looks so good .....
I think if oyu could come up with a ball park cost, it would help determine interest.....
keep the updates coming.....

Started mocking-up the steering stabilizer mount today. That's not the actual mount, those tabs are just to locate the plate that I'm going to use to make a jig.

Finished making the jig to locate the steering stabilizer mount. Now I just have to make the actual mounting tabs.

"Brilliant! work & execution, my oldest brother created projects like yours, (recently deceased) he was an old Hot-Rodder, & bike builder. Your project bike reminds me of the Olde Schoole Brit-style scramblers (BSA cow trailers, Triumph Bullets, it even has an older Greeves Griffon-look)."

I have a '98XRL that I wanted to come out like an older Scrambler, I put on a Desert tank (I live in the upper-Desert), I had the front wheel laced into a 18" rim, for a +1"=Supermoto stance, it's easier for me to find/buy 18" dirt tires than to source 17" DS tires. I'm running 5.10 rear
X 3.25 front tires Kenda K270's, lot's of fire roads & Yosemite is only 1 hour away so I need a on/off road tire.

I can't wait to see your finished work-of-art bike! Good On You!

Thanks booter. Sorry to hear about your brother. Sounds like we're thinking along the same lines, as far as what we want to turn these bikes into. We've got an 18/18 wheelset for one of the bikes, we're going to run 19/17 on another, and 21/18 on the third.

Finished making a mock-up steering stabilizer mount for the extra frame. Will probably refine the design a little bit, but wanted to get a stabilizer mounted in the right location so I can make sure there's enough clearance under the tank. Had to tweak the coil mount slightly and mount the coil on the other side of the frame, but everything fits. Barely. Need to design the linkage, but that's easy. Going to focus on the tank. We're almost certainly going to have them roto-molded, and am anxious to get that process started.

I can't wait to see that. Seems an awkward spot for the stabilizer but what do know! More please...

John

Not really. Just sort of the opposite of a Scotts low-mount setup. Maybe a little more awkward to adjust, but mounting the steering stabilizer on the chassis keeps the weight off the handlebars and it's much less vulnerable.

Started adding volume to the underside of the tank. Still a long way to go before it's done.

This is a very cool thread, thanks for posting
I'm having visions for my XRL...keep up the good work and keep us posted on the kit idea

Reshaping the bottom of the tank, cutting it up a little higher.






Found out that the manual decompression lever on the XR600's is something that I need to make clearance for. The mounts are different too, and haven't decided whether or not to incorporate both mounts into this tank.




Stock XR600 tank, gatosbros tank, clarke tank

And you still ended up with less fuel than the stocker. :huh

Huh? Stock capacities are something like 2.8-3.1 gallons. This tank will carry at least .5 gallon more fuel, and I like the shape a lot more than any of the stock or aftermarket tanks.

I typed that wrong.I corrected it in my quote.It only takes one flubbed up word to make a mess of things.Sorry bout that.

The tank looks more street and def more smooth.

Cut the bottom of the tank up a little higher and tacked the new lower/inner steel templates into place. Still have to cut the outside of the tank back further, so I can round-out the corners. Think it'll help get rid of that droopy dog look.

Dude, this proyect is great! Can't wait to see the outcome...

Checking out your work on your XR and you are doing great! Lots of thought and hard work showing some results. Looking through your photos I noticed a couple of things. First of all on the decompressor bracket you can easily cut and flip over the end of the arm so that it is closer to the head by about 1/2". Same with the bracket that holds the cable, cut 1/2" off of it and reweld it so that it is closer to the head.

The other thing that you mentioned was the coil.



It doesn't look like it is that close but if you need the clearance you can remake the coil wire so that it looks like this:



and mounts directly on the spark plug instead of on the frame under the tank. If you have one of the plug caps that has a 90° top on it you can do the same thing and have the coil on the side of the plug cap rather than on top. The small coil is really light and shouldn't give you any problems but if you want to you could make a small bracket to hold it above the plug. This will give you more room under the tank.

Keep up the hard work and look forward to seeing the finished job!

Swiss

One other thing, where are you going to put your petcocks with that much droop in the front of the tank?

Thanks for posting ScF.

If I was just building a couple of custom bikes, I'd do exactly what you suggest (modify the decomp lever & bracket), but if we're going to roto-mold these tanks, makes more sense to make the tank fit the bike than to have to modify the bike any more than necessary in order to fit the tank.

That's a good idea for the coil too, but it actually fits on one side of the frame about as well as it did on the other. But if I move it out of that area altogether, would have a lot more room to mount the steering stabilizer. How would I go about shortening the spark plug wire?

Thinking that we're going to run one petcock in the stock-ish location, and then run internal pickups to both sides of the tank, so one side will be the primary, and one side will be the reserve.