Honda FT500 rumbler/scrambler/tracker kinda thing

Welding skills progress. I was fixing my motorcycle stand today. On the right last year attempt, no penetration, big blob of shit. Plus the metal bracket was to thin and it went all sideways. On the left today's job. Looks like a row of pennies. I got the settings right at the first try, maybe I was just lucky.



BTW. Anybody from Europe has a rear brake for the FT500. I'm looking for the whole setup, or at least the calliper.

Nice job on the welding!

Here’s how the finished product from the previous post looks like. Much better than the previous one, now I can pivot the bike on it.





After I had ditched the centre stand last year, I got tired of jacking the bike up on pieces of wood every time I wanted to do some serious work on it, and I decided I need a service stand. So I went to the shop and bought… some square profiles 30mm x 30mm x 3mm and built one. Doing it I realised that now that I actually can weld a bit, I need to focus on the “keeping things straight and square” side of it. Mainly to have the patience to make jigs etc. I’m always rushing to get to the welding as fast as possible, when in fact it’s more like a finishing touch to all the designing, measuring, cutting, fitting and other 80% of the work necessary to get a good result.



I ended up recutting and rewelding the thing a few times to get it reasonably straight. But it works like a charm!





I found a new spot for the crankcase breather and used a much longer tube, hoping that it will prevent it from spitting oil at all the surrounding elements, like the air filter, battery and my trousers.



The final solution to the sticking rear brake was to buy a front calliper off a Honda XL600. It fits the mount right on, the only difference to the original is that the piston is a bit bigger. I might end up with a stronger rear brake, so what. I still have to make an adapter for the Honda CB600 rear master cylinder I’m using, cause it’s misaligned with the pedal brake a bit and causes problems.



You may also notice new rubber at the back. It’s the same as the front, the ever so popular Continental TKC80, in 140 size. I picked it up for 15 EUR, with 7mm thread left and a small damage to the tire bed. It’s no issue here, since I always use an inner tube at the rear.



Being at the arse end of the bike I also did some work on the fender. I cut it shorter and welded a light and plate bracket at the back of it. I also ditched the rubber flap I had there.







In the beginning I wanted to build a retro scrambler out of it, but I realised that with that square mid eighties engine, mag wheels, disc brakes and other details it will never look like it’s from the fifties. Now I want to stick to the sharp lines of that bike and emphasise them even more. I already have a crazy idea for the front light(s) setup, and more important, I don’t give a damn if anybody will like it.

I love it

Great updates! Looks a treat!

See, there's your problem: we all adore it.

Did you remove the monkey or is it only on the right hand side?

Looking forward to the front light setup.

Cheers

You can do wonderful things with an Ascot

That's the original seat pan/mounts too!

Nice to cool your 50 weight oil

Got one of those Touratech rear brake master cyclinders

Welded on rearsets

love the build! the bike is looking great. i have an 82 FT500 as well... but with collector's plates.

i noticed you switched the rear shocks back to their stock mount position... just curious whether it rode better there in the end?

i completely rebuilt my brakes (including new pistons) last spring but found that the rear is seizing up again after being stored inside for the winter. very frustrating. interested to hear how the XL master cylinder adapter works out!

all the best from Canada
Steve

thought i'd include a shot of my Ascot as well.

-Steve

Is it just me, or does anyone else sense that the Ascot (500cc and 750cc) both needed a longer swingarm/wheelbase to look more right?

Always liked the bike. But to me the rear wheel/tire always looked stuffed tight into the center of the bike. I would love to find a cheapo 750 V-twin Ascot and lengthen the swingarm about 2", add flat-tracker style high pipes on the side, real simple/minimal wiring/lights, and have a fun rip around town bike.

I didn't know they made a 750 Ascot ??. Maybe it was Europe only. ??.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well I had to put the shocks in the original position during the trip to Albania, because I was bottoming it out at a slightest bump. Now I'm thinking about putting in shocks from a DDR's MZ ETZ 250. They're 4cm longer and designed to work on a 120kg two-smoke bike. I can buy them new at 30 EUR, I just hope they're worth every penny and the damping really sucks so I will get a soft ride out of them.

Actually I used the original master cylinder with that XL600 calliper, cause the CB600 pump gave no pressure. On the first ride the brake seized completely, the disk was glowing orange (!) and the bike wouldn't move a bit. Luckily I was able to find a big stone... and slammed at the calliper until the pistons moved back a millimetre or so and I was able to continue the ride. I didn't touch it since, had no time.

I had a slipping clutch problem last year, when at speed, under hard gas, the engine would rev up but the speed wouldn't change. Only after a second or two it would sort of catch up, the revs would drop and the bike would start to accelerate. I was afraid I will need new clutch plates and springs, but first I had an idea I wanted to give a try. I got four M12 size washers and I put them between the springs and the clutch basket retainer, or whatever it's called. In effect I added 2mm of spring preload. The clutch lever is slightly harder to pull and I had no slipping since. Great success!

Also I addressed the starter issue. It was giving me real trouble, and it started the night before I went on the Albania trip. Of course, why not, perfect timing. The starter would turn the engine once and than it would disengage the drive and spin freely. Very strange. I took the starter out, gave it an eye inspection and found nothing wrong with it. The brushes had still a plenty of material, the contacts where not damaged. No clue. I put the starter relay apart, as suggested on the Ascot owners topic here. I found one of the contacts to be slightly burned and eroded. I filed it down to flat again, and did the same with the other one to have them the same thickness. After about five rounds of disassembling, filing, adjusting and assembling it worked and the relay gave a good connection. But the starter was still acting up. I turned my attention to the starter drive. Put it apart, the teeth where eaten up a little bit at the edge, but nothing serious, looked as expected after 30 years of abuse. Than I found this thing that I had no idea what it was. The manual informed me that it was the starter solenoid. I opened it and it was full of mustard like gunk. I have never seen a starter solenoid mechanism before, but I was sure it wasn't suppose to be like that. I gave it a thorough clean up, sandpapered rusted elements, put it back together, hot wired it to the battery and bingo! It clicked and blocked the starer drive pinion, so it wouldn't disengage the gears until the starter button was released. So happy I found the issue before I looked for a replacement starter.

There's an Ascot near where I live (Montreal) for $750.00cad if anyone is interested... Big mono would make a nice vintage racer. ;-)

I want it as a parts bike!!

Is it clean?

yes similar to yamaha XT500, but de-rake the fork too