1981 Honda XR500R

[Eric318]

Originally Posted by brucifer

Eric you dog! Tease me with your reed block replacement like that!

That's so cool you still have the bike you bought new after all these years. I wish I would have kept my '82.

Okay, mods on the other bike.
White Brothers swingarm
Aftermarket shock
Aftermarket header with Supertrapp ISDE muffler
Uuhh, what else, what did I miss?

Apologies for the tease, I could not resist ;). Let me make it worse. I got it off eBay for a handful of bucks. Nobody knew what it is... :) Well, I had only been wanting it for ... 28 years... Now I have seen variations of these made with a piece of pipe (slightly flattened) welded to a plate.

You got most of the mods on the other bike. It also has an 82 CR480 43mm Kayaba front fork (the stock fork is WAY too small), a Renthal handle bar and K&N filter, but these are details. The shock is a Ohlins (now rebuilt by the factory). The headlight number plate is actually a 1982. There are several more mods coming...

I wish somebody would tell me the origin of the aftermarket header. I assume White Bros like the swingarm, but hard to be certain.

Here is what that bike looked like when I got it:



The rotor and stator had been messed with, and the cylinder had had a funny repair after being worn by a poorly tightened timing chain. There was however a bonus, it had a Simons fork!

Anyway, your bike looks great!!

[izom]

hi eric-

when I was a young lad

haha- yes we all get older right... used to race an xr 600 in the 90s....yeah good old times.

where are you from ???? (plates!)- france?? -think i saw your youtube vids - right!??

btw. guys - i wanto have an OEM exhaust what do you think bout this??????:

http://www.smebike.com/index.php?rou...roduct_id=1182

price looks ok for me- anybody knows this stuff??

they have some great parts there!

http://www.smebike.com/index.php?rou...d=xr500&page=1

greetz peter

[Eric318]

Hey Peter,

yes from France, now living in California. I have a few videos on YouTube indeed.

That exhaust looks just what you need and yes price is very attractive!! I say go for it.
And thanks for the link! Very nicely priced useful items.

[brucifer]

Originally Posted by Eric318

Apologies for the tease, I could not resist ;). Let me make it worse. I got it off eBay for a handful of bucks. Nobody knew what it is... :) Well, I had only been wanting it for ... 28 years... Now I have seen variations of these made with a piece of pipe (slightly flattened) welded to a plate.

You got most of the mods on the other bike. It also has an 82 CR480 43mm Kayaba front fork (the stock fork is WAY too small), a Renthal handle bar and K&N filter, but these are details. The shock is a Ohlins (now rebuilt by the factory). The headlight number plate is actually a 1982. There are several more mods coming...

I wish somebody would tell me the origin of the aftermarket header. I assume White Bros like the swingarm, but hard to be certain.

Here is what that bike looked like when I got it:



The rotor and stator had been messed with, and the cylinder had had a funny repair after being worn by a poorly tightened timing chain. There was however a bonus, it had a Simons fork!

Anyway, your bike looks great!!

I thought there was something about the forks! CR480...okay.

Simons forks?! Excellent! That bike was certainly equipped with the trick period pieces, that's for sure.

I have a well used '84 XR250R I picked up a while ago off Craigslist that has a White Brothers swingarm and full aftermarket exhaust.
The header looks very similar to the one on your bike. The muffler is an aluminum 3" Supertrapp. I too would like to know what brand the exhaust is.

Where in Ca. are you?

[Eric318]

Cant wait to see photos of that exhaust header.

For my other projects, I am getting a local shop to try replicate the period Mugen header. Proving tricky and ... expensive... We are almost there:



Here is a photo of the original Mugen header ona XR500R (Germany):





I am in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley.

[redprimo]

Originally Posted by 22manyrides

OK so I sold my 82 to a friend.
Since then there's a realizeation for him even that these days you need a "street legal" dirt bike.
That's the very reason I sold it. OHV= very hard to or never can be plated.

That said, he's now picked up a somewhat junky 82 xl500. Plan was to make the best of the xl useing the xr. Man, that's two different bikes!
That must be why I chose the xr at the bike shop when I bought new.
Even though in 82 I could forsee the future of dirt riding...I got the beefier XR.

OK now, He calls me and says he found another 82 XR500R that's almost new for 250! It's been sitting for all this time and isn't faded out because some one broke off the kickstarter shaft!!!
How in the hell?

Anyway, he has 3 now. He's probaly going to leave my X xr alone and wants to cheat to get a plated bike out of the other 2.
I gotta go over there and check the newest one, but I got some shots of the xl500 basket when we mocked it up together.

This post really caught my eye. I have a 1980 XL500s that I am in the middle of doing the top end on.


I have read refrences to swaping a later model xr front end onto the xl with the goal of replacing the 23" front tire with a 21 and adding disc brakes. Any one know which front ends will bolt right up on the XL? Does that '82 Xl have a 21" front tire and a disc brake? What size are the forks? The forks on my '80 are 35mm.

Sorry for all the questions that aren't even about an XR, but the xl500s seems to be a red headed step child and there is just not much info out there.

[Eric318]

You will get disc brakes only starting with 1983 XR models. The XL500R 1983 still has shoe brakes.
I believe that 23" wheels were used only on non ProLink/Monoshock model years.
I have fitted CR 1982 and 1983 (non disc) on XR 1979/80 frames no problem. You need to replace the bearings though and possibly add a spacer/washer under the steering column nut.
No experience with disc brake forks.

[brucifer]

Went for a nice single and two track ride and trail clearing expedition this afternoon. I put the stock carb back on a couple weeks ago.
Man, I had forgotten just how good these bikes are in these elements. Rutty, muddy and some roots thrown in. This bike absolutely ROCKS in these conditions! It never stalls, has excellent throttle response without being twitchy (heavy flwheel effect) lower center of gravity than the newer bikes, nice cushy suspension, comfortable seat and the drum brakes work fine at these speeds. I dig this bike...

[Eric318]

Feels good Hey :-) ?
Good for your mate!

[Switchblade315]

Originally Posted by redprimo

This post really caught my eye. I have a 1980 XL500s that I am in the middle of doing the top end on.


I have read refrences to swaping a later model xr front end onto the xl with the goal of replacing the 23" front tire with a 21 and adding disc brakes. Any one know which front ends will bolt right up on the XL? Does that '82 Xl have a 21" front tire and a disc brake? What size are the forks? The forks on my '80 are 35mm.

Sorry for all the questions that aren't even about an XR, but the xl500s seems to be a red headed step child and there is just not much info out there.

I put a 98XR400R front end on my 82 XL500R direct bolt on. the bearings are even the same on those years. I had to make 2 brackets one for the headlight and speedo and one to have stearing stops. I have a build thread on here somewhere.

here ya go... http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=711672

[redprimo]

Originally Posted by Switchblade315

I put a 98XR400R front end on my 82 XL500R direct bolt on. the bearings are even the same on those years. I had to make 2 brackets one for the headlight and speedo and one to have stearing stops. I have a build thread on here somewhere.

here ya go... http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=711672

I picked up a basket case 83XR500R and was going to use the front end on my 80XL500s. The stem is about an inch longer on the 83XR500R which is a solvable problem, but what has me stymied now is that the forks on the 83XL500R are 6" longer than what is on my 80XL500s.

I have never rebuilt forks on anything other than a CT 90 so I have no idea of what real forks look like. Can they be cut down? from the illustrated parts list it looks like all I would have to do is cut the springs and the tubes and probably re-thread the top of the tube, is there more to it than this?

[2manyrides]

Originally Posted by redprimo

I picked up a basket case 83XR500R and was going to use the front end on my 80XL500s. The stem is about an inch longer on the 83XR500R which is a solvable problem, but what has me stymied now is that the forks on the 83XL500R are 6" longer than what is on my 80XL500s.

I have never rebuilt forks on anything other than a CT 90 so I have no idea of what real forks look like. Can they be cut down? from the illustrated parts list it looks like all I would have to do is cut the springs and the tubes and probably re-thread the top of the tube, is there more to it than this?

Can't you just lower the tubes in the triple trees? I always ran my tubes raised 1" in my 500. I suspect a little more wouldn't hurt as long as you don't bottom out.
Sounds like reinventing the wheel what you propose to do!

[ThumpnRed]

Originally Posted by 22manyrides

Can't you just lower the tubes in the triple trees? I always ran my tubes raised 1" in my 500. I suspect a little more wouldn't hurt as long as you don't bottom out.
Sounds like reinventing the wheel what you propose to do!

Lower them six inches in the trees?! The tire would bottom out in the fender and potentially launch the rider over the bars.. You want your forks to bottom out before the tire hits the fender.

[2manyrides]

thanks thumpn...

No, I was thinkin 1 1/2"-2"

[Ghost_Mutant]

Originally Posted by redprimo

I picked up a basket case 83XR500R and was going to use the front end on my 80XL500s. The stem is about an inch longer on the 83XR500R which is a solvable problem, but what has me stymied now is that the forks on the 83XL500R are 6" longer than what is on my 80XL500s.

I have never rebuilt forks on anything other than a CT 90 so I have no idea of what real forks look like. Can they be cut down? from the illustrated parts list it looks like all I would have to do is cut the springs and the tubes and probably re-thread the top of the tube, is there more to it than this?

I think there is more to it than that, but I would like to see how you would re-thread the top of the tubes after cutting. Wouldn't that job require special equipment?

Did you see my earlier post about the 83/4 XR500 fork slider bushings? Its here. Those bushings aren't easily replaced and I have yet to find a way to do that job in my garage.

I'm guessing you want to replace the 23 in wheel on the older XR500 with a 21 in/disk version? If so I would approach this swap by looking at the XL350 forks which takes the same wheel that the 83/4 XR500 uses. I know this because I have a parts 85 XL350 I picked up for the wheels. My parts XL350 forks are 39mm diameter, and are about 4 inches shorter than my 83 XR500 forks (measured axle to top). I'll bet that these XL350 forks will be easier to swap if you want the ride height to match; and it will use the 83 XR500 axle, wheel, and brakes.

Perhaps you have something off of the 83 XR5 you could trade me for my 85 XL350 forks