Home > Projects > The Bikes > My Old Friend: The Rebirth of an XT > Part 5

Well it has been awhile since I’ve written in this blog for this series of updates on my XT.

Truth be told, it was a series of events that caused me to stop working on this bike.

But to bring everyone up to speed…

For the most part, all the parts are in for the bike. In fact, I have had everything to make it “Run” since I stopped working on it. I had been needing to still do all of the cosmetic stuff, such as powder coat the frame, sand, prime and paint the plastics, and have the seat re-skinned.

The current list of “need to do’s” is as follows.

Carburetor rebuild kit: I had one on order, back in October of 2008. It was on back-order and was told it would take about 2 months.  2 months went by, and they told me that it would be another month.  I had forgot about this until about March of this year, when they called me up, and told me that they were going to cancel the order, as the international company they were dealing with, flaked out.

So I am still in need of a Carb Rebuild kit.  I had purchased a low mileage carburetor from a fellow “Raceman” on the XT225 forums. Sent him the money, and never received the carb. It is the first time I’ve ever been burned on an internet transaction (And I built a complete motorcycle off of ebay).

Spoke/Lace rear wheel: The wheel is actually fine, the hub is fine, the spokes are fine. Just the jackass who I had re-spoke it about 12 or so years ago laced it backwards. Short Spokes on Left Side instead of right, causing the whole wheel to align to the left.

With this, I also still need new tires. After a lot of research, it seems a good chunk of thumper people are using Kenda’s with 4 mil tubes. Cheap Tires, get good mileage on tarmac riding, and have good trail grip in

Frame/Swingarm Powder Coat: Hopefully this will be happening in the next week. I have brought the frame and swingarm up from Oregon with me to drop off. “yay”

Bracket Fabrication: I have several brackets I need to spend a weekend making on the milling machine.  I need to build a couple brackets to hold the new Headlight Assembly (Acerbis Cyclops), The Dash, and 4 brackets to hold the turn signals.

The new turn signals are actually R6 Turn Signals, or more generically, the Current Generation Turn Signals that Yamaha is putting on pretty much everything.

These are extremely easy to find (I had 2 fronts and 2 rears lying around already), cheap (seems nobody likes these blinkers but me!), already built on a rubber post, and they are quick to remove/change out.

Powder Coat Small Parts: I have a powder coat gun, but can only do small parts, so I am going to do those myself.

Those include the peg brackets, lower and upper steering stem brackets, grab bars, and a couple other misc items.

And I’m sure a few other things I am missing!

So a run down of the progress so far since the beggining of this project.

The bike was disasembled
Parts cleaned up
Wire harness was rebuilt (cleaned up, some wires replaced, new ones added for electronics to be added later)
Parts purchased, etc. The bike will be getting a new front fender (Acerbis SuperMoto), Front Headlight (Acerbis Cyclops), New Bars W/1 inch Risers, Guards (Acerbis), Chain/Sprockets, bearings for steering stem and swingarm.  I am now thinking I should probably replace the wheel bearings while I am at it.

Yesterday ordered a new custom tank from Clarke Manufacturing.  It is a 4.1 Gallon tank, in a custom Khaki Color.

Front Forks are going to be rebuilt. I already spoke to Barry about them, to see if he wanted to take on the job, and he is up for it, so he’ll be getting them. (I’ll do this once I have the damn bike running)

Rear shock should probably be resprung as well. Not sure what my options are on that!

Other than that, yah, I’m sure I’ll have a few things to take care of that I have forgotten. Like always, once things get back to me, and I start assembling and building again, I will update with lots of photo’s.

I noticed while browsing through my older blog pages, that all of the links are busted. Mainly because that site is gone, and I need to re-upload the files and change the links.

Until Next Time!

Home > Projects > The Bikes > My Old Friend: The Rebirth of an XT > Part 5