XT500 track bike

Well, Zed said: show us your bike! and now I'm gonna do as I'm told...
though my XT might lack some "cafe", I hope there's at least enough
racer in it to justify this post here...

O.k., let's get started, XT500 was my first bike (no mopeds or so
before...) and I owned at least one for the last 20years (beside a
few other singles). To me, the purpose of a motorbike has always
been ridin fast (why the hell did I buy a 500 thumper then and not
some 1000cc Four? Dunno, perhaps because speed is something re-
lative (less can be more!) and I like to squeeze out a bike...), well
after some crazy years and accidents on public roads a friend
told me about classic racing and that SRs/XTs were eligible in the
events he was taking part in. Wow, that was what I had been looking
for, me and the XT on a racetrack. Fitted some Speedmaster/CompK
and had three nice days on the track. That's 12 years ago now and
the XT has undergone a lot of changes since then (wheels, brakes,
forks, swingarm, carb and exhaust...) to make the best out of what
elegibility rules allow. So there are some details on the bike which
are not very classical (e.g. flat slide, 320mm disc), that's because
rules are liberal in this point. I'm thinkin about making the bike more
period conform, but it's always the "style vs. speed" thing: a mid 70ies
35mm Kayaba surely looks better than a pair of '02 Gixxa forks, but
if you can't cure its chattering, what are you gonna do?

Here the bike 2 years ago with the big wheels:






Then I got some smaller wheels and a shorter swingarm fitted:






So much for today!

Best regards
Sven

bike!

nice work!

Very very cool bike!

grtzzz, Hans

very nice bike, really like that style!!! welcome to the forum!!

rien

Thanks for saying it's an XT, otherwise I wouldn't know

Nice bike!

Impressive bike!

Hi Sven - wow - that´s "brutal" !! very cool XT ( or the rest of an XT). I´m sure you will find alot inspiration here - for the next project. I send you some questions via the SR Forum - you can answer her over PM.

Andreas

BTW . What type of swingarm is on your bike?

Thank you all for your kind comments!

Andreas, the square sectional swingarm on the "winter pix" is from an early
type XT600 (43F). Though aluminium, it's very heavy as almost all monoshock
type swingarms (massive reinforcement on the linkage support area). It fits
quite well (needed a little work with the file to make it fit the narrower XT500
frame and some welding for the lower shock supports of course)
The swingarm in the lower pix is from over, Japan. It's made to replace the stock
SR500 swingarm, i.e. quite a bolt on device for the XT. Only minor modifications
were necessary.

Best regards
Sven

P.S.: Very nice avatar !

P.P.S.: Replied your PM in the other forum!

What kind of rear shocks are you using?
Bike looks fantastic!

Nice bike Sven! (but you forget the chain.....)

SwaggeringPagan wrote:What kind of rear shocks are you using?

Hi!

These are Wilbers-shocks (wilbers), type 632 TS Comp.

Best regards
Sven

Hey thanks! You really have built a neat bike, well done!

thx! I do my very best!

Hi Sven,

Very nice parts and good looking bike.

Gr
Coos

sweet bike!