Hi, just wandered in here and registered as my interest in thumpers seems on the up once more as my xt is actually starting to come together. S'only polite to say hello and is the usual etiquette so here goes.
Ive got a SP370 (well, 400 with a GN motor this time round after the DR400 grenaded the crank, yeah theyre all the same motor except the gn isnt painted black) that Ive had for years n years, and over the years its mutated into this, I still use it for pottering around on most weeks too. Electrics are a tiny alarm cell battery mounted directly under the seat base hidden from view, and most of the lights are led's, and a 55W halogen 6v headlight courtesy of paul goff :-
Ive been just using it for the past few years now, only job pending are the exaust valve seat is receeded and the usual service items on a sp (swingarm bearings/welding up the kickstart/changing the rear sprocket bolts).
Im also building a XT500 motard with husqvarna (are they wp's rebranded?) usd forks and monoshock conversion, dr600 wheels (18" front 17 rear) with a 320mm floating disc up front gripped by a two pot caliper off a gpx6. Monoshock is a bit of a weirdy as its using a rd350 (I think!) swingarm and a adjustable gas shock from a gpz turbo direct with no rocker linkage, which means the shock upper mount can be right at the back of the main top tube and push its loading into that properly, as otherwise Id end up having to remake half the frame for the loads and I can adjust springrates with a suspension pump. And it has a 94mm piston and probally needs a lumpy cam conversion with a bit o porting on it (I have a photo of the piston under my pillow at night mmmmm). I plan to do a sr 12v conversion on it as Im sick of 6v electrics in general, and I supposed Im going to have to use a bigger carb and exaust, but thats not the end of the world.
Ill drag a photo of it off the camera when I can get my cheapo camera to take a decent pic.
Ive had quite a few thumpers over the years, xl500, xl250, FT500 (never again!) and a dark period of britishness had a few tiger cubs. Besides the thumpers I also have a unholy passion for big jap 4's with far too much power (well, you cant actually get TOO much but you know what I mean), I have a fairly unmodified by my stds kawa 750 turbo, another K turbo project in a homebuilt tubular spaceframe with a 810 motor and a garrett t3, a gs750/850 hybrid project bike with a blower on it, and a Bimota YB8 (the one with the 1000 exup engine). Theres also a xl125r that Im currently boring to 160cc so Ive got something light to chuck on the back of our camper van and theyre exceedingly fun little dual purpose trialie bikes. I do all my own work/modifications/fabrication and have a decent workshop to play in as a result.
Anyway, before it drags on much longer, hello!
