My XR650L conversion

[fabiodriven]

Today we had some absolutely fantastic weather and I spent six hours and two tanks worth of fuel cruising on the XR. It was over 80 degrees and sunny, and all we've had this spring has been cold and rainy weather, so I took advantage of the nice weather today. Keep in mind if you're going to view the following videos, this was all filmed by me today (technically yesterday now), on a Wednesday, and this is considered pre-season. The summer season doesn't begin here until Memorial Day. If I were to go to these same places when the season "officially" opens on a weekend, many of them would be mobbed. Because it is pre-season I was able to get around pretty good today. The nice weather brought a lot of people out even though it's the middle of the week.

Today was a day of multiple firsts. First time the XR has gone on the highway, first time riding that far from home, and first time riding as long as I did. I used about two tanks of fuel today. I have always had a good time with this machine, it wouldn't still be around if I didn't, but today we really bonded. In the past I wasn't terribly happy with a few things about this machine, on top of the fact that it's left me high and dry with it's now infamous no-start which happens at the worst possible times. Because of the lack of reliability, I kind of limited my distances that I covered on this machine before. It was cool to have around but I'd just bomb around in the general vicinity. Today was different. Today I left my home in East Bridgewater and headed for Plymouth. I planned to do my regular cruise which I usually do on the Buell, which is a ride up the coast line starting in Plymouth and heading north, eventually ending in the town of Hull. The ride in between takes me through some very scenic and affluent areas.

I got a lot of footage today, it's going to take you multiple bathroom breaks to view it all, assuming anyone wants to view all of it. Sprinkled within these videos are some wheelies as well as bikini clad women. There are only a few wheelies and a few bikini clad women, but I don't know what's better to be looking for so I'm not going to bother suggesting anyone look for anything else. Oh there are some insane beach front properties on here if you like gawking at other peoples' excess.

I began in Plymouth as I said, specifically at the water front. I did a lap and then went over to a local motorsports shop that Mik6 had been visiting recently. They wanted to see the XR so I scooted over there for a visit. I then rode back through the water front area on my way north to begin the Shore Tour. From Plymouth, every step of the way I will be heading north towards Boston. These are not the beaches I swim at, I go to Cape Cod to swim. All of the beaches you'll see on these videos are cold water beaches because they are north of Cape Cod, that's one big reason I go to Cape beaches. Cape beaches are just far better all around compared to the places on these videos.

Here is the Plymouth waterfront as well as the XR's first highway ride ever. I have taller gearing for it, I could go faster on this machine if I'd like to. For what I'm doing with it, the gearing it has is perfect. I've already gotten pulled over for speeding, I don't need to go much faster than I am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4rajeUyWIc&t=11s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E3qVcYc0Ig&t=54s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHj-xuJAUNw

Leaving Plymouth our next stop is Deluxebury (Duxbury). Duxbury is the kind of town where, well, where the residents are, not like us. Deluxebury does have some cool stuff though, such as a really old wooden bridge, bikini clad women, girls in bikinis, as well as bathing beauties. I scare women with the Buell, I sneak up on them and burp the throttle so they jump. The XR is loud, louder than you can tell in the videos, but it doesn't scare them like the Buell does. Still worth a shot though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8KSnK8qcn8&t=82s

Brant Rock is next after Deluxebury. Brant Rock is a part of Marshfield, and it's middle class. Kind of a boring beach but it does the job for many on hot summer days. The crappy little red building on the right at 1:27 is the best restaurant I've ever eaten at in my 38 years, and nobody knows about it. It's insane. I've not been in there for years at this point, but I doubt they've done anything but improve. At 3:13 you can see a group of three female bikers, easily noticed because of their disorganization as well as one of them facing the wrong way on a one way road. At 3:42 you can see a broken section of guard rail where the sea unleashed it's fury a little over a month ago when we had a hurricane type storm. You will notice a lot of heavy equipment on these beaches still dealing with the cleanup from said storm. A lot of these houses were on stilts already, but I noticed a butt-load of them that had just been lifted since this last storm we had. Some of these people are fighting a losing battle, yet they continue to fight the sea anyways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCBHF1MWRfI

Scituate Harbor, nothing too exciting there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcJJo1q3rdQ

Scituate light house. This area always gets ed harder than anyone during storms. These houses really are almost in the ocean as it is, so when the sea swells, these people get hosed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNKxWH3PFg8

Continuing north to the Minot part of Scituate, things start to get a bit more affluent. You don't go on these beaches unless you know someone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-s5aiJ3tA&t=4s

This is my favorite video from the day and my favorite part of the ride. As you continue north from Scituate, you enter Cohassett. Cohassett has the most affluent people of this ride, and the houses along this stretch are insane, not that you can see them that well. This area is big, big money, yet just as you get through Cohassett, you are immediately in Nantrashket (Nantasket). Nantrashket used to be a pretty hopping place on the weekends, it still is sometimes actually. The crowd over the last few years has altered a bit... Nantrashket is where all the "urban" people go to beach. It's not far from Boston as well as a lot of the more urban suburbs of Boston.

The video starts on Atlantic Avenue in Cohassett, which then turns into Jerusalem Rd, which is wealthy wealthy. I was able to get some speed up and get 'er rolling pretty good in this video, so there's a little cornering action in here. When I'm stopped at the stop sign with the bike rider, that's when we get into Nantrashket. Some suite arses in this video right before it ends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26KZRcsiL8E&t=7s

Hull is on the other side of Nantrashket and is land locked by Nantrashket. It is it's own little peninsula, and it is not affluent. Hull is pretty crappy actually. At the end of this first video when I stop to park, straight across the water from me is Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b56rCTSAnPU&t=1s

Fort Revere, Hull MA. This was at one time of vital importance to protect Boston Harbor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blm7yT-ujgg

And to top things off, I got pulled over in Rockland, MA, on my way home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVhxodrmXc

Thanks everyone for looking.

[fabiodriven]

I wanted to share something with you fruits. I was riding around today and I was using my iPhone as a speedometer for the first time which worked well. The only problem is, my iPhone is in a waterproof case on the bike, so I cannot charge it while I'm riding. After leaving the speedometer app open for an hour my phone is ready to die.

Today I was thinking to myself "Self, someone must produce a GPS speedometer by now." Well as it turns out, self was right. I'm guessing a lot of yous guys already knew this, but I figured I'd share in case some didn't.

This speedo requires only 12v, no other inputs I believe. That means you can put one on your SX, Big Red, DR, or KLT (the KLT version tops out at 15mph), and it also has an odometer. I just ordered this one now so I cannot yet give a review. It should be a great addition to this machine though.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F152996695954

[ironchop]

I wanted to share something with you fruits. I was riding around today and I was using my iPhone as a speedometer for the first time which worked well. The only problem is, my iPhone is in a waterproof case on the bike, so I cannot charge it while I'm riding. After leaving the speedometer app open for an hour my phone is ready to die.

Today I was thinking to myself "Self, someone must produce a GPS speedometer by now." Well as it turns out, self was right. I'm guessing a lot of yous guys already knew this, but I figured I'd share in case some didn't.

This speedo requires only 12v, no other inputs I believe. That means you can put one on your SX, Big Red, DR, or KLT (the KLT version tops out at 15mph), and it also has an odometer. I just ordered this one now so I cannot yet give a review. It should be a great addition to this machine though.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F152996695954

My big Ford speedo was off thanks to the 38.5 inch tires so I bought a Garmin just to use the speedo feature. Occasionally, I did need to know where I was going so that helped too but mostly it was an expensive speedometer

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[fabiodriven]

I usually use my GPS as my speedo in my trucks mostly because it also has the speed limit on it as well. I like that.

So clearly nobody gives a flying frig about scenic shore-side views and corner carving, lol! For whatever reason everyone really likes run-ins with law enforcement agents. I ran into another curious police officer last night.

Another thing I've noticed, of the people who approach me to discuss the trike, a good portion of them "had tons of trikes in past".

https://youtu.be/fEe9LVzfS54

[ironchop]

So clearly nobody gives a flying frig about scenic shore-side views and corner carving, lol! For whatever reason everyone really likes run-ins with law enforcement agents....

I watched Plymouth, the Pullover, and the Beach and then I ran out of free time. Heat pump is on the fritz and the tech came in to discuss it and I was trying to haul the old washer/dryer out last night to make way for the new set.



Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[fabiodriven]

Lmfao! Don't feel obligated! I just noticed the bulk of views is on the pullover video.

[inv3ctiv3]

This bike is so rad

[keister]

Another thing I've noticed, of the people who approach me to discuss the trike, a good portion of them "had tons of trikes in past".

I too have noticed this. And they always used to have "one just like that." Even if the "one" is a TRX450 conversion or '86 125M.
My favorite is "I used to have one just like that -- except mine was a 300."
I've heard it multiple times. Honda apparently made a bunch of Big Red 300's and 300X's.

Somebody spotted you (your trike) parked yesterday and posted a picture of it on FB asking about it.
I knew as soon as I saw the front end it was yours. It's definitely one of a kind.

[fabiodriven]

This bike is so rad

My ego thanks you!

I too have noticed this. And they always used to have "one just like that." Even if the "one" is a TRX450 conversion or '86 125M.
My favorite is "I used to have one just like that -- except mine was a 300."
I've heard it multiple times. Honda apparently made a bunch of Big Red 300's and 300X's.

Somebody spotted you (your trike) parked yesterday and posted a picture of it on FB asking about it.
I knew as soon as I saw the front end it was yours. It's definitely one of a kind.

Are you saying it's ugly? Lol!

Wednesday I rode up to a powersports shop in Plymouth. Mik6 had been in there talking about trikes and they wanted to see the XR. One of the guys that came out to see it had "Seen a black guy in traffic on the highway the other day on one of these up on two wheels weaving in and out of traffic." No you didn't dude.

[fabiodriven]

I was pulled over again today by a detail I was passing. The officer was a bit confrontational at first, but he was under the assumption that I was doing something illegal. Once he figured out I wasn't, his attitude changed completely. He even apologized which was nice but unnecessary. As I rode by him again on my return trip, he gave me two thumbs up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMKOy_CXh0I

[fabiodriven]

The XR is under the knife right now for some more maintenance and improvements. The biggest problem the bike had was a lot of oil consumption through the valve seals, but it needs some general upkeep like various engine seals and some paint.





One issue that has arisen due to being used primarily on the street is swing arm bearing wear. They are roached right now. With the axle being so wide and this engine making the torque it does, combined with the traction of dry pavement and my aggressive riding, these bearings are under severe loads. Even slow speed maneuvers are very tough on these swing arm bearings. I think this is the ideal application for delrin bushings. I think the bike is going to feel a lot smoother now and I won't have embarrassing clicks anymore. BKM is likely going to end up making up a set or two for me, should work out well.

Because of my riding this on the roads during blizzards, a lot of my hardware has been a bit rusty. I broke three bolts off getting the rocker box off unfortunately.



This is a long bolt that goes right through the head and into the cylinder.



This is what road salt does to your hardware.



I'm debating on whether or not it's time to do the timing chain and guides. The chain is louder than I'd prefer on cold starts, but I don't know if that's just normal for this bike? The bike has roughly 30,000 miles on it and I've got another thread going on Thumper Talk asking those guys their opinions on what kind of mileage they get from timing chains. I'd rather not change it out if I don't have to. The bore looks perfect and I don't think it even needs rings. I'm curious how the valves and seats are going to look.



I have other stuff to do to this. I'm actually going to butcher the swing arm. It's just not perfectly straight and it drives me nuts. It took me a couple years to notice but now that I know I have to fix it, so I'll be doing that too.

[fabiodriven]

I was hoping this bike would be going together by this point, however the day after I disassembled it I bought the 85 SX and there went the money for parts for the XR. There is still work to do for the time being. I'm going to do some painting on the frame and make it red.







Unfortunately the cylinder is going to have to come off. When I first took this bike apart, I was under the assumption it would need a timing chain and guides and possibly a hone and rings. Well after disassembly it turns out all the top end needs is valve seals and that's it. I was glad to find that out and left the jug on the engine to simplify the job and save myself some time and money. Welp, as it turns out, there's a broken bolt I'm not going to be able to remove here, and it's in the jug, which unfortunately means the jug has to come off and go to the machine shop. Since the jug has to go, I'll send the head as well to have those two broken bolts removed. Kind of a bummer but oh well.





One of my biggest complaints about the XR650L is the ridiculous amount of wiring and the massive wiring harness. It's a pain in the tits, always in the way, and impossible to hide. I've "trimmed the fat" twice now and cut out everything I could, but it's still massive and messy. I wish ps2fixer were my neighbor right now, love to see what you could do with this mess!

[ps2fixer]

Lol ironic I just checked this post out.

Since road salt is such a problem, the harness could be a thing to target to prevent electrical problems. Saltwater really wicks up exposed copper if it's not in a sealed connector (I can't see what the connector style is in the photo). Of course if connector types were changed, the things that plug in would have to be changed out too. I didn't start reading the thread from the start, but I suspect you started with the XL650L harness. I don't see a battery box, so guessing the orig machine had a battery, and you deleted that, so yea there's probably a lot of wire extra in the harness (think 250es vs 350x).

Anyway, not trying to say to have me make a harness or anything, but it could be an interesting project to try to do via PM lol. The fun part would be having you lay out string to mimic the harness routing you'd want so the lengths would match the frame/bike setup properly, and get "branch" measurements from that for the misc things that plug in. Adding/changing things is pretty easy after that since my templates are a 1in square grid setup.

Just wondering, what did you use for a key/ignition switch? Looks like there might be a tether on it? Being what it is, I'd think a key'ed ignition switch would keep the less savvy thieves away even though they just would have to unplug/cut the wire to get ignition (atleast that's how the 3 wheeler wiring is setup).

For the rear end bearing issue, is there room to machine out the bearing bore and run dual bearings? That would probably be what I'd do with the situation which effectively doubles the strength of the bearing (or just use a wider one that's a dual bearing design already like a automotive wheel bearing). Also make sure the bearings are sealed in some way. Never hurts to add a grease zert to the center part of the axle and fill it with grease, extra weight, but prevents rust and water from getting inside, this worked great on a 350 warrior that was mud bogged all the time.

Anyway, nice looking machine, I'm sure it's a blast to ride.

[fabiodriven]

Lol ironic I just checked this post out.

Since road salt is such a problem, the harness could be a thing to target to prevent electrical problems. Saltwater really wicks up exposed copper if it's not in a sealed connector (I can't see what the connector style is in the photo). Of course if connector types were changed, the things that plug in would have to be changed out too. I didn't start reading the thread from the start, but I suspect you started with the XL650L harness. I don't see a battery box, so guessing the orig machine had a battery, and you deleted that, so yea there's probably a lot of wire extra in the harness (think 250es vs 350x).

Anyway, not trying to say to have me make a harness or anything, but it could be an interesting project to try to do via PM lol. The fun part would be having you lay out string to mimic the harness routing you'd want so the lengths would match the frame/bike setup properly, and get "branch" measurements from that for the misc things that plug in. Adding/changing things is pretty easy after that since my templates are a 1in square grid setup.

Just wondering, what did you use for a key/ignition switch? Looks like there might be a tether on it? Being what it is, I'd think a key'ed ignition switch would keep the less savvy thieves away even though they just would have to unplug/cut the wire to get ignition (atleast that's how the 3 wheeler wiring is setup).

For the rear end bearing issue, is there room to machine out the bearing bore and run dual bearings? That would probably be what I'd do with the situation which effectively doubles the strength of the bearing (or just use a wider one that's a dual bearing design already like a automotive wheel bearing). Also make sure the bearings are sealed in some way. Never hurts to add a grease zert to the center part of the axle and fill it with grease, extra weight, but prevents rust and water from getting inside, this worked great on a 350 warrior that was mud bogged all the time.

Anyway, nice looking machine, I'm sure it's a blast to ride.

I haven't had any issues with the wiring shorting or acting weird lately, it's just unsightly and a mess. I'd just love to tidy it. I'm not sure if any more wires can be eliminated, but whatever can come out of there is best for me.

Honestly I'd love it if you could build me a harness and I'd love to help, but I have to be honest. This is quite the harness and I'd be nervous about my abilities in such an undertaking. Also, I'm not sure, but I feel like it would be a benefit for you to have the bike there in front of you as well. Certainly something to think about though, and thanks for offering! Maybe we'll figure something out!

There is a battery and battery box on the bike. It has to have the battery as this bike is electric start only, no backup.

As far as the swing arm bearings go, plastic is going to be the absolute best bet there. With this bike being on the street with these little wheels, it has some odd final drive harmonics. It's kind of difficult to portray, but if you lug this bike low and try to pull out of it, the harmonics feel like they're going to break the bike. You have to keep the engine in a higher RPM than you would if this were in bike form, it feels like it would benefit greatly from a sprocket mount which had rubber inserts. I don't know if you've ever seen those, but they don't offer that for the 300EX (which this axle is out of). I would imagine with the machine in bike trim with a bike wheel and a bike tire, you can likely lug it along at low RPM no problem at all. I have a feeling the harshness of the final drive is due somehow to the smaller diameter tires with more traction than the bike tire would have had. I was under the assumption this was a result of running an engine with no counterbalance in trike form, until I found out the XR650L actually HAS a counterbalance, so there went that theory.

So I'm not looking to fight what caused these bearings to fail, I'm looking to correct it. Damping the shock which is originating there will be best for man and machine, and it will be done for less money and less effort. This swing arm is subjected to some serious forces that off road ATV's will just never see, and that's not even because I drift it in third gear on dry pavement. Just as hard if not harder on the drive train is regular slow speed maneuvers on the road at normal (for other people) riding speeds. The straight axle has no give and it is wide, it has a lot of leverage. The give is going to go somewhere. So you see these bushings being made from plastic is going to be multi-functional as well as easy and cheap.

[ps2fixer]

Never heard of using plastic bushings for high rpm applications, I've seen brass used though. I suspect the plastic bushings must be high temp.

Sounds like the real fix would be to figure out how to mount up an actual diff rear end into the bike so it gives around corners, but there isn't much out there except like lawnmower rear ends that are not exactly the strongest for high speed driving lol.

Just an idea/theory that's a bit weird for a chain drive machine, but the shaft drive machines have bearings right out to the hubs. I wonder if some sort of pipe/support system made to work around the chain drive parts could be made and a shaft drive axle modified to run a sprocket + disc break would be a good option. Less stress on the bearings that way since it's right at the wheel, but keeps the same/similar driving characteristics.

For the vibration based on low rpm is probably more due to the large engine size being a single cylinder than anything. The rubber dampener setup on the rear sprocket would fix that if you can figure something out for that. Just for an example, my dad's 650 rincon (and later 680 rincon he upgraded to) would rut up trails with the engine speed vibration, no other atv we had did that to the trails. I guess it could be called washboard like a dirt road. Theory behind it is each time the cylinder fires, it spins the tires a tiny bit, on smaller engines the tire doesn't break traction so it doesn't cause the ripple effect in the trails.

Anyway, the harness thing shouldn't be that hard to figure out on your end, just the main route is the most critical thing. The branches off from that are just measurements from the string to where like the regulator is at etc. This is how people DIY build car harnesses. The actual wiring and such is the hard part, a wire diagram or something probably would be needed for me to follow for wire color/routing unless you wanted to probe each of the connections to match where each wire runs lol. Having the machine/harness in hand would be easiest, but I don't think you want to pay to fly me out with my tools and terminals and such lolz.