rat bike 500 for trikefest

[just ben]

After seeing a few other 500 builds going I figured I would jump on the bandwagon. The trike started out as a pile of parts that once was fabiodriven's 500 project. I had an 86 kx 250 engine that was destined for the frame.However in the time of the parts making there way from Mass. to western NY a 1990 kx 500 became available. With a little wheeling and dealing the kx basically cost me gas money to pick it up 4 Hrs away. This is definitely a 10ft rat bike but it's still a 1/2 liter bike. This bike has mismatched,rusty and maybe some missing hardware. The pipe was smashed up pretty bad and was probably better suited for the scrap pile than to be put on a bike. The swingarm is a plus 2 laegers that had plates welded to it and was not a very pretty sight.That probably should have ended up on the scrap pile aswell. The fender brace was from mik6's bike that Dawn ball wrecked at tf. That was broke in half and twisted. The grab bar is for a 250r modified slightly to fit the t3. This bike was put together with spare and junk parts and definitely qualifies as rat ride,lol. But damn it's fun to ride!! Heres a few pics to drool (or puke) over. I did a number on my lawn, I guess I shouldn't ride it in the yard after a hard rain.

[El Camexican]

So is it going to TF??? I think a 'Battle of the Big Bores' post with a poll needs to be put up so predictions can be made on the drag race outcomes. Trash talk welcome!

[ShaftDrive225dx]

I want a two stroke damnit! lol very nice project hope all goes well good luck?

[yaegerb]

That actually looks pretty decent Ben. Nice work!

[JasonB]

rat bike?! looks pretty nice to me lol the pictures make it look well put together too, did you do the decomp head yourself? Also hows the shoulder doing? Fabio going to race this one for ya

[just ben]

rat bike?! looks pretty nice to me lol the pictures make it look well put together too, did you do the decomp head yourself? Also hows the shoulder doing? Fabio going to race this one for ya

larry weichman from kx riders forum did the head He did a sweet job on it and was less than 2 weeks total turnaround. He does them for the cr too. I believe Fabio is piloting his and Dans bike but he certainly is welcome to mine any time(it's still his bike right now technically)My shoulder is a lot better than the last time you seen it but if I go down at all I will be healing from the beginning again. That's why you won't see me on the mx track this year. This bike may make on the track though,I was gonna let MTS ride it or my 250. I think the bike he was going to race will be staying in NY because of room constraints.

[RIDE-RED 250r]

That doesn't look so terrible Ben! Looks alot better than MY 500!

[tblumer]

I see my old 70!

[just ben]

That doesn't look so terrible Ben! Looks alot better than MY 500!

I forgot to mention the frame being twisted LOL. It's good enough for now but that will be replaced in the future.

[MTS]

Ill ride it, cant be any worse than the honda"s I rode in the last couple years!!

[nd4speed]

Cool project, I'm still looking for a quick solution for front motor mounts (and even upper ones maybe). What did you use?

I dont have a welder either. Did you just bend/dent the cross member tube for the spark plug?

[fabiodriven]

Nice job Ben! I'm sorry about the frame, I had no idea it was twisted. I picked that bike up half built as a 500 and the kid was a total hack and a ripoff. It was before I was on the forums.

Yes, the hack I got the bike from dimpled the frame with a for the spark plug.

[just ben]

Cool project, I'm still looking for a quick solution for front motor mounts (and even upper ones maybe). What did you use?

I dont have a welder either. Did you just bend/dent the cross member tube for the spark plug?

I used 1/4" aluminum plate. I cut the rough shape out that I needed with a circular saw and used an angle grinder (with and aluminum wheel) to radius and clean them up. I clamped them together in a vise when I did that so that they would be the same. After I had the shape I needed I clamped 1 of them in position on the frame and used a transfer punch to mark the holes. Then put both mounts back in the vise and drilled them both at the same time. Its the same for the top mount except I made some bushings to space the mounts off the frame. You could use washers for that but I have a lathe for stuff like that. The only welding I did was welded a second mount on the frame for the silencer. I will have to weld a tab on the left radiator for the shroud mount. I used the kx 500 left radiator to simplify plumbing. The tecate radiator wont work without modifying it or the cylinder head. I'm not too worried about the frame Fabio, I will find a nice one in the future,Then hack this one up for some other crazy project I'm sure.

[nd4speed]

Thanks for the info, I was just going to cut some steel plate stock. I always ask cause someone might just say it's easy like "slot the holes on some KX5 mounts". But it seems everyone just fabs some. Ok no big deal. WAs hoping there was simple way to dimple frame too.

[JasonB]

larry weichman from kx riders forum did the head He did a sweet job on it and was less than 2 weeks total turnaround. He does them for the cr too. I believe Fabio is piloting his and Dans bike but he certainly is welcome to mine any time(it's still his bike right now technically)My shoulder is a lot better than the last time you seen it but if I go down at all I will be healing from the beginning again. That's why you won't see me on the mx track this year. This bike may make on the track though,I was gonna let MTS ride it or my 250. I think the bike he was going to race will be staying in NY because of room constraints.

very cool. And ya stick that damn Canadian on it, hes so light the bike will just fly