My XR650L conversion

[aldochina]

awsome guys! hopefully get it back together for some lucious fall riding!! I will join you on the 2 wheeled version up in VT, just say the word!! I have not done much riding of any type this summer! Be so nice if you dudes were just a bit closer, I almost feel like i'm in the shop with you's!

[fabiodriven]

OK, so it's been a little over a month since I last updated this. In that time, Steve and I have logged anywhere from 2 to maybe 6 hours tops per week working on this. That's just not much time at all. Both of our schedules have been quite full and even with this being a top priority of mine, it's been hard to find time. Today was the first full day I've been able to put in as I usually go away on the weekends. After about 9 hours today, we are finally on the home stretch. I know I had suggested that we may be able to make more of these swing arms, but I'll say right now this has been a much bigger undertaking than we had anticipated. I could possibly replicate this with the use of Steve's shop after having watched him on the milling machine, but I wouldn't try without Steve's help. Steve could build these, but it is A LOT of work. I'll say right now, I'm not interested in doing this for anyone else and if Steve is expect to give him a grand or so. If that seems outrageous to you then go build one yourself and tell me what it's worth for you to make one for someone else.

At this point I thought we were on the home stretch. Then I did a test fit and figured out that we had no room for the shock linkage.





Now the last thing you want to do with a structural piece of metal is begin clearancing, but we had no choice. After cutting this enough for the shock linkage to fit through, I thought for an entire weekend about how we would work around this. The answer came to me and solved not only our structural issue, but two other things at the same time. One piece of metal, three things handled.







Had to clearance a bit for one of the shock bolts as well.



Here's Steven fly cutting our miracle chunk of metal that is structural support, and both upper and lower chain guide.

















The swinger is hanging in my garage as I type this, I just gave it it's first coat of primer. I'll go out and paint it in a minute. Tomorrow we have to do some work to make the swinger bearings right. The previous builder had them all messed up and seized in there. God bless the man for making the template of my dream bike, but the execution certainly did leave a bit to be desired. We've got 30 or 40 hours into this swing arm. I could replicate his in probably 4 hours or so.

[tripledog]

Great pics and excellent craftsmanship! Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Your XR650l was about 20 miles from my home, but many, many dollars from what I could afford. So much nicer looking than the Can Am trikes that seem to be multiplying like rabbits around here. IMHO.

[jays375]

Carbon steel was to easy.Should have been aluminum.Joking!That swinger should do the job without a problem.It turned out very nice and well made.Do you think that on road use is worse than off road?Where I live the roads are in horrible condition.

[fabiodriven]

There isn't a doubt in my mind it's strong enough now. I think we discussed that earlier in the thread, about whether being off road or on road are tougher on it. I'd say off road was tougher on it for sure as I rode it on road for quite a while and it held up, but it broke literally as soon as I took it off road. Thanks Jays!

[Billy Golightly]

Looks great! The first arched swingarm I built, I had the same problem with figuring out how the hell to get the shock bolt and linkage in/out You guys did a great job of solving it, and I like that big side gusset also, thats going to work well I think.

[fabiodriven]

Alright, well she's all done! Had a couple unrelated electrical issues today, turned out a couple of wires got pinched in the steering stop. But the swing arm, oh the swing arm! Boy did we do a number on that bad boy! The bike handles much, much, much better than it ever has. It didn't like to wheelie before, it would just kind of hop and spin the tires. You really had to yank it to get the front end up. I had always attributed that to the small tires and the stink bug stance of the bike. Turns out it was a very flimsy swing arm causing that and other issues, such as wobbling and poor road manners. I really couldn't be any happier with the results of our hard work. I can't thank Steve enough for opening his shop to me and spending as much time as he did on this project. It was a lot of work but now it's done! Hooray!

[Louis Mielke]

Someone pull that seat cover tighter so it matches the rest of the awesome trike!

[fabiodriven]

It looked great off the trike but when I installed the seat today it looked like that! What happens is you have to kind of force the seat down like a banana and in turn it bends the pan up a little. I'll work on it!

[tripledog]

Very nicely done, but where is the kickstand? If you altered the kickstand mount a bit it might be a good place for your inspection sticker, but it might get you pulled over. But that ride will probably get you pulled over anyway. Must be a great feeling to send the cops off scratching their heads.

[fabiodriven]

The Massachusetts inspection sticker goes on the license plate. Steve really wanted to cut the kicker mount off but I wasn't sure, so there it stays. Haha. Yeah it'll get pulled over no matter what.

[Louis Mielke]

Gotta be honest, this machine makes me want to build my own, probably not street legal but still, awesome machine!

[Louis Mielke]

I'd seriously look into going to trx450r brake rotor and caliper, more ground clearance and the caliper can handle much more heat.

[fabiodriven]

Thank you Louis! To each their own, but why not street legal?

I wouldn't bother messing with the brake unless heat or ground clearance were to become an issue. Are you implying a 450R caliper and rotor are a bolt-on with a 300EX carrier and axle?

[El Camexican]

Looks, great, I like the long upper slider, but am wondering if it has a drain at the lowest point? Would hate to see it rust out on you.