The XLV750R Thread

Damn. don't you hate it when you issue a challenge and then straight away you just know you've been beaten.
My engine is still sitting in pieces and the fairing on the DR is coursing me grief.

Oh well looks good so far anyway. Did you get the new (er) forks you were after?

thEtreV: I'll get it RWCed and regoed first ... still considering fork replacement, but then again, maybe I'll just chuck Racetech Emulators (Gold Valves) into these ones ... it's not that much money at the current exchange rate ...

-----sharks

just got back from ordering engine parts.
so hopefully I'll start getting mine back together in a week or so.

I think I'll be getting it registered then changing everything because I have some big plans for it (actually I don't but I know ill end up going overboard with it).

My aim for it is to have it set up and going by Easter and taking it to the Condo. Just to watch, not competing.

Oh were going to the condo no problem

No worries, let me know if you get stuck!

Do tell ... I'm doing similar, just whacking it all together to get through rego and then I'll try and get some improvements made ... I'd like to get to the Off Center 2008, so that's the long-term target for me ...

-----sharks

No idea what I'm doing to it, I keep getting side tracked when I try to work on bikes and end up with something completely different to what I set out to do, once while trying to change a rear wheel bearing on my RZ 350 I got a bit side tracked and ended up putting a KR1 swingarm, wheels, and front end on it.
Over the weekend I was finishing of the screen I was making for my DR and got a bit side tracked and now I'm busy fiberglassing a new nose section on it because I thought it needed twin headlights (I haven't touched the screen yet).

So you see in the few months (at least) that its going to take me I have no idea what I'll end up with.

Right now I'm aiming for a 950 SE/ HP2 kind of thing (just an update on what it was) but I have this feeling that I'm going to end up trying to make it a rallye type bike (I have a bad habit of that, I just love those things).

But any way I was wondering if anyone knew the amount of wheel travel you can get at the rear of those things (remembering that the shaft joint can only bend so far)?
I know it was discussed in the yahoo mailing list ages ago but I don't think anyone came up with an answer and I can't find where it was discussed anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You'd have to extend the swingarm / driveshaft like they do on Beemers + use a longer shock

hows the injection going sharks ??

Hehe, suffering badly from finite time and money. The next step is (still) machining adaptors for the throttle bodies ... a bit fiddly but not rocket science.

Rather conveniently, the MegaSquirt project has come a long way in the meantime ...

-----sharks

The shock's on a linkage, so you'd just have to turn the spring/damping rates up. Yeah, I've looked at my pile-o-parts and wondered about it

You could cut-and-shut the swingarm and there's enough room inside the swingarm to cut the ends off the shaft and weld in a section of slightly larger tube. Far too much like hard work for me!

-----sharks

yeah screw that, I'm thinking about angling the sub frame/seat up a bit more so it looks like it's got more travel .

Hey, like one of those bizarre streetfighter chop things the brits have gotten into. Good work! And clip-ons! No, ape hangers! No, wait, clip-on apehangers!

(This thread has lost all its dignity _already_ ...)
-----sharks

Tassels! I need tassels!!
No your right.Quick every one post more XLV pics so this thread doesn't loose to much credibility.

I'm sure you've all seen this pic before (I think I got it from here originally) but would you believe its the only pic of an XLV I have on this computer.
But its a good example of what I'm hoping my bike doesn't turn out like.
Oh and by the way, I just did a search on "XLW" and it gave me a whole heap of E-bay sites in foreign languages hoking XLV stuff, So maybe its A translation thing?

That one is a genuine W-for-weird, love the rear disc conversion and the braced swingarm. Would love to know more about it. Looks stock other than that and some alarming bodywork.

XLW seems to be a common typo for Italians selling XLV bits on eBay.

-----sharks

OK serious question time, I didn't have my XLV long before I striped it down (probably only did about 20 Ks of light fire road on it).
It still has the original (I assume its the original) air shock in it.
Are they any good or should I junk it for something else?
If I do get rid of it how do you guys think it will work in another bike?

It wasn't until I pulled it down that I realized they had an air shock in them so I didn't really take any notice when I took it for a ride, so I assume it was working OK.

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Assuming you mean the stock Honda one not a Fournales one: While they work, they're not actually all that bad, once you grease all the linkages and stuff which are generally the worst bit of the rear suspension. They do eventually die, however ... some internal rubber bit perishes and clogs up all the internal holes. It's only a matter of time. Also, eventually the oil leaks out the air hose.

Probably not, it's a bit of an oddball and not that great anyway. RAD shockies in QLD can rebuild them, and they say they rebuild them in such a way that they won't die again (not the same way, anyway). The alternative is a Bitubo shockie, fabulous but expensive.

Damn!!
Another really interesting bike that I've never had a chance to ride or purchase in the U.S.A.

-frustrating

How about this one for sale in Thailand. Asking price is 250,000 baht.