First post but decided to join because it looks like this is the place to go for XL info. A couple months ago I picked up this '85, 800 miles from home, for a case of beer. The original owner passed it down to his grandson, who just didn't ride it and gave it to his buddy, who also just didn't ride it, and offered it to me after I posted some pictures of the refresh of my '87 XR600R on a different forum. It's been a Michigan bike it's whole life until now, purchased new near Detroit, then making it's way towards Grand Rapids where I picked it up and brought it back home to South Dakota where it will primarily be a gravel road bomber, occasional commuter, and should get a couple of annual trips to the mountain roads and trails in the Black Hills. A quick carb clean was all it took to get it running and all it's really needed since is a front caliper rebuild. I've probably put 400 miles on it since I picked it up and it's been a blast. The bike is very original with just over 10k miles now and in really good shape overall. It's been worked on as I found silicone caulk on the stator cover and carb manifold, but I've already pulled those and put in the proper gaskets. The intent was to just leave it alone, ride it as is and enjoy it, but the temptation of having a modified XR600R just sitting around with parts that swap over was too hard to pass up. So far from the XR I've taken the whole rear suspension setup, aluminum bars, aluminum kicker arm, and the RH foot peg which for some reason is about 1/2" longer than the XL. The front suspension will probably come over at some point soon as well. The XR still has the Supertrapp, a Ricky Stator, and a high compression engine which I'm still debating what to do with. I'll upgrade the XL stator at some point whether that's buying new or swapping, but I'm happy enough with the stock XL power, and enjoy the relatively quiet stock can. I've had a scheme in my head for a while now to convert the XR to a trike and make a frozen river riding monster out of it.... Anyway, I'm excited to be here and to see what everyone else is up to with they're XL's, I'll try to post some updates and pictures but I tend to do more riding than photographing so updates may be sparse.
Electrics question. I'm building a street tracker out of an 1984 XL600. The bike is kick start only, but I understand i need a battery as it supplies constant voltage for horn / indicator / tail light? The stock battery is too big for me to comfortabley house under the seat unit so i want to swap for something LOTS smaller. Can i just fit any old 12v rechargeble battery? I've seen small batteries from fire alarms that i can probably squeeze in. Or can i ditch the battery all together and run a capacitor of some sort? Also i've read that the headlight is not 12volt and is AC, is this correct? Am i going to struggle to find some sort of aftermarket headlight or is AC common in motorbikes? I'm after something really small that i can mount into a number board.
correct on both counts id recomend cap's except ive seen them explode with crazy damage.......so id go with an actual battery, be it agm or even if its a small lipo in a steel wrapper, as for the headlight what you need is a reg or reg/rec unit then you can "tune" the voltage and flatten it out....i used a trail tech unit when i went twin LED on my xl6, in fact i used the same unit first on my "1984 xr50" clone...actualy a dressed up 92 honda z50 made to look like how i think the 80s z50 "should" have looked and likely would have if they would have gotten the XR name it should also be noted that everything will "function" so long as the bike is running WITHOUT a battery....tho thats not DOT in most states but youll get alot of dip n spikes..batterys smooth that out which is also why i dont trust caps or even the stock reg/rec unit..used a trail tech unit here as well for a much "smoother" power feed
Cheers, so with the bike running the electrics will still all work? (with no battery at all connected?) Will this do any long term harm? There are no requirements in UK for lights to work after engine has stopped. No battery at all is even easier for me!! However i have found a very small AGM that i can house with a bit of messing about. Can you explain more about the reg/rec for headlamp? I'm a complete and utter electrics noob!!!!!!
if you still have the stock harness get one of these and be done with it......im running 2 of their older versions since im running dual headlights https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/Rectifier-for-LED-Light-Module_p_85.html i had to wire my bike from scratch so i made some adjustments along the way..however our headlight runs full DC on its own side of the stator... mind you this is over simplified but if you were scratch wiring it...it makes more sense to think of it like this or even for trouble shooting...the rules dont change just the fact you get switches involved where it seems like multiple systms are connected but everything is isolated our stators have 3 sections...battery, headlight, ignition system and none of them share anything, all lights have a "floating ground" IE all ground wires MUST RETURN TO BATTERY, the ignition system grounds to the frame and is basicly 1 wire bouncing between components and kill switch, the headlight gets its power off the stator and grounds back to the stator heck our 2 big sides of the stator are in fact even output as far as i know...so something ive been considering for winter riding is to add a battery to the "second system" so i can even out how much i tax from each...heated grips, charging battery, running all the lights(except headlights) and charging my gps maping rig, and running comunications power is too much for just 1 side
Brilliant. Thanks for that, I do have the full wiring loom, but will be modifying it to delete clocks, use different switch gear and just to change lengths to rear lights and indicators. Glad you said about earths returning to battery, I was wondering why so many green wires, and not just earthed to the frame. Hopefully Cyclops adventure ship to the UK, that LED converter looks just the ticket, I won’t be using the stock headlight, but 2 small separate LED lamps for dipped/main beam.
if your going to mod the harness then do yourself a favor and just remove the whole thing and start over from scratch, theres a TON of un-needed wiring in there and it can be VERY simplified and alot of things can then be tucked in a whole lot tighter, ...alot of guys would pay good money for a good harness too, and once you start butchering it the more likely you are to run into problems start with buying your new switch gear, and all other electrical bits you plan to change out, after that things get easy in a hurry, also you can switch out and sell the stock reg/rec unit and toss in a "trail tech" reg rec unit ...mine are mounted on a small aluminum plate under the seat somewhere around here i have a diagram of the harness i built and its so simplified a trained monkey could make one in the end you will remove all the potential problem spots of the OE harness a dozen un needed connectors and the massive fuse box which if your going for the clean look i suspect you are you couldnt run much of the OE harness anyway
Welding, machining, engine building are all well within my skill set, but when it comes to electricity pipes I’m not even a half trained monkey! I do indeed want less clutter, clocks and fuse box would be nice to disappear. I’ve been hunting out some more minimalist switchgear. Is it really that easy? You’ve got me thinking now!!!!!!!
it really is that easy when you sit down and think of it as 3 systems and start from SCRATCH the trick to it is having ALL of your switch gear in front of you BEFORE doing anything after that its a matter of taking a multi meter and checking the switches for continuity(listen for the beep) some switches will wonky wiring..and youll have to rewire for them...for example...headlight switch will typicaly run 1 hot wire in and it get switched from high/low headlight...but horn will often be a ground out connection, and turn signals can often be the same way if you want the help ill gladly run you thru it...the whole thing can be made very simplistic and idiot proof, ive even got tricks for wrapping harnesses to look OEM my bike consits of 5 wires to the rear fender, 2 wires upto the headlight switch, 3 wires upto the turn signals and a main hot wire off the battery, i have a 3 fuse box in the battery box, a reg rec unit mounted under the seat above the air box.....i had no stock harness and had to make it up as i went along..hell i didnt even have switch gear or clocks.....and those clocks "can" fetch a pretty penny....i took a long time to find mine...my controls are all 70s yamaha for strength and style as i wanted mirror mounts as part of them and solid aluminum with built in kill switch...ive got a lil mess behind the headlights now after a few years of adding, removing and re-aranging..since i went from single headlight and no clocks to dual headlights with clocks and a secondary switch pad for extra stuff...including the ability to "go dark"..ive got small switches to turn on/off the headlight, tail light clock lights and built in heated grip setup..so im due to overhaul my harness again..or atleast the front section...but thats part of making drastic changes ive been spending alot of time taking care of my wife and we havnt been able to ride since jan/feb last year, but were over the hump and things will be on the mend in a few weeks!!!!
You've just made a new friend! I need to get engine actually running first (a minor detail), just waiting on some carb parts. I'll start ordering headlight, tail light, battery and indicators. If i'm wiring from scratch will it not matter if i use LED indicators? I'll need some sort of flasher relay? And what am i best using for reg/rec, genuine Honda, or something else? I know what switchgear i want, the same as on my montesa 4ride, it has everything on 1 side, and is robust.
yeah youll need a digital flasher relay nothing more..do NOT buy one for a bike..buy one for a car..same unit 1/4 the price trailtech reg/rec unit and if needed a secondary regulator, the nice thing about their units is the voltage can be adjusted the only "oem" parts i would use from the electrical systems is the ignition switch(unless you have other plans) specificly to be able to retain the lockable steering, the coil, and pickup..outside of that go aftermarket..the only other OEM part id probably use would be the brake switch and horn(if required)..i used a generic brake switch as mine was long gone
Presume the reg/rec is the 1 at top of this page? http://trailtechproducts.co.uk/acatalog/Regulator_Rectifier.html This is the headlight I’d like to use, it’s got high/low beam and is small enough to mount in my number board. Is this possible? https://furoreproducts.co.uk/combined-projector-headlamp Car relays come in 3 or 2 pin. ?????
There’s is a machined, reverse end cone for it, and baffle, just not fitted in that picture. Tank sure is dinky, the geometry and layout of the bike are copied from Woods flattrack bikes. They seem to make the best, and I want to try a race or 2, but it is definitely being built as a road bike.
Cool! I was wondering about jetting with the flow of your Megaphone, will you be dyno ing it after the fitting of said inserts?
Don’t think I’ll dyno it, but will defo be messing with carb to make the most of it. I think the lack of air box will have a real big effect on how it runs. I’ve not messed with XR’s or XL’s in the past, but my experience with DR singles is that air boxes (or lack of) have a huge effect on how they run. On holiday at the moment but looking forward to sorting a wiring loom out once I’m home. Keen to learn something new.
