... maybe altered, modified or improved on, but not harmed. That's what we got: That's what I want: Why? When we already have this: and this:
So why start a new bike built? Well there was the accident, where an ATV took me out on a forest road. Took some time to heal after that and somehow I lost the thrill for the XC 650. Then the Burtman was lamenting that no one rides Airheads to the gatherings anymore and Sgt Colt nooded with approval. Thus I felt it up on me to please the elders, but how? Next I found myself in San Felipe / Baja next to an awesome R 80 GS talking to its owner. Turns out it was Cdubs of ADV Airhead fame: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/yet-another-r80g-s-rebuild-tag-and-swt-mods.1023674/ As much as I love my Airheads there are small bikes for my 6'3" being. I can make it work for street riding and touring but in the dirt I got used riding standing up and that did not work on Airheads for me. Until now! Cdubs is as tall as me , his bike is tall, he let me sit and stand on it and it fits! So we have Motivation , now we have a Spark what else? In the Fall I found here a ride report about the ALCAN 5000, a TSD rally from Seattle to Alaska. What I got from the story that it is a fun , fairly cheap way to see Alaska. Never been there that's sounded good and not knowing better I send an application to the Rallymaster. That was for the next event in August 2018 and it was already full but they put me on the waiting list. Ok, maybe spent some time to read up about it... What was I thinking, I never been competitive or in a race and now I want to do this? https://www.alcan5000.com/ Then my Dad died unexpected, I got accepted to the ALCAN, sold the XC 650 without drama, got this 1984 R80ST offered from a friend and that is why we are in Rally bike built mode!
R 80 ST, built between 1982 and 1984 with 5963 produced. Considered to be the street version of the R80G/S. Kinda rare to find but around here there are some great threads about it: http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...s-putting-the-r80st-back-on-the-road.1150983/ http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/r80st-gets-the-gs-treatment.418019/ http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/prutsers-bike-stinks.906038/ http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...0st-the-journey-of-a-nonpro-mechanic.1149424/ I saved all the OEM parts like front end, tank and plastics so to be able to get the bike back into stock condition, hence not harming its vintage.
On the my R100R I was fighting the front suspension for two years. Tried Race tech emulators, springs and all kind of settings until I ended up with forks from a K 75. On the G 650 X Challenge the front suspension was replaced by some Marzocchi Shivers and I was tuning them till I sold the bike. Maybe it is the rough roads around here or my bias of riding the front wheel when standing up but the front end is my pet peeve. Coming across JimDays use of the Kayabasa forks , http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...g-a-yz450f-kayaba-fork-to-an-airhead.1124932/ Sounds great lets get some. Ebay has a lot of Yamaha YZ450F forks, which are made by Kayabasa KYB and front wheels as well as calipers all for little money. I got a sparkly one with a Pro Taper upper triple.
Oh shit.....don't blame me purists. I'm a whole foot shorter than you Square1!!! Can't wait for the madness!!!!
Are you going to gusset the frame? Those forks and most beefy aftermarket forks are mega stiff, hard for me to gauge since I did the frame and forks at the same time but riding a stock bike back to back taking this bump in my neighborhood the stock bike felt like a wet noodle and I could feel the twist. I think @Prutser has a big fork stock frame setup. Thoughts vs a gusseted bike?
Thanks for all the encouragement! Lets see if we loose movement when the handlebars are turned. Stock front end:
Now with the YZ 450 F front end: With the tank moved 1/4" back full lock is almost like the stock one. The lock stops on the lower tripple hit the frame gussets which is ok, I will put a rubber pad there to protect the paint from chipping off
I installed my forks without frame gussets. Now that I have the frame gussets in place, it's a different machine. It's more of a wet noodle with upgraded forks and a stock frame. But I rode the shit out of mine that way for years....I think Prutser did as well. "Forks before frame"....has a ring to it. Totally different than forks over knives.....
As you can see the YZ 450 F triple stem is longer than the stock set up. The stem is tapered in the center . So sliding the upper bearing down would not work without modifying the stem by cutting or/and welding. An 1" tall spacer had to be made. The Yamaha bearings are available as a set in Ebay. They have two inside diameters allowing for the tapered stem. The outside bearing is equal and the same as the BMW Airhead ones. JimDay made a spacer and put it between the upper bearing and the triple clamp. Nothing wrong with that, but I found a design on one of the Rooney bikes where the spacer is fixed to the frame tube and moves the bearing up. Maybee improving on the leverage the 6" longer forks will have on the bearings ? Well that was more complicated and I was not sure how and who could do this around here. Enter Peter... Had a short talk with him about what I was trying to do and half an hour later he sends me that from work How cool is that!
Then he showed up with a big chunck of metal with 1018 writen on it, Ok cool again. Asked me for a sketch and one of the outer bearings.
Only to show up short after with this Now is that cool or what! He made the part that fit into the fork tube some oversize and it took fire, ice and pressure to make it fit
That is Cool!!! Hey have we met? You remind me of this guy I met after a VVMC ride. We were at Deus and talking about building better dirt bikes for Meatballs desert rides. I think he was on a R nine T.
Well I asked him and he might consider it if there is a couple of them to make, because of material purchase and machine set up.
