The Banana Challenge
Anyway, working on a new project that I've meant to for a long time, but its come together and I'm making progress.
I'm in the process of restoring a 1978 Yamaha XT500 enduro that I bought for 100 bucks. With new tires, a new seat, and a passable fuel tank. And it looked, perhaps, that I got ripped off when I brought it home. It looked a lot like a pile of ferns when I bought it.
Those of you who know bikes know this is cool. Jeez, roller bearing crank, rod, and cam?
All in all it's coming together very well and rapidly, those are very robust bikes(a Paris/Dakar winner) and the motor was fine, with a screwed up spark plug hole and then parked. I put a helicoil in the hole, pulled the valves and lapped them, took the barrel off, busted the glaze and rust out, no problem, and am ordering a set of rings. The bottom end is like new. The frame looked like hell but is fine. Front forks cruddy but will work. Rims OK, but need spokes at some point. All in all will be a very very solid machine for about 600 bucks.
Anyway, thinking that it might be interesting to sponsor/support a Mauna Loa hillclimb challenge on the fuel you can eek out of 100 lbs of bananas.
Anyway, this old girl was built to breathe, lol!
Cool bike. Could you gonna put a side car on it ?
Ciel I was thinking more in terms of old Buffy herself getting a ride . Maybe
Annabelle could sit on my lap ?
I read a account of riding IN Mokuaweoweo. That'd be crazy/fun huh?
Rocks are mean. . .
Coming together.
So that's a two stroke? How peaky is the power band? The old Honda 600 series two stroke dirt bikes had a power band peaky enough to climb coconut trees.
Jay,
That axe at the rear end - is that to deal with recalcitrant parts or is that what Cal uses instead of a chainsaw (or both)?
Allen
LOL. Mostly to keep the chickens away. . .
It's a 4 stroke.
Does it have electric start? I hope so....... Been there done that!
Great idea Buffy! That would be a perfect candidate for a sidecar. We used to call it a "side-hack" on a dirtbike. I built one in high school for my 250 dirtbike. I made it a "bolt-on" type. The results were funny, less than stellar!
Nope, kickstart, as in like a mule.
It's got a compression release, for sure. Should be a pretty ballsy thumper and an ideal bike for Puna.
But perhaps in do time....
:)
A lead on a nice Banana Challenge bike. . .
A 78 Honda .XL250S. It's a little high strung for my taste with a four valve head and electronic ignition, but not quite the stone ax I'm building for myself. A pretty nice machine, really, if kept up and valuable. A runner, with tags, and legal.
Interested? I was thinking Calz, but she's not sure. Someone ought to pick it up, as the price is right.
Anyway, restored the fuel tank that had a crush in it over the weekend with a bunch of clamps and an air compressor. I didn't even need to pick chunks of aluminum out of my face. Doesn't look too bad and will polish up with a used/but cared for look.
The frame actually, was bent at the headstock. Chopped that off, put it back on and made the rake a bit steeper. . .
Talk me out of adding an inch to the swing arm. . .
