Topic: "Little Horse," and "Little Dragon" the war of the 500's

[Retro Rocket]

not to start another dynabeads thread, but they do work.

I think after reading the warnings about not to use for high speed riding and hard cornering on their pdf i wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.....

Mick

[paulages]

the problem may in fact be something other than the wheel balance if they did charge you for it (and hopefully actually did it). if you're used to modern bikes, much about the suspension will feel strange to you.. the overall state of suspension can cause strange things to happen... loose steering bearings, loose swingarm bushings, etc. not having followed the whole thread, i'll assume you attended to these areas having done an entire build. do you have a fork brace up front? you'll feel a HUGE difference once you do.. also, i'd have to read back to find the answer to these questions, so excuse me if it's in there somewhere, but do you have stock fork innards? stock springs are usually too soft. preload will help a lot of course, but cartridge emulators really help out a lot as well.

you seem gifted with the fabrication. come by the shop and i'll show you a homemade fork brace that i think works well. you can buy the tarrozzi braces for around $100.

[Industrial Cafe]

oh yeah I forgot about the hard cornering thing. I retract my statement.

 they work good in my dads car though. (he drives slow)

[Little_Horse]

the problem may in fact be something other than the wheel balance if they did charge you for it (and hopefully actually did it). if you're used to modern bikes, much about the suspension will feel strange to you.. the overall state of suspension can cause strange things to happen... loose steering bearings, loose swingarm bushings, etc. not having followed the whole thread, i'll assume you attended to these areas having done an entire build. do you have a fork brace up front? you'll feel a HUGE difference once you do.. also, i'd have to read back to find the answer to these questions, so excuse me if it's in there somewhere, but do you have stock fork innards? stock springs are usually too soft. preload will help a lot of course, but cartridge emulators really help out a lot as well.

you seem gifted with the fabrication. come by the shop and i'll show you a homemade fork brace that i think works well. you can buy the tarrozzi braces for around $100.

Thanks Paul, I am going to come by your shop here soon, let me know the time that works the best for you.

Here is the deal, there is no balance weights on the rims at all. Wouldn't that suggest it wasn't done? I mean the odds of both wheels balancing perfectly is like winning the lotto. I am going to check them here in little bit so I can know for sure.

I am more used to modern suspension now, but I spent a few years on a cb450 and have riden a thousand or so miles on my dad's cb750. The feeling is not like loose head bearings (had that before) or to soft suspension (also felt that before). It was kinda lumpy feeling at slow speeds, not an up and down sort of thing, just through the bars and once at 50 mph a low pulse vibration. Like 5 pulses a second or so. As soon as I slow down it begins to diminish. It was not like head shake either, it didn't feel like I would loose control just like it was going to vibrate every bolt loose on my bike. Anyways, I will have the definitive answer soon. Thanks again.

[Little_Horse]

No more question whether it wasn't balanced... it wasn't I don't have weights so I can't fix it right away, but it is off, no riding until it is fixed.

[paulages]

the problem may in fact be something other than the wheel balance if they did charge you for it (and hopefully actually did it). if you're used to modern bikes, much about the suspension will feel strange to you.. the overall state of suspension can cause strange things to happen... loose steering bearings, loose swingarm bushings, etc. not having followed the whole thread, i'll assume you attended to these areas having done an entire build. do you have a fork brace up front? you'll feel a HUGE difference once you do.. also, i'd have to read back to find the answer to these questions, so excuse me if it's in there somewhere, but do you have stock fork innards? stock springs are usually too soft. preload will help a lot of course, but cartridge emulators really help out a lot as well.

you seem gifted with the fabrication. come by the shop and i'll show you a homemade fork brace that i think works well. you can buy the tarrozzi braces for around $100.

Thanks Paul, I am going to come by your shop here soon, let me know the time that works the best for you.

Here is the deal, there is no balance weights on the rims at all. Wouldn't that suggest it wasn't done? I mean the odds of both wheels balancing perfectly is like winning the lotto. I am going to check them here in little bit so I can know for sure.

I am more used to modern suspension now, but I spent a few years on a cb450 and have riden a thousand or so miles on my dad's cb750. The feeling is not like loose head bearings (had that before) or to soft suspension (also felt that before). It was kinda lumpy feeling at slow speeds, not an up and down sort of thing, just through the bars and once at 50 mph a low pulse vibration. Like 5 pulses a second or so. As soon as I slow down it begins to diminish. It was not like head shake either, it didn't feel like I would loose control just like it was going to vibrate every bolt loose on my bike. Anyways, I will have the definitive answer soon. Thanks again.

supposedly modern tires are pretty well balanced from the factory. you have the rest of the wheel to contend with of course, but i've skipped the $8 cost when having them installed, then checked it myself at the shop to be sure, and they were fine. still, you paid for it so you should be sure it was done. we have a balancing stand at the shop, and doc brown can do it around the corner as well.

[Little_Horse]

Thanks Paul, I will try to balance it myself with my home built stand first. The way I deal with this kinda thing is when it happens I use it as a motivator to try and do it myself. Been doing this for a while and slowly, I am farming out less and less work.

So at your shop you have a co-op kinda thing going on?

[paulages]

Thanks Paul, I will try to balance it myself with my home built stand first. The way I deal with this kinda thing is when it happens I use it as a motivator to try and do it myself. Been doing this for a while and slowly, I am farming out less and less work.

So at your shop you have a co-op kinda thing going on?

Yes, exactly. I have the lease on a 4000sf warehouse, and rent out workspace to the others. We have shared machine shop, compressed air, etc, and there will be a band rehearsal space as soon as the permit process is complete. I and one other guy do business out of the shop. The rest do their hobby thing.

[Little_Horse]

cool, I am going to stop by there sometime this week, it would be Thurs probably around noon thirty, if that would work.

[paulages]

cool, I am going to stop by there sometime this week, it would be Thurs probably around noon thirty, if that would work.

I won't be there until 3 or so thurs. There all day Friday.

[Little_Horse]

I may be able to friday

[Little_Horse]

I have just been having fun slowly working the bugs out of the bike. I am now down to a weeping head gasket. Took care of all the other drips. Just wanted to share a few more pics. Was looking at the BOTM thread the other day, man this place is brutal with rules IMO, I guess though it makes it more of an honor  . Seems weird to me that you have to be nominated then seconded then accepted. Seems like to me you should be able to self nomnate, but if you do then seconded, or nominated by someone else then accept and be added to the poll. JMO though I am too much of a rookie to even ask for a change. The sun has been shinning in Portland my anxious wrist syndrome is back.

[Frankenkit]

now that's a smokin ride.

[Campbell]

that is a really nice looking bike

[wannabridin]

sick...  how much you think you have into the project so far?  damn good build for a budget, and that tail light looks SICK!  i need to figure out how to french my carpy old school light into my airtech cowl...

[UK Pete]

That is one nice looking bike, well done
Pete

[Little_Horse]

sick...  how much you think you have into the project so far?  damn good build for a budget, and that tail light looks SICK!  i need to figure out how to french my carpy old school light into my airtech cowl...

Last time I checked about $1400 but I still need a head gasket. That is the total by the way, bike purchase price, title and registration, paint, seat, parts... everything.

What is the amount of money spent before it stops being a budget build?

[wannabridin]

that depends on what your budget is!  mine will certainly not be a budget, but it will def. be a budget compared to some of the other builds!!   

[bmarshall]

very cool bike, can we get a sound clip? Is the seat amy particular make or model?

[scroggins5000]

That looks really clean. Nice work.

[Little_Horse]

the seat I made myself, the pan and the padding then I paid someone to make a cover. Upholstery is one of those things that usually look better if farmed out. I paid $100. The only other work I farmed out was the paint on the tank and cowl. A page or two back there is a short vid of the bike running if you want to hear what it sounds like.

[theofam]

I nominated you for BOTM, but it looks like submissions might have closed already for March.  You definitely deserve to be in the running.  If not March, maybe April?

[Salmonser]

Any performance mods my man? It looks good, real sweet. Put some money into your suspension. And don't forget it's your motor and your chassis that really count. Awesome bike man.

[Little_Horse]

thanks ofam... if not this month next month  .

No performance mods yet, I will get the bugs worked out then start. I want to keep the tuning somewhat mild. I kinda want to keep it getting ok mpgs. Might start with electronic ignition, if I can wrangle a 650 cam I would consider that. May port and polish things a little bit. Suspension is another story. I will start with a fork brace, tapered stearing bearings, springs, emulators (if they exist). I want to get better shocks but I don't even know where to find them so if anyone wants to steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Only problem is I don't have much spare coin and performance bits cost money unlike custom stuff I can build just costing time which I have more then money.

[Frankenkit]

emulators do exist, but I'm not sure if they'll work for that specific fork tube diameter- check out the ones from Mike's XS650 site (best to just google it I don't remember the url)