Project SR500 "intermission"

There is a Greek proverb: "If you want to make the gods smile, make an ambitious plan." Well, this little project was meant to go along the same lines. Just quickly throw together the left-over SR500 bits into a bike and then get rid of it. (As nobody was interested in buying the individual parts!)

So here goes, German 2J4 with from 1980 (so pre-AU), with my spare-parts donor engine re-assembled into an actual engine again.

I started off with a frame I was given ages ago, when I picked up my SR500 sidecar.

Nice surprise, there's even usable air-filter inside the airbox.

One of the missing bits were the forks. My original spare SR500 forks went into the XS400 ratracer two or three years ago. So new bearings and a copious amount of grease...

 ... et voilá: frontend!

Not sure why there was no swingarm in the frame, but same story as with the headstock: Lots of fresh grease and a bit of work later and it's actually done.

I think these are the original XS750 shocks, I wonder how well they will perform. 

Rear-wheel fitted, all looking very good so far.

One of the bigger question marks was the engine. I was pretty sure I had everything except the ignition, but the only way to find out was to go through a lot of boxes and find out the hard way.

First cleaned the original cylinder head of my SR500 hack, which I knew had a good cam, rockers and valves in it.

Then gave the cylinder a quick hone, just to give those rings something to "bite" into.

Unfortunately, I was in fact missing a base gasket, but I did have two head gaskets, go figure... So it was time to make my own. An annoyingly time consuming task to be honest.

Yes it's a used piston, but the clearance is still pretty alright and the rings had nice tension.

All timed up.

Bit of moly grease to protect the cam and rockers during initial startup.

It's bizarre, even though it's not a huge step forward in the grand scheme of things, once I have put the engine in a bike, it feels a lot more done than it actually is. 

So, yes this SR500 is for sale. Is it complete? No. But I am convinced you will hardly ever get a better insight on what you're actually buying. It would make a perfect base for something a bit more individual, not so much as a restauration piece. Personally, I think I'd love to turn this into a vicious little minimalistic bar hopper. I also have some sporty bits, like a flatslide carb, hot-cam, big-bore cylinder, that I could throw in as part of the deal... just in case you're interested.