GT500 Road Racer Project

[CJF]

Progress! I pulled apart my left hand switch and part of it was cracked (where the wires are soldered to the plastic pieces for the on/off light switch). I had a spare left hand switch on my rusty T500 project waiting in the wings, so i swapped it in and now have lights. I then found out that my turn signal relay was bad. If was fine before, but I must have fried it at some point when i was testing things. I picked up a $3 relay at pepboys just to see if that was the problem and the turn signals worked perfectly with the new relay. Now the last piece is that the rear brake light switch isn't working. It's brand new, so I may have damaged that switch some how or it never worked from the beginning.

I'm getting my seat upholstered now. I using a guy Duane Ballard in CA. He did a seat for one of the cafe builders out of delaware on Cafe Racer TV and it looked awesome. I hope to have it back in 2 weeks and will post a pic once I get it mounted.

BTW...anyone know if cafe racer is on for a 2nd season?

[CJF]

I'm stumped with a charging issue on my bike. I have been trying to make this Boyer Powerbox setup work for a while without much luck. The initial setup was without a battery and there just wan't enough juice to keep all the lights working without a battery. So, i got a Shorai Lithium battery that I can easily stash under the seat. It fits great and is VERY small and light. The problem is that I keep running down the battery after each ride. The battery takes a charge fine from the charger, but isn't charging while I ride.

I emailed Shorai and they confirmed I have the right size battery for the bike and should work fine as long as the charging system is working properly. They suggested that i check the charging system, which tried doing. It looks like the powerbox is putting out between 11 and 15 volts depending on RPMs. Volts below 13 or so won't likely recharge the battery while riding, but most likely the volts are on the high range due to RPM's while riding. Anyone know how to check if the charge coils are within spec? I'm not sure how to test these? I can't think of any other issue unless the powerbox is bad.

[CJF]

Here is a before after set of pics and a list of changes made for the build. With this list, no wonder it took me so damn long to finish.
Frame:
Powder coated
Removed all stock tabs
Added additional bracing
Triumph side stand mount for early Triumphs welded in new location to allow Jemco pipes
2009 Triumph speed triple side stand modified to fit early mount

Motor:
Crank rebuilt by Bill Bunne
Cylinders bored to .5 over with new OEM pistons
Pistons coated with thermal barrier coating on top of pistons and lube coating on skirts
Heads coated with thermal barrier coating
Stock porting
Jemco racing pipes
Mikuni VM34 carbs
520 chain
Stock gear sprockets front and rear machined for 520 chain - Sprocket Specialists
Alternator cover machined
Aluminum polished
crank cases painted

Wheels:
Excel 18" aluminum sholdered rims rebuilt with stainless spokes
Rear brake cover vent holes machined
Stock spacers added to eliminate speedo gear
Dunlop racing tires
Aluminum spacer machined to fit behind rear sprocket to allow for chain clearance with tire
2 Additional stock tab washers and one plain washer received with sprocket from sprocket specialists used behind front sprocket to align chain with rear sprocket

Body:
Tank and seat from disco Volante Moto
Front fender from TGA
rear fender made from scatch with fiberglass
Fairing (not pictured) from TGA
Paint by a local painter found on WERA site
Leather seat by Duane Ballard in CA

Other:
Machined rearset mounts by hand
Motobits rearsets
Fork brace
Fork covers from board member in france-very nice quality
rear brake cable mount for rearset from disco volante moto
shortened rear brake cable and clutch cable
CB750 front brake master cylinder - lower profile and had a spare, so I used it instead of stock
Front racing compound brake pads
Ferrodo rear brake shoes
Boyer Bransen Powerbox
re-wired loom with all new terminals and some new wires
Rebuilt left hand handlebar switch
Acewell speedo/tach
EMGO Triumph style headlight with H4 35/45 H4 bulb
LED integrated tailight with turn signals
LP front turn signals
Modified stainless headlight brackets
Moved key mount to center front frame over horn
3/4 turn throttle
Kill switch
1 visit to the hospital for 5 stiches in my left hand after getting a little crazy with a grinder
Many hours of fun and frustration

Here is the before:


After Pics:

[Zook-e]

That looks fantastic. How do you like the racing Dunlops on the street? Don't forget they take longer to warm up than standard street tires do. But once they do they are stickier.

[Suzukidave]

Wow !!! very nice work .. looks like a racer

[CJF]

Thanks guys. The Dunlops are really nice. They give a lot of confidence on the twisties.

[tz375]

Chris,

That is gorgeous. TR replica tank and seat?

[CJF]

Thanks! Yep, it is a TR500 replica seat with the integrated in oil tank and the Italian version TR gas tank. Both were actually made in Italy, but i bought them from Disco Volante in the UK. I ended up saving a little money buying through him as opposed to direct.

[joolstacho]

I'm thinking about converting my GT500 with the single front disk brake to the GT750 dual disk setup. Does anyone know if the width of the GT500 triple tree is the same as the GT750 triple? The top portion of the triple clamps are different is style (handle bar mounts), but I'm not sure of the width. I'd like to keep my GT500 triple tree if possible.

Chris, GT500 triples are 175mm centres -I just measured mine so looks like you're good to go.

[joolstacho]

Bummer, those pics have gone... doncha hate web-hosting!

[titan performance]

Annoying.....are they posted elsewhere?

[ConnerVT]

The pictures were in a post from 2011, on a host I had never heard of before (Webshots).

CJF was last seen around here 6 months ago. Hopefully he is just busy riding, and will come back an visit once it gets colder.

edit:
Question: Where can I find my old Webshots photos?
Short answer: You can't.