T500 sort of cafe, sort of not, mix and match build
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 10:43 am
Hi guys. I've been lurking here for a while, have been meaning to get round to posting about my t500 build for a while. A dull wet afternoon in November seems like the right time to sit down and type it all out.
First off, I’m Steve, I live just south of Birmingham, England. I’ve been riding bikes for about 10 years, since my late teens, and have most had small capacity sports bikes and a couple of supermotos. Along side this I’ve had a number of classic cars, but with life moving forwards, new responsibilities and reasons to turn up on time for work, I decided to buy a more modern car and dip my toe into the world of classic bikes.
Straight away I knew I wanted a 2 stroke, I had an RGV250k a few years back and it was brilliant. With this in mind, my search started by looking for a gt250, but the more I read around the more I was tempted by the T500, as a large capacity 2 stroke would be a different riding experience to anything else I’ve ever tried.
Late January this year, I took the plunge and purchased this fairly rough 1972 T500J.
It’s an American import, still needs to be UK registered, but I have the NOVA and the US title, so hopefully when the time comes that won’t be too bad. Engine turned over with some sense of compression, there’s a few bits missing but nothing vital and the wheels look to be in reasonable condition. It seemed as good a starting point as anything else.
The plan is to build a bike that will look cool, sounds cool and be suitable for me and my wife to go for rides on sunny Sunday afternoons. I quite like the look of the minimal stripped down look of some of the modern cafe racer inspired builds, so I will be taking some influences from that. Equally I need the bike to be fairly comfy (as a contrast to having my knees folded into my chest and head down on my CBR400RR) and it needs to work for 2 of us, so some influences from the brat / flat tracker scene may come in here with the handle bars and seat design. I have no aspirations to fit into a particular scene, so ultimately I just want to build something that looks how I want it to look.
Anyway, bringing my self back to earth with a bump, it was time to strip down my new purchase and see what I’d bought. It doesn’t take long to strip a bike down, so by the end of the first day I’d got a few boxes full of parts
And a rolling chassis with an engine sat next to it.
So far no great surprises. And unlike this stage when dealing with classic cars, I’m not just looking at a pile of rust that used to be a car!
So lets pop the heads off the engine and see how thats looking…
Thats not a good start. One of those head bolts, is not like the others!
Oooh yes, and a nice home made 3mm thick cork head gasket, with plenty of silicone sealant in there too, I’m sure that would have run nicely!
Having seen signs of such good workmanship, I knew any hope of just checking the engine over and popping it back in had gone. The only option now was to properly strip the engine down and make sure it was right.
First off, I’m Steve, I live just south of Birmingham, England. I’ve been riding bikes for about 10 years, since my late teens, and have most had small capacity sports bikes and a couple of supermotos. Along side this I’ve had a number of classic cars, but with life moving forwards, new responsibilities and reasons to turn up on time for work, I decided to buy a more modern car and dip my toe into the world of classic bikes.
Straight away I knew I wanted a 2 stroke, I had an RGV250k a few years back and it was brilliant. With this in mind, my search started by looking for a gt250, but the more I read around the more I was tempted by the T500, as a large capacity 2 stroke would be a different riding experience to anything else I’ve ever tried.
Late January this year, I took the plunge and purchased this fairly rough 1972 T500J.
It’s an American import, still needs to be UK registered, but I have the NOVA and the US title, so hopefully when the time comes that won’t be too bad. Engine turned over with some sense of compression, there’s a few bits missing but nothing vital and the wheels look to be in reasonable condition. It seemed as good a starting point as anything else.
The plan is to build a bike that will look cool, sounds cool and be suitable for me and my wife to go for rides on sunny Sunday afternoons. I quite like the look of the minimal stripped down look of some of the modern cafe racer inspired builds, so I will be taking some influences from that. Equally I need the bike to be fairly comfy (as a contrast to having my knees folded into my chest and head down on my CBR400RR) and it needs to work for 2 of us, so some influences from the brat / flat tracker scene may come in here with the handle bars and seat design. I have no aspirations to fit into a particular scene, so ultimately I just want to build something that looks how I want it to look.
Anyway, bringing my self back to earth with a bump, it was time to strip down my new purchase and see what I’d bought. It doesn’t take long to strip a bike down, so by the end of the first day I’d got a few boxes full of parts
And a rolling chassis with an engine sat next to it.
So far no great surprises. And unlike this stage when dealing with classic cars, I’m not just looking at a pile of rust that used to be a car!
So lets pop the heads off the engine and see how thats looking…
Thats not a good start. One of those head bolts, is not like the others!
Oooh yes, and a nice home made 3mm thick cork head gasket, with plenty of silicone sealant in there too, I’m sure that would have run nicely!
Having seen signs of such good workmanship, I knew any hope of just checking the engine over and popping it back in had gone. The only option now was to properly strip the engine down and make sure it was right.