CR500- Road Race bike

Well... Supersingle gone. Got an idea of what to replace it with that would hopefully be awesome and pretty cheap/hassle free. We'll see how corona gets on. Chassis fab is done here. Need to send out the shock and steering damper for a little treatments, then it'll be time to get busy on actually making this a bike!

 

Beautiful work! No matter how many times I see it, it always amazes me how well welds can be cleaned up. Curious about the supersingle replacement...whacha thinking?

 

thinking about that Mad Biker Design's run of TZ geometry frames he's whipping up. he's making tanks. Dent already has radiator and exhaust kits for it. Banshee/YPVS motor drop right in. Supposed to use R6 shock/swingarm/wheels/front end (which I already have the front end from the supersingle still which is R6). get a 421cc run of the mill motor built, buy a swingarm, i already have wheels. that's an easy build. no long engine guy waiting, no chassis fab at all. buy a used R6 TTX and some airtech fairings and done deal.

we'll see, but i like that idea. awesome bike, good power, everything off the shelf and cheap to do. i'll see when he's finished with the batch of frames.

previous batch with TZ swingarms:

 

I like everything I see in that picture.

 

i dunno why those images above stopped working... here:

 

Part of me REALLY wants to go that route for a supersingle, but I think I'll end up decently lighter by sticking with the dirtbike chassis base, bah.

 

If this wasn't my favorite thread on this forum already......

 

@Sweatypants I bow down to your mad fab skillz, Sir. Amazing!

 

that's possible sure... but then also, geometry woes, shock modding, rigidity, space for the motor depending on what motor. that Zilla motor was mega tight in that YZ frame. it was doable, but man. might be some more roomier options though and smaller engines for sure.

LOL thanks! (considering i don't know how to weld at all haha) my old drifting race shop did all this fab, i'm not a fab dude, but i agree, they're awesome. i just had the idea and specific vision in my head. i had to then give them 20 picture references and have a bunch of texts and phone calls to get my vision across to somebody that can put the hammer to metal.

 

Fortuantly, space for the motor isn't an issue, the BRC500 slots into a 250/300 KTM chassis like it was made for it, 'cause it was. Geo is going to be way crazy by the book, but enough people I trust have told me it still works that I'm mostly confident I can figure it out over time. If Kramers didn't exist, I'd be all over that MBD frame right now, but because they're a thing, rather than match them I want to beat them, if I can't do it with HP then via HP to weight ratio which shoots down the MBD path for the moment. Had a nice chat with the gent over Facebook, I like where his mind is at on the project and if I could find a way to drop 30lbs to 60lbs from it it'd make perfect sense. (They got a prior similar project down to 260lbs with a RZ mill and CF wheels, I'm aiming for 200lbs, I figure my motor should be approx 15 to 25lbs lighter than the RZ setup.) Known good geo, R6 parts all over for easy spares/repairs/upgrades, there is a LOT right in that package.

 

If you're going BRC route i'm totally with you. Just buy a full KTM and done. Kramers are awesome, spendy though when I don't really want that motor. It makes just as much power as a 500 single more less too, but yea i want 2Ts for the brap of it... not the competitive nature. I wish you could get Kramer rolling chassis, that'd be neat and of all frames, steel trellis are the easiest to mod. No diff than making a rollcage.

 

Hmmmmm what is dis be?

 

Don't really see how you can't like San Diego? Reading what you wrote reminds me of why I like it so much here. I have a commute that is 45 min-1:15, but fortunately I'm moving most the time (43-48 miles) and it doesn't bother me. Food is great, weather is great.

My kids didn't stay here, too much money to get started off and buy a house, so that may make us leave once the grand-kids start trickling in? I'm at the point, I could live in a 55 and over "old fart" trailer park and give my house to my kids, but mama isn't too excited about leaving a nice house.

What is your budget and how big of a house do you need? I figured OC wasn't anymore expensive than DC? Now that Texas property values have doubled in the past 5 years and their property taxes are almost triple mine, the idea of maybe moving to Texas makes less sense, I can stay here cheaper.

Back in the mid to late 80's I traveled a lot with work and the one place I really thought would be nice to retire was in the Carolina's. Now that I've lived in a place with good food, lots of activities, and amazing weather, not sure I can leave it?

 

OK well then I bow down to your picture skills

 

I used to love San Diego (lived on Coronado in the late 80's), like I loved San Francisco. Its different these days. The gaslamp district is a cesspool of humanity. Traffic is horrendous at all times. Oceanside is cleaning up nicely these days. I would consider living there, but its always been a bit grungy.

 

I've got a 2016 KTM 250XC bought for the conversion, I just need to get moving again on it.

 

The guy runs a vintage bike shop and looks like he is having TOO MUCH fun. There are some videos of his events here. https://hellonwheelsmc.com/

You kink of have to do some googling to figure it out. There are more videos of his stuff on youtube.

 

I assume as much. I would never move to Texas anyways, but yea its funny how deceiving it is. Look on Zillow... oh wow this awesome house is so cheap... ohhhh... taxes. haha

Anyways though... we were supposed to go check out SD in May, but now that seems to not be happening, so we'll see how the year gets on I guess. i don't NEED a big house. no kids. a tiny dog or 2. right now our townhouse is 1400 sq. ft. not including the finished basement, and there's no garage. i could DO with a workshop or garage... attached or not, and not any more rooms per se, but like, double the size of each of our current rooms, if that makes sense. i'd love a super dope shower with like 3 shower heads, and a bigger living room and kitchen. i don't need or want a house with 6 bedrooms or some shit i'll never use though. i'd bet 3000 sq. ft. with a nice garage would fit perfectly for any possible future. my budget would also depend on how my wife gets on here soon. we had plans of business opening this fall that are looking super questionable at this point, and we also don't wanna be house poor. this current spot is a little bit over $400k. i mean, i'm building this dumb ass bike amongst other things, so currently its not a strain really at all, but i also have zero plans of doubling that mortgage unless i make another $100k or she does. IF she could crack nicely into 6 figures, which seems pretty easily doable even with moderate success in her industry as an owner, i wouldn't mind getting into like the $700k range, but ultimately i'd like the assurance that one of our incomes could always cover expenses or close to it if bad things happen (like her being out of work right now for a month+ cause they were forced closed).

i'd also like to live in a place that is at total confliction with my current life haha, so i dunno what to do there either. i'd move further out into the country and have a pool and some dirtbikes and some goats or some shit if i didn't have to be in proximity of a major city for most of the work i do. i'm not doing 3 hours of commuting a day though. there's nice ass more rural places in MD up towards Frederick and stuff that are beautiful and reasonable, and people do those commutes to DC every day, but also those people are idiots, and refuse to do that. so kinda limits the ability to have a place like that and not have a terrible commute life unless you're a multi-millionaire. at least in DC or Socal it seems. telecommuting would solve all those problems, but finance people are resistant to any change, so i'll probably be the last person on earth to get a 100% telecommuting gig. if i had that... i'd probably buy a small place in Wyoming or some shit, and then live in Mexico or Costa Rica most of the year honestly. i dunno.

 

Things are moving along slowly during quarantine. Still trying to get my shock/damper TiN coated and get some Ti springs before I start putting things together, but in the meantime, @cf (Charles) came thru again with the sweet CNC stuffs. Hit him up at [email protected] if you need something done. Figured, might as well touch the dogbones too, since everything else is. Looking more like an RSA now full on in that regard, and lighter too sheesh. Increased thickness meant I had to grind 1-2mm off this raggedy cast lip on the bottom of the swingarm where the dogbones come thru their hole, which I was expecting as the stock ones were super close as is. Did some grinding, everything fits up perfect.