New Commuter: Poor Man's Supermoto

[Toasty]

I haven't been able to ride in almost a year, the GS is going to be a long term project. It probably wont be done for another 6 months, budget permitting... In the mean time I've been dying to get riding again and since I moved to the mountains in the east bay there are SO many great roads nearby.

I borrowed my roommates 1984 XT600 and fell in love, tons of torque and a forgiving suspension for rough roads. I pored over CL for a while and finally found a bike in my budget. The ad had no pictures, the seller said he didn't have a camera but the price was right and he said it was pretty clean. It was about two hours away so I took the chance and headed down there.


The bike looked good!

It starts right up (electric leg only, unfortunately) and was super comfy. It's about 3-4 inches shorter then the older XT, which was too tall for me. I took it for a spin and it rode nicely, there was a slight low speed side to side oscillation but it had pretty aggressive knobbies and I knew one fork leg was puking up fluid. I was able to talk him down a $150 bucks and took it home with me.

Got it to it's new home in El Sobrante, still pretty dirty.

I did the valves that night, which were kind of a biatch. The exhaust rocker ports are TINY and at an odd angle, I had a hard time getting both my angled and straight gauges in there. Btw, this bike has HUGE variances in the valve clearances! It's .7-.12 in for the intake, and .12-.17 in for the exhaust

Tucking the bike in for the night with it's new garage mates.

 

[Toasty]

The next morning I gave it a good bath and degreased the engine as good as I was willing to.

Looking better!

Knocking off the oxidation on the plastic

Getting better

The front was pretty bad (sorry no after pics). The front fender came out okay... it'll get replaced with a UFO universal sumo fender soon anyway.

Unfortunately... after I washed the bike I found a nasty split in the front rim that was under a layer of mud . I wasn't planning on changing up the rims but I couldn't take it out on the street with the cracks. It turns out stock silver (older models used gold rims) 1990 front wheels are hard to find and EXPENSIVE. I couldn't justify $190 shipped for a crusty old wheel.

I bit the bullet and decided to go the supermoto route. I ordered the custom spokes from Buchanan and had them punch a new 17" Excel rim for me (the rear is 17" already on this year).

It only took 4 days to get here

On Saturday I brought it down to The Wheel Works in Hayward (highly recommended), the owner Chris has been at it for over 30 years and his shop is packed with rims, old racing bikes and parts. Apparently the bike had been re-laced sometime in the past with DID rims too. He took off the old hub and laced and trued the new rim while we chatted. Plus he gave me some fiberglass advice for my GS fairing.

New wheel on the XT waiting for tires.

Btw whoever decided to use button head bolts on a rotor should be slapped, they were pretty seized and loc tited and stripped out before I could get them off... I had to slot them and I have to order new ones...


I don't plan on doing too much to this bike. I have a set of Road Riders, tubes and rim strips in the mail, I want to get a smaller front fender, a tool tube, headlight modulator and a Trailtech Vapor (no tach on this model, only a shift light). This is going to be the commuter/touring bike.

 

[ptexotik]

I love the bigger dual sports for commuting! I miss the xr600 and xr650.
That looks excellent. wtg

 

[Toasty]

Thanks! For commuting a dual sport can't be beat, tall seat height to see ahead easier, tons of torque for low speed maneuvers, narrow so it's easy to lane split. Plus they can take being knocked over pretty well

My tires came in today too!

The AM26's should be really nice for doing some canyon carving and last a while slabbing it to work . I just need to order the new fork seals and rotor bolts, I'll be out of town this weekend but hopefully I'll be riding to work the beginning of next month.

I'll be cutting my commuting cost down by more than half, the toll is only $2.50 instead of $6 and it will only take one gallon to get me there and back. Not to mention being able to bypass the terrible traffic getting over the Bay Bridge.

 

[spyug]

Great find and interesting mods you are doing. Make sure you show us the new look when the rubber is on.

I've always liked the supermotard look but I don't think my azz could take the seat.

It should be tons of fun for you.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[tkent02]

Looks like a blast! I had an '89 XT 600 for a while, the only thing that will be lacking for commuting in trafic is front brakes. Got any plans for that?

 

[Guest]

Tuning in... looks like a fun commuter to me!

I commute on my 450 and that's a pile of fun at times, but extra height would definitely be a bonus... at least my 450's narrow enough.

I went to Pirelli Sport Demons because my original dual sports I put on didn't hold up well to the commute. I only got 6500km's out of my last Pirelli Scorpion MT90A/T rear

Unfortunately that was all centre wear... still heaps on the outside left...

 

[Toasty]

Thanks for the comments guys . I'm getting the tires mounted up this weekend and getting a new battery. The old battery holds voltage but not the cranking amps I need, it starts right up fresh off the trickle charger though. The charging system is in good shape as well.

Looks like a blast! I had an '89 XT 600 for a while, the only thing that will be lacking for commuting in trafic is front brakes. Got any plans for that?

Yea the front brakes are definitely not spectacular. They stop the bike fine but some sintered pads and stainless lines would definitely help. The smaller front wheel will help some too.

It brakes like a superbike though compared to my roommates Xl250S, the teeny single leading shoe drum is scary.

Tuning in... looks like a fun commuter to me!

I commute on my 450 and that's a pile of fun at times, but extra height would definitely be a bonus... at least my 450's narrow enough.

I went to Pirelli Sport Demons because my original dual sports I put on didn't hold up well to the commute. I only got 6500km's out of my last Pirelli Scorpion MT90A/T rear

Unfortunately that was all centre wear... still heaps on the outside left...

I'm hoping the Road Riders hold up, my commute isn't long but they weren't cheap... If the centers wear down, I can take the scenic route home to round them off

There are so many nice roads less then 5 mins from my house

 

[Guest]

I'm hoping the Road Riders hold up, my commute isn't long but they weren't cheap... If the centers wear down, I can take the scenic route home to round them off

There are so many nice roads less then 5 mins from my house

Good plan!

I've got nice twisty roads near me but unfortunately they're all the exact opposite direction to my commute

 

[Toasty]

I got my new tires mounted up before heading off for some bday celebrations.

Looks good!

Tomorrow I'll post pics of them mounted and hopefully some scenic shots.

 

[Toasty]

Got the wheels mounted up and the bike rides like a dream . I was worried it would be really twitchy since the rake is pretty dramatically different then stock and I had that worrisome speed weave.

Not scenic but we took the bike on a shakedown run (splitting, low speed, freeway, backroads) to find any issues.

The only things it needs is a new flasher relay and hopefully just some new clutch springs. I can feel the clutch slipping some, mostly on the freeway at 1/2+ throttle going uphill in a strong headwind. Other than that, I want to replace the stock handguards with aftermarket and get a supermoto fender. The platypus style stock one isn't very pretty.

 

[Guest]

Now *that* looks like fun!

 

[Toasty]

Aaaaaaanndddd...



I got a flat tire on the Bay Bridge coming home yesterday... I was riding along and I feel a slight "bloof" and the back end steps out on me. There is *zero* shoulder on the bridge so I had to flat track it about a half mile (at speed) to the closest offramp on Treasure Island. If I let off the throttle the back end would swing to the left and back on it would swing the the right. I had to make it up a sharp left handed uphill getting on the island which was interesting.

The cords are toast I'm sure, the bead was broken and it was folded over on its self. Hopefully I can get this fixed in a day or two.

 

[Steve]

A "patch/plug" mounted from the inside should have you up and going quickly enough.

.

 

[Guest]

Bugger! Glad you kept it upright though

 

[Charlie G]

Bay Bridge and a flat tire. That is a night mare! El Sobrante, San Jose, Hayward, SF...you get around. Was that San Pablo Damn Res? The hills aren't that green is August. I had an XT 350 for a couple of years and here in my rural town it was great to ride. The 600 would be better for freeway and splitting traffic. Nice ride.

cg

 

[UncleMike]

That Treasure Island exit is a bear even when you have air in your tires! Good job keeping the rubber on the road.

 

[Toasty]

Bay Bridge and a flat tire. That is a night mare! El Sobrante, San Jose, Hayward, SF...you get around. Was that San Pablo Damn Res? The hills aren't that green is August. I had an XT 350 for a couple of years and here in my rural town it was great to ride. The 600 would be better for freeway and splitting traffic. Nice ride.

cg

It's a pic of the reservoir I pulled off a state park site (Tilden park IIRC). I really like living in El Sobrante but I'll be moving again to Pleasant Hill at the end of the month.

The XT is definitely a great commuting bike, I wish it had a sixth gear though .

This is the first time I've gotten a flat on a bike, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Although next time hopefully I'm not surrounded by cars and buses haha.

 

[Dave8338]

GREAT looking project ! :clap:

Been thinking of doing that to a Honda I picked up earlier this year.
What did the Excel combo set you back ? :-k

 

[Toasty]

Thanks

I got all my wheel stuff from Buchanan Spokes, the 17" front rim was about $218 which includes punching the holes to spec. They made up a stainless spoke set for my XT hub which was $99 and it cost $70 to have the old rim disassembled, then laced and trued locally. So about $400 with tax and shipping, plus tires.