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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
Finished pics on page 3!

My buddy and I picked up an 81 XL1000 over the winter from a gent who proudly stored it in his woodstove heated trailer house. Didn't run but had compression and with the Triumph apart all the way to the crank, that was enough for me.

Day one: Trying my very hardest to look like baddass on douchebag factory custom stock sporty. Go ahead and laugh at the douche.



Immediately pulled out the tools and proceeded to remove all the "live to ride" BS, cheesy buckhorns, step seat and anything else we deemed gay. Bolted on a set of Flanders mile high bars, cleaned the carb and checked for spark. No spark so we trouble shot the crappy early 80's cdi and deemed it garbage. Ordered a ultima single fire programmable. Fired immediately and ran great. Engine sounds good.

Sold a jap cafe bike my friend and myself built over the winter and to put all the profit into the sporty. Called GP glassworks in Montana. 4 week wait on body work, but they really set us up grand. Good pricing and phenomenal glasswork. We had considered getting an all metal tank built for us; but it was cost prohibitive. Storz does sell kits, but they are very expensive and over all, not nearly true enough to the original 70's XR that we are after.

Body work arrived yesterday:







I should be seeing the 14" rear shocks I ordered by the end of the week. I also picked up a 79 right side cover to hide the battery, and will probably get a matching oil tank to make fitment easier.

After the shocks arrive I am planning on ordering 1 Dunlop K180 19" dot dirt track tire for the front, and see if it will fit in the swingarm. I picked up another 19" front rim at a swap over the winter and if clearance permits, it looks like Buchanan's will be making us a set of spokes so it can run 19" front and rear wheels.

The overall plan is to try and stay as true to an original 70's period XR750 without breaking the bank. We will unfortunately be sacrificing a dual carb setup as it is just a bit too spendy. Still planning on building our own pipes to incorporate the dual upswept look so defining of an XR, but as of right now they will run on the right side of the bike, as opposed to the left. Graphics will be made to look like factory XR graphics, but will say XL1000 as I think to say XR750 on the tank would be morely and reprehensibly wrong.

This is just a mock up; will be torn down to the frame and repainted.
 

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In my very humble opinion the XR is not only the best looking Harley ever built, it is the best looking motorcycle ever built; by anyone, at anytime.

Please tell me it will be orange, black, and white.

Oh... and make sure you print a copy of that frist pic. 50 years from now your grandchildren and great grandchildren will love it.
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
XR's can only be orange, black and white sir; right you are. My dad took me to flat track races all the time as a kid; and whenever somebody busted out an XR while wearing his vintage harley leathers, I would become enamered. Those bike hold a special place in my mind and although I may never own one, hopefully this poor man's street tracker will offer a similiar experience on the road.
 

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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
Well I suppose a follow-up is in order. ETA on bike is sometime in spring. Shades34 and I have had a whole slew of other things to do before we could push on with this one; but it's not dead yet. Actually it's really starting to pick up steam:
Here it stood a month ago with the bodywork mounted, 79 oil tank and matching opposed side cover to hide the battery and taillight:


Fast forward to last week and the rear hub got painted and laced into a 19" rim:


Here's shades34 torching the headlight mount:


And here it is with the headlight mounted, risers, rear rim trued and mounted with a dunlop k180, gauge mounted, etc. Still working on getting a set of slimmer controls without those god-awful built in switches (it won't have any switches), building an inner fender for the rear; shaving forks and triple clamp, relacing front wheel, paint blah blah blah.....





This is what it should look pretty close to when done; decided on the iron xr due to not having xr heads, lest us not forget that our bike will be street legal so accomodations had to made:


As shades34 said last week, "I suppose this is what happens when 2 brit bike enthusiasts decide to build a harley."
 

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Discussion Starter · #13 ·
I wonder if those dudes working knew those bikes were about to make history? Although they were still building the iron xr at that time so the it was going to be a bit before harley began it's 30+ year flat track dominance...
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Well I suppose an update is in order.....
Bike is completely stripped down; I think were boing to start getting the frame ready to paint and what-not. Seeing as Shades34 is the painter I have to contribute the only ways I can.
Shaved and polished forks:


Shaved and polished triple clamp:


We decided to pull the top-end and freshen things up a bit. Motor sounded really good so we assumed a de-coke and some new gaskets. Good thing we did; after I dropped the jugs off for a hone I pulled the pistons to clean them up and here is what I found:
Nice piston right? Just clean it up and run it?


Wrong; found a tiny little crack in between the rings; further inspection showed that actually have of the ring keeper(?) actually was completely coming off:


So we ordered pistons and they are at the machine shop with the jugs now; at least a simple valve lapping was all the heads needed.

The front hub is all polished tidy; will post pics when it's laced.
 

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I wonder if those dudes working knew those bikes were about to make history? Although they were still building the iron xr at that time so the it was going to be a bit before harley began it's 30+ year flat track dominance...
The KR's already had a pretty good history of domination over the years even tho they faded at the end so the XR really just continued what was a longstanding tradition.
And don't forget that H-D ran destroked sportsters short term between the KR motor and the new at the time XR.

DO
 
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