| Author | Message | ||
     Gunut75 |
O.K. The sTT swingarm is now on the bike, and all necessary precautions are complete to test it out. The only problem is, it's winter! The roads are white with salt, and my scoot dosen't play in that stuff. While changing the swingarm, I noticed one of the rear bearings is feeling a little notchy. I'm due for a rear tire also, so might as well take care of the whole deal. Bearings, spacer, and tire in one pit stop. The front tire is due to be changed too, so I might as well take care of the front wheel so it's ready to go for next season. Heres a possible nasty one. While cleaning up around the #77 connector area, I noticed a little dried oil under the starter. It looks like a very slow leak from the rear cylinder base gasket. As long as it stays very slow, I wont mess with it. It does get me planning a rebuild for next winter though. At least have the gaskets and such sitting around in case it does go south. If it doesn't change through the next season, I'll probably leave it alone and ride the piss out of it. Write up about the swingarm conversion coming soon. I started the handlebar conversion. I drilled holes in the R top tree, and made a set of risers to hold the new handlebars. The risers sit in about the stock S position, except they are 1/2 inch higher. The new radial master cylinder (thanx Brian) will help with a lot of room for lock to lock function and clearance. The bars in the pic are not the ones I ended up using. I'm going to finish up the risers tomorrow, and get it all ready for anodizing. When I'm done with the handlebars, I'll do a write up on that as well. Heres a couple pics. An sTT swingarm on an 05 12R frame (XB12RSs?), and the top triple as of this afternoon. I'm going to go snack on some home-made cookies! Cheers Y'all! Merry Christmas.   | ||
| 1324 |
Nice work man. Concerning your oil leak, are you sure it's the base gasket? Both of my XB's have leaked there, but mine originated at the starter gasket. My 03 XB9 had the worst leak - so much so that it oiled up my rear tire at the track and the rest is history. Literally. Pretty easy check, but make sure before you go messing with stuff. I'm not sure what years/models were affected, but my 03 came with a paper gasket; the replacement from HD was a rubber/steel gasket with an integrated o-ring. Look into this. If it's your base gasket, you MIGHT be able to ride it IF it is minor, so keep an eye on it. The best thing to do is warm these engines up before beating the hell out of them. This is more for the track, but if you really beat the XB on the street, it's something to think about. Good luck with the rest of the projects. Mine will be starting after New Years. | ||
| Andymnelson |
yeah I haven't even started my projects....which will include 2 sets of tires and a stator. Which means my fork rebuild (and powdercoat/anodizing) will get put off until next season. Ggrrr.... Questions for you: I get the taller bars, why an STT swingarm? do you have STT forks that you're installing as well? Rear shock? if not, hows the geometry compared to stock? | ||
| Gunut75 |
I get the taller bars, why an STT swingarm? Longer wheelbase (and at 53.7 inches it's still short). It also gives about 1/2 inch more travel. do you have STT forks that you're installing as well? Rear shock? No. The first Ss used the same front fork as the Firebolt. it came with the same swingarm (as the sTT), and a different frame with different shock mounting positions. I had to re-locate my lower shock mount to match the 05, shorter swingarm. I had a new eyelet welded to it. I used the blue spring shock from the Firebolt, and so-far-so-good. The only problem I may have is the spring rate. With the longer swingarm there is more leverage. I am able to turn up the preload a couple notches, but I'll find out when I ride it (stoopid winter). hows the geometry compared to stock? The angle of the shock to the swingarm was kept as close to stock as possible. The distance between the pivot point, and the lower shock mount on the original swingarm was duplicated with the new lower shock mount on the sTT swingarm. For a mock-up, all I had to do is put the swingarm on the bike while the bike was held at stock ride height, and check the location of the rear shock mount. Mark it up, and take it to the welder. I also put the swingarm at full suspension travel (according to the rear shock) and made sure nothing was going to get in the way. Scheeeeez, I can't wait to ride her!  | ||
| Andymnelson |
interesting. Nice work, and I'm anxious to hear your ride report! | ||
| Ksfirebolt |
I like what you're doing with the bars. I've been trying to dream up something similar for mine to ease up on my back. Do you have any concern about weakening the top triple clamp by drilling the holes in it? If that works well, I'd think I could drill mine and find some dirtbike or some kind of risers and do the same, since I can't make my own. The stretched look definately looks good to me! A little longer but not to extreme, plus it's all Buell parts. | ||
| Gunut75 |
There is a pocket area on the bottom of the R triple tree. There are 2 5/16 bolts holding each riser to the triple tree in a webbed area that is about .2 inches thick (or less). There is a 1/4 inch backing plate under each riser, in this pocket area to distribute the load. The backing plates cover more area than the risers themselves. It IS kind of overkill, but handle bars are an important thing to keep on the bike. A few extra ounces of weight, and I'm OK with it. Plus, I did a little more work on the risers to make em a little fancier.  | ||
| Speeder_388 |
I like what you have done so far. | ||
| Greg_e |
Kind or surprised you didn't get some billet and machine a new top clamp. | ||
| Gunut75 |
I think I'm going to save that one for next winter. Maybe a summer long project. I'll see how the riding position is. |
