New World Datsuns...

I made mention a couple weeks ago that I was fixated on building one of these. It seemed like it might be fun so logic would dictate that if I could get a buddy involved it'd be even more fun. Urban scramblers are kind of the opposite of motard. Start with a street bike, strip it down and add knobbys.
It wasn't too tough to get my buddy, Marc on board. We talked over the end goal and contemplated what would be a good platform. At first he was ready to cut up his Nighthawk 750 but it really wasn't an optimal platform. We eventually focused in on the CX500/GL500 platform. You can read up here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CX_series .
These have a lot of good things for the end result we're looking for;
-Short wheel base
-High ground clearance
-Shaft driven
-Mid-sized displacement
-Tough and reliable
-Enough produced so that parts are easy to get.
The rest is up to us.

A couple inspiration photos...

We've been watching CL for for a few days and Marc went to look at a couple. Yesterday I stumbled across one that was tagged oddly enough that it hadn't popped up in our normal searches. So not only was it an obscure listing, it was a stalled project that was already being taken in the right direction, most notably the monoshock conversion. Some pics from the ad...





Marc went up to Woodland after work to check it out. I got a text from him late last night. It was just a single pic...


Now the pressure is on me to find the right bike. We have plenty of time so I'm in no rush. I think I'll try to hold out for a GL650 (Silverwing) since there are some minor differences that I'd like. Aside from a factory monoshock, they have air-assist front forks and some have dual disc front brakes.
More to come as it happens.

Better hurry up Jess

Trying.

Marc brought his by my house this afternoon so I could check it out. Lots of pretty janky stuff that needs to be undone (no surprise there) but it's a good base. Only took about 10 minutes to get it running. The guy called him before he went to look at it to let him know it wouldn't start. Worked out good for Marc -- he was able to get the price down another $150.

The ammo can on the left holds the battery and the one on the right holds the wad-O-wiring. Both are going away. The seller also included the frame parts that he'd cut off along with the rear fender and original shocks.



Going to look at a Silverwing tomorrow...hopefully. It's an '83 which makes it a GL650. Supposed to be a runner.

Cant wait to see!

That there looks like a serious project before I would get on it and ride.

And for some reason I am much more distracted by the C10 that it is sitting in.

It's got some unfuck in store, for sure. Engine sounds good though. He bought it pretty right too.
His truck is a '69 GMC 3/4ton that he's been playing with for a few months. Now he's got project fever so this bike thing was an easy sell. He's probably more excited about it than I am.

Bam!!!

Rode it home.



This one is a GL650 Silverwing. The 650 was only available in '83 and had 65hp versus the 50hp that the 500s were rated at. This thing is honestly pretty rough as it sits. I wouldn't have considered it if I were shopping for a cruiser but it's got everything I need for this project. Runs pretty decent but it was like riding a wet noodle. Front shocks are WASTED and the tires are almost certainly not aired up like they should be. Add to that the loose fairing and it was a bit tense for the 90 mile ride home. It's pretty complete though. Even had the original owners manual and tool kit in the saddle bag. The bags are quick release and the trunk has an extension kit to mount it in the rearward position. It was originally designed to go in place of the passenger seat. The luggage is scuffed but not in bad shape. The right side of the fairing is crunched from being dropped. I'll have a huge pile of stuff to sell when I'm done.




I'll leave it as-is for now and start to collect parts.

Nice find Jess

It'll do

Spent a couple hours cleaning it up and giving it a closer going-over. Fluids all looked good. Plugs don't have many miles on them and look to be burning really clean. Looks like a newer K&N air filter. There is a little tick in the engine that I was hoping a valve adjustment would cure. It didn't. I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets way worse. The inside of the valve covers were amazingly clean. Tires both had <15psi and the front suspension had no air charge at all. No wonder it rode like a wet noodle.


We're both in research and parts gathering mode at this point. Tentative plans to do some cleanup work on Marc's next weekend.

Looks much better, Challenge is on now?

Almost. Just keep dropping stuff in my Bike Bandit cart. Haven't completed the order yet.

Marc brought his by yesterday and we put in a few hours. More accurately, he put in a few hours while I played shop teacher -- which is exactly how he wanted it. The starting point...

The previous owner had cut the rear hoops out in an attempt to make it looks cooler. Fortunately he had saved almost all the pieces and Marc got them in the deal. You can see that the rear struts had been cut off and rewelded up higher at some point also.

Started stripping down the rear...

Shaved off all the unneeded brackets from the hoops...

Dropped off the exhaust, rerouted the rear wiring harness, cut off the hokey seat mount and rear gas tank mounting stud...

Cut some slugs/sleeves (not pictured) for all the weld joints and rewelded the hoops and seat area back together and tacked it in place. I didn't weld it to the frame yet because we are 99% sure that the rear shock will be getting changed out and it'll just be easier to work around it without the rear frame structure in the way.

Last thing we did was mock up some parts and discuss placement and future tasks and design aspects.



Only thing we did to mine was take turns buzzing it up and down the driveway.

My mirrors and some exhaust materials showed up yesterday. On order: Tires, tubes, grips, bars, gators, fork seals, and an oil filter.

Jes, while I gave you a thumbs up for the work on this project, as I'm sure it will turn out very cool. I am absolutely positive that this is distracting from getting work done on the 36 Ford.

That's kind of the point. My bodyman/brother hasn't done shit to it in about a year. I've gone about as far as I can on it for now so if I don't have a distraction, I might have time to stew about the '35. The bike peojects are for the sake of family unity.

Just choke the shit out of him to get him back on track and put life into perspective.

Tempting...and complicated. Don't remember if I mentioned before but he's been living with me for the last 8-9 months and probably will continue until sometime next spring. He literally sleeps 40' away from my truck. He's already been paid for this job -- and then some. Although I understand he's going through a rough patch, it's getting to be a challenge for me to stay cool about this. I'll leave it at that.

Stopped by Marc's place at the tail end of a 200 mile ride today. I showed up as he was getting ready to do some filler work on the rear frame section we welded up last weekend and on the tank as well. Hung out for about an hour BSing and helped him pull the forks from a donor CX650 roller he picked up for $60. The donor has one piece cast wheels, fork brace and some cast aluminum parts up by the bars that the 500 doesn't have. Another bonus is that the forks are 3" longer which will work well for him since he's about 6'3".