Enough about me, let's take a look at Jimmer. He still has the Yamaha XS500 that he bought way back in '78. Thirty five years, a lot of us don't keep the same bike for thirty five months much less 35 years. It's not that Jim doesn't like other bikes, he does. I even have a picture of him drag racing a Kawasaki Z1000. But there is something about the XS that strikes a chord with Jim. He has adapted this bike for touring, road racing, drag racing and now, believe it or not, he has transformed it into a dual sport bike. Lets let Jim pick up the story from here.
I was fortunate enough to grow up around bikes, cool cars, aircraft, most all motor sports and racing. My Dad, Uncles, Brother, and all his friends gave me a horsepower fix at a young age. By the time I was in high school I new twisty roads were my "thing". The XS was a sweet handler [RD Yamaha type chassis]. I drag raced all through high school, started road racing in 1981. The XS500 got the attention of many people when we placed 13th overall in what was the largest endurance race in the USA. My friend Bob Benedum and I finished 13th out of 84 bikes, all but one[GS450] were much faster/bigger bikes
After road racing for 4 years I did all street riding. The 500 covered every square inch of Wisconsin numerous times, and most of the Mid west. I really liked taking back roads en route to my favorite campsites/camping trips. Fast forward to 1996 and we are now living in Oklahoma, I new right away I needed a dual sport for the awesome dirt roads, AND I was within 1hour 25 minutes of 3 drag strips, so the 500 came off the street and went drag racing only, until this year. I never had the head off the motor until 2011! I have run stock carbs, stock carbs with a gutted air box and rejetted, Suzuki T500 carbs and the 36mm TM Mikunis which have been on forever now. For exhaust the stock exhaust is awesome [but heavy] on the street. It provides fantastic roll on torque with proper carbs and gearing.
I then add a CR500 Honda moto crosser to my spare chassis ,bike hauled azz but really needed a 6 speed or a wide ratio transmission as I had to gear it ridiculously tall to run a 1/4 mile.1st gear was then a dog and it was out of revs by 3/4 track anyways, but in between it was a rocket
My first header was a Dick's Cycle West/Racer 1 I bought from a dealer. It worked great but had really crappy ground clearance. It put me on my ass one time when I levered the rear wheel off the ground. I have been running the Jardine since mid '90's I built two different electronic ignitions for it. The first an after market Ford kit I retro fitted. Turns out it had a built in rev limiter that would shut it down at 6500! So I had to take it off. I also built an amplifier points booster from a kit that I used until I bought the Newtronics. I think that gets you pretty much up to date-sorta?!
Several years ago I had a really nice CR500 that came with some super trick alloy handle bars. I made up my mind then, that I would build an "all around bike" based on those bars. Then last autumn I picked up a 1989 YZ250 roller for $50, and so it began.
I used the YZ complete front end and internally lowered it 3 1/2" and rebuilt the forks at the same time. I mounted a new Acerbis replica fender and cut out the super critical fender vent for the cylinder head. I had the Acerbis headlight and reused that, tucking all the wiring into a PVC electrical box just behind and slightly below the headlight.
I then moved to the back end and removed a bunch of the mono shock junk from the swing arm and bolted that on after adding shock mounts. I treated myself to some new 13" Progressive Suspension shocks and springs. I reused a stock XS500 chain guard clearanced for the shock. Tires are Shinko DOT trials tires with fresh IRC tubes and rim strips. I replaced my old Acerbis LED tail light with a newer, brighter one that also has the white tag light. I added a Wolfman fender bag to the rear fender.
Next up was to detail the instrument cluster to clear the bars and headlight, and mount the reused Tiny Tach. The tach has seen 25,000 miles on my MZ and a couple more years on my brothers MZ. The controls got new dogleg levers and new rubber dust covers. I have lusted after YZ450F mufflers since 2006,so I had been watching for a good one. Wichita Craigslist came though for $40 and I welded that to a collector I had lying around. Tone and sound level is exceptional. Now it is time for an updated title and Antique Kansas tag.
That is quite a love affair with a single bike. While Jim has transformed the bike several times, he has stayed with the same bike he bought all those years ago. I never in my wildest dreams ever pictured an XS500 in off road trim, but then some people have a bit more imagination than others. Most keep stock, build a tracker, bobber or chopper like every one else. I say, great job thinking out of the box Jim.
