Whitbread

Now that's just freaky! My family has a cabin on douglas lake and I grew up riding those trails! I even live in central-ish ohio haha. I was just up there over 4th of july riding as a matter of fact :biggrin: . Going up next weekend too. I've heard there's all kinds of crazy trails in the UP, haven't made it up there yet though. I know there's lots of other trails systems in the lower peninsula, just grab a trail map. If you're looking for somewhere closer, a really cool place in ohio is Wellsville. It's right on the OH/PA/WV border. I'm heading there sept 25th with a big group. From the mouth of the owner, "The only rule here, is that there are no rules".

Yeah, I put up a thread in the modifications section that had the roundhouse conversion in it. I'm sure quite a few people could do it around here. As long as you can read a tape measure, have a good flat table, and can mig or tig, it's easy. A couple of days after I did it, I beat on it all weekend at haspin without a hiccup. The bombproof test will be Wellsville at the end of september. That place is sumthin else... .

If you have some fab ability, put a roundhouse in your factory swingarm. Took me about an hour and a half. Just be sure to measure 10 times before welding. You only need to remove about ~1/8" material from the top and bottom of the ears to get the tube to drop in. 4" grinder works perfectly. I picked up the tube and a refurbed carrier from JJ&A Racing for a total of 130 bucks.

Technically it's a ball joint seperation tool. But if you ask most mechanics for that, they'll give you a funny look for a moment before they realize you're asking for a pickle fork. Same thing as if you ask someone for a cross headed fastener turning device, you'll get a really funny look before being handed a phillips screwdriver. The least destructive way to remove a taper seated joint end is to use a decent size hammer and strike the part that the joint stud seats into at 90 degrees to the stud. Works wonderfully with no torn boots or damaged threads :thumbsup: .

Good luck on the warranty claim. Maybe you'll have better luck than I.

+2 for fast trekkers. I picked up a basically brand new set of 20x10x10's from a friend for $40 becuase I needed a set that day and no where local had the right size. Figured I'd run them for that weekend and turn around and sell them again. They're my favorite rear tires now. Hook like mad. Realtors are another cheap, hard wearing tire. Worn half down, mine still grab awesome in sandy/loose stuff turned backwards. At the loose dirt dragstrip at Haspin last weekend, I was sitting on the gastank, launching in 2nd, and it would still stand straight up.

Thanks for the compliments . Post ride report: After some minor font end adjustments, it goes straight down the trail :beer: . It was launching crooked at the drag strip but a tire pressure check back at camp explained it with 2psi difference between the rears. Aired the left up and it launched straight as an arrow. Twisted - Yep, I run both tanks. When the normal tank is almost at reserve, I open the ball valve on the rear tank and run both. Otherwise, with the height difference between the two, the normal tank would overflow if I opened both valves when they're full. Worked great at haspin this past weekend. Rode for a solid 9 hours before I had to refuel. AWR - Yeah, I talked to BansheeBen (I think that's what he said his name was on here) and Tommy. Cool dudes with some fast bikes. As for a price, I think I'd do the mod for about $100 with me machining the threaded pieces. If I made a clamp in jig and found the right hole saw, I could probably do a full set in 2-3 hours. Where are you located at? Larry - It's all tig'ed. You could use an aircooled torch easily. You'd just might have to stop once or twice to let the torch cool. I use a miller synchrowave 180 converted to watercooled with a weldcraft torch. Total cost for me to build the watercooler was $175. Miller can kiss my arse if they think I'm going to pay $500+ for thier unit.

Thanks. Just don't look at the tank too hard. It's slightly higher on the right side. The bottom of the hoop needs to be tweaked a little bit. But it's going to have to wait until I pull the arms and swinger off to get pc'ed. It'll work just fine for riding this weekend which was the whole goal of these last minute fab projects. I'll make it perfect later.

Got the swingarm done, fuel tank done, and right side front suspension all together. Just waiting on the other 2 joints to come in at o'rieley's tomorrow morning and the new chain and sprockets to get in at the local motorcycle store in the morning also. It'll be riding around the yard by noon :smile: . Backstrap 2 carrier tube from JJ&A. Only took 5 minutes with an angle grinder to get it to fit perfect. Measured 10 times and welded it. Tank installed. All plumbed up and filled with 2.5 gallons of fuel ready to go. Doesn't look as goofy as I thought it might. Right side A arms installed Just have to do an alignment after I get the last 2 joints in the morning and she'll be good to go!

I would've gone for a magnum basket but I wanted to give the barnett a shot after grooving two AL baskets. We'll see how it holds up. So far, so good. The mods to it didn't cost me any money either, I got all the screws free from my old shop. Weight isn't at the top of my list, this is a bike that gets taken on 6hr at a time trail rides. I want something beefy. As someone who does a lot of machining, the cnc work is top notch. Every edge and corner was nicely radiused. The next time I have the cover off I'll take some pics of the screw mods I did. Right now, other things are under the knife...

Reconstructed rear grab bar. Still have to weld the rings on that will hold the tank. It wouldn't be complete without the skull vent. A little teaser of what's to come this winter :wink: . $1.25 and $10 shipping. Courtesty of E bay!

I'm a fabricator by trade and I'm sure I'm one of many that hates the non replaceable ball joints, idiotic chain adjustment system, and the short range of a banshee with a stock fuel tank. I was planning to do this all much later but had an encounter of the bush covered stump kind over the weekend of the 4th. It bent my left upper and right lower a arms and steering stem when it tumbled on it's side after. Amazing the damage a 15mph crash can do . Anyway while inspecting the damage back at home, I noticed the swingarm pivot bearings and carrier bearings were shot in addition to 2 of the ball joints . So I figured what better time to break out the tig welder and grinder. I started all of this sunday night and the goal is to have it all done by 6pm friday as that's when I'm heading out for a riding trip to Indiana. I modified my front A arms very similar to the way RegalRocket did his in this thread. No need to cover things twice. I ride extremely tight trails and don't want the thing any wider. I'll make nice new ones when I reconstruct the front of my frame in the next year or two. The threaded pieces I lathed up are 1.125" OD and tapped with M16x1.5 threads for the Moog ES2074R tie rod ends. The spindles do have to be reamed to recieve the much larger taper. After annoying the living hell of the guy at the industrial tooling store mearsuring every reamer I could find, I finally found a 535R 3/4" reamer made by Michigan Drill that had the correct taper. Darn thing was $58 :mad: . What you pay for buying american made I guess... A arms are all done though, just need a quick spraybomb tomorrow. I'll get them powdered after the riding trip. For the swingarm fix, I picked up a carrier tube from JJ&A Racing products and a pruple billet carrier from their garage sale section ($99!) to match. Only $65 more than new carrier bearings for the stock carrier would've run me. I'm going to be grafting it into the stock swingarm since I'm on an extremely limited time frame. I'll build a pretty one another day. By my measurements, I'll end up at about -3/4" on the overall lentgh which is what I want for the tight trails I usually ride. The parts from JJ&A should be here thurs so I'll hopefully have this done the same day. Reason the swing arm got pulled out. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far away, these were swingarm bearings... Since this is a budget mod session after all, I was originally going to use a heiniken mini keg but it prooved to be too thin to weld fittings in to . So, I rolled an aluminum tank instead. My plastics are painted anyway and don't want to deal with painting a tank to match. I used a 11"x25" piece of .125" AL to form the main part and english wheeled some ends out of .100" AL. I machined a o-ring sealed fill cap and a drain fitting out of some bar stock that was laying around. The cap is 1 1/16"-12 straight thread and the drain is 1/4" NPT. Accoring to my math, it should hold a little over 2.5 gallons. Probably a little overkill, but oh well. More pics to come tomorrow.

I'm not sure where we'll be parked, my group is meeting a group there on friday night. Look for my red 94 chevy extended cab dualie, my purple banshee with an aluminum fuel tank on the rear grab bar, a red suzuki lt230 quadsport, a tan and black samurai on 31" super swampers, silver and white yfz450, red frame and white plastic 250R, and a tube buggy with a 2.3L turbo ford in it. The total group will number around 30 so we should be pretty easy to spot.

Amen. Do the balance math for 3 grams at ~2" radius from crank centerline at 10,000rpm. You won't add filler after seeing the result.

I'm heading to haspin this weekend with a group of about 25-30. There's going to be tube buggies, samurai's, jeeps, and of course a few atv's. Anyone else going to be heading out there this weekend?

Regal Rocket got back to me via pm much quicker than I expected. It's M16x1.5 for anyone else curious.

Does anyone happen to know the thread size and pitch for part of the joint that eventually screws into the A arm? I'm in the process of doing the same to my shee but the joints won't be in until wednesday . I'm just trying to get everything lathed up before they get here to save some time. Thanks!

I just ordered a tube and carrier from JJ&A, I'll be doing a thread on the conversion next week. I was able to score a purprle double row, stock axle, bearing carrier for $99 in their garage sale section :biggrin: . I'm with you Bennieben, function over looks. My bike has never, and will never, be a show bike. I'm just tired of the stupid chain adjustment system and will be chopping up the stock swingarm. Maybe I'll build a "pretty" swingarm this winter when the EFI pisses me off too much and I need to beat on something.

As title says. Best way to reach me is by phone at 248 755 8118. Thanks! Matt

Some Hq'ers hooked me up with some a arms and a good stem. Can't thank you guys enough!

The first time you ride in shorts or change plugs on a hot motor, you'll wonder why you never ran PT's before :biggrin: . The hi-rev's are the last set of pipes that are ever going on my bike. Power everywhere and a great mip/top without being pipey. Since they look a little goofy, they're also great for fooling four stroke guys before racing. "Are those stock pipes?" "Yeah...I'm still saving up for a set of aftermarket pipes". If you have a sad look on your face when you say it, they fall for it every time :laugh:

As title states, I need a set of stock a arms and a stock steering stem. The a arms can have shot ball joints as these are going to get chopped up anyway. The best way to reach me is by phone at 248 755 8118. Thanks, Matt

I had a few moments of free time to start to rejet last night for ~500ft, 60% humidity, and 78 degrees. My last jetting was at ~2500ft, 100% humidity, and 97 degrees. I also took off the dial-a-jet as it was leaking. Went from a 160 main up to a 182. Kept the needle on 4th clip. I'd like to try my other 2 needles and a 185 or 190 main just out of curiosity; maybe tomorrow. Plugs are medium chocolate brown. Does that sound a little more like what you're used to seeing Snop?

I'd love to make it 10, but I own a small VW/Audi performance shop and one of the largest club meetings in the midwest is that weekend in Wisconsin :wallbash: . I can't afford to miss an opportunity to meet 300+ potential customers. At least I'm going riding for a solid week in northern MI next week and I'll be at Haspin the weekend of 7/18.

Definitely. I gave away my gnarlies for just the cost of shipping a couple years back. Were a little banged up but still worked fine. PT high revs are another good option; especially if you plan or porting later. I picked mine up for $100 used off here. They have more than enough low end for trails and flat out scream in the mid/top. Being able to safely ride in shorts and change plugs on a hot motor without burning your hands are nice side benefits.