the little SR that could

well guys this is kind of an after thought project post but it will still be fun to share all that i have done, i dont have pictures for everything but i do have alot

the low down

the original bike was a 1978 SR650 with 22k on the clock, i got this bike for free in 2008 was rough, no key, no title, and crashed on the right side, everything was pretty bad. soo in my shop class my senior year of highschool i fixed it up. surprisingly with only 50 some odd dollars i got the thing running, not well but running. This was my first bike and i learned how to ride on it.

after a few months riding i got some work done, carbs cleaned and synched, electric start fixed and thats about it. all was well, i got to college and my freshman year the first week, the engine started acting REALLY funny, horrible noise coming from the top end. i decided to park it and i bought myself a new bike, my 98 vtr1000

i worked on the bike that winter and here is what i did
sanded down

another shot

primed

the color

all finished, clear, and this paintjob i would say is a 6 or 7 outta 10, my first time with HPLV guns

after i painted it up i thought heck that engine noise probably went away right?? well i spent a solid 40 hours polishing the engine



and then i decided to get new rubber on it, i polished the rims at this time as well

putting it back together it started looking pretty good, exhaust was the original supertrapp that came with the free bike, you can see the damage, but sounds pretty badass

that same weekend i fitted up the new paint that i had done that winter, it looked so nice on the bike, i was very happy with myself


about two weeks after this point a few goodies came in the mail




i then took my bike back to the same mechanic i had used before to fix the carbs and electric start and he heard the engine noise i was talking about... he said, "sorry son i would just throw this bike away.." i was crushed... i went home and was very depressed, well i rode the bike around for awhile the way it was... this noise was just annoying and sounded bad more than anything! the engine still ran great and pulled strong.

i brought the bike to a dealer in town who had a guy who worked on vintage bikes. he fixed a couple things and the noise went away... mostly...and most of the time...basically screwed me outta 300 bucks, but i then decided i was going to do all the work from then on, on my own.

in october of 2010 i found an add on craigslist for a 1979 kz650 SR... for 300 bucks

the guy had bought the bike from a dealer and on the way home hit a fire hydrant...broke the points cover up and a bit off the rt side lower block and bent the timing advancer.. so it sat for two years. i came along and looked at it, it had an awesomely comfortable "king and queen" seat that my girlfriend LOVED, a mac exhaust, full body work in great shape... great rubber and everything else was straight. so i offered him 150 bucks (what i had on me in cash at the time) and he said yes, gave me the title and i was on my way.

got the bike home and it was in pretty good shape, put it behind my garage to wait till i had time to work on the project. it sat for awhile until i saw a post from another member awhile back about getting some vm29's for 100 bucks from some guy, he posted pictures and i said...those look awefully familiar to me! i had my brother go outside and snap some pictures for me



turns out this $150 bike had smoothies on it! score for me!!! i cleaned them up that next weekend
it was pretty fun learning on these carbs

around this same time my sister and my mom decided to help me tackle recovering my seat in some marine grade vinyl





this is my two steeds later that day that i re-covered the seat

more to come! i hope everyone enjoys i know i sure have

Nice work on the SR.
She looks great.

thanks a bunch! i have a ton more progress pics to share once i get a bit to upload and write some stuff down

ok more pics of the smoothies

so here my project sat... until this last spring i decided that i wanted to do some major work this summer (2011) and get this baby back on the road and this time do it RIGHT

i thought long and hard about punching it out to an 810 and using the motor i had.. but then i came across a pretty good deal on craigslist in my area.

basically a guy who used to be a member on here (not sure of name) was getting out of KZ's and into italian bikes. he had TONS of parts. including







and about 8 boxes of other misc parts! so i picked everything up for 1000 cash

considering i was going to drop 3-5 hundren on a good running 650, then all the work of getting it punched out to 810 i figured the 750 was a good swap for now, plus this motor is CLEAN and only 14k orig miles its a 1980 750 with a kick starter added,GPZ cams and some headwork, apparently.

so this realllly kick started my project (pun intended) i got my best friend back from iraq (safe) and he was a great help, be picked up a 05 shadow delux when he got back as well.... anyway

we stripped the bike down and began working on painting the frame, swinger, and brake bracket, i also totally re-did the upper and lower triples. man does that make a difference!












buddies shadow

now i know this is not IDEAL conditions, place/paint but it worked for me

i will eventually take the bike apart again and PC the frame when i upgrade the front and rear suspension, i couldnt justify doing it now expecially since i just bought new tires

now everything dried and looked pretty good i was impressed for rattle can paint it looked nice, its a semi-gloss and i think it looks nice, especially the triples and bar clamps.

now the week after i got everything painted which would be mid july i started assembly, i am working most evenings after work so i get in the garage around 6 and i worked a few nights till 11 or later

first night it was JUST the engine and some polish, i started out the night with my little sister (16) in the garage, she kindly helped me polish my mags up and made them look NICE she has much smaller hands than i and it helped alot, at the end of the night she looks at me and says "this is the dirtiest my hands have EVER been... THANKS" and i just laughed. she works hard and it was fun to have some time together. that same night my dad got home and after relaxing with a beer came out to help put the motor in the frame...my garage is a POS and i wasnt confident about putting the motor on its side so we tried mounting it by lifting it in while my little sister shoved the mounting bolts in. well with a bit of swearing and some scratched paint (not that much luckily) she was it and that felt GOOD