Clear 11

Should start with Clear 11. I grew up in Texas, around the age of 9 my claim was for being the longest ramp jumper in my hood. We'd create ramps out of 2x6's and 2x4's. Often borrowed from neighbors fences... was easy to build a ramp with a mean incline and a tall launch. Our bikes were stripped down early Schwinn's, we modified everything.

Depending on how brave your felt that day, would get back a block or two and start bookin' it - bare chested, frayed jean cutoffs blowing in the warm summer breeze. Hit the ramp as fast as you could and hope for the best. I always remember the approach, the impact of hitting the ramp, the down force of gravity and the push off as you jerk the handlebars upward for the skies. The feeling of flying and the silence of soaring along until you landed. I loved that feeling, still today. Back to the ramp... endo's were real popular. Good wipe outs were like early performance art. If you landed it successfully, the length of your jump was measured in two ways: either by the distance of kids on the ground shoulder to shoulder... Or it was the neighbors garbage bags, typically big bags of leaves.

I held the record for clearing 11 trash bags. Evel was my idol. And the movie that should have won an Oscar was On Any Sunday. BMXing was the gateway to motorcycles for me.

Flattrack dreams.. My Graco moto cross bike.

Time passed and I remember picking out my first motorcycle with my dad ( I have an old polaroid of this and will post if I can find it). It was the most beautiful piece of machinery I'd ever seen, a Yamaha YZ80. Black and yellow, like a bumble bee. I learned after my first wheelie wipe-out, that this bee stung too. Adjusting to the powerband was the fun part, I miss that in the 4 strokes. From there, my family owned everything from big Honda Cruisers to Harley's to dirt bikes, street bikes and enduros.

As I got older, I would always think about wanting to have one as an adult but for some reason, never did. I moved to Portland in '99. Almost purchased a Vespa because it was big here and instead decided to do something a little larger. I searched out what I knew I previously liked, XR's. I purchased a 2000 XR650L in 2001 with less than 500 miles on it, like brand new.

Got it home, rode it for a month to get a basic understanding of how it handled and decided I wanted a hybrid street dirt motorcycle.

At the time I was following a bike blog in England and ran across these motard or bank robber bikes. And since I always rode my enduros more on the pavement than dirt, liked the snappy torque and nimbleness of the bike, making a street sprinter felt like a good mix. You could wheelie them, jump curbs, and they're super easy to ride, and dependable.

So I began modifying the engine, drive train and exhaust, made some cosmetic changes. Rode it in the summer months mostly. Ended up selling it just 8 months ago to a good friend in SF and have really missed riding it.

Decided one day that a portion of my balls had gone missing without this bike. It was my meditation. With that, a portion of that money I would create a new project. Having a relationship with XR's... knowing they're fun, reliable thumpers, I decided to go with the XR600R - brother of the 650. Simple, easy to work on, bullet-proof machine with a ton of mods available. After test driving a couple of bikes and looking for 3 months, I found an '89 that was in good condition, was cheap and it ran really great. This was a perfect bike for what I needed to do - it was inexpensive, and was a wide open canvas for breaking it down, no style or rules to adhere to

The ride home was interesting, such a different bike than my 650. Tweakier, lighter feeling, more nimble and the snap of the throttle was more responsive. The photo of it along the fence was taken the minute I got home. From there on, I took as many pictures to document the journey. And most importantly, reference on how to put it back together... this will be my first real frame off project.

Was thinking of the direction I should go in, possibly OEM, not old enough to mean anything - to me. A lot of people are doing that with the old school dirt/enduro bikes - there are some really beautiful resto bikes out there and I'm a huge sucker for them. *I want to also create a shared section that honors the groups and the people that have continually blown me away with their creative incite, knowledge, commitment and dedication to the motorcycle, all of which feed and fuel my child.

Where do I land with all this? After sitting back and watching everything I could find landed somewhere between building a flat track bike and the spirit of the old Japanese enduro/street bikes.

The Honda Scrambler has always been one of my all time favorites. Love the pipes, the stance and that street dirt look. After studying bikes from the late fifties to the mid to late 70's, I had an idea of what I liked. Made some notes, what would work and wouldn't and set out looking for replacement parts. Because I wanted to keep the budget down, I purchased a lot of the used parts on ebay.

First I created a Photoshop file of what the bike might look like before buying the part(s). Taking the first photo of the bike I took, I started deleting parts from the bike and replacing them with ones I found on ebay. I began cutting the seat down, lowering the front and rear suspension, replacing the tank with different ones, etc. When I would see something I liked on ebay, I marked it then borrowed the photo for my collage. This way, I could see it in place - know if I wanted it and whether it might need to be chromed, painted/powder coated or just left alone. Some of the parts I bought I won't use and will put them back on ebay or keep for other projects.

I've followed restoration blogs and thought it would be good to post my shots. Mostly I have never done this before and while it's easy to tear something apart, getting it back together is something else. Here is the beginning. Photos taken the first minutes I pulled up to my house.

The Diet
I wanted to get a better look at the bikes bones and there was a lot of plastic in the way. Most of the cosmetic items were removed and then I ventured into removing the air filter box and carb snorkel intake. Just without the front fender, tank graphics and side plates, etc it was beginning to look better.

I realized I needed something to put the bike on... was adjustable and cheap. This is what you can get for about $65. Good for 1500 lbs and surprisingly well built.

Purchased an XR 250 shock (top blue one) off ebay, should lower the bike about 1.5". If not enough, a lowering link kit will be needed.

And one day while working in the gararge, I had the strangest feeling I was being watched. Slowly turned around and there was this fat raccoon about 5 feet standing on the back two leaning forward, wondering if I had a snack. I got this photo of her as she was heading out.

Seat and airbox off, now begin to remove the rear shock. After the stock shock I discover that the upper frame mount is not wide enough for the new shock I bought. Oi'vey! Okay, I can either put it back up on ebay and research what will fit the bike that is shorter or...take a torch to it. I still need to tear the bike down, so I have some time to think about it. Enter my long-time friend Spencer T Houser. Houser works then, now SpeedyMoto (helped produce/fabricate the work on my XR650). We work out the details, he chops and drops the frame off at my house two days later, fully trimmed and ready to go. thanks, T!

Night is ending, I pull the rear portion of the exhaust off and get the new shock in place, I can already tell it's shorter. And I really like how stripped down and minimal the whole bike is looking. Love seeing the parts, what they connect to and why/how they all work together.

The next day I began pulling the wheels and front headlamp assembly. The bike had a 21" front and 18" back. I want both to be more in alignment with the flat tracks, I'll order 18's for the front/backs. Initially liked the Dunlop 180's, settled on the Pirelli MT90's. Next, been thinking of how I'm going to modify the seat to get it lower and shorter. First step is to remove the old cover and see what's behind it. Discover unkle funkles foam!

Removed the tank and rear fender. My new MT90's arrive that day.

Off come the forks, exhaust header and clutch cable. Once the main cables are sorted, the engine mounts are next. The next set of images are for documentation purposes.

A single bolt drops the rear swing arm. One left and it's free...

Back to the top motor mount, disconnect what looks to be a ground and the flux capacitor, and viola! Note to self: engine requires slight turn and exits from the right side. It was kinda like wrestling an 80 lb jagged rock out of a hole.

Engine is out now. I sat it on the floor with all of it's main arteries strewn about. Hard to believe, didn't know how to change the oil a week ago and now the motor's on the floor, freaking out a bit.

The last part of the rear brake linkage is removed and on to the fork trees. Once off, the frame is pretty much bare except for a few plastic cable clips. It's ready for the powder coater.

Currently inventory the floor:
Pirelli MT tires. Forks with clutch and brake levers still attached. Motor mount brackets and bolts. Rubber chain protector. Harley headlight and cowling. Supertrapp exhaust header and pipe. Rear swing arm and linkage. Chain and chain guide. XR 250 shock. Foam from my seat. The beat-to-shit kickstand it came with. And the part of the stock Showa shock.

And the fur cutie, Leila my shop pooch (for a short time). She hung with me for a few days and realized quickly the lack of creature comfort amenities in the man cave garage. No tasty treats or plush dog beds. Thanks Leila, appreciate the support. Her face tells the story.

I have to pause to explain where the lime green bad-ass roll cart came from. I picked it up 8 years ago in Seattle at the Boeing liquidation warehouse. They have all kinds of cool stuff - tools, funky airplane parts of parts, building delivery bikes, old telephones and staplers.. you name it. I think I paid $20 for it and have never used it, until now!

This one was in Boeing Sector A-3708, for restricted dispatch use only! It sounds important. It's now the operating table, and the dance floor. It rolls, it's solid and it's a cool piece of history.

First up on the block: the rear swing arm. Then the motor... From here on out, everything gets sprayed, soaked, scrubbed, and wire brushed. Intention is to use as many of the original bike parts as possible. I stray at times. I have a huge respect for OEM design while still wanting something more custom.