MA$TER_E's Project Beasty

This looks like a good place to put my story
I love finding posts with lots of pictures and descriptions so hopefully this'll be able to help someone else some day.

Once Upon A Time...
I bought an 05' XR650R on September 1st 2012. Rode it a whopping 4.5 miles to work and it died on me 3 times and to this day the reason for which is still unknown. By the end of that day I made the decision to roll my sleeves up and strip the beast down to the frame and give it some much needed TLC. I got a little disappointed and questioned a couple times why I bought this bike but then I stood back and took a look at the big picture. Its a good bike and when I'm done It's going to run like a top. This winter I'd like to dive back into the engine and put some performance goodies in then take it in for a dyno run. I'm very very very interested to see how it compares to my SM-630 dyno charts. Google SM-630 and my thread with over 21,000 views will be at the top of the list, its a sad and nauseating story for me...

Back to happier times
Here's the beast before I dug into it. Not the best picture ever but you get the idea.


My ride home from work (100°F outside wearing full gear, in construction, ran out of fuel, kicked and kicked and kicked to get it going again) was just as horrible as my ride to work and once I made it home I immediately stripped my gear off, grabbed a beer, put the beast on the lift and started pulling pieces off.

The 'Freshly Serviced' air filter was NASTY. I've seen air filters that bad but they're usually on bikes that no longer run and have been laying in a junk yard. There were some very interesting wiring/cable management issues as well. I'm a little anal about how wiring should be and the BD wiring was a disaster. Quite literally it was a knotted wad of wires under the seat and there was no making sense of it. Now couple that with about a half quart of oil slathered all over everything and it was time for another beer.

Got her stripped down and all the parts cleaned up.



Now I hope this part helps someone else some day. Take note of the Decompression Clutch and Decompression Cam. I had no idea what was going on and thought my Right Exhaust Valve and/or Rocker was screwed up so I pulled the whole top end apart. DO NOT PULL YOUR TOP END APART! Pretty sure everyone here including myself now know that its perfectly normal and that there was nothing wrong with the top end I just disassembled.



Here's a pretty picture of the Decompression Clutch and Decompression Cam.


Once I got the top end back on I started putting things back together. The valves were all 0.003" tight so I set them to spec. New NGK spark plug. New Ricky Stator dual output stator. Re-sheathed my OEM wiring harness. Will be getting an XR's Only performance thermostat, radiator cap and the front wheel spacers to eliminate the OEM trip meter some time this week. I'll also have a new Trail Tech Voyager computer showing up some time this week too. New front brake pads. New main jet, pilot jet, gasket kit and vent tubing for the carb. New K&N air and oil filter. Fresh full synthetic motor oil. And once I run it for a bit on pure distilled water to flush it out I'll top it off with some engine ice. The goal now is to go for my first 'ride' on it next weekend.



This winter I want to pull it apart again and do some pretty sessy work to the front end and the engine. CRF fork/triple conversion with some Pro Taper Evo bars, bark busters, over sized rotor and a set of HID projectors on the outside. On the inside, Stage 2 hot cam, big bore kit, Ti Valves, Hardened Rockers, Pumper Carb, Full Exhaust system and some ignition goodies. It rains 9 months out of the year in Portland so I figure I'll have some time in the garage to do some tinkering.

Stay tuned and I'll be posting up pictures as I go.

Cheers

Here's another tidbit of knowledge that might save someone new to XR's some heartache in the future...

Spent a lot of time pissing and moaning about what an oily mess my used XR was only to slather it with oil myself. I was using my fancy new long funnel and being very careful not to make a mess. The oil had been drained and filter replaced so I needed to add 1.7 quarts. First quart down no problem. Made it about half way through the second quart and apparently that would be the oil capacity of the frame. Glug Glug as fresh oil oozed over the filler hole and in every direction on the frame I just spent hours and hours cleaning.

Ye be warned as I wasn't, pour the oil very slowly and allow the oil to seep into the crankcase before topping it off...

Cheers

MA$TER_E wrote:Here's another tidbit of knowledge that might save someone new to XR's some heartache in the future...

Spent a lot of time pissing and moaning about what an oily mess my used XR was only to slather it with oil myself. I was using my fancy new long funnel and being very careful not to make a mess. The oil had been drained and filter replaced so I needed to add 1.7 quarts. First quart down no problem. Made it about half way through the second quart and apparently that would be the oil capacity of the frame. Glug Glug as fresh oil oozed over the filler hole and in every direction on the frame I just spent hours and hours cleaning.

Ye be warned as I wasn't, pour the oil very slowly and allow the oil to seep into the crankcase before topping it off...

Cheers

Your obviously younger than me and have less patience....I watch the oil filling the frame and don't let it over-flow

Mauser wrote:
Your obviously younger than me and have less patience....I watch the oil filling the frame and don't let it over-flow

LOL, I probably am I just started fill'in her up just like I would on any of my other bikes. My 'old wiser' is still weak.

Very cool looking forward to the progress on the bike! 100 degrees in Portland? What is going on in the world, end of days????

My first real ride on the beast!




It was awesome, scary at times and I was very impressed with the power Some of the wash outs in the road were a little daunting at first but were a piece of cake.




I'm a little disapointed with the Trail Tech Voyager I bought. Its such an awesome unit and am thrilled with its abilities but it will not charge. Nothing I've tried will get it to charge. Even on a 12v RC charging station it will not charge. It's good for up to 50v DC and 150v AC and running of the Ricky Stator it said it was getting about 60v while cruising down the highway and even the little battery status said it was charging but eventually the internal battery voltage dropped to 3.1v and it shut its self off... Really looking forward to using this system and having a speedometer. Going to call Trail Tech right now...



The XR's only thermostat, radiator cap and wheel spacers show up today so I'll be pulling the tank off again to install that stuff and check the spark plug. I'm pretty sure its still running a little rich but I'm starting to conclude I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to tuning a carb. I've got a lot of reading and experimenting to do with jets, needle clip positions and how each one changes throttle response.

But so far so good and the XR is a blast to ride. Completely stock the XR would eat my old SM-630 for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No comparison at all.



Cheers

So I called and spoke with the guys at Trail Tech this morning. DO NOT connect the trail tech voyager to any power supply that is not regulated... They didn't go into details as to why not but regardless its a really good way to fry your charging circuit. They seem like really great guys so I'll be making a ride up there after work to drop it off for repair and to buy a voltage regulator...

Cannot seem to find the Trail Tech Voyager on ebay over here in the UK....what's it like and are you going to bet a aluminium suround for it ?.

Mauser wrote:Cannot seem to find the Trail Tech Voyager on ebay over here in the UK....what's it like and are you going to bet a aluminium suround for it ?.

They make a fancy aluminum mount for it I'll be getting eventually. Probably after I convert the front end to the CRF-450 triples and forks.

http://trailtech.net/voyager_mounts.html

Its pretty sweet. Wheel sensor, RPM sensor, Engine Temp sensor, Ambient Temp sensor, GPS map system that uses GPX files. Its not like a normal GPS where you've got all the maps loaded and you get turn by turn navigation. You've got a limited amount of storage space and what I've been doing is using their software you add waypoints and routes to a file which you load into the Voyager via MicroSD. The routes you load show as gray so those would be my primary roads I know. Then when you want to go off route on a road you've never been on before you can start recording a new track which shows up as a black line. Export the new track to the SD card and you can add the new track to your collection of routes. It sounds complicated but if you're reasonably good with technology it's a piece of cake. I love it and wish I hadn't fried my charging circuit

I'm a bit dyslexic in that respect, and could use some help here. Can one obtain a GPXfile from a Garmin map, and if so, how?
Also, has it got programmable (led)alarms for temp & revs too (like the Vapor)?

I'm not a 100% sure how to obtain a GPX file from a Garmin but I'm sure its possible. Trail Tech provides a software "Ride Leader" which is very useful for drawing/plotting out your own trips and routes.

Trail Tech Downloads
http://www.trailtech.net/voyager_downloads.html

Another software you'll have to use is "GPS Babel" It actually lists Garmin Serial/USB as one of the methods of extracting data from a device. So if you know how to plug your Garmin into a computer I'd imagine you'd be be able to export everything on it out as a GPX file you can open, manipulate and add to in "Ride Leader"

GPS Babel Download
http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html

Quick update on my little problem with the Voyager... I rode up to their shop in Battle Ground and spoke with them, and to my surprise they exchanged my busted brand new Voyager for one of their demo units. I didn't think much of it at the time but once I got home and started using it more its pretty obvious that its been used. A lot... It works perfectly has 1400 miles on the odometers and I can not seem to resent them. If they cant be reset then I want my broken new one back and fixed. And if I can't get that then I'll sell this one and the Vapor that came with the bike and buy a new one. I'm pleased they were willing to help me but I'm not very happy with the outcome. I feel like I gave them a brand new still in the box unit and they exchanged it with a beat up and heavily used one (because they did) and I just don't feel that its worth the $250 bucks I paid...

Got to go for a really nice ride last weekend. Took a paper map, pre download topo maps on my phone, pre loaded routes on the Voyager and my buddies Garmin. Pretty sure by the end of the day each one saved our bacon. The voyager really excels at capturing trails and not so much at showing you were to go. Its an awesome unit though and I'm very happy with it.

Awesome view



Using my paper map



And a couple miles off pavement I could hear a rattle. Half way up the mountain I was finally able to figure out what it was. My first part fell off the bike! I love thumpers



My chain got really really loose and my back tire was shot last ride. I've got to change the tire before the bike rolls anywhere.



Going out on another ride this weekend. So far the power of the XR is very impressive. 40mph, 3rd gear, sitting back on the seat and it'll clutch right up into a wheelie. I can assure you the Husky would NEVER be able to do that... I'm very happy with it so far. Next pay day I've got to place an order for some goodies so, standby...

So I've been out playing and getting to know my Beastly Red Pig

Here's some more pics of my ride yesterday



From Right to Left: Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainer and Mt. St. Helens








My attempt to capture the edge of the cliff.


It was a good ride. It was cold. Knobs, pavement and black ice don't mix well unless you're cut'n cookies. Heated grips would be nice. And I think I've fixed my jetting issues. Funny thing is I'm coming back really close to what I was running before I started tinkering with things. I found a blown out o-ring around the air fuel screw and once that was fixed the bike was much happier. But we play at 2500+ feet peaked out at about 4500 feet and live around 400. So jetting has been a brutal pleasure to figure out. I'm getting pretty good at it now though...

As I've posted elsewhere I've bought a Garmin Montana for navigation which will help a ton for these kinds of trips. My buddies Zumo 550 saved us so many times. Its amazing how well they work and are a lot better than spending the night out in the woods cuz you ran out of fuel try'n to get back and got lost...

So far so good, got just over 1000 miles on it so far and I love the XR! I originally was going to do some power mods but after riding it some I'm not sure it needs what I was thinking of. I'll do it eventually I'm sure but as is the power is fantastic with the proper jetting.

Thanks for the effort. This is great for the forum!

Went on a little ride yesterday with a buddy. Had a blast making XRR angels in the snow

I've also been getting to know my new Garmin Montana. So far to say I've been pleased is an understatement. This has been an awesome unit so far so look forward to doing a real write up on it soon.

Cannot beat 650R porn.....

Nice pics and nice story

does youre friend have a rear tire on his front wheel?

I was thinking the same!!

looks to me like a compleet rear rim + tire infront

rikco wrote:Nice pics and nice story

does youre friend have a rear tire on his front wheel?

You are correct. It's one of the pitfalls of being a supermoto machine. 17" front and rear wheels; man I don't miss it at all off roading! Its heaven with a set of sticky Q2's or 250 race slicks on the pavement but extra lame when you've got to get over a 15" downed tree or when the trail gets really rough. If I remember correctly the rims on the SM610's are 3.25" and 4.50".

Keep'n the project beasty thread alive, my 10 day vacation time in the Man Cave is over and I'm back to work. Accomplished quite a bit on the beast as well as a much needed cleaning up in the garage.

Did a little this...


A little that...


Had a couple good ideas here and there...


Figured out how to swap a tire only using spoons in about 40 minutes.


Sprinkled on a set of pro taper bars, rox bar risers, cycra handguards and voila! The Beast steps into the 21st century and looks like a modern bike now. I'm going to have to pull one of the forks apart again. I must have chowder'd one of the fork seals during the install because it still leaks. Going to use some silicone fork bullets this time instead of tape during install of the new seal... I could do a write up on how to do seals on a CRF fork too if there's a need. Its a piece of cake. Suspension isn't scary at all. If you can pull a carb apart you can pull forks apart.

BEFORE


AFTER


I sat there and stared at the beast for a while thinking about colors and I'm really excited to make some decals. I've kinda got this graphics idea I want to put on my bikes. Both the XR and the ZX track bike. Its unique and nobody will know what it means except me and that big white side panel is an excellent place to put it. I'll keep you all posted

Oh yeah! Was cleaning out the pics on my phone and found this one.

Christmas Eve ride with my buddy Jon.

There is one more thing to do on the bike to make it perfect ,.... Decent bash plate to replace the plastic joke
Bike looks cool

Sup fellas? Its been a while

I've been a little busy with other issues in life but I'm still around, been tinkering here and there and will be riding a lot more soon. Just finished up for real this time all the electrical, CRF Fork Conversion, Trail Tech and Garmin mounting last night. I hadn't been on the bike since Christmas Eve so it was fitting I did big fat celebratory wheelies through my hood to say hello to all my neighbors. Yeah... They love me





But I HATE HATE HATE these tires. I've put a whole mile on them now and I really want my 606's back

Anyway, race season is just around the corner and I've been working on the ZX a lot more than the XR. Race plastics are in for paint right now, can't wait for those to come back I bought a nice carbon fiber road cycle and have been pedaling about 50-70 miles a week not to mention pretending to work for a living between beers LOL!

Are those tires off a Huffy?