Been busy lately. Summer (well not really much of one) riding. Work. And, best of all, play.

Our son turned 6. School. Need to get him there and pick him up. Started a while ago collecting bits to turn my SR500 into a sidecar. Velorex 562. Leading link forks. Box section swingarm. Steering damper. Better shocks. May yet even add a battery. Had a subframe made up – bolts directly to the frame. 4 point sidecar connection bolts to this – no welding to the frame – better load distribution. Easier to get certified.

Got a K&J box-section swingarm for a price I couldn’t refuse. Included all the bolts, bearings, axles … ca 5.7kg.

 

K&J box-section swingarm … shock mount bolts, axles and chain tensioners not shown

 

Checked the existing bearings – OK. But the bearing races showed definite wear marks where the rollers have contacted. No internal spacer!! Checked their website. This is standard-no spacer. Means the bearings take all axial load. Anyone who has left the internal spacer out of their wheel when replacing bearings soon learns not to do this. Their instructions say to tighten the swingarm pivot to the point that the swingarm slowly lowers itself from a raised position. Fully loaded bearings – no wonder the races are marked. New bearings.

Measured it up. Figured there was 164.5mm space between the bearing centres. 16mm internal diameter. 22mm OD would fit inside the bearing cages. Cut myself a bit of pipe. Fitted it – too long – too much play. Remove. File. Refit. Did this 3 times before I got the fit I wanted. Now, there is no sideplay and the swingarm can move freely.

 

spacer … 164.5mm long …. 16mm ID … to the left is one of the bearing carriers, greased, ready for installation

 

Next problem. No chain-rub protector and the pivot tube has a larger OD than the original. Had a polyeurethane bread board the wife wont miss. Grabbed my holesaws and cut myself a new rub protector.

Mounted the chain guard. Shock mount bolt is in the way.

 

shock mount bolt blocking the chainguard

 

A bit of violent grinding soon fixed that.

For some reason K&J decided to reinvent the wheel. Put the brake plate anchor topside. Original is underneath. Must rotate the plate. The brake actuation geometry is now all fucked up. Bright. On researching they fixed this later – gave the choice of over or under. Later models are fitted for the original anchor. This didnt help me. Made myself a new anchor. A comprimise, but helps.

External dimensions of this swingarm are slightly larger than original – means the brake rod runs real close. A little judicious bending solved this. Also took the time to remove the brakearm pivot. Like the XS650, the SR500 has no grease nipple here and people forget to regularly repack it. Tends to seize when least desired. Fucking Murphy!!

 

brake arm pivot – getting a bit dry … caught just in time

 

Things to do:

• Dechrome the swingarm – i hate chrome just as much as i do policemen
• reposition the brake plate anchor
• powdercoat it black
• replace the missing grease nipple – swingarm pivot shaft
• keep riding

If you’re wondering why I’m writing this, you may not have figured out that the SR500 and XS650 swingarms have the same pivot dimensions.

I don’t fit my neighbour’s norm. They’re all old. Mostly their kids never visit them. I have long hair. Work from home. Look after the kids (preschool) while my wife goes to work. Listen to ‘loud’ music (means: non volks-musik, non schlagermusik). And ride motorcycles. As do most of my friends. They really don’t understand that I choose to ride the whole year. Also in winter!

Mostly the weather is user-friendly. A few days of snow. Melts in a day or two. What really gets up my nose, literally, is the fucking salt. You don’t see it (until the bike begins to rust). But, you sure can taste it. Give me fish’n’chips any day. No vinegar.

The last couple of winters were snowy. Last year was particularly cold. And I got caught a couple of times. 100-200mm fresh snow. Just as I was about to head home. A 20 minute trip took 3 hours. Mostly I laid the rear wheel in the gutter for traction. Driveways were a killer. Off-camber corners deadly. Rising and dropping slopes a challenge. Both feet skimming the ground. Tyres crunching virgin snow. Pedestrians and cagers both, jaw-dropping unbelievers. The worst were the last 200m. Our street. Never cleaned by the city. Underlaid by ice.  !!FUN!!

2010 the German Govt made winter tyres compulsory. Or did they? “ bei winterlichen Straßenverhältnissen geeignete Reifen zu verwenden sind ” by winter road conditions appropriate tyres are to be used.

• winter road conditions … Glatteis, Schneeglätte, Schneematsch, Eis- oder Reifglätte … black ice, hard-packed snow, snow slush, ice or heavy frost
• appropriate tyres … winter or all-weather tyres, marked M+S, M.S  … basically these have a higher silica content, hold better at lower street and tyre temps, deeper profiles
• penalty … minimum €40 and 1 point … in practice this probably wont be controlled except if involved in an accident or your machine is left stranded
• interesting perspective here … there is provision for road-tax reclamation for the days you are not able to use your machine if tyres are not available for it

Problem is, these are hard to find. Many bikes are simply not catered for.

For the XS650 I found Heidenau K60 Snowtex. 4.00/18 64S for the rear. 100/90-19 57H for the front.

The SR500 was more of a problem. Heidenau K60 Snowtex 4.00/18 64S for the rear (same as the XS). Heidenau K37 3.50/18 62P for the front (drum brake). Profiles don’t match but are a TÜV accepted match.

Not even bothering for the SRX600.

I found these tyres on offer in the internet. Reifen.com was offering the K60 for €71 and the K37 for €68. I went to my local branch to see if they would order them. Wanted €134 for the K60 and about the same for the K37. Just for the K60 – over €200 mounted! Cash up front. And they wanted to data-mine my name and address – said it was for warrantee purposes. What a croc-of-shit! All I need for that is the receipt. Needless to say I walked. Got back on the internet – €127 delivered. Total price. For both. From someone else.

So – Reifen.com – go fuck yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am interested to see how these perform. Good that I had an extra set of wheels for both.

 

 

K60 Heidenau silica

 

 

K37 Heidenau silica

 

 

When you get them make sure they have the MS sign on them. Summer and winter profiles are identical.

It’s been a while since I rode with enduro style tyres. The difference was startling at first. Especially the front. Until the block edges began to wear the wheel wanted to track straight. I literally had to slown down, steer and consciuously use my body to negotiate corners. A bit like sidecar riding. This didn’t last. But I wasn’t prepared for it.

And I’m still waiting for the snow!