So how does this look? I've been palying with it for awhile..

[Louis Mielke]

So I'm like playing with the suspension and subframe trying to get my fenders and seat to look right. I still need to remold the seat pan, (I forsee two specific bends that need made) but I think I found where the fenders look nice. Maybe a little higher in the back but not much.
http://tiger.towson.edu/~lmielk1/image/500R/500rheight.jpg

[hrc85250r]

that looks really really nice....maybe a little higher on the rear suspension...it looks like it might bottom out...but it looks sick, its coming out a lot better than i thought it would cosmetically ( no offense), but you are doing a really nice job and i hope you keep it up....

blow up the front tire a little more to get a more accurate reading too...

[Louis Mielke]

Well my intention is to build it and make it functionally sound and then strip the thing back down and head things off to the powdercoaters and polishers. Trust me as much time and money as I have in this thing its gonna be perfect before I decide it's done. It will probably be one of those projects thats never really finished. But the two goals are equal function and cosmetics. Probably why I'm taking so long deciding how i like the fenders. The seats going to be a pain but I won't give up. It'll be ready for TF06 for sure.

If you've noticed one of the rear tires is flatt too. This weekend I'm gonna roll it outa the shop and blow up the tires and get someone to take some measurements while I have the suspension loaded. This evening is the first time in 3 months I've really done anything with it. Honestly, just kinda bouncing up and down, I can't make it hit bottom. Those forks and rear shock are pretty plush.

[Mike_Ham_250R]

Lookin good!

[250r'en +TCB]

Awsome trike!!! Looks nice and clean just the way you hoped!!!
I'd adjust the rear suspension as well......
Should go like a bat out of hell though!!! Good luck at the DRAGS!

[grundlegrabber]

Yes it does look like it's going to be a sweet machine. My initial thought was to raise the rear end slightly, maybe an inch?

[OZQUAD44]

Looking really good Man. I hope it handles as good as it looks

So what are you going to call it?

A "Threetrax" maybe!

[bigredhead]

Looking really good Man. I hope it handles as good as it looks

So what are you going to call it?

A "Threetrax" maybe!

hahaha.. i was just thinking the exact same thing... the FOUR in FOURTRAX has to go ...

but yeah.. looks awsome man !!! that thing is gonna rip !

[Orangecnty250r]

Very Nice!! Taking your time, thinking it out, learning from some mistakes, is going to payoff BIG when this machine is completed.

[chris200x]

I like the looks of it But for some reason it seems to me to sit real high. which i think would make it a bit unstabe.. think I read somewhere your swingarm is +4". I think you may want to add wheel sracers or a longer alxe to it as well. .my o2 that's all

[OldSchoolin86]

Lookin good louis! Got any pics without you sitting on it?

[Huffa]

Very sweet! I happen to love white and it looks great on there! Nice work!! :beer

As for the mesurement concerning the bottoming out in rear, why don't you take the shock spring off and just reinstall the damper unit on for an accurate measurement?

Some springs are easy to take off, others are quite hard & don't know about yours. When you measure at bottomed out, keep in mind that you can get better bottom out cushions (on shock damper rod) then what you might have on there now and to make sure what is on is in good condition.

You might know all this but just thought I'd give it a mention.

[Louis Mielke]

Thanks for all the great input. i'm definatly taking my time. I specifically took the picture because I was trying to get an idea of how it will look with loaded suspension. THe fenders are not mounted permenantly yet and the seat needs to be reshaped so it doesn't look as good without me sitting on it. lol...that read kinda funny after rereading it...but anyway,

Huffa thanks for the suspension thoughts, I'll defiantly keep that in mind. As far as the height I'm not sure how much more I'm going to be able to get from it. I've already lowered it considerably from how it was before. Any lower and my rake is going to start changing noticably and that won't help the situation either. I can drop the forks some to compensate but I'll need to change to a different year fork as the 87s I'm using have recesses about 2" from the top of the fork tubes. Kinda a pain.

I'm still looking at 20" tires isntead of 22"s and I'm also investigating the differences in the years of suspension links of the CR500. Aparently one year was longer than the other and therefor lowered the machine. Unfortuantly my only choices come from the 85-87 model years because the swing arm and linkage designed changed drastically after that. If you look at the leagers pdf file on the site their suspension linkage is drastically longer than mine. That may have to do with the custom swing arm design they used but it still affects the ride hieght. I'm curious if HondaATC would be willing to take a seat hieght measurement now that he has a real and complete leagers kit.

Oh and by the way I'm holding up a meter stick if anyone is wondering and can't figure it out.

[twgranger]

Looks great to me.

[tooqwik1]

heres some pics of 1 that was built many years ago some stuff a lil ghetto rigged but fast as hell its a 85 cr500
http://community.webshots.com/album/371571017gZbZwf

heres pics of 1 im building now its gonna be sooper clean
its a 86 cr500 with 85 250r front end to lower the front end and prevent wheelies more pics when i get the swing arm
http://community.webshots.com/album/255286279Gaoron

and heres a pic of a engine we built for a cr500 its in a 2 wheeler gotta build another 1 for my 3wheeler
http://community.webshots.com/photo/335682825/340194569TLDVgo

[Derrick Adams]

Louis, that looks perfect to me! I think when you add the 20" tires it will ROCK. I would be afraid of raising it much more. I know when my Z is higher in the rear it makes it wheelie like crazy and is real scary feeling on downhills. I'd say you nailed it!

Billy's 500 sat just about like my Z, I'd say about 32" seat height while setting on it. We were discussing making some shim stock to lower the forks. Thought it would probably work out well enough once they're tightened down. BUT. it really didn't sit too terrible bad with them up! The rake is an issue though, Billy has a very wide turning radius because of that and the extended swinger. I'm sure having your axle behind the forks will help some though.

Looking Great!!!!

[Louis Mielke]

Well I was cruzing ebay and I found a TRX with a 500 engine in it. The funny thing is that the guy is using a yamaha blaster kicker on it! I was like WTF? But I emailed him and he said its not that hard to kick over with the shorter kicker. I am seriosuly going to investigate this because if thats the case then it totally changes the design of the subframe. if I can get away with having stationary mounted fenders with no need to move them i'm going to do that instead of the articulate wubframe. Now all I need to do is get a blaster kicker to try it out. The length should be right but I don't know if it'll kick over fast enoguh to start. We'll see. This may change things drastically for the better.

[bigredhead]

A shorter kicker should increast the turnover speed.... but maaaaan.. you better have steel plated boots on !

[Louis Mielke]

Well see the thing about the yamaha blaster kicker is that it has a flag/plate on the kicker foot instead of just a straight peg, so your entire heal has preasure against it, not just a small area. This may work for the better.

Your right about spinning the motor over faster but its going to require more effort with the shorter kicker too so we'll see if it works out...most have said you don' really kick a 500, you jump on the kicker to get it to go around. i dunno. My only experience kicking it so far has been wit hth eintake taped off. So its been really hard without air flowing through the enine. Maybe with the carb mounted up it won't be so bad. I gotta get the carb boot before i'll now. Actaully as soon as I get my first paycheck formmy new job I've got a big order of goodies I'm gonna get from service honda. Billet ignition cover, 87 clutch cove instead of my repair 86. just alotof stuf fI've needed for awhile now. I don't get a paycheck for 3 weeks though...really sucks.

[bigredhead]

Too bad you can't find a way to mount an electric start to that puppy !

remove the kicker.. mount external reduction gears with a bracket to hold an electric motor with a good strong battery..... would make life easier to ride all day with.