I bought this Bullet 500 used and rode the hell out of it. Lotta miles and the motor towards the end of its life when a friend told me of a XS for a hundred bucks on Craig’s list. I snagged it after i saw it had decent compression. Cleaned up the carbs and damned if it didn’t start. So i ripped the motor out for my little Enfield. Me an a buddy built a girdle sorta like a subframe connector to tie in the 3/4 frame and keep it ridgid. made motor plates to slip into the frame where the original rear motor mounts were. What a pita that was.
Had to offset the engine 1/2″ to the right to squeak the chain past the inside of the frame but its hardly noticable.The motor looks like it grew there. Wired it up and took it for a ride. What a squirrely little bugger. First thing it did was jerk the rear axle out of alignment…spooky.
The gear ratio was nuts, 17 front 38 rear, and the Enfield wheel adjusters made me nervous but they got cinched down tight as hell and I rode it anyways. Finally got around to needing a rear tire which seemed to disintegrate rapidly all of the sudden. Decision time, buy a new 19 rear tire or stuff the Yamaha swing arm in it.
So happens the parts bike had a decent tire on it so that’s what I did. Ended up with 18 tooth final sprocket and 34 on the wheel. The Frankenstein blows down the freeway just fine. Been catching crap from purists but don’t give a crap. They just have to settle for eatin dust.
