www.jockeyjournal.com/forum The HAMB for bobbers and choppers. A pic of the stock bike would be good too, that way we know what we're dealing with. That being said, just about anything makes a good start for a chopper, just some better than others.
I'm not an expert, but I think those SR500's have some collector value and you might be better off to sell it to someone that wants one and then buy a different bike to start out with. BTW, a SR500 is a 500 cc four stroke single. I always thought they were kinda neat to make a bobber or cafe style out of.
They continue to slowly but surely go up in value. They were still be made in Japan a year or two ago and may well still be in production. If you do a web search there are all sorts of SR500 websites, and it is still a VERY popular MC in Asia and Europe with lots of clubs. If you look at the websites you will see a lot of modified SRs, most all Cafe Racer Style, Retro British Single (think BSA Gold Star) style, and Dirt Track style. You'd have a hard time finding many chopper style modified SR's and there is a reason for that.
If you're gonna do it , build the frame heavy . I owned a standard one and it vibrated like a bastard , if you use a light frame it'll rattle itself to peices . IMHO the bike was a gutless , thirsty , unreliable (they eat cams) piece of shit , there's loads of better bikes out there to chop .
There's not a damn thing wrong with those bikes.... And yes they vibrate, they're a big fucking single... It'd be better as a nostalgia cafe bike, think traditional rod but with 2 wheels kind of... I guess some people are bitching because when the Japanese copied the Brits for that bike they made it to faithful...
If you build a chopper,better use chromemoly tubing & tig weld everything.Like the other guys have said they vibrate like a jackhammer,everything that can crack & brake,WILL.I dirtracked one & they haul ass,I also have a friend that has alot of them,he even rode one of them from texas to california & back when they were new.
Hell Zman , they forgot the oil leaks then ! Seriously though , there's better single motors out there than an SR . Yam's own XT500 is loads more powerful and reliable , which is odd as an SR is just a de-tuned XT . The Suzi SP400 is loads better , or what about a Rotax ? Even Harley used them in their military bikes and you can get 75bhp+ out of one
I think the point is he already has one................I worked at a Yamaha shop when they were new, I liked the bike.....I had 3 BSA singles at the time too.
i have a 78 SR that i have had for 15 years and love it! and and also owned three others. and have thought the same thing many times. i say go for it!!!!!!!!! a very very cherry one is worth about 1700$? and you can find ratty ones very low. if i run across another cheap one i'm going to snage it to make a chopper!!!!! at least they don't leak oil!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha ha
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