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Cool Rides & Adventures... / Re: What Have You Done With Your Ascot Lately?
« Last post by Luke on May 02, 2022, 03:39:35 am »Looking good! Hope your lock down was as painless as possible. Cheers
Recent Posts
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Classified Ads / Re: For Sale sidecar rig
« Last post by motomensch on February 09, 2022, 04:01:15 pm »1982 Honda FT500 Ascot with Bingham Mk 1 sidecar, matching silver and blue paint job, bike caf
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Classified Ads / For Sale sidecar rig
« Last post by motomensch on February 09, 2022, 03:50:27 pm »1982 Honda FT500 Ascot with Bingham Mk 1 sidecar, matching silver and blue paint job, bike caf
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Cool Rides & Adventures... / Re: What Have You Done With Your Ascot Lately?
« Last post by murdo on September 12, 2021, 04:32:03 am »While we have been in lockdown (lockup?) here in Aus with the Covid virus around and unable to go outside of town I got in and did some repainting on my FT. I had finally (after twelve years of ownership) found a rear seat cowl that wasn't broken and decided to repaint it, the front guard and bikini fairing. The tank I did with 2 pak clear over the original paint and the sidecovers had been replaced recently with NOS. I haven't painted the frame as it is still original and like me has a few scares but still works OK.
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The Thumper Years: Modified To Full Customs / Re: Ratty and bratty FT500 -83
« Last post by hellblom on August 27, 2021, 01:59:25 pm »Nice looking bike! I do love mine and had a great summer on it. Was able to hit 160kph or 100mph on the highway so the 10,5:1 Wiseco piston does improve performance for sure.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/590564847
https://player.vimeo.com/video/590564847
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Tech Section / Re: Piston knock
« Last post by hellblom on August 27, 2021, 01:48:43 pm »Nope, haven't done it. I imagine it might be hard to get to all the bolts.
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Tech Section / Piston knock
« Last post by murdo on August 01, 2021, 03:58:12 am »My 500 (with 43,000 miles on the second speedo, so total mileage is unknown) is down on power and has recently started the get a bit of piston knock/rattle. I have a new oversize piston ready to fit but am wondering (dumb question alert) if it is possible to lift off the head and barrel with engine in frame? Has any body done this? Thanks.
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The Thumper Years: Stock To Lightly Modified / What's it worth?
« Last post by goldenpony on July 22, 2021, 06:35:04 pm »My wife has an '82 FT with 13,281 miles on the clock. Always garage kept. Good premium battery, good tires, red color, crash bars, progressive springs in front forks. Excellent condition. What could we realistically expect to get for it? Just curious.
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The Thumper Years: Modified To Full Customs / Re: Ratty and bratty FT500 -83
« Last post by murdo on July 05, 2021, 02:41:20 am »Nice work.
Haven't been well enough to get out on mine lately, hoping to be fit for summer.
Haven't been well enough to get out on mine lately, hoping to be fit for summer.
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The Thumper Years: Modified To Full Customs / Re: FT500 -83 ---> street tracker
« Last post by Ampari on July 04, 2021, 09:53:30 am »Been a while, still alive tho. And the bike's running too. Although it has developed an occasional knocking/grinding engine noise that seems to occur whenever it pleases (seems to happen more frequently when under medium load or engine braking hard), and it usually goes away by hitting the redline, or by just keeping on driving. Rarely makes the noise when driven WOT. First time this noise occured was when I was downshifting without the clutch. No metal shavings or anything unusual in oil. I've had the engine covers off and nothing seems loose. Truly baffling. Guess I need to do compression and leakdown tests next winter as it also consumes some oil. Most likely needs engine opened again 
Got some pics for you special few who care about these bikes. Fabbed up a new exhaust some time ago, made some seat brackets along with frame mods and welded some tabs for rear light and turn signals. Also did an electrical/air box and battery box which can be considered prototypes aka they suck and I'll redo them in the future. New (same as old) China special headlight, secondhand speedo from a Suzuki TU250X. Chain, sprockets, rubber, some other small things here and there. The whole bike needs some mechanical care, tidying up and repainting but it'll do for now. Been doing about 3000-4000km each summer, so probably closer to 10k since I last posted
New tail light:
Seat brackets:
New exhaust almost done:
And couple scenic ones from this summer:
Edit: just noticed in an older post that the fuel consumption used to be "5,7l/100km or 41 mpg". I have a sample size of about five to seven tankfuls this summer and it's now around 4,4l/100km or 53mpg after new exhaust, airbox and rejetting. Doesn't seem to matter if it's wide open throttle highway blasting or slow forest crawl, consumption stays pretty much consistent between tanks.
Got some pics for you special few who care about these bikes. Fabbed up a new exhaust some time ago, made some seat brackets along with frame mods and welded some tabs for rear light and turn signals. Also did an electrical/air box and battery box which can be considered prototypes aka they suck and I'll redo them in the future. New (same as old) China special headlight, secondhand speedo from a Suzuki TU250X. Chain, sprockets, rubber, some other small things here and there. The whole bike needs some mechanical care, tidying up and repainting but it'll do for now. Been doing about 3000-4000km each summer, so probably closer to 10k since I last posted
New tail light:
Seat brackets:
New exhaust almost done:
And couple scenic ones from this summer:
Edit: just noticed in an older post that the fuel consumption used to be "5,7l/100km or 41 mpg". I have a sample size of about five to seven tankfuls this summer and it's now around 4,4l/100km or 53mpg after new exhaust, airbox and rejetting. Doesn't seem to matter if it's wide open throttle highway blasting or slow forest crawl, consumption stays pretty much consistent between tanks.