After visiting the rareified air of the motorcycles displayed at the Quail Lodge, it's always good to return to the world of machines most everyone can modify and ride. A good example is this Honda FT500 Ascot. Nolan Arihood sent in some photos of his bike, an 83 FT500 which he worked over to fit his own particular needs. It's a nice makeover and gives you an idea of what anyone can do on a limited budget and some time.
The front end is from a CBR1000, the rear wheel is CBR600 and the tail section is XR750. He installed dirt bike bars and tweaked the seat to fit with the modified tank. He handmade those aluminum panels for the sides and front. The engine was treated to a pop up piston (12.5:1) and a White Brothers cam plus a flatslide Keihn carb and the gasses exit through a muffler that's his own creation. The extra compression made the original starter less than effective so he switched to a kick starter.
The end result is a really nice, clean rebuild that looks like a lot of fun and the tab for all of this was under $1500 due to a little horse trading, eBay and doing his own work. If you're long on time and short on cash, you can do this, too. Nice bike Nolan!
Original article can be found here: http://thekneeslider.com/honda-ft500-gets-a-new-life/
