The great FE501 conversion

Andy, I don't wish to pour cold water on things, I try not to be controversial on here, but for a 'fettling' thread it is lacking photographs of any fettlement apart from the hedgehog attachment.

There's not even many pictures of beer which are so prolific in your other threads.

Please can you remedy this, as I keep returning to this thread in hope of something awesome on a motorbike, or beer photos.

Thank you. :thumb2
 
Andy, I don't wish to pour cold water on things, I try not to be controversial on here, but for a 'fettling' thread it is lacking photographs of any fettlement apart from the hedgehog attachment.

There's not even many pictures of beer which are so prolific in your other threads.

Please can you remedy this, as I keep returning to this thread in hope of something awesome on a motorbike, or beer photos.

Thank you. :thumb2

I barely had time to take photos because I collected it in the pouring rain on a Saturday, returned to work at lunchtime the next day, came home the following Thursday afternoon then a couple of hours later rode it to the ferry and dropped it off in Holland.

Be patient grasshopper, be patient :D

Edit: see post number 28 for a photo of the bike at Harwich with a can of beer resting on the footrest :beerjug:
 
Me too I’m guessing this is the start point?

When it could have been this ....

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It could have been a 701 with a big tank but it would have weighed 40kg more and it’s the weight that put me off buying a standard 690 or 701 then putting an auxiliary tank on it myself.

I wanted a bike that within an hour can be turned back into a much lighter bike suitable for riding out of my garage and straight onto the local byways. Now that’s not to say a 701 or 690 isn’t suitable for casual green laning around Cambridgeshire but that’s not what I wanted which is why I decided to get the 500cc bike then throw money at it so I can easily ride it to Eastern Europe and do long distances off road without worrying about where I’m buying unleaded from.

If I regret it after next summer I’ll just take the new parts off, sell them on eBay and keep the bike purely for green lanes and weekend races in Wales :D
 
It could have been a 701 with a big tank but it would have weighed 40kg more and it’s the weight that put me off buying a standard 690 or 701 then putting an auxiliary tank on it myself.

I wanted a bike that within an hour can be turned back into a much lighter bike suitable for riding out of my garage and straight onto the local byways. Now that’s not to say a 701 or 690 isn’t suitable for casual green laning around Cambridgeshire but that’s not what I wanted which is why I decided to get the 500cc bike then throw money at it so I can easily ride it to Eastern Europe and do long distances off road without worrying about where I’m buying unleaded from.

If I regret it after next summer I’ll just take the new parts off, sell them on eBay and keep the bike purely for green lanes and weekend races in Wales :D

I know. I was pulling your leg.
Might be tempted with the 701 LR myself one day. I’m shit off road but loads of tracks still to explore near my gaff in Brittany and the thought of having a bike such as the 701 with no need to fill up every 120 miles appeals.I’ve had 2 701SMs and have a Svartpilen at the mo and know how good the motor is.
 
I know. I was pulling your leg.
Might be tempted with the 701 LR myself one day. I’m shit off road but loads of tracks still to explore near my gaff in Brittany and the thought of having a bike such as the 701 with no need to fill up every 120 miles appeals.I’ve had 2 701SMs and have a Svartpilen at the mo and know how good the motor is.

Go for it. I don’t know what the fuel range is on a standard 701 but I always take the view that I don’t have to fill the bigger tank if I don’t want to but that’s better than knowing I want to do more than the range and I’ve got to go searching for fuel.
 
Things have come to a bit of a halt while parts go away for anodising and they wait for the tank to arrive but they have been working on it.


Here are the luggage plates fitted but now they’re away being coated.

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Screen and brackets rough fitted.

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Bar risers and steering damper.

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and a new wheel. There’ll obviously be new discs and a rear sprocket with the front disc being bigger than standard to deal with the additional weight when I’m away from the UK.

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That’s all for now.
 
The Trailrider tyres are only there because of a mistake by the wheel supplier, it’ll have Trekriders fitted when I collect it because I’ll still have the original fitments on the standard wheels for green landing closer to home.
 
The Trailrider tyres are only there because of a mistake by the wheel supplier, it’ll have Trekriders fitted when I collect it because I’ll still have the original fitments on the standard wheels for green landing closer to home.

Ahh, good shout. Just searched and found this from Wreford - https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/471824-Avon-TrailRider-v-TrekRider/page2

The 800 will be used on local lanes once it's drier and there's a loose plan forming to do the Hard Alpi with Les off of here
 
I’ve asked for regular photos whenever possible but I suspect that once the parts are all at the workshop it’ll be put together as quickly as possible so they can get me to open my wallet.

They apologised for not taking photos of the new sump guard that has a small toolbox built into it but as soon as they’d fabricated it then tacked it together it was sent away to be fully welded by someone else and then it goes away for coating so it may not be fitted when I actually pick the bike up.

Apparently they had to make quite a few prototypes of the pannier plates before they were happy but they’ve now ordered 20 so they’ve got a few in stock ready for sale. They’ve had a bit of bad press over on ADV Rider because of late delivery and failure to respond to emails immediately but it’s a small business and won’t send anything out unless they’re 100% happy with it which is why this is going to be an expensive game but having sat on a 450 EXC they’ve done the full job on the position of the tower, screen and instruments seemed spot on which should make it a good bike to rack up the miles on. The steering damper is a bit of a luxury but the way I view it is that it’s better to have everything built around having the damper fitted rather than find out later that I want one and it can’t be fitted.
 
Ahh, good shout. Just searched and found this from Wreford - https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/471824-Avon-TrailRider-v-TrekRider/page2

The 800 will be used on local lanes once it's drier and there's a loose plan forming to do the Hard Alpi with Les off of here

I’ve been really pleased with the Trekriders on the GSA, I’ve not non much off-road so will be going back to Trailriders but I have to say that even as a road tyre these give a lot of confidence.
 
Starting to come together nicely :thumb2

Couple of gentlemen of this Parish have previously mentioned that Nomad can be a slow at times, apparently it helps to give them a regular prod for progress updates.

Love the steering damper, looks well trick. Not sure I understand how a bigger front disc works, does that mean a rework on calliper position, bigger pads etc. :nenau. . Sounds like a good idea to up the braking power if you're carrying more weight though.

Is the plan to ride it back when it's finished?
 
Starting to come together nicely :thumb2

Couple of gentlemen of this Parish have previously mentioned that Nomad can be a slow at times, apparently it helps to give them a regular prod for progress updates.

Love the steering damper, looks well trick. Not sure I understand how a bigger front disc works, does that mean a rework on calliper position, bigger pads etc. :nenau. . Sounds like a good idea to up the braking power if you're carrying more weight though.

Is the plan to ride it back when it's finished?

Keeping things in order:

Nomad is a father and son business, they like riding their bikes and may need a nudge but my limited dealings with them have been positive so far.

The damper is an indulgence. Nothing more and nothing less but it’s quality 😀

The bigger disc needs a new caliper mounting but it’s simply a case that the increased rolling diameter means an increase in braking area relative to the wheel RPM. That’s not sales spiel, I’m supposed to be a mechanical engineer so I can work that our for myself. If I bung 15kg of luggage on it that’s an increase in weight of more than 10% so the brakes could do with a small upgrade. Cost wise it’s not a big difference between a standard disc and a bigger one so the fact that I want the new wheels ready to change means a bigger disc is a cheap upgrade.

Will I ride it home? Fuck yes, I’ll pick it up and ride it home leaving my wife to bring back the original parts in her car.

The first big call is whether to take the 501 or the 1150 to Denmark when I ride up there in the middle of January. The 1150 is an old snotter and as such is almost a disposable item but why hose money at the 501 and not use it as soon as posdible?
 


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