Posts

Showing posts from June, 2022

Budget Honda Z50 rebuild. Can I save it?!

Image
  Episode 1! Lets tear this bike apart. This all started about 3 years ago. My youngest was turning 3, and of course that means he needed a motorbike! I discovered a co-worker had a Z50 in her garage that her husband grew up riding on the farm. So I went to check it out. It turns out it had been sitting on the farm for a *very* long time, after a lifetime of being abused by each of the kids as they grew up. We did some preliminary work on it after he opened it. It was ROUGH. It appeared to have low compression, maybe due to a timing issue, but that's as far as we got with it back then. Well, now he's 6, and he's been riding his older brothers old Z50 and he's loving it! It's time to get this bike back on the trail so he can enjoy it before he outgrows it. Follow along this journey! Subscribe here- https://www.youtube.com/c/RustyPhoenixMotors Please comment and tell me what you think! I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on this process. Ch

Tenere 700 Solo Desert Trip! Idaho in the RAW.

Image
  BIG SOUTHERN BUTTE. What to do if you've tested positive for covid, but your symptoms are akin to allergies? You go for a ride! I've lived near it for 13 years. I've been to the base of it. It's time to CLIMB it, on the mighty T7, of course! It's about 50 miles from Blackfoot across the desert. I got to explore around the base about 12 years ago, and remember it being MASSIVE. You can see it clearly from I-15, and as you burn across the desert, it just gets bigger and bigger! It's peak sits 2,500 feet about the desert floor, at an altitude of roughly 7,500 feet! This was a FUN ride, and I saw lots of cool stuff. The 2 bull snakes, lots of birds of prey, beautiful desert flowers, and the VIEW!!! Some info on the Butte: Big Southern Butte is the largest and youngest (300,000 years old) of three rhyolitic domes formed over a million years near the center of the Eastern Snake River Plain in the U.S. state of Idaho.[5] It is one of the largest volca

BIG things coming! We're in a temporary shop, check it out!

Image
  Well, it's begun. RPM has begun a move that will take a while to complete, so I've got a temporary shop set up. What do you think? Excited to see the first build come out of the new temporary Rusty Phoenix Motors shop? Going to be doing the full restomod treatment to this little Honda Z50! Also, check out those Sunco lights! They're fantastic! Pay it forward, please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEKfRs0dWCxJEP5-oI3MJzA?sub_confirmation=1 Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rustyphoenixmotors Follow me on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/dorkpunch_rustyphoenixmotors/?hl=en Small Engine Teardown 1 - Intro and Fuel https://youtu.be/XgtpqywPLQ8 Small Engine Teardown 2 - External Accessories https://youtu.be/GtznPdnNTlI Small Engine Teardown 3- Head and Valves https://youtu.be/Gg-FASLNfs4 Small Engine Teardown 4- Engine Internals https://youtu.be/kcKcUy0YwV8 Small Engine Teardown 5- Inspecting parts and Repairi

Restomod Honda XL350

Image
  A project I've been working on for a long, long time. This bike was given to me 20 years ago as payment for cleaning a barn. I re-did it way back then and rode it at college, but rode it hard and wore it out. It was going to be a Supermoto... but... Life. A couple of years ago I decided it was time. Catching y'all up on it's most recent transformation! I started by building some adapters for the front end- the adapters fit into the stock frame head tube, and allow the use of the stock CR250 triple tree and bearings. Then it was time to get serious. I cut the back half of the frame off of the XL350, and started measuring. After several attempts and lots of trial and error, I came up with a shock mount that allowed me to use the stock CR250 rear suspension and swing arm. LONG ways to go still, but it's starting to come together! More vids on the KTM 495: https://youtu.be/WETz03hofQo https://youtu.be/rxPvlw3pnvk https://youtu.be/2CrPYpsDBes https