Revival Cycles

Honda FT500 1982 By Revival Cycles

"A CLIENT WHO IS A NEW RIDER WANTED A LIGHTWEIGHT, FUN TO RIDE MOTORCYCLE WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF FLASH AND LOTS OF SUBTLE CUSTOM FEATURES. STARTING WITH THE UNDERRATED HONDA FT500 ASCOT WAS A BIG CHALLENGE, BUT IT OFFERED ELECTRIC START, A BIG 500CC SINGLE CYLINDER THUMPER ENGINE WITH LOTS OF TORQUE, STEADY RELIABILITY, AND IT'S LIGHTWEIGHT. MOST OF ALL, IT IS PERFECT FOR A NEW RIDER AS IT?S NIMBLE AND SUPER EASY TO FLING AROUND.

TEAM REVIVAL HAD AN OLD ASCOT LAYING AROUND THAT ANOTHER HACK BUILDER HAD ?STARTED? TO CUSTOMIZE BY CUTTING THE FRAME BACKBONE AND THEN SIMPLY NEVER FINISHED. WITH A GOOD MOTOR, A TITLE AND SOME DETERMINATION WE SET OUT TURN IT INTO SOMETHING PRETTY?.WHICH IS NO EASY TASK AS THE ASCOT WASN?T EXACTLY BEAUTIFUL TO BEGIN WITH.
THE FIRST TASK WAS TO FIX THE AWFUL STAMPED STEEL FRAME LINES, WHICH QUICKLY ESCALATED INTO BUILDING AN ALMOST ENTIRELY NEW FRAME FROM SCRATCH INSTEAD OF TRYING TO FIX WHAT WAS THERE. IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL THAT THERE IS MORE THAN JUST A MODIFIED REAR SUBFRAME SECTION UNTIL YOU LOOK TOWARDS THE FRAME NECK, LOWER BACKBONE AND DOWNTUBE OF THE FRAME. REVIVAL DOESN?T JUST GUESS AT RAKE AND TRAIL, FOR PROPER HANDLING THEY UTILIZE CAD TO DETERMINE STEERING ANGLE, TRAIL AND SWINGARM PIVOT POINTS BASED ON KINEMATIC MODELS TO ENSURE A GREAT PERFORMING MOTORCYCLE BEFORE A SINGLE TUBE IS WELDED. USING CONVENTIONAL SUZUKI GSXR FORKS KEPT THE CLASSIC LOOK...