Building a flat tracker just for kicks sounds like a valid reason to tackle such a project, at least to us. And that's exactly what Matt Andrews did.
After finding the right bike, which was not hard to do since a friend of his had a 1978 Yamaha TT500 "Thumper" sitting in his garage (for about 3 decades), $300 changed hands and Matt had the bike that was to become a flat tracker.
Fast forward about a month from the time he got the bike from his buddy, add some basic fiberglass fabrication mostly for cosmetic purposes, a good tune-up and some leftover gunmetal paint, and a flat tracker was born.
Matt tells us that the only real engine work he had to do was rebuild the carburetor, give the engine an oil change, change the points and condenser, plus — for good measure — a new o-ring chain and a new kill switch.
Matt also commented that the TT500 "doesn't kick hard, or I just have thick legs!" As someone who's been kicked back by many bikes, including an SR500, I can understand. And Thank God for compression release levers.
After finding the right bike, which was not hard to do since a friend of his had a 1978 Yamaha TT500 "Thumper" sitting in his garage (for about 3 decades), $300 changed hands and Matt had the bike that was to become a flat tracker.
Fast forward about a month from the time he got the bike from his buddy, add some basic fiberglass fabrication mostly for cosmetic purposes, a good tune-up and some leftover gunmetal paint, and a flat tracker was born.
Matt tells us that the only real engine work he had to do was rebuild the carburetor, give the engine an oil change, change the points and condenser, plus — for good measure — a new o-ring chain and a new kill switch.
Matt also commented that the TT500 "doesn't kick hard, or I just have thick legs!" As someone who's been kicked back by many bikes, including an SR500, I can understand. And Thank God for compression release levers.
