Featured in: Bikeexif
This project was made for a customer living in Adana, where the temperature can reach up to a sweltering 53 celcius degrees in the summer. The upside of living in this city that is puddled right by Çukurova — Turkeys largest & lowest plateau — is that, it is surrounded by the Toros mountains covered with beautiful pine forests and laced with charming mountain roads. Our customer Kerem’s brief was simple; he needed a reliable single cylinder bike tuned and trimmed to escape the summer heat by camping & exploring the high-altitude mountains from the East to the West, and for his daily commute in Adana when he is back for the winter.
First we had to get the engine ready. Although xt660 engine is it really proven engine we used kn filters and power commander to tune the lean low revs. Thanks to the guys at SC Project we also made a custom 2 to 1 exhaust pipe to use it with their neat africa twin silencers. Now the bike is much smoother low to mid revs and much quicker.
With the engine tuned and 2007 xts all the bearings and seals replaced maintenance done, old Rusty components sandblasted and powder coated the rest was body work and posture. We tossed away the old plastic. The undressed Xt was A bit complex but promising. we wanted to go for a utility based look. The main obstacle was the tank. With the Power commander bike was consuming a bit more fuel per mile so we didn’t want to make compromises with the tank capacity.
With the original inner steel tank because of the neck structure, there was an air room forming at the top of the tank takıng up some unnecessary space. We Revisited the neck tube by doing so we were able to get rid of the hump on the original tank. With the inner steel tank slimmed down without losing capacity we worked a new outer shell from aluminum. Complementing to tank we did the radiator protectors with side covers.
Seat pan and side panels beaten from aluminum to carry the line under the tank. You can remove the seat pan using The original Locking mechanism. We trimmed down the tail end of the frame and turned a loop to finish the frame. Which also provides all the mounting points for the rear top rack (The top rack is also removable). The front and back fenders are beaten from 2 mm aluminum. The stop and signals are ebay pieces reasonable prices.
The headlight is the bike master 5.5 inch with a halo pilot light. And the headlight cowl is an aluminum custom piece to match the style.
Top rack and the left side rack was a must for all the storage needed for camping(apprx. 80 litres of space). Soft drybags for the left side and also a givi hardcase for the top. Which has a One-key quick release adapted to a custom mount. This was a must for the inner city commuting, it will get im handy to leave the helmet on the bike in the city
Finally we made a 3mm aluminium bash plate to protect the bikes belly.