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JvB-Moto / Kedo-Yamaha SR 500 D-Track

The ultimate kick

Boom! Even at first glance, rows of synapses burst, causing flickering on the retina and sweating hands. The D-Track, minimalist conversion of a Yamaha SR 500, inspires spontaneously.

It is always an experience to bring an SR 500 to life with an almost meditative kick start ceremony.
 
The left hand pulls the small decompression lever, it opens the exhaust valve, the right foot gently performs the kick starter in a gentle arc from top to bottom. Klack-kaalack. The few revolutions of the crankshaft stir the oil deep inside the engine, the moving parts gently adjust to one another. Kalack, the time has come. The white marking on the camshaft squints through the shop window, indicating that the 87 millimeter thick piston is at top dead center.

E.with a hearty, determined step, with flavor, but soulful – and the piston races down the 84 millimeters again. If you hit it well, the single cylinder runs on the first step! Four-stroke bass flatters the ear. The fork stamps rhythmically, there is a rattle from the small air filter box, there is a little clacking in the cylinder, the two valves in the cylinder head tickle, and deep in the stomach there is a rumble. She has started the gentle soul massage. “Good old vibrations” may sound trite, but here the expression hits the spot. Don’t go out now, because sweaty kicking with a warm engine wasn’t just a legend…

JvB-Moto / Kedo-Yamaha SR 500 D-Track

Tea ultimate kick

Made the Yamaha SR 500 so popular?

For a good 20 years, the VW Beetle was offered among motorcycles in Germany alone, from 1978 to 1999, and with very small technical changes. 38,328 SRs were sold in this country alone, 16,580 of which were still registered on January 1st, 2010. An SR was bought out of conviction, more cylinders were out of the question. Just like the author in 1985, this 500 was his first motorcycle. Five gears, two valves, one spark plug. Modesty on principle.

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A monument to an engine. And a creed: simple, beautiful, inspired by rough charm.

After the SR there has probably not been such a classless motorcycle, no (re) entry-level device with so much cult potential. With this single one was not ridiculed in the 80s, since its 33 PS in the open version were still something. Even more, perhaps, the drivers who were able to turn it on. Not with brute force, but with empathy for a four-stroke internal combustion engine. Today the 500 class is practically dead for new machines. Nevertheless, "an SR has a lot of potential", Jens vom Brauck is convinced.

To prove this, in cooperation with the Yamaha single specialists from Kedo in Hamburg, he put a beguiling SR conversion on the black spoke wheels. “The D-Track goes back to the roots. This motorcycle has a soul, ”says Jens. "In addition, it is very nimble in everyday life, easy to control and it is great fun to drive." The Yamaha SR 500 has always been a purist motorcycle, weighing only 170 kilograms ex works. But after the JvB diet
the machine has lost another 20 kilograms. Minimalism in a most seductive form. It doesn’t get any better than that. In the city or on winding country roads, anyway.

The “want to have” factor is already immense when looking at the pictures. “It’s not that difficult to make something really exciting out of a commonplace motorcycle,” says Jens. Together with Kedo, he conjured up a two-wheeled delicacy out of bread and butter: on the series SR, he shortened the rear frame, removed the brackets and welded fixings for his self-made fenders.

Sturdy, coarsely profiled Pirelli MT 90s rotate below them on cool wire-spoke wheels. The short Daytona tank – with lower parts that can be screwed on – moves the driver on the special bench close to the wide LSL handlebar. Simply compact. Shortened folding bellows from the BMW / 5 series, the front brake caliper of an XT 600 and the typical black JvB lamp mask ensure a lot of fine-tuning in detail.

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When the dreams were still big: Author Thomas Schmieder in 1985, then 18, on his chopped up SR.

Not to forget plenty of special parts such as aluminum swingarm, steel-flex brake line, serrated stainless steel footrests or a forged aluminum gear lever. Everything is garnished with the exclusive baby blue paint including Yamaha‘s typical 70s racing decor. Both visually and ideally, the mighty cylinder forms the focal point of this otherwise delicate motor bike. Kedo has completely revised, rebuilt and moderately tuned the single. There is no performance data yet.

So what? If a series SR is already chugging heartily out of the elongated exhaust on the lower ground floor, how does the Supertrapp exhaust of the D-Track sound on the first floor? It needs and gives the ultimate kick. The recipe against boredom: stew every day!

D-Track based on the YAMAHA SR 500

Jorg Kunstle

Self-made designer with gifted designs: Jens vom Brauck (40) has a lot to offer.

New momentum for the 33 year old single cylinder concept of the SR 500: This is the aim of the cooperation project between the Cologne designer Jens vom Brauck (JvB-Moto) and the Hamburg SR / XT specialist Kedo. Their D-Track embodies a modern interpretation of the 70s-style mixture of desert racers and Kenny Roberts famous flat-track styles. Characterized by radical minimalism. Roughly profiled tires, the wide aluminum handlebar, the scrambler-like high Supertrapp exhaust and the round slide carburetor with open air filter give the daring, fully fueled 150 kilogram motorcycle “a rough, competitive look without intimidating”, says Daniel Doritz from Kedo. "It looks like you can sit up straight away and do a wheelie."

The completely restored engine, built with new parts, comes from Kedo. A sharper camshaft and optimized channels tune it discreetly. The single is optically refined with aluminum blasted engine side covers which are subsequently compressed with stainless steel. The tank, Wilbers suspension struts, aluminum swingarm, other fork springs with the right oil viscosity and various small parts are also from the large Kedo catalog. Jens vom Brauck composed the D-Track from these fine ingredients with a lot of know-how and craftsmanship. His handwriting is unmistakable. Hey only needed 40 days for an SR that has never existed before. Jens vom Brauck has already made a name for himself in the past with radical Ducati conversions and his MZ 1000 SFX study.

Conversion of the Yamaha SR 500 D-Track

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Even the series was a living purism: a cylinder, four bars and a nose in the wind.

The main components:
 
Engine completely overhauled, with torque cam and optimized cylinder head, housing repainted (from 3000 euros with delivered engine); Mikuni round slide carburetor VM 36-4 (159 euros); Supertrapp exhaust system with VA manifold; Eight-liter “Sportster” tank from Daytona (399 euros plus lid) with GRP panels on the underside (set approx. 150 euros); Aluminum swing arm (from 299 euros); Kedo wheels with stainless steel spokes and black rims plus hubs including Pirelli MT 90 in 100/90 18 and 130/80 17 (1200 euros); EBC brake disc at front Ø 298 mm (191 euros) with double-piston floating caliper; Wilbers ClassicLine struts (779 euros); GRP fenders front (approx. 150 euros) and rear (approx. 200 euros); GRP lamp cover including H4 insert (approx. 300 euros); Special bench; Price from 12,000 euros (complete motorcycle).

Contact:

www.kedo.de, phone 040/40170200 (parts) and www.jvb-moto.com, phone 0174/2429751 (complete conversions).

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