Rebel's Alliance 'Rough Diamond' Yamaha SR500

So we're down here at our neighbours, Rebels Alliance, to talk about this SR Rough Diamond. But before we do that, let's go and see Rebels Chief Mechanic Jappa, who's lurking in a workshop somewhere. We want to start in here just to show you how small the Rebels Alliance workshop is. They've built some great bikes over the last few years and people think there's this massive store, but it's literally a little retail store here. And Jappa, this is your little hideaway workshop. What are you working on at the moment? At the moment, I'm doing, well, modifying a CB550 frame. Slowly it's getting to shape, after a few months on it as well. And you've got your signature Rebels Alliance braces in. Yeah, all of our bikes need to have a kind of reinforcing brace. Yeah. Which is a nice touch, makes it stronger, looks beautiful, it's our brand. And what's this SR? This one is a modified SR. We bought it with a standard engine and then we modified to a 620 racing engine. Yeah. And that's the one we use to have fun on a track or when D is in the mood, he has fun on the streets. And did this race at Dirt Quake last year? Yeah, we done Dirt Quake. We got the first place on a vintage class. Yeah. Lots of fun. Is that Kaylee's little 125 that she was riding? Yeah, she was riding this one a couple of years ago. I think it was like three years ago on the Malle Mile. Yeah, we had this displayed at our place. Yeah. I don't know if you can see here, Dan, but this looks like a shitty old piece of rust, but it's not. You made the tail? Yeah, we painted the rust on the tail. And then painted it to look rusty? The tank and side panels, they are genuine. Yeah. The rust is actually genuine. So we just tried to replicate on the tail so it gets more harmonious. But the bike we've come to see is the rather special SR just out here. Which is this magnificent thing, which, this was at the show in May last year as well? Yeah, it was on the show. And yeah, basically it's a SR500. Yeah. The same form of the black one. Race tune. 620 kit as well? 620 kit. The only difference from that one is we use a stage four cam on it. Okay. So you have a little bit more power, a little bit more top revs. Yeah. And have you had it on a dyno or anything? Not yet, not yet. That exhaust, that's fat. I know it's a 620 kit, but what is that, two and a half inch? No, this one is two, I think it's two inches. Two inches. The original is around 1.25. Yeah. That's the piping they use. So we done it two inches, reduced the internals a little bit to have some back pressure to keep the power going. And do you hand form all the stainless tube here or do you have that made? I actually weld sections of curves because it's really hard to bend a thick pipe like that. We weld the sections and we work all the way to the back, welding and sanding. And then linish it all back. Yeah. Which, for me personally, I really like that. I'm not a fan of seeing the sectional weld people showing off their handiwork. It's great, but I prefer that clean look. Yeah, that's the conclusion we reached as well. Like that, it looks better. And so there's just an internal baffling before it comes up under the seat here. Right in the connection, there's a little kind of conical catalyser. Yeah. So actually reduces the noise a little bit and keeps the back pressure. A little bit of back pressure. And you were telling me earlier about this trick carb. Yeah, that's the star of the game. That's a Yoshimura MJN. And basically, the needle itself is a jet. So instead of coming from the bottom of the carburetor, it just runs through little holes on the side of the needle. As close as you can get to a fuel injection system without being a fuel injection. So is it quite a snappy throttle response? Yeah, it's very, very sharp. Yeah, I bet this thing really barks, isn't it? Oh yeah, it's loud. So it's a 620 kit, you've got free-flowing pipe and the Yoshi carb. Yeah. Is there anything you had to do electrics-wise or is it just a standard rewire with motor gadget? Yeah, we built the loom for this bike and we installed electronic ignition. The original was electronic, but it wasn't that refined. So we got a modern kit to control better the timing. We have the motor gadget, M unit and the clocks, everything connected, hidden under the swing arm. Right, and is there a little battery in there as well? Yeah, there's batteries, the M unit, ignition. Would you use Shurite or battery-wise, Shurite one? Battery. Antigravity? No, it's a little U.S. lead acid. A little one, because the SAs, they don't need much power. The ignition's self-generating, so it's not really a big issue. And where's the swing arm from? Or what's it from? The swing arm is from a company in Thailand. I think it's called Motolander. It's a pretty nice welding, isn't it? It's a beautiful swing arm and it's exactly the same dimensions as the original, but with much more stiffness. The bike behaves much better. And what are the shocks, are they YSS? YSS, adjust for the weight of the bike. They work well, they're really good, yeah. And up front, what are the forks from? The forks come from a GSX-R 750, around 2007, 2008. Didn't fit on the bike, obviously, so we cut the triple clamps, modified the steering tube. So you made the clamps yourself here? Yes, not here, we sent it to the machine. Yeah, we've done the project and somebody else just cut for us. And then you've got the motor gadget set into the bar clamp. Yes. That's neat. Yeah, we had it outside first and we didn't like it, so we used the original Motocross clamps. Yeah. So we just made a piece based on the original and we just put the clocks in. And you run all of the wiring through to those Motone switches? Yes, it's motor gadget switches as well. Motor gadget on Motone, right. And they run inside of the handlebar. That's neat. And this tank, you were telling me earlier that you've TIG brazed all of the joints on this. That's the first time we've done something like that. So we get the mold in wood, so we put all the plates inside, we TIG brazed in position and then you carry on welding on the outside. When it's all done, we get it polished to take the excess of brass and get to the finish because you just wanted a little kind of golden line between the pieces. Which it's hard to tell with the amount of light you've got here, but in a dark room it looks fantastic with the little strips of gold. Yeah, that looks really good. And did you machine the caps here or? Yeah, the caps we machined. Just on your little lathe here? No, no, no, we said to be done on CNC because of the detail. Little things we do here, but if it's something which is lettering or something written in it, you need to send it to be machined. And the seat pan as well, is that your own work? The seat pan was our idea, we sent it to be machined. There was, I can't remember the specs of the alloy, but it's a very dense and stiff alloy. So basically what we've done, we cut the plate on the CNC and then we got the plate pocketed. So when you install these little sausages, they basically sunk in and lock the leather. Right. So that's all. And then we send it to be bent professionally on a press, which took around 20 to 25 tons of force to get to that shape. Ah, it looks fantastic. It's nice to see something that's not curvy, certainly tank-wise. I absolutely love this. And the tail on it is obviously made here, and I don't know if you can see here, Dan, the little stop lights. So I presume for indicators, the guy's just sticking his arm out. Hand out, the same. But you've got headlights, so. Yeah, we are not really friends of indicators. I think we add what we don't like on a bike, in terms of sticking out. We like the bike nimble. Get away with the bare minimum to get the MOT. Exactly. And what's the... Is this a standard SR braking system, or is that from something else? The original system for those SRs, they use drum. Some versions have the disc, but they are not really nice. They are ugly. So this is actually a hub from a CIF 450. I machined the internals to fit on original swing arms, and then the brakes are from a CIF as well. We just modified the mounts, made a little linkage to lock on the front of the swing arm to stabilise, and we built a whole new hydraulic system for that as well. And this is your work, isn't it? Yeah, that's invented here in the shop, because the right place to put the master cylinder would be around there. Ruins your lovely place. So we modified and created this little linkage to house the master cylinder under the frame, as hidden as possible. Yeah, super neat. And are these just some rear sets off the internet? Some generic rear sets that we modified to use on a bike. Even the kickstart's lovely. Yeah, that was done here as well. That's great. So you're going for MOT now? We're going for MOT. Do you think we could start it up and have a listen? Yeah, definitely. Yeah? We can start it for you guys. Let's start it in here? Yeah. Okay, cool. Just one thing I've noticed when it comes to attention to detail, Jeff has put the split link on the inside so that you can't see it from the outside. I know it's only a tiny little thing and it's a bit of a pain to get at, but it's the small things that count. Need to be done. Yeah. Need it to be done. You've got the CB550 to do. CB550. What else is in the pipeline for our show? We had the idea of maybe building some smaller caparace or something different. A little bit modern, but still with the old-fashioned look. We're still looking for some donors, but we're trying to get something. I've got plenty of donors. Do you want to do a Kojima elephant maybe? What? That's not really small, is there? That's a monster. I just need someone to take it off my hands. No, definitely. We come up with something new soon. When we decide what's going to be the donor, we get you guys to have a look. Cool. And you have a nice big stand at our show again? Oh yeah, definitely. We, as usual, are going to take two bikes there, and let's see how they go. Awesome. Well, I'll see you in May. I'll see you in May, definitely.