HL500

[Captain Bilko]

Nothing wrong with my eye sight. The bike in that brochure doesn't have the 16" of suspesion and billet everything that seems to pop up on every (yawn) HL replica that seems to be put up on here every day.

And if everybody wants to wet 'emselves so much about an Evo four stroke why don't we see any Can-Am's like Grant Hortons (is it a Sonic?) from Viper? It's a real evo bike. It seems to go pretty good. Looks good and was an actual bike you could purchase?

[Captain Bilko]

Anyway. I can take solace from the fact that out in the paddock they're the easiest thing to get around (if one actually gets off the start quicker than you.... )

I appologise for digressing from the original thread. I'll start another one.....

[firko]

Weren't the US HL500 frames made by Profab?

My stuff up...I knew it was Profab but got myself confused. Hallman and Endquist commisioned the originals from Profab. I'm sort of right though, Torsten Hallman marketed them.

[firko]

Don't get me wrong, I genuinely respect peoples right to build their HL any way they see fit. If people want to build 'em with 13" of suspension and 43mm forks and the latest Ohlins I have absolutely no objection. My point is that I'd love to see someone buils an HL to the original pre '78 configuration for a change.

[JohnnyO]

If i was building a HL500 i'd build it to 1977 specs because that's where it'll be most competitive.. in the pre '78 open class!

[motomaniac]

Weren't the US HL500 frames made by Profab?

My stuff up...I knew it was Profab but got myself confused. Hallman and Endquist commisioned the originals from Profab. I'm sort of right though, Torsten Hallman marketed them.

Profab didnt make Bengts actual bike fram as far as I know but made kits for the US market with so kind of licence agreement . Kits were also made in England, before , I think before the US ,they are many differences between those from the US and UK.
The original Husky modded frame was for testing and once it was sorted new frames were made for Bengt to use in the GP's.
Where is GMC?
As far as originalgoes , GMC kits were jigged from an original , The bike in VMX #2 was built back up from an original frame brought over from Europe . A Viper member has an original.
Bengt used Bilstiens and Marzoochies on the husky framed test bike but raced with Ohlins and Cerianis to win in Luxembourg .He also used works Yam forks in the Trans AMA series.

[Oppet]

I have just started building my own HL that will have 38mm forks( if I find them) and will try to make it look "period". Promise to post it here when done   after year or two

[flower pot racing]

Don't get me wrong, I genuinely respect peoples right to build their HL any way they see fit. If people want to build 'em with 13" of suspension and 43mm forks and the latest Ohlins I have absolutely no objection. My point is that I'd love to see someone buils an HL to the original pre '78 configuration for a change.

Then you'll love the bike that has recently been built by Cranky (Simon A-R) have a look at the circa74 forum you can see the build there.  It's magnificent. 
Rod Spry has also just finished a similarly inspired Husky project that uses 70s rolling chassis and a 510 motor.  If you look I am sure you'll agree that it looks beautiful (ok so maybe not all of your will agree....)
There are quite a few XL350 era bikes coming together with for instance C&J styled frames for the Circa series and it is nice to see alsorts of new bikes being built or dragged out of the shed for action once again.

[VMX247]

There are quite a few XL350 era bikes coming together with for instance C&J styled frames .

Was just looking at this long tall Sally,the back tyre is a smidge distance from the centre frame and is close to being similer to a back in the day hill climber,the swing arm is loonngg 
http://www.hectorsracing.co.uk/

[Marc.com]

If people want to build 'em with 13" of suspension and 43mm forks and the latest Ohlins I have absolutely no objection. My point is that I'd love to see someone buils an HL to the original pre '78 configuration for a change.

I have that on my mind at the moment and have all the bits to build it, just getting some Ducati stuff out of the way. I guess I didn't really have HLs on my mind when I built mine, I just wanted a bike that was as good as Gary's VMX cover bike.... plus or minus the OW forks.

I guess the Can Am Sonic is OK but building 4 stroke specials is a different kind of challenge to working over a stock bike.

[ola_martin]

This is the one I tried to copy when I made my replica, exept for the 17" rearrim I thought it was pretty stock.


More here: http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg206/runar500/Bikes%20of%20the%20past/

It of course was profab and not protec that made Aabergs frames, I remembered wrong.....

I think the easyest way to spot a NVT from a profab is the distance from the front downtube to the crankcase, the NVT had a much bigger cradle.
Brian Curtis worked at NVT welding frames, but he also made some by himself, and they have the profab look.

I have read that Hallman meant that the NVT bikes was useless compared to the original bikes.....

[cloggy]

" not a good bike" was Hallman's comment on the NVT. According to him Profab did the original production run and then Yamaha decided to make a few  using the Norton Villiers factory. I doubt Yamaha's own factories were set up for small production runs.  I think 200 were made. Curtis hasn't opined in print at least that he created the NVT bikes. He was employed building the frames. How much input he had is open to question but  he'd previously worked for Rickman. I seem to remember reading that the NVT bikes were made in two batches with detail changes. The frames apparently cracked somewhere, and I think this was later addressed.
 I like the early low slung ones best, but they all look great. I've got a mark 4 Mann, even got the original tank and side panels, but the lines aren't as iconic

[mx250]

Here is an original one. KYB forks, upright Fox airs. This is one of my favourite looking ones. VMX issue 2 has full official specs on the 79 model.

Weren't the US HL500 frames made by Profab? There are several different versions of production HL's depending on where it was built, with them using different forks, shocks and swingarms.

Yeah i dont think they are all the same.
The one Neil Collard had was real. A guy told me the full story a few years ago of how it got here, who brought it here etc, etc and all this stuff about that bike when it built for and raced in the Finke. He told me heaps about that bike but i cant exactly remember it now and unfortunately i dont see him any more. One day i lent him my VMX magazines and thats when he recognised Neils HL that was in the 'reader resto' He instantly recognised the bike and started telling me all this stuff about it.

The original HL used the DT400, et al, front brake rather than the MX/YZ front brake!!

[Slakewell]

I like to see someone do one from a 77 husky.

[Marc.com]

Using DT or XT500 front brake was popular choice as they bigger. But that doesn't make it an original HL, just means whoever built it using Hallman kit selected those bits on the day.

I think Ola's friends bike is really cool, pretty good time capsule on what was raced in the late 70s. I mean really the only bike that counts as an 'official model' was the NVT bike that Yamaha had a hand in. Any other HL is just a special that is built with whatever the owners budget and taste ran to at the time.

I mean the 77 bike is not really an HL or a model year, it was a Husky with and XT500 motor dumped in it in what happened to be 1977. Its shorter travel because that was what was available in forks at the time and pretty sure the swingarm was modified White Bros. The source of the information is Aberg, who still has the only remaining 3 valve bike in his garage by the way.