Fred the Freewind

[Rene EFE]

Hello.

More later

[bluedog59]

Yeh !  Same engine as my DR650 super(rat)moto, a fun and dependable beastie. If they share the same traits then a bit of work on the intake/exhaust departments makes a huuuuge difference.

[Rene EFE]

Some pics of how it went and where we are now.

[Bubba1135]

AndyOSS has just bought one of these too

[SiBag]

Same motor as my CCM R30

Nice torquey lump.

[TonyGee]

31 minutes ago, SiBag said:

Same motor as my CCM R30

Nice torquey lump.

ive had 2 of them with the Suzuki engine in, good motor 

[Rene EFE]

So, how did I end up with 2 XF650 Freewinds? Well. let me tell you.

@Jellyhad been on about getting one for offroad duties since the dawn of time.

Never did the right bike come around, be it price, timing or state, so the bullet was never bitten.

A few weeks ago I saw one pop up op FB MP for a steal. Needed a bit of work as it had been crashed and axlepickup had come off a forkleg, but it looked easy enough to fix.

Couldn't contact Jelly so I just went ahead and struck a deal wit the seller. It was actually for sale near where the Knarf went missing, I'll touch up on that bit later on.

When I finally did get hold of Jelly, the conversation went somewhat like this;

-R; You owe me 350€
-J; Why?
-R; I got you a Freewind  *Sends pics
-J; I don't want one right now
-R; ...
-J; ...
-J; You got yourself a Freewind  

 

[Rene EFE]

Not one to back out of a good deal when there is one to be had, I got busy finding the forks and possible other parts to fix it for myself and a roadtrip across the country was planned.

Saturday 6.30am in the van, first to get the forks and then the bike. This actually means I bought a pair of forks and then a bike to go with those, instead of the other way around.

The breaker where I got the forks from is a staple in Suzuki-land in NL, so I took the time to rummage for more parts but not a lot interesting bits where in at the time, so left it with the forks.

From there it was another 100ish miles to the shop where the bike was. Cool guy, oldskool bikeshop and as said; very close to where Knarf was built and went missing. These guys all know eachother, so Ron Broek/Rastec and his shenanigans were very wellknown to the seller. He thought he might have a lead on some bits that were taken off the Knarf and there's actually still a chance I can get my hands on some of it. Don't hold your breath though.

Bike look as in pictures; typical Amsterdam-Region motorcycle. Read; absolutly filty, bodged and poorly looked after apart from keeping it reasonably working.

Loaded it in the van and went home

 

[Rene EFE]

Having it home, I got straight in with swapping the forkleg. I wanted to do just the one job to see how it felt getting down the road. 

Some creative balancing on a paddockstand, a carjack and the fence, I managed to get it changed out and back on the road in about an hour.