XT500 Yamaha Build Part 3. Paul van Wyk's nuts & bolt build. Went on to win best classic Thumper

[@FerdinandLandsberg]

Well done Paul, great to have met you, and to see your passion towards building this magnificent machines, keep it up mate!

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

Thanks for the kind words. Paul is carrying on building as we speak

[@sandorjablonkay5478]

The absolute pinnicle of all XT builds. The latest silver and black is the best I have ever seen anywhere ever! Beautiful, a work of art.

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

Those are fine and powerful words. I will pass them on to Paul. I'm very lucky that he built (or rebuilt) my XT about 6 months ago. I had done 12,000 km on it, some extensive off-road and rough terrain work. As well as driving to the gym in the supermarket. It started looking a bit sad and the frame had cracks in the paint and spots of rust so I said that's just strip it down and get the frame painted. Well you've seen the quality of his work and one of his favorite phrases is, "I don't do patina". So now I've got an XT nearly at the standard of the one in the video. Luckily I have a tt500 that I can use and abuse, while I keep the XT for showing off. Thanks again for your kind words.

[@sandorjablonkay5478]

@@lawrenceatkinson5884 Cool. I have watched all your posts about Paul's builds. The first one I saw I watched a few times. Good luck, safe riding!

[@FerdinandLandsberg]

All of them looks great, well done!

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

Thanks. More coming

[@sulaimancasoo]

Awesome work Paul.

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

He just won the Thumper Concours, part of the Thousand Bike Show, in Johannesburg. With his 1980 XT500.

[@jamespolucha8790]

Man really nice,I have a 1977 tt500 wish I had a street legal one

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

I'm fortunate to have both a xt500 1980 that Paul has done a full nuts and bolts for me, and a resurbished 1981 TT.. the TT was licensed about 20 years ago and has lights and indicators etc. you'll see some videos of the TT on my channel. I painted it the 1978 yellow, raised the suspension new exhaust etc etc.. Could you not do that with your TT, is it not an opportunity in your part of the world to put these on the road?

[@ferkuzuel]

Awesome restorations!

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

Thanks. As I always quite Paul, "I don't do patina"! I've been lucky to both work with him (under him) as well as hand over my xt for him to rebuild. If I go and visit him he'll always head off towards by a bike at some stage and start fiddling and fixing and cleaning up. And it's all done with passion. For me it's the passion that is important

[@edwardweiszbeck1649]

Wow world class restorations 👍👍

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

Thanks for your compliment

[@stevenmadsen53]

Pro build moto also reconditioned XT500. Based on Queensland Australia, Goldcoast. Question: they are upgrading the front brakes to disk. Do you think this is a good idea

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

What is interesting is at the recent Thumper Concours that I coordinated at a major classic bike show we had 23 bikes. Of these at least 50% were modified. SR500 with a sidecar. Tt500 raised front and rear end with the 12 volt upgrade. SR500 grass tracker race mods. HL500 replica. Etc etc. So much so that the next Concours we probably going to have to separate the modified class into Street and Race. So the answer your question every owner has the rights and freedom to modify and develop the bike to suit his needs. Personally I've never considered upgrading my brakes. And I do ride my bike's daily. I would not frown on anyone putting discs up front if that's what they want.