recently i bought a 1981 xs650 with no title. i've been working on it the past month or two every so often to turn it into a cool chop.


got the frame cut and my friend buster welded up a hardtail for it. (i don't trust myself yet with a mig).


i made some handle bars out of 7/8"

i picked up a basically free sporty tank and decided to use it. that may change down the road.

added a seat pan, headlight, and rear fender.

started to paint and clean up the engine.

set the motor in and put on an oring chain and some metalflake grips. I also made a jockey shift for it.

got some seat springs and added them to it. this is about where i am right now.

I've got my foot clutch all figured out and i should get my pegs on later this week.
Still have to wire it all up and go thru the carbs. I've got some spoke wheels i'm going to powder gloss black then throw on some cool rubber. Its going to have a skinny rear tire and i'm going to keep the front brake cause i kinda like stopping when i need to.
tank fender and headlight bucket are going to be a creamy white color with some hand painted shit on them.
i'm having fun making this one! eventually i'll have to title it, but i don't want to think about that yet. Indian Mark said i should just fuckin ride the thing and not get caught. so thats an option too i guess.

 

bitin my shit....



lmao.. j/k

lookin good.

keeping the front brake is a really good idea if you're gonna run a foot clutch (especially with a drum rear brake). i ran one for a while with no front brake, and if you can't find nuetral fast when you need to... bad things happen

suuuuuuuuure does eerily similar to my bike tho.... fucker

 

yeah
the green machine
with out the apes

 

Looks good so far!

 

as i was taking a second looks at the pics, i noticed... is that a "king" sporty tank(the bigger 3.3 gallon style)? it kinda hangs over the edge of the backbone.

i may have a tank that would fit a lil better, if you're interested. i was going to use it on the other bike i'm building now, but decided to use something else. it's a "mustang" style tank. it's pretty short from front to back, so it might fit your frame a lil better. the styling is quite a bit different than the peanut, and the tunnel is deeper, so it sits alot lower, don't know if you'd like it or not, but i figured i'd at least offer.

 

yeah its the bigger sporty tank. do you have pics of the one you are offering?
thats a good looking xs man! i like how you filled in the "yamaha" on the cover. i had planned to do that but was worried about the eye glass. looks like you filled that in too.

to be honest man, pretty much 90% of the xs bobbers out there look like mine. your girder sets yours apart at first glance, then the big honkin rear tire! if i ever ride out to the eastern part of the state, i need to look you up so we can let our bikes fight a little.
post a pic of that tank if you can.
Shaun

 

i'll get some pics of the tank when i go to the shop

btw, i didn't fill anything on my motor. the side covers are REAL thick, i just sanded the cover until it didn't say yamaha any more. i get people all day long now trying to guess what it is, lol.
you must have a newer motor (mines a 74) as the older ones don't have a sight glass, just a regular dipstick.

 

Ya mean the dipstick riding it??!!


20psi...that's a real nice looking chop you got going on there...you guys are gonna make me wanna build one!! Ok, I already do, I just wanna use a VFR instead of a XS!!

 

dur hur...


and skiv, you been talking about a vfr chop for as long as i've known you. get off yer bum and finally build one!!

 

All it takes is time...and money. Neither of which I ever seem to have!

Hell, I can't even find the time to get the rear tire on my fighter...been hanging in the rafters for 2 weeks!! Looks like the bike commited suicide waiting for me!