my cookie cutter xs650 hardtail project

[forty4ma9]

Guess I'll start a thread about my XS650 project but be warned progress is likely to be slow and updates few and far between.

Checking the local craigslist one afternoon I seen an add for a XS650 chopper project, $700 no pictures. Discription sounds cool so I shoot off an email and the guy sends me this pic.


Looks promising so I setup a chance to meet. Turns out all the cool machinery in the background is because he is a local HS shop teacher so we meet at the school and I off $600 cash if he can help me haul it to the otherside of town. We shake, load it up and then its home.


The bike came with a sportster tank, model A spare tire carrier (not mounted), stock spoked wheels, cheap solo seat (not mounted), pretty sweet custom mod exhaust, and a box with some of the take off parts and the wiring harness. The tank it came with has some small rust holes so I'll be using another sporty tank I had on hand and I have a sweet tuck and roll seat that I scored on flebay a while back that I plan on using. The apes are scary as they look more like bicycle bars...they look to thin but the stock bars were in the take off box so for now they are mocked up until things get farther along.

Well after feeding the carbs some gas that they dump out onto my floor likely due to a stuck float I pulled the carbs and did the basic clean.


Pulled the important stuff of the wiring harness and rigged it up to see what I could get her to due.



About 10 kicks or so and the motor fired up...pipes are straight through currently and she sounds mean, maybe too mean, I'll have to investigate some baffles if I get to the point where I can ride this thing.

Satisfied I can put some capital into the bike I order some air filters and steering neck bearings (PO had lost the bearings at some point but he was up front and told me so its all cool) and other odds and ends from mikesxs.

Once I was working on the bearing I figured I would take a stab at shaving the legs of some of the extra mounts. Angle grinder and some filing and sanding and they are good enough to make the 25 foot rule. After its on the road I'll either spend some more time to polish or black out the lowers.



I knew I wanted to do mid-controls on the bike and after seeing a cool mod on xs650chopper.com about cutting apart the stock pegs I went to work.

Still have to weld something to use both bolts from the exhaust mounts but it should work out and let me keep foldable pegs...that and its a cheap approach .


Trimmed down some angle iron and tacked it in place to hold the battery. Tacked up a pivot for the rear brake. I've since got a beefier return spring as that one didn't quite keep its shape...


So thats it so far...got a lot of things to finish but it should be a lot of fun. Don't hold your breath on the update as its been 10F and below and although the garage helps its not heated so I don't think I'll be out there too much in the coming days unless its firing up the snowblower.

[rugburn]

not a bad start forty- not so cookie cutter bro.
post up a vid of those pipes be for you put the
baffles in!

-burn

[forty4ma9]

Who is posting from rugburns account...thanks for the kind words. I say cookie cutter because there are a lot of TCBro hardtails with a sporty tank...but I like it so thats what it is going to be.

[gr8paradox]

Who is posting from rugburns account...thanks for the kind words. I say cookie cutter because there are a lot of TCBro hardtails with a sporty tank...but I like it so thats what it is going to be.

Burn fell off a motorized bar stool in the snow on Christmas eve. He hit his head on a large rock. The new and sweeter Burn is only a temporary set back. Doctors say that by new years he will be piss and vinegar again.

55553267_drink.gif (12.58 KiB) Viewed 1378 times

I wouldn't say it is a cookie cutter project.It's still a blank canvas. Maybe TC Bros bent up the tubes, but ...... And yep a sporty tank is kind of common. Still you have a long way to go and the final build will be yours.Odds are you wont see another bike like yours.Unless you are thinking about Red rims and wide white walls.

[forty4ma9]

Unless you are thinking about Red rims and wide white walls.[/b][/color]

Oh yeah, how ever did you know...j/k. Too far to say anything about color but I always have soft spot for a black bike with more black accents.

[BeeDub]

Looks like someone got a good head start on it. Keep the updates often!!

[forty4ma9]

Tank Options
Ordered a different tank from lowbrow customs...still on the fence as the Sporty tank is really classic, but here are some initial mockup shots.

I love this tank from the saddle view


Rear quarter shots look pretty good.


Front quarter is alright


Only reason I'm still hesitant on the new tank is the profile just isn't doing it for me currently...


Maybe if I move the coils and clean up the motor mount...but for now I'll let it sit in the garage and check it out in a couple days to see how I'm feeling.

[BeeDub]

I dig it. If you move the coils and remove that suport bar I think it would look better. Have you thought about some mini apes?

[forty4ma9]

I dig it. If you move the coils and remove that suport bar I think it would look better. Have you thought about some mini apes?

I want to run some bars that are narrow and not too high. I'd love to get something like Biltwell's Keystone bars but since they only do 1" now a day I'm just focusing the budget on other items that are more critical to getting on the road, although since I had that sporty tank I already strayed form that some

I'm guessing I won't end up using the stock bars in the end but they will get me through the initial stages unless I come across something cool for sale.

[forty4ma9]

Alright time for a mini update. After looking at the mockup for a while I think I am going back to the sporty tank, its just a cleaner look in my mind.

Been collecting parts and working some of the little details. Goodies include a headlight and ears from a GS550 (picked up from craigslist along with a front fender that I thought I could use on the rear), noschoolchoppers Zbars (raw finish that I am planning to powder coat black), mini master cylinder from mikesxs650, new chain/sprockets, kickstand and likely some other little things I'm forgetting (its in the money pit stage).

I reworked the battery tray by welding up a some angle iron and flat stock. Now the tray is held to the some flat stock with some bolts and then a Ubolt goes over the batter to work as the hold down. The Ubolt was a perfect fit but I'm going to flip it over once I get the fuse block into a final home (for now the fuse block is zip tied to the strap of the Ubolt).
Battery Tray


Also reworked the break pivot and took some .25” round stock to make some pegs for the footpegs that slide into the rear mount for the stock exhaust, just to make sure the pegs don't spin around if I ever get out on the road.


Initially I wasn't thrilled with the GS headlight but now I kind of like how it is sticking out there and the shape of the light has grown on me. Here is a mockup with the front fender from the GS as the rear, I've decided against this is its just a little too skinny on there.


Headlight and sexy master cylinder


Don't mind the good sizing up the zbars


I've bent my first attempt at a brace for the rear fender out put a piece of chain-link fence that I had in the garage (I know I can't weld on the galvanized metal) but it turn out pretty good and looks that it is going to at least make the cut to initial shake down runs. Its kind of light but I don't plan on having a passenger and my fender is likely going to be a spare ford tire cover so its pretty light also.
Here is the GS fender mocked up


I've had to pull the carbs as the #1 cylinder wasn't firing (even after switching plugs/coils leads with the other side) and #2 was overflowing the float bowl sometimes but she will start up and idle on the choke so I've been pretty happy about that. I need to get some carb time in to figure out how the mixture is and also try and sync the carbs. Finally as it stand today...