May XSOTM WIDE OPEN voting, discussion.

[gggGary]

We have 7 nominations for the May XSOTM WIDE OPEN contest.
The rules were lax this month so we have 7 bikes to vote on and there are some excellent choices to be made!

The poll will close on May 31st, the winner will have their bike photo posted to the XS650 home page and be permanently added to the XSOTM picture album, not to mention the incredible bragging rights that go with such a feat.

Contestants; please feel free to post details, how you came to build an XS650 project, and MORE pictures, links to your build thread etc.. Let me know if you would like me to use a different picture for the voting.
Viewers and voters may also make comments and ask questions, Please keep all comments positive!

In alphabetic order here are the contestants.

Alfredo


C-LOS SD


Dwyatt


RFLIVES


twowheelmafia


yamachop

[GeorgeKillianLett]

Tough decision between Alfredo & Yamachop! Its old school vs engineering! Always great looking bikes to choose from. Good luck guys and I'll keep my vote to myself!

[Travis]

I have a feeling this is going to be a close race. Lots of great bikes!

[C-Los SD]

This is how she started.
Stock 1977 XS


Full restore...
Engine:
700cc JE Pistons
Rephased crank and cam
VM34 Mikuni carbs w/ velocity stacks
Pamco ignition
Sparxx PMA
1.75" Stainless exhaust
Bub reverse cone mufflers

Chassis/Suspension:
XS750 Gas tank with Aston gas cap
Billet triple clamp
Magura Clip-ons
Airtech bubble tail
Gold Valve'd front forks
Redwing Hammerhead shocks
Braced swingarm
Tarozzi fork brace
Rear sets with custom brackets
Single stage painted frame

Brakes:
Brembo 4 piston caliper
X-Drilled front rotor
Brembo 15RCS master cylinder

Lots of polishing.

[RFLIVES]

This was a “winter project” turned two year build the bike was bought as a runner. Well running with a bad tick turned out to have very low compression and had been run low on oil for a long time. I pulled the engine down to find the piston skirts had been slapping and the rockers and cam were toast.After a full rebuild, and a couple of parts set backs. She runs great and puts a smile on my face every time I kick it over Special thanks to MMM @ 650central for the carb advice and Scott at xs650exhuast.com for making what I had pictured in my head in to reality.
The suspension was setup with a 19"/19" wheel combo with an adaptor kit from Omarsdtr.com. I sent the legs to hugh at hughshandbuilt.com to chuck the legs up in the lathe and cut the fender mounts off. Once back I powder coated the lower legs black and installed gold valves,new springs,seals and new stanchions. The triples are currently being reworked at sideeffects to decrease the trail and provide lighter steering http://www.sidecars.ca/. The dual disk setup front is actuated by a zx10r radial master and stainless steel lines. To stiffen up the rear I installed bronze swingarm bushings and under braced the swingarm.
The sidecar was pulled out of a barn in WV with a bit of damage and a sweet rattle can paint job complete with american eagle decal on the front. I split the tub to fix the damage and applied Raptor liner to the bottom and interior. With the help of Scott from xs650exhaust.com we got it mounted up proper with a killer subframe that cradles the frame and gave a better position for the rear mount allowing for the proper amount of wheel lead. The swingarm was extended and the puny stock Velorex axle was replaced with a rear xs650 axle. This allowed the use of the leftover 16" rear wheel and a progressive shock was powder coated to match the bikes.With all of the suspension mods done to the sidecar the suspension all now works in unison.
My brother Chris Gott from Sterling Hot Rods sterlinghotrods.com handled the paint and laid down the slick flake job. Hours of sanding and a few hours of taping and un-taping the graphics until we could decide on something be both liked. And all the other fab and quaipowdercoat work was done by myself.
Thanks again to Scott @ www.xs650exhuast.com
MMM @ www.650central.com
Hugh @ www.hughshandbuilt.com
Chris Gott @ www.sterlinghotrods.com
and Dan "Nubbs" Sugrue for the photos http://www.facebook.com/NubbsPhoto

Chassis / Suspension/ Brakes /Electronics
• De- tabbed frame
• Tx500 tank with relocated petcocks and flush gas cap
• Omars rear tail section
• Sportster headlamp
• Drz400sm footpegs
• Forks have new springs and gold valves also had the Fender mounts shaved by Hugh’s handbuilt
• Powder coated stock triples with Pro taper fat bars
• K & S switch gear from Dime city cycles
• Zx10r radial master cylinder and clutch perch
• Dual drilled disc’s and powder coated calipers
. Underbraced swingarm with bronze bushings
• Omars 19” rear conversion and 520 sprockets
• Knock off Ohiln’s shocks
• Custom battery box holds all of the electronics
• Motolana turn signal brackets and signals from dime city
• Acewell 2853 speedo / tach from dime city

Engine
• 2nd over rings and pistons
• New cam chain
• Wrinkle black powder coat
• Boyer micro power ignition from MMM @ 650CENTRAL.COM
• VM34 carbs from MMM @ 650CENTRAL.COM
• Wired from scratch using weather pack connectors
• Custom pipes from Gordon Scott Engineering @ xs650exhuast.com
Sidecar
• Velorex sidecar
• Custom subframe made by Gordon Scott Engineering
• Beefed up / Braced frame added the step and custom fender mount
• Custom fender and sparto tail lamp
• Extended swingarm and progressive shock
• 16” xs650 wheel / axle conversion
• Re-upholstered seat
• Spit the tub in two and raptor lined the bottom and interior
Paint /Powdercoat
• Roth flake – Warm Beer Metal flake Over black with black graphics by Chris Gott @ Sterling Hotrods.
• Hours and hours of sanding
• More sanding
• Everything that is not painted flake has been powder coated by myself







And here's where I started I know what a waste to cut up a 1980 "special" lol

[Tron]

C-los, you really did take a bike, and improve everything. My hats off to you, and the rest of this months selections. The fit and finish of your bike is what made my decision.

On a side note, rflives, your exhaust is fucking awesome.

[Yamaha_chop]

I had no idea I was nominated again! Oops....

Anyway, gggGary could you update the pic at the top for me with this one? Much appreciated!



I've got some new pictures posted on the main board, but here's a picture of the bike when I started:



Mid-way:



And today:







This build took me just over three years (and I won't say how much $) to complete, and was a logistical nightmare. I will never attempt something this complicated again. Way too much work involved. But at the same time, I'm glad I did it and hopefully I'll get the chance to enjoy it for years to come.

Thanks everyone for your interest! Lots of amazing bikes again!

[I am Carbon]

Yamaha_chop thats one cool XS Street fighter That girl needs to be in a mag. Shes a pinup for sure

[Yamaha_chop]

That's the plan, hopefully anyway

Some work still to be done but I hope it's mag worthy.

[Travis]

Olddude13 was originally included in this contest, but requested to be removed since the bike is not quite ready yet. He said his bike should be ready soon for an upcoming contest. The two people who voted for him should be able to vote for someone else. Let me know if you have any problems voting again.

[Downeaster]

A question for C-Los (or anybody else with input) on velocity stacks.

Do they provide any air filtration other than the fine mesh screen I see in some of them?

If not (and I suspect they don't) are they really practical for a frequently-ridden street bike?

[C-Los SD]

I only have a small mess screen for now. There's going to be varying opinions are this subject. I have friends that have that 30-40 year old BSA's, Nortons, and Triumphs that only run velocity stacks...and they are fine. I only ride this bike 1-2 times a week. If it was a daily rider, I would put on a K&N or foam filter just to be on the safe side

[Downeaster]

Thanks, C-Los. I'm staying with the stock air box and filters on mine, but always wondered about the stacks.

Got a line on another six-fiddy, contemplating a street-tracker build and would seriously consider stacks on that.

[Two Wheel Mafia]

The Specs
Owner…………………........Da Boss
Home………………….........Gainesville, Virginia
Builders…………….......……Two Wheel Mafia / Cycle Center, Culpeper, VA
Model.........................Yamaha XS 650cc
Time to Build………….......5 Months
Cost to Build……….......…Not as much as you think.
Motor Assemb…….......…Cycle Center, Culpeper, VA
Electrical…………….......…Cycle Center, Culpeper, VA
Chrome Plating.............ClassicComponents.com, Santa Ana, CA
Powder Coating……........Sand Blast America, Manassas, VA
Diamond Cut Heads……...Diamond-heads.com
Painter…………………........Jay Danner Designs, West Virginia
Pinstriping……………….......Razor Graphix, Fredricksburg, VA

Engine
Engine…………………….......1984 Yamaha XS Heritage
Displacement…………...…..650cc Bored Out to 680cc; MikesXS.com
Cams…………………….........Web Cam Performance; MikesXS.com
Valve Springs…………...… XS Performance; MikesXS.com
Carbs……………………....... Dellorto PHF 36mm Carb kit; MikesXS.com
Air Cleaner……………....….52mm. XS Performance Pods; MikesXS.com
Ignition.......................Boyer Bransden; 650Central.com
Oil Pump……………….....….XS High Performance Pump; MikesXS.com
Oil Filter / Cooler Kit….….Heiden Tuning, Holland; MikesXS.com
Exhaust......................Two Wheel Mafia

Chassis
Frame…………………….......GS Motor Co., Galesburg, MI
Rake…………………….......…Stock
Stretch…………………....….Stock
Front Suspension……….…Stock
Rear Suspension…………..None, Hard Tail Baby
Front Wheel……………...…Stock 1984
Rear Wheel……………….....Stock 1984
Front Tire………………....…100/90-19 Maxxis Classic
Rear Tire……………….....….MT 90-16 Maxxis Classic
Front Brakes…………...……Stock
Rear Brakes……………...….Two Wheel Mafia
Front Fender……………..….Milwaukee Iron, Lynchburg, VA
Rear Fender……………..…..FrontStCycle.com / Owner Modified

Accessories
Head Light………………...…All Out War Cycles, Selkirk, NY
Tail Light………………….....Model A; Dreamweaversprostreet.com
Turn Signals…………….…..Don’t Need Them
Fuel Tank……………….….. Harley Sportster
Seat………………………....…Drag Specialties
Fender Struts……………….Bruce Riley; Twistedsteelfabrication.com
Shift Linkage Rod .……...Bruce Riley; Twistedsteelfabrication.com
Brake linkage Rods........Bruce Riley; Twistedsteelfabrication.com
Forward Controls………...TCBrosChoppers.com / Owner Modified
Engine Spike Bolts…………WorkingClassChoppers.com
Mirror………………………......JPCycles.com

[Two Wheel Mafia]

This was the article about us in an issue of Iron Horse magazine last year.

Veni, Vidi, Vici: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered.

You may have noticed that there are more and more custom rides on the road these days. Most are what we call “credit card choppers.” They have huge rear tires, flashy paint jobs, extreme price tags and every Dr, Lawyer and CEO has one. I don’t think that’s the image Fonda and Hopper were going for. Some are very old school, home built, hand made one-offs that are really starting to turn heads. And a growing percentage of these works of art are metric. How else can you build a 50’s style rat-rod for less than 5k, or a total dream ride for around 10k? That’s where it all started for me. This is my 2nd metric chop and my first design and build by myself. I use that term loosely. No one ever builds a bike by themselves. You always need help with something. You only have two hands, and bike building takes at least three. My first bike was in the September 2008 issue. It’s a total rat bike that a friend of mine built for me. It was flat black, red rims, white walls, and no chrome. People just stared at it wherever I went. It was awesome. Even though I worked on the bike a lot after it was completed, I never considered the bike my creation. And so the test, to push my skills to the edge of my imagination, began.

The dream became a reality at the Smoke Out Bike Rally in NC when I started talking to a vender from the GS Motor Company. He had a mocked – up Yamaha XS 650 with a hard tail frame that they manufacture in MI. A friend I was at the rally with offered me a 650 motor that was just taking up space in his garage. I went from having an idea, to having a frame and motor in the same day. That’s when I hit the drawing board. I have an art design background so the drawing board for me is my computer. I designed the bike from fender to fender over the course of a week, building the bike in my head every step of the way. Once I had the design down, I started to hunt for parts, and venders. I already knew from my escapades with the first bike, that eBay, along with XS 650 specific sites, such as Mikesxs.com, were the best places to start my search. This was also the time I really started thinking about what I was going to do with the bike after it was done. Was I going to ride it for a season, and then sell it? Or, was I going to build the bike I always wanted and ride it forever? Once I decided that time plus money equals forever, the sky was the limit.

I never really understood the whole women and shopping thing. I’m a guy. I know what I want. I go to the store and get it. It’s just that simple. After this project, I finally get it. Searching and shopping for parts was a blast. Honestly it was the most fun I have ever had shopping, and I never left my desk chair. Knowing I was going to keep the ride for a long time, I wanted to totally rebuild the motor and get as much horsepower as I could out of it. At the time, the biggest head you could buy was the 680cc, and that’s what I got. Now they make a 750cc big bore kit. It’s all about timing I guess. I also bought all the performance parts I could off Mikesxs.com; pistons, cam shaft, oil cooler, oil pump, clutch and spring, Delorto Carbs and the Boyer Branson Ignition System. Everything else I got from eBay, fenders, seat, bars, misc motor parts, tail light and forward controls. It was an online shopping frenzy, and the basement was getting cluttered by the day as I organized and laid out all the parts on the floor. Needless to say, my wife was not very happy, but I was on the verge of mock-up and organization is key at this stage.

Mock-up made me feel like a kid again. It brought back memories of me sitting in my room gluing plastic model cars together. Instead of rubber cement, I was welding. The bike went together without a hitch. Maybe it was good design, or maybe just pure luck. Either way, it was a lot less stress than I thought it was going to be. Lots of grinding, some welding, and a ton of trips to Lowes for nuts and bolts. The basement got cleared out, the garage got dirty, and 5 weeks later, a bike got made. Sure I’m leaving a lot out. But the small, tedious stuff you really can’t describe, and its not very interesting to talk about. But it’s those little surprises, those flies in the ointment, and how you handle them, that can really make or break the build.

Five weeks to mock-up and five hours to tear down. That’s all. It was really amazing to see how fast an entire bike can come apart. Organization is very important here and the trick is Ziploc bags, and lots of them. Every time you take something off the bike, throw all the parts of that component into a Ziploc and label the bag. When you send something off to the painter, you have all the hardware in bags labeled and ready to go when the part comes back, and you not stressing out over lost parts. The basement was full of Ziploc bags and my wife was upset, again. But it didn’t stay that way very long. Once I had the entire bike broken down, I separated it all out into 3 piles: paint, powder coat and chrome. I spent the next 3 nights bubble wrapping everything, boxing it up, and shipping it all out. And for the next 2 months it was just me and a basement full of plastic bags.

The powder coating came back first, and I started what I could. I sent the rims to the local Yamaha dealer for re-lacing and fresh rubber. The motor heads I sent to “The King of Bling” in Las Vegas. The chrome returned from Classic Components in California. It was wild to see what the parts looked like before and then after. There really is nothing like a black and chrome bike. When the head came back from Vegas, I sent the entire motor to the Yamaha Cycle Center in Culpepper, VA. where Rob and Charlie built me a hell of a power plant. While they were building horsepower, I completed the full rolling chassis, without tins. The tins were painted by a friend of mine from work, Jay Danner. He has over 20 years of experience and was doing me a huge favor by painting the pieces for me. He had to call in a few favors and use his old bosses’ body shop after hours and on weekends when they were closed, and still work his day job. Jay and I discussed paint designs. We both wanted black and metal flake, but it was Jay that developed the final design. A gloss black, with a metal flake design, in the clear coat. It came out better than I ever could have wished for.

Final assembly ended at the Cycle Center. I trailered the rolling chassis to the shop and helped Rob finish the motor. Jay brought the tins down and wanted to put them on himself. I think he was afraid I would scratch them. Over the next few days Rob did the wiring, which is something I know nothing about, and was not afraid to ask for help with. A few weekends later we were ready to fire her up. Rob had his fun and let me kick start the damn thing for the first time for about 10 minutes before he turned the key on. She fired right up. And there she was, my dream bike came to life.

Like I said, no one ever builds a bike by themselves. Thanks Rob, Charlie, Reaper, Jay, Toe, Jason, Ryan at GS, Randy, Buttercup, Tony D, Michele, Slade, MikesXS, all the guys at Sand Blast America, Bruce at Twisted Steel, Mom and Dad, and again to my loving wife Kelly, who not only lets me follow my dreams but lets me build them as well.

[I am Carbon]

Frank good to see your ok Brother!
I just love that machine!
Shes so FINE!,Ed

[Two Wheel Mafia]

I think your my biggest fan Ed LOL

[pregrid]

Originally Posted by Downeaster

A question for C-Los (or anybody else with input) on velocity stacks.

Do they provide any air filtration other than the fine mesh screen I see in some of them?

If not (and I suspect they don't) are they really practical for a frequently-ridden street bike?

Like C-LOS mine only has the fine mesh screen and I too only ride mine occasionally (as much fun as the Yamaha is it can't compare to the grin factor my Husqvarna SM has) so if over time the lack of filtration creates a problem I doubt if I'll still be riding by then. In the mean time the look outweighs any negativity.

[RockingThePartyDJ]

Love em all, man just chop it!!!!!!!!

But I'm gonna say TWOWHEELMAFIA!

[Two Wheel Mafia]

Thank you DJ for the kind words. All the bike this month are AWSOME. Keep up the good work everyone.