Hooligan/tracker

I live in the boonies where there are some really nice winding, hilly roads and trails, some paved, some gravel, and some dirt, and some not more than trails through the forest. They were beckoning me and my other bike (a bobbed Valkyrie) really isn’t cut out for the roads less travelled.


It started with buying a $1,000 1984 XS650K that was stock except for the handlebars. It was showing 37,000 Kms., the compression was 150/150 and I drove it enough to know that the motor and transmission were solid, but it leaked some oil and needed a clutch. After lurking here quite a bit and figuring out what I wanted, I stripped down the XS650 to the frame and started building a street/dirt/hooligan/brat/tracker. I’m not quite sure how to categorize this but, in a nutshell what I did was:


Engine:

ü 2-1 intake manifold and jetted Mikuni VM36 (from Joewiseguy, great to deal with).

ü 2-1 Chrome XS Performance Headpipe Set

ü Headpipe Torque Inserts

ü Free flowing Taper Tip Muffler

ü Kevlar clutch with high performance springs and one pushrod, changed the bearings, bushing and seal

ü Starter delete using a frost plug (whoever came up with that ... what a great idea!)

ü New oil filters

ü New seals and gaskets everywhere I could without splitting the case

ü Engine painted with VHT barrel paint

ü Side covers stripped, polished and clear coated with VHT clear coat.

ü High output coil, wires, plugs


Frame:

ü Thruxton 14.4”rear shocks, (and a delrin chain guide on swingarm)

ü Brass swing arm bushings and new seals

ü New wheel bearings

ü Seat hoop and seat from SCO Kustoms

ü Home made electric and battery box

ü Center stand and brackets removed, some other frame cleanup

ü Frame painted with VHT roll bar and chassis paint.

ü Simplified ignition and charging wiring harness from TC Bros., homemade wiring for everything else

ü Fork brace from Hugh’s Handbuilt

ü Fork boots

ü Magura 314 throttle

ü Simplified the hand controls

ü Mini speedometer

ü Changed the lights and signals

ü Tank cleaned, sealed, de-badged and painted, new petcock.

ü Forks and rear brake drum stripped, polished and coated with VHT clear coat.



Once I had reassembled it all it roared to life after a couple of kicks. Couldn’t sound better .... took her out for a 30Km exhilarating ride, it runs like a scared cat. Tons of revs and power, handles as well as I could have hoped, although I haven’t tried crossing a mud bog (yet). I had read on dimecitycycles.com ....

“Riding one of these old bikes can be a lot like getting in the ring with a bare-knuckle gypsy. In the beginning it seems like a good idea. He's small and wiry, looks to be somewhat tattered and should be easy to handle. That is, until he unleashes a hell bent whiskey fueled fury on your face and knocks your teeth out..”


Sounds good to me .... I’ll try to keep my teeth though ....