New project.... :)

Hey guys,

only new to this forum so bare with me a little...

I've had a 74 XS650 for sometime now. When I first got it, it could have been mistaken for a boat anchor (bulk rust). As I had just started at a new job, on a new side of the country, with only one car to share between me and the missus, and a 104km ONE WAY drive to work everyday, I needed a vehicle, and in a hurry. So I quickly tarted up my bike (which I'd been given for nothing)....Anything I couldn't do by hand at no cost got ignored... Long story short, I have a reliable bike, runs well and cost me 150 bucks to get running (including registration)...

Several years later, I find myself looking at the old girl and thinking I should give her a good birthday. So heres what I'm after.


I want to turn it into a cafe racer (but on the cheap ). I'm pretty handy, having done up more bikes than I could count now.

Never done a custom job though. All my bikes are original (except the motoX's). So I'd love some input from people as to some basics for converting to a cafe... Obvious items are of course seat, bars, gauges. But I'd love to hear from people If you think I need to lower the front shocks, if I could get away with the original tank, what size rims (or originals ok) etc. Just BASICS.

I'm a big fan of BSA's, so thats why I was thinking I might be able to get away with the original tank.

Any suggestions will be warmly appreciated

Mount the non tear shaped tanks off a XS 750, 850 or 1100's. They have the knee cut outs and duel petcocks (I'd change them to manuals too). Raceing stripes (wide stripe bordered by narrow stripe on each side). Or a row of checkerboard 2-3 blocks wide. Network here and on the KZ boards (I am amased the common parts between the 2) for rearsets. You can build a nice cafe on the cheap this way.

azman857 has you pointed in the right direction for a cafe bike on the cheap. In fact, much of this is the direction I'll be taking for my cafe build. I have an XS750 tank that I've picked up for the build and I have a gen-u-ine bum-stop cafe seat with no rear fender (cuz that's the way I like the look to be), and I've got a pair of shorty reverse megaphones for pipes.

I've got a lot more going on with my build other than that, but what I've pointed out is what you're most likely to see. What you'll need to decide on sooner or later is what it is you want your build to look like. And hey, that's what will make it appear to be all your own. So more power to ya, and here's hoping you can pull off the direction you have going for you. Best of luck!

Thanks fellas, already have a 750 tank sittin in the shed. was toying with the idea anyway. Only thing stopping me so far is the clip i saw for the Deus Ex Machina 78 XS650. LOVED the look of it, and I'm liking the tank on it....which i think is original??

http://blog.derestricted.com/2011/01/1978-xs650-by-deus-customs/

I saw this link in another thread, but had already seen it previously... It appears at a quick glance like there isn't a huge amount of mods on the bike at all really....

Does anyone know a history of that bike?

Bruce, it is a nice bike, could be a SR500 tank as the filler is offset & single fuel tap like the SR's, XS's have twin fuel taps (correct me if I'm wrong here) & central fuel filler.

Cheers.

My cap is certainly in the centre, but wasnt sure if any of the later xs tanks had an offset cap. Thanks for the suggestion though. Will definantly have a look at an sr tank...

80 and later when they went to the BS34s stock tanks are single tap. We have all offset fillers on single tap tanks because they stopped shipping standards here in 79

Is it fairly normal with cafe projects to lower the front forks at all?

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