Xs 650 frame ? info please if poss

Hi all, new to this forum but have a question for you all . . . .i have recently purchased a xs650 in what i thought cafe racer trim. The engine has an halco side casing on and the last owner died. I purchased the machine from his son who knew very little about the bike all except that "everything was new " . I took this statement with a pinch of salt but in all aspects the frame, alloy fuel tank e.t.c are new. He said the engine was tuned by halco, after removing a spark plug i can clearly see the pistons and bore are infact brand new and i can see some writing on the top of one of the pistons stating 3.36 which i think may be the size ? Anyway onto the frame. . . . . . the frame is a special build i think not a chopped up standard frame. The engine is rubber mounted and the chassis is fitted with jmc alloy section swing arm. The engine was fitted with mikuni carbs, again these are new,electronic ignition system is again new and included in the sale. Im really realy stuck here, i have no paperwork for the machine at all, the frame is stamped up with a number on the headstock. The last owner (r.i.p) was quite a wealthy man as far as i can gather, he purchased another machine brand new to use the wheels and front forks for this project. Now im missing the front footrests, the frame has mounting point but thats all i have. Any help would be great on either the engine or the frame as i would love to know more about both items. I wanted a one off special xs650 and i think i might have found one ? I have some good pics of the frame if this would help in anyway. Oh yes keep up the hard work.

Jez

You will make a lot of members here curious with that post. I can tell you this much.

NEED PICS!

And welcome.

Thanks for the welcome . . . .i need help . . . my mrs sayd in more way then one but hey thats life ! I will try and upload the pics now.

And some more pics of when i brought the bike just a few days ago . . . .have a look and see what you think.

Looks like 1970-1973? Not from 1978-1983 thats for sure...

The JMC Swingarm throws me off a touch...

Wow......

Looks like some serious frame work. Also looks like a lot of work left. As for the foot pegs, are there any included at all? It is probably set up for rear sets if anything at all.

huh.. major frame work.. all I know it is going to look sweet when it all done..

Oh yeah great start, looong ways to go. interesting rubber mounts and that is with several meanings of the word. You ae going to have to do some serious studying to get to the bottom of how it's sposed to all work. +1 on rearsets mounted to those plates at the back.

Well cheers for the info, i have been doing some research and I THINK the frame may have been made by tony hall, aka halco tuning ? the engine was rebuilt by him to a stage i have to look into more BUT after doing some research yamaha devoloped 2 of the rubber mounted frames and never put them into production. Tony hall purchased the rights off yamaha to make the frames and he only sold ten of them in total. So my bike is one of 10 machines made by halco tuning. The pistons measure 85mm any more info of the engine would be great .

Jez

I would contact Tony Hall if I were you. The frame looks to be one off, and may require being titled as a 'special build'. Almost everything about that frame is different from stock.

Pretty awesome find.

Unfortunatly Tony Hall "halco tuning" was based here in the uk and he passed away in june 2004. I have searched and searched, i have even found an old post on a forum from his son asking if anyone has one of the halco ascot tt 840cc xs's for sale, as his father only made 10 and his sone wanted to purchase one back. I have sent and e mail but no reply yet, the post was from 2007 though.

So it appears the back bone ends at the triangulated tubes and is not connected in anyway to the swing arm, rear engine mounts? ie all the loads have to go through those two angled tubes and the under seat tubes? Any chance you know what bike the swing arm is off of?

Sorry i anit got a clue, just a jmc alloy box section type. . . . .jmc make swing arms for types of bikes.

jez1 said:

Unfortunatly Tony Hall "halco tuning" was based here in the uk and he passed away in june 2004. I have searched and searched, i have even found an old post on a forum from his son asking if anyone has one of the halco ascot tt 840cc xs's for sale, as his father only made 10 and his sone wanted to purchase one back. I have sent and e mail but no reply yet, the post was from 2007 though.

Click to expand...

Thats sad news. Keep searching, find someone who work for him.

I found this site. It has pics and info on some halco tuning stuff scattered throughout the site. See if you spot something that looks like your frame.

I didn't know you were in the UK, you left that part out. I have no idea how you will title it there.

Bob Trigg created the prototype Ascot TT in i think 77 for yamaha after helping create the HL500 and the Ténéré 650 prototypes. Was unfortunately never brought into production. Halco took the ball and started producing Ascot TT knockoffs before he topped himself. You see them around occassionally. Look for custom frame, norton style rubber engine mounts and forward tilted motor. There was a write up on the Ascot TT in Classic Bike Dec 1996 p102-5

Wicked..

I can tell you that I've seen a few tanks similar to that, and they ran a price of about $1100 a piece.

been repeated HERE

Yes im sorry i should have put i was in the uk, halco might hve been in the uk but you guys know th xs650 inside out so i thought this was the best place to start ! thanks for all the advice, its been a great help and im onto the uk website now. I will keep dropping back in to let you guys now how i have got on.

It may be a eary RICKMAN frame i owed a couple and the bends look the same. In the early 70's Rickman was the frame to buy to convert you street bike into a road racer. They were known for the triple tubes on the back bone. You may want to check before you do anything to it . The last CB 750 Rickman frame i sold went for $3300.00 If it is you got a piece of HISTORY. I sold 6 years ago a factory RICKMAN CB 305 6 speed trans Road Racer in Rickman frame to collector in ENGLAND for $15,000 came from my Honda shop that me and my partner bought in 1968 from HONDA.