1977 650D Cafe-ish Build Complete, well mostly

[pa23driver]

Well it took all winter but i finally got the bulk of my build complete.

Here's how she started:

You'll notice the PO had it set up for two-tracking, with long ass spacers in the fork tubes, 14.5 inch progressive shocks in the rear and heavy duty knobbies. not bad for a $600 runner.

The following things were changed:

• Powder coated the frame, swing arm, headlight bucket, insrument cans and trees
• pressive fork springs and polished fork tubes, added 7 oz of oil in each leg
• monza sport rear shocks (12.75)
• street tires
• reinstalled the head light
• refreshed the top end with new rings, a good honing, cleaned up the intake and exhaust ports, lapped the valves, new cam chain, cam chain guide and tensioner.
• welded the seat hinges and rear frame hoop back on the bike
• gave the engine a good cleaning and poslished the cases
• installed a TX750 swing arm with needle bearings
• needle bearings in the stearing neck
• cleaned the carbs and put the correct size and type of jets in the carbs and added pod filters
• commando style mufflers on stock pipes
• dual output coil with dual points (going to install dual lobed points cam for single points operation). my stock coils were dead and i'd like to experience points for a couple seasons before moving onto a pamco - you know, put in my time
• new cables
• deleted the electric starter
• new brushes for the charging system
• clubman style handlbars (mikes) with a CRG Lanesplitter bar end mirror
• new standard seat from mikes, i got a cafe seat foam and cover set that i'm going to be installing later on the old seat pan after a lot of fiber glassing that i will be using for around town. the standard seat is gonna be used for the longer hauls as it is much more comfortable.
• didn't bother with the front fender but installed the fork brace, looking forward to getting caught in the rain
• and a bunch of other small bits and peices and whole lot of cleaning...

so heres the end result:

there's still a bunch of little stuff to do like get the carbs tuned correctly (running way lean at idle right now), true up the wheels, install a rocker box breather filter, install the side stand, slap on a license plate and give her a bath.

Also, i love the paint job on the tank and side covers, it's just a shame the PO did such a shitty prep job. So this fall i'll be recreating the look with my first attempt at a DIY paint job (actual paint, no spray can bomb).

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help everyone provided this build would've been much harder had it not been for the support of the community.

it feels awesome to have it back together and running!

Let me know what you all think.


oh and here's a picture of the old ladies '81 special i'm currently working on:

lookin good

 

[bergoff]

Its looking nice. Do you have any before pics? And you'll have your hands full with her bike.

 

[pa23driver]

the first picture was the before picture but here's a couple more:

it looked pretty good with the solo seat on it.

actually her bike doesn't need much, it has good compression and runs strong. it just needs the usual stuff that a 30 year old bike needs: chain, sprockets, cables, tires, filters, oil change, the usual upgrades and a good washing. it'll just look rough for a while.

 

[bergoff]

Sorry I can't see them I'm using my droid x.

 

[Dogger]

I like your bike a lot, I'm a big fan of stock looking bikes with light mods that make it work for the owner. There's something about the big Yamaha across the tank that I like too.

 

[pa23driver]

Thanks, i like all the hard core cafe and street tracker builds but after a while the only thing that reminds you that its a 650 is the engine.

the yamaha across the tank took a while to grow on me but now i really like it. i'm not sure if i'm going to try and paint in lettering or just get vinyl lettering... either way it needs a new paint job.