1984 heritage special to 1974 frame parts interchange?

TROYCO

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hey everyone, i'm new to the forum, and to these bikes in particular. i have a 1984 heritage special that looks like it has had some really bad frame mods at one time, and i have the chance to obtain a 1974 frame in good shape. i look to cafe this bike, so i am wondering if this frame is any good? should i get a newer one? also how many of my 1984 parts will fit this particular 1974 chassis?
 
Pretty much everything. Things that wont is the seat, grab-rail, tail/brake-light and I'm not sure but i think the exhaust/muffler mounting hole is different. If you are going to do a cafe then those things wont matter and the 74-79 Standard frames are considered to be better for that style mainly because the shocks mount more vertical than the Specials.

does your 84 have a drum brake mag rear 16" wheel.
 
I have an 83SK Canadian import and it has a drum mag rear, that is why i asked because i thought the later Canadian models had the rare drum mags

There are some more differences. The Standard frame is not set up for the master cylinder and reservoir for disk brakes on the rear, it will need brackets and lugs welded on. Compare the difference with your frame the swing arms differ as well, the brake stay is on the bottom of the Standard swing arm and the disk swing-arm, (special), has a couple of lugs for the disk brake hose to clip to
 
They started in late 78 with the disc brake mag on the rear. They used it in late 78 to 80 on the Specials. The Special II got a 16 drum 36 spoke rear wheel with an unflanged rim. The front was a 36 spoke with unflanged rim.
All the fronts matched the rear as far as mag or spoke. The 82 up front was a 64 spoke wheel.
The drum rear mag was an 81 year only. In 82 they went to the drum 48 spoke wheel. If you have an 83 with a disc brake, Someone modified it to use a disc brake mag wheel. As I did to put one on the rear of my 75.
The wheels and the brakes can be swapped around withouit much trouble.
A bit more work to go from a drum to a disc on the rear.
Leo
 
In NZ as well as Australia the Xs was discontinued in 81 with the drum rear brake mag wheel. In NZ they imported brand new XS650's from Canada and the 83 model Canadian made XS I bought, (and still have), has the Drum rear mag wheel. Has a Canadian compliance plate stating made in Canada.

1983 was the last year that the XS was sold as a model/year, they did sell them until 85 but i think it was more to do with building what was still in the plant and getting rid of old stock.
 
I knew the last year they came to the US was 82. The things I talked about pertain to them. I knew they used the points in the Austrailian bikes after 79 and the US bikes went to the TCI in 80.
They also may have used different braking and wheel combos to other places. I know some of the European bikes came with dual disc front brakes.
I guess you have to take what someone from another country than your has to say with a grain of salt. They may be right where they are but not where you are.
I sometimes forget this myself and says things that I think are right but prove to be wrong.
Leo
 
Leo,
We, Aus/NZ), have the twin disk models from 76 and on. 5twins has talked about the European twin disks being smaller than the the US or us down under. I always had some dought in my mind and thought if they had the smaller disks then the lugs for the calipers on the forks would have to be lower down, After doing some searching i found some brochures that does show that so i am sure there is going to be some problems with mismatched parts with so many US models being exported into that region.

I think the US were the only ones to get the Spoke wheel Specials

I queried the brake set up on the 84 because i assumed the Canadian 83/84 both had the drum rear mag because of the set up on my 83 heritage special. My 83 has a single disk front brake.

Old pic of my 83 heritage
 

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From what I have read about the European dual disc used the 267 mm rotors, the same size as used on the rear, where the Single disc used a 298 mm rotor.
I wondered about that my self, with the smaller rotors you would nave to use a different fork lower to locate the caliper right.
Just a thought. On the 77 up bikes they used the 35 mm forks and the caliper used a seperate mount, perhaps just the mount was different to lower the caliper to match the rotor.
It just seems a waste of money to design two differnt systems for the same bike.
Leo
 
twin disk set up down under has the 298 mm rotors.

notice the placement of the lower caliper lug on the US F

full
The

again on the euro F, the lugs for the caliper are lower 0n the fork with the 267 rotor

full


They arn't different forks as such, the placement of the lugs is lowered.
 
I see that in the pics. It just seems like building two different forks isn't as cost effective as just using the 298 mm rotors.
But then again they couldn't have known just how popular these bikes would become worldwide 30 years later. They wouldn't have realized that bikes built for one market would be shipped to other places.
Leo
 
Either frame will be fine for what you want to do. I would find a frame with a title. That's the most important thing.
Leo
 
The 79 Special frame has different mounts for the side-covers, 78SE/79SF and 80G Special ll side-covers were metal and 80SG and later were plastic.

The mounts for the rear indicator changed to the frame the 80SG and later Specials, 78SE/79SF/80G the indicators mounted on the rear grab rail not the frame
 
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