Ranger
XS650 Addict
My brother and I recently decided to take the plunge and build our own bikes. With the wide availability of parts, and (relatively) low initial expense, xs650s seemed to be a great place to start. We recently returned from a road trip in which we bought 3 xs650s (they're kind of hard to find in Texas, at least for what we thought was a reasonable price).
We bought 2 titled runners, and swapped a shotgun for an untitled bike that needs work (It's the 1980 in the front of the pic). The idea is we'll build the third bike, learning as we go. We both are mechanically inclined and have been working on cars for years, but this will be our first bike build. We plan to spend as little as possible, and fab or trade for whatever we can. When it's all said and done, we'll have an extra bike as a backup or for our buddies to ride, not to mention the knowledge that comes only from hands-on learning.
No sooner than we decided to do this, did we see the thread for the 2014 xs650 Buildoff. And since I have family in Michigan and already have an excuse to visit, we figured "what the hell!" We don't have a chance in hell of winning, but we damn sure plan to have a good time! And since we have 2 more to build after this, we might even attend annually.
So here's the tentative plan for our 1980 XS:
VooDoo Vintage hardtail (love supporting local Texas businesses)
6+ forks that came off my brother's '75 (he's rbrown on here)
We'll rake the frame to level it out (anybody have any suggestions as to proper rake for this setup?)
Aluminum wheels from the '75 (and we'll probably leave the tires as they're only 2 years old with less than 2,000 miles on them)
Oh, and a cupholder, cuz my 8-year-old son says it would be cool...
The bike runs, but smokes from the left pipe. We plan on completely disassembling and going through the motor, changing what needs changing, but leaving it stock. Here it is running:
Here's the '75 front end:
And here's how we're gonna get it up off the ground. Just built this table last night, so now I can start tearing down the bike:
We don't plan on spending any money on the bike until we get the registration back from Moto Recycle. So until then, We'll just plan on disassembling it, de-tabbing the frame and shaving the fork lowers. And anything else we can think of that only costs us labor.
We bought 2 titled runners, and swapped a shotgun for an untitled bike that needs work (It's the 1980 in the front of the pic). The idea is we'll build the third bike, learning as we go. We both are mechanically inclined and have been working on cars for years, but this will be our first bike build. We plan to spend as little as possible, and fab or trade for whatever we can. When it's all said and done, we'll have an extra bike as a backup or for our buddies to ride, not to mention the knowledge that comes only from hands-on learning.
No sooner than we decided to do this, did we see the thread for the 2014 xs650 Buildoff. And since I have family in Michigan and already have an excuse to visit, we figured "what the hell!" We don't have a chance in hell of winning, but we damn sure plan to have a good time! And since we have 2 more to build after this, we might even attend annually.
So here's the tentative plan for our 1980 XS:
VooDoo Vintage hardtail (love supporting local Texas businesses)
6+ forks that came off my brother's '75 (he's rbrown on here)
We'll rake the frame to level it out (anybody have any suggestions as to proper rake for this setup?)
Aluminum wheels from the '75 (and we'll probably leave the tires as they're only 2 years old with less than 2,000 miles on them)
Oh, and a cupholder, cuz my 8-year-old son says it would be cool...
The bike runs, but smokes from the left pipe. We plan on completely disassembling and going through the motor, changing what needs changing, but leaving it stock. Here it is running:
Here's the '75 front end:
And here's how we're gonna get it up off the ground. Just built this table last night, so now I can start tearing down the bike:
We don't plan on spending any money on the bike until we get the registration back from Moto Recycle. So until then, We'll just plan on disassembling it, de-tabbing the frame and shaving the fork lowers. And anything else we can think of that only costs us labor.
it's a 1966 that sat in a buddy's garage for the last 10 years or so. I swapped a .44 mag and a custom gunbelt for it. Tentative plans are to put a cummins 4BT diesel in it. You should see the 71 land cruiser parked next to it!
