75 vs 79

[XSLeo]

Your Yellow looks good, The blue accents, not so much.
I like the 75's stock color scheme. The white and gold stripping on the black is spectacular.
Leo

 

[XSLeo]

on the calipers and brackets, I doubt there is much difference between those on 5 or 7 mm thick rotors. Maybe they cut the space a bit wider for the 7mm thick ones.
As far as clearance goes on the right, as you tighten the axle it pulls the fork and wheel together. This sets the right side clearance. On the left side before you tighten the two nuts you need to adjust the fork position on the axle to even out the clearance. On mine I move the fork maybe 1 mm or so to get the even clearance.
Leo

 

[yamageek]

Leo
I agree.
The blue engine covers are now black and the fender strut is in the spare parts bin. Someone did a nice job with the tape stripes so as long as they don't start peeling they will stay. If I had buckets of cash I would search for a low mileage all stock early machine. I'm kind of partial to XS1 and 2 . Seem simpler more basic.For now the 75 will have to do. I have a Kawasaki W1 waiting in the wings. Wanna talk about rare and expensive parts?

 

[XSLeo]

The early bikes were a bit more simple. The main difference is the e-start and associated mechanical and electrical parts. Going from the drum to disc front brake was a worthy upgrade. They could have done better with it.
Once you get much past the 72/73 bikes they started adding electric gizmos that cause more grief than they are worth.
When I rewired my 75 I used a diagram very much like the 73/74 bikes had. No extras. just the bare essentials.
Leo

 

[650Skull]

The spoke wheels look better. ....................Changing the exhaust system to the one off the special will change the exhaust note for the worse.............The stays on the early models did go toward bracing the front end. If you look at the Special guard you will see it has a heap more bracing than the earlier 34mm guard, shame your front has been hacked............I don't think a disk rear is going to make for better braking, if the drum is set up properly they can be made to work without locking up the rear wheel and if you like rear wheel slides a drum can do that to...................weight saved on changing the calipers to the later 35mm fork type would be offset by the heavier Mag wheel so not a lot real gain, with a 34mm twin disk front set up, there may be some weight gain on an un-sprung weight set up from the Spoke wheel earlier, (72-76), heavy calipers, to the mag wheel with a twin disk set up. IMHO with good suspension it won't make a lot of difference unless your into canyon carving............

With the 2 different bikes you can see the brackets on the frame and swing-arm that need to be swapped over for the rear disk conversion. Not such a drama as some have found it to be because you will have the parts and be able to get good measurements from the 77 frame for the transfer.
made these up for a thread on the conversion.............may help to see the part differences a bit more clearly.