'79 XS quick build before riding season

[Gene]

I've taken a hiatus from riding (sportbikes) for about 7 years now. I've been wanting something fun yet has decent aftermarket support; and most importantly, inexpensive. I think it was about 4 months of finding the right bike, at the right price. Watching craigslist daily and seeing prices for XS650s going way high, I did not think I'd find one. Then this one came up and actually the year I was looking for (my birth year) Price was right, it runs and rides, and it rode it home 25 miles without issue

here it is when i purchased it

Not very clean, little banged up but most important it runs and rides. 40k on the clock!!! however, i've seen cars/bikes with super low miles that are near junk because they've sat for so long.

i'm going for a clean type build, I might change the tank, but it will be slammed. So far I've added rebel shocks in the rear and will be lowering the front 3". There is a few issues that need to be addressed, like swingarm bushings, neck bearings and new tires. and an electrical mess. Not too bad

I'm a metal fabricator/welder so over winter it may get a full tear down and a drop seat brat style build. I've never built a bike before and may need help making sure it looks right. I'm not afraid to tear it apart, cut or weld anything.

my tig weld on stainless steel. I rarely tig since mig is so much faster on a production base. So, when i do get to tig, it's a nice break from "work"

starting to strip down to put a smaller fender on.. as you can see, there is some goofy electrical mess going on. The PO replaced the fuse box with inline fuses. Not to big of a deal, I plan to put a PMA kit and run off a capacitor. So the bike will be rewired

 

[Gene]

Now that the bike is so low, i have to rework the kickstand.

This was my last bike from 7 years ago. I purchased brand new in 2001, crashed it twice (low speed) and repaired and repainted it. For a while I had a steady gig painting out of my garage during the summer months. Nothing like watching paint flash up and catching bugs before they decide to land on it

 

[Samuraiace]

Welcome!
Bike looks in good nick compared to most XS's I see. Good luck with the build and fire away with the questions and the pics ... gotta love the pics.

 

[Gene]

Welcome!
Bike looks in good nick compared to most XS's I see. Good luck with the build and fire away with the questions and the pics ... gotta love the pics.

Great to be here. It is a little crusty, but I think I may black everything out. It's in desperate need of tires (I care not to even ride it at all due to the tires) and the wheels will get new bearings and powdercoated black. There is a person/shop that is local to me and is on here that I will be going to

 

[Gene]

here are some pics of past project cars/bikes

This is the same 900rr as above, but just looked too plain silver.

This was my first project car. I learned a lot working on this thing, from painting to mechanical/performance. I was limited to my budget at 19 years old working as a painter's assistant at a bodyshop. Basic bolt-ons like NX express kit, full exhaust, aod to 5spd (bad move, as I think it would have been better with higher stall converter) I used centari single stage and let me tell you...the way it lays, is the way it stays. No runs or anything but i might have either used the wrong temp reducer or too much catalyst as it layed out kind of dull. It looked really cool since it was somewhat of a satin, low gloss look, but it was before it's time. Circa 1999.

 

[Samuraiace]

Great lookin bikes, the ones in the bottom pic all yours?

 

[Gene]

Great lookin bikes, the ones in the bottom pic all yours?

Three of them, the KTM dirtbike, the yellow GSXR and the 900rr. The other GSXR and 929 were customer's bikes

I'll be posting more progress of the XS next week once I order some new parts!!!

 

[Samuraiace]

Three of them, the KTM dirtbike, the yellow GSXR and the 900rr. The other GSXR and 929 were customer's bikes.

Gotta love having a garage full of bikes.

 

[Gene]

just a little update. Removed the factory cut up crazy bird's nest of a wiring harness. I'll be building one sometime next week. All I'll be using are the front and rear lights/brakes and ignition. So it should be rather easy to make up a harness.

I ordered some parts from Low Brow Customs and wow! Super fast shipping. I'll be sure to order anything I need from them. Here it is just mocked up for now

I also got a set of mini apes from Front street cycle I'll be posting pics of them installed tomorrow.

up next on the to do list after the simplified wiring harness will be the Visual impact brat kit. I really dig the way it looks. I'm sure I could order some DOM tubing and fab my own but i'm trying to build basically a "bolt on bike" with what is available out there.

 

[jdizon]

That mock up looks sick! It'll look good all murdered out

 

[Gene]

Here's the frontstreet cycle bars. Very nice!

 

[Gene]

little update,
Wired up a TCbros chopper harness and used a small battery to power everything. Still waiting on parts to come in like front headlight, tires and what not.

So far i installed new swingarm bushings and balls out neck bearings. Huge improvement as I do rip this bike around as it is! I'll be ordering a VI brat kit next week and decided to go with different bars. Something along the lines of Zombie performance nomads as I think they would look better with my tank.

The little battery/electronics box i made sits a little low and does scrape coming out of my parking garage. I will be making one out of stainless steel that mounts a little higher and is covered. Don't mind the little wiring mess by the coils, it will be cleaned up and hidden.

 

[Gene]

 

[Gene]

a little update;
I won a freshly powedercoated front wheel off of ebay for cheap, now just need to the do the back and add a new tire.

So far the bike has been running really well with the larger jets. It's not as fast as I thought the bike would be (compared to what I am used to; sportbikes) The bike gets a lot of attention where ever I go.

The one hitch i've had is that the OEM regulator failed, so I got one from an AMC gremlin from advance auto parts. For about 100 miles it worked fine, but the other day I was left stranded with a dead battery. Not too sure on what the issue is yet, but I do plan on building a new rectifier and installing new brushes so that my charging system is up to par. Over winter I plan on doing the PMA and capacitor but for now, there's a little more fab and a lot of finishing work.

 

[Gene]

some new pics. So far i've ditched the OE rectifier and made my own from the threads on here using parts from radio shack. So far the only issue i've had so far is that the main fuse pops if I panic stop (car came into my lane after work today) not sure why this did that...on to the pics:

 

[Uncle Bryan]

Looks good Gene! I think those bars have a much better look to them, what bars are they? Also, what tank is that, Alien?

 

[Gene]

Looks good Gene! I think those bars have a much better look to them, what bars are they? Also, what tank is that, Alien?

The bars are just universal street bars that I chopped 2" off each end. I got them from dime city cycles

The tank is a Cycle Standard Axed tank that I got from lowbrow customs

 

[Gene]

rocking a new set of bars

 

[Gene]

not sure on which fender to run....hmmm

 

[Hairic]

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