81 XS650 Bobber Build

[ericsjeep]

Hi everyone! I have been cruising the forum for a while now and figured its time to post something. My buddy Ketis (Member name. Check out his build too) bought an xs650, and told me what he planned to do to it. I thought it sounded cool so I did some research and found an xs of my own on craigslist. I am new to motorcycles, so this forum has been a huge help. This is a picture of the xs when I got it, a little tired looking lol.

For parts I decided to go with an ardcore hardtail, tons of parts from tc bros, and other various xs dealers.

It took 10 weeks to get the tail from ardcore, but I am glad I waited.

Now for some progress pics.

Frame cut! No turning back.

Tail fitted.

My buddy welding the tail.


All welded.


Got it into a roller!

Tank Mouted. Yes another sporty tank, but why not if it looks good?

Soda Blasted the engine.

Welded up a custom exhaust with the TC Bros kit.

Polished all the engine covers. And went crazy lol.
Before and after.

Wrapped the exhaust with 2" Black header wrap.

Decided to paint the engine black and polish the fins. (I used Plastikote engine enamel, and it seems to hold up to gas really well.)

Drilled the front rotor.

Bags and seat mounted.

Engine in and tc bros forward controls mounted.

Electronics tank and battery box mounted.

Well that's it for now. Still trying to decide on the rear fender. Was thinking of the led sled Mohawk fender or the led sled fender with the flat top.

 

[Johnt3]

Hey ericsjeep! Welcome to the forum.Bike is looking great man.
Hey, ain't nothing wrong with a sporty tank IMO.
Your engine turned out good,I sure like the black out with polished bits look.
Did the paint give any trouble when you polished the fins?

 

[ericsjeep]

Thanks for the welcome Johnt3! Before painting I polished the fins, then I painted everything. I let the paint fully dry and then used the smooth edge of a file to scrape the paint off, with no chips occurring. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

 

[Johnt3]

That sounds like the easy way of doing it ericsjeep. I'll have to keep the Plastikote engine enamel in mind.

 

[ericsjeep]

Well its been a busy few months, but finally started to make some more progress. Picked up all my parts from the powder coater last night, and they look awesome. Thanks to Cory Cropp (Hotrod2828).

Going to start lacing up the rim's today so hopefully more pics soon to come.

 

[ericsjeep]

Well got the front wheel laced up

But ran into an issue with the rear. It turns out im not the only person with this problem (Mikes 16" rim and Stainless spokes for 16" rim). The inner spokes work fine, but the outers are to short, and don't have the correct bend to aim towards the rim hole. I have ordered some longer nipples to try and make up the spoke length, and I will have to try and bend the head of the spoke in a little.

 

[aduckonquack]

Well got the front wheel laced up

But ran into an issue with the rear. It turns out im not the only person with this problem (Mikes 16" rim and Stainless spokes for 16" rim). The inner spokes work fine, but the outers are to short, and don't have the correct bend to aim towards the rim hole. I have ordered some longer nipples to try and make up the spoke length, and I will have to try and bend the head of the spoke in a little.

Wow did you e-mail mike about that. Thats not good. great looking build btw in for profess pics

 

[ericsjeep]

Yeah I did email Mikes, but not much help. They asked my year and model , so I responded and so far that was the end of the conversation.

 

[hotrod2828]

moving forward good deal, the wheel looks great!

how long did it take to get it laced?

 

[ericsjeep]

The front took about an hour. Most of the time was spent figuring out how to start, but once the inner spokes were in the outers flew by. The rear wheel was even easier until I ran into my length issue.

 

[scabber]

Welcome. Nice progress and looking good. The fender on the bike in your photo bucket pictures looks good. Who made it?

 

[ericsjeep]

Thanks. The fender is a led sled fender with the flat top hump. they also offer a mohawk and a standard fender. I have also trimmed 8-10" off the bottom of the fender since that picture was taken.

 

[ericsjeep]

Figured out the rear spokes and got it all laced up. now just need to install bearings, true, and mount tires.

 

[aduckonquack]

Eric looks absolutely awesome, so with the spokes were they short or just not lined up exactly. Looks like you got it all figured out

 

[ericsjeep]

It was both actually. the spokes almost stood straight out, and they were a tad short. I did a small write up of how I dealt with it in this thread (page 3)

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24148&highlight=spokes+short

 

[ericsjeep]

Was laying around watching T.V. thinking about my wheels, something just wasn't sitting right so I started looking at them, and realized the front and back were laced backwards from each other. When I put the front together the nipples seemed a little tight but nothing to be concerned about. Turns out it was because they were in the wrong holes. Just tore it down and relaced it the other direction, and the nipples went on butter smooth.

 

[ericsjeep]

Hey guys looking for some help. Its been a while since I removed the bearings from my hubs, and I am just getting around to installing the new all balls racing bearings. Problem is I don't quite remember how they go together, I got the front done fine, but the rear, one of the dust caps seems to be sitting a little high. I'm not sure if its supposed to be like that so any help would be great. Thanks

 

[ericsjeep]

Got the rims trued and tires mounted and balanced. Now just waiting for my new Z Bars, and then back to the powder coater to get my tins done.

 

[ericsjeep]

Got the new Z Bars today and I am super happy with them.

the specs:
The bars are 7/8
Total 24.5 wide
4 In tall
6 In inside
Pull back 1.5

 

[ericsjeep]

Rebuilt the forks with new seals, and installed a Hugh's Handbuilt 2" lowering kit. Also decided to go with ATF for my oil.