Brat Bobber build - From terrible to not so terrible.

PickleSlice

XS650 Addict
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Inherited this '78 from my dad because he never had the time to get it going. So instead of letting it sit, he transferred the title to me. Since it's so far gone, I decided to go with a brat bobber. Love how low they look and they are just cool to me. He had it running, although it was not running when he gave it to me. I'm going to rebuild the engine, so I haven't worried about getting it running yet. Going to get the frame, electronics and everything else worked out, then rebuild the engine.

On to the pics!

The day I picked it up from Dad - 6/17/15

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The BS38's were in desperate need of a rebuild, so I did so.

Before
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After
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Although after they were rebuilt, I bought a pair of BS34's with Uni's, so the BS38's are for sale.

I then purchased a PAMCO for it, and after getting the board installed, had to get the single coil mounted up. Cut off the stock dual coil mount and I am using ground clamps to hold the coil. Also test fitted my new Monstercraftsman alien tank.

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Also removed the factory tank mounts while I was working in the area.

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Making sure the coil fits under the Alien tank.

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My dad has a buddy who has a fabrication shop, so I trailored it over to his place and got to cutting. This is all for the Brat build. I wanted to get the brat kit installed before I started wiring the bike up, so I can better plan my wire management.

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So much measuring to make sure the seat pan was straight.

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Since I weld just well enough to make popcorn, my dads friend handled that part.

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The dude can weld

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Welded in and smoothing out the welds. We did this twice to get a nice finish

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Welding in the tank bungs...I wanted the tank as low as possible, so the bung was welded in right in front of the brat kit.

This is how it sits now. I have tons of parts in the back room, it's just a matter of me getting them put on. Lots of stuff from TC Bros, Monstercraftsman and Dime City Cycles.

Next step is to wire it up and rebuild the brakes.

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A few more pics. I removed the old busted gauges, and put on the drag bars. I wasn't sure if I'd like them, but I think they look pretty awesome. Going to get a single mini GPS speedo and try to find somewhere below the bars to mount it. I hope to keep as little above the bars as possible. Going for the low look.

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Got it running. Wired the PAMCO up to a battery for testing purposes, and also installed the Pandomonium Ya Mama pipes. Next is to finish wiring and rebuild brakes.

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I'm not much on the brat bikes, they kill my old back, but I like the design of that kit really well. Nice welding. Of course it's 1st kick, it is an XS650 after all. Did you expect something less?
 
I'm not much on the brat bikes, they kill my old back, but I like the design of that kit really well. Nice welding. Of course it's 1st kick, it is an XS650 after all. Did you expect something less?
I had no idea what to expect. The bike hadn't started in over 5 years, and was left in the weather. Thanks to the pre-tuned BS34's I got from Figure8, it started right up.
 
If I recall right, I went up one step on the pilots and two on the mains. May try going down one step on the pilots, I believe I sent you the extra jets as well.
 
If I recall right, I went up one step on the pilots and two on the mains. May try going down one step on the pilots, I believe I sent you the extra jets as well.
I'll keep that in mind. Fine tuning will come in the future, it's no where near road ready.

Does it have adjustable needles?
 
I was never a Brat Bike fan until I seen Visual Impact build and there were a couple others that looked cool but if I did build one would have to look like one of these.
LOOKS GOOD keep up the good work
 

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I was never a Brat Bike fan until I seen Visual Impact build and there were a couple others that looked cool but if I did build one would have to look like one of these.
LOOKS GOOD keep up the good work
I almost went with a VI kit, but I ended up liking the rounded look of the Monstercraftsman kit just a bit better. Either is awesome though.
 
Haven't gotten a lot done due to weather and time constraints.

Still waiting on a few more things to get the wiring done, so I went ahead and painted my exhaust and wrapped them, and finished painting the tank and got the fuel system worked out.

Does anyone have an opinion about running an inline filter after the petcocks? The petcocks I'm using have the exact same filter on them as my inline filter does. Seems like it'd be fine without it.

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PickleSlice, love what you're doing. I'm building a brat with the same tail and I'd love to share pics but when I post they always end up sideways. How did you insert your pics into the thread the way you did?Pipes1.jpg
 
Thanks PickleSlice. I actually did it myself with rattle cans. I'm still trying to get this picture thing. I'll give it a shot in a while.
 
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PickleSlice, you're a genius!! THANKS! BTW, this is what my bike started as.
 
Man, I'm all about bike builders doing there thing. But damn, you really should have found a different bike to cut up Winged. Those early models are rare and can fetch good coin when restored.
 
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