Build Thread - Wide Tire Custom

79josh81

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Since about January I’ve been working on a wide tire build running a jackshaft, a foot clutch AND a hand clutch, with a jockey/tank style shifter. This bike was not running when I bought it for $400 and it was in rough shape. Short of making the tank and forward controls, I either fabricated or customized everything from scratch. I made every tab I needed, I modified my own worm gear for the foot clutch, I fabricated the entire jockey shift assembly, I took a TC Bros hardtail and literally chopped it in half to widen it for a 200mm tire, I painted and pinstriped/silver leafed it myself....etc....etc. I really challenged myself and did a lot of things I never did before. I’m at the stage where the bike is ready to be put back together and finished. Here’s my build and I’ll update the rest as I go....
 
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So it started with this. Didn’t run, leaked oil, and looked like someone just forgot about it. Oh, and the wiring harness was completely cut out. And when I say “cut out”, I mean too lazy to unplug components and instead just cut the connectors off “cut out”.
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Once I got the wiring harness put together, i tried to start the bike and it would turn over but wouldn’t start. I figured out that the bike wasn’t getting any spark. So instead of messing with the old beat up stock system, I went out and got an electronic ignition and a PMA right away. Instead of trying to start it when that stuff was installed, I decided to just overhaul the engine and carbs first.

I ended up changing out the clutch push rod to a long rod with a new seal and bushing. I went through the carbs and cleaned them and then re-jetted them right away since I planned on running pod filters and open headers. I went through and set the valve clearances and cam chain tension. Later I swapped out the clutch and replaced a broken shift shaft spring.

Lastly, I went to try and start it and she fired right up. I then set the ignition timing and moved onto the next phase of the build...figuring out this wide tire hardtail business.
 
So at this point I reach out for some advice on here on how to make the wide tire happen. I wanted to run a jackshaft for the look of it also. After talking to daddyg and some other members here, I decided widening a weld-on hardtail would be the most practical way for me since I don’t have a frame jig.

So I start chopping the bike down further for the hardtail...
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At this point I start hacking into my brand new hardtail asking myself “what fuck are you doing???”. I ended up cutting the hardtail through the cross tubes straight down the center. I then drilled holes for plug welds and preceded to slug and sleeve the hardtail to width for the exact axle spacing I needed to fit the wheel, tire, rear brake caliper, and Harley axle I was using. I must have measured 300,000 times throughout all of this.
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At this time I had to extend the upper frame tubes to the seat post and had to bend some solid 7/8” round for the bottom of the hardtail to bring the bottom tubes back to the stock width. The bending was done with a bender for flat stock, a torch, and a lot of swear words trying to get the correct offset.
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The way I wanted to run the jackshaft was to mount it to the top of an electronics/battery box. I knew this box had to be solid if it was going to be able to handle the jackshaft so I built it in four quarters with 3/16” steel. I did this because I also wanted to be able to weld the inside of the box and reinforce the corners with angle steel welded in it.
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I then set the box in the frame on a jack. I got it squared up and welded it directly to the frame.
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I then started to put the jackshaft together. What I did was buy some high speed pillow blocks that can handle a constant 9000 rpm’s. I bought a high quality keyed “flexproof” axle to cut to size and bought some sprockets for the shaft that would allow me to have the same gearing ratio with using the larger Harley rear sprocket. The sprockets are keyed and a steel tube over the shaft keeps the offset of the two sprockets where it needs to be. Some collars were added just as a fail safe. I’ve rode this bike and pounded on the throttle and through the gears since then and the sprocket keys are holding up fine with the torque.
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At this point I started to mock up the jockey shifter. I wanted to have the shifter be completely removable so I decided to fabricate an arm the would bolt into the threaded mount for the horn and then the shifter would pivot off the arm. I then reshaped the arm (more than the picture shows) and added a tab on top for my speedometer. Then I built the shifter from flat stock and a piece of the old tracker bars that were on it when I bought it. I drilled holes to dress it up and have since shaped the flat stock of the shifter with curves that follow the hole pattern. I also mounted a chrome hand grip and put a handlebar end light in the top of the shifter which I wired to be my neutral light.
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Then I started getting the tank, fender, and seat mounted. The tank was mounted with tophat bungs welded into the backbone. The seat was then mounted by making my own pivot and using barrel spring mounts. The fender was a huge rounded fender when I bought it. I trimmed it down into a mud flap style, made my own mounting tabs, and kept the drilled hole thing going by drilling around the perimeter of the fender with alternating sizes.
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Then I went on to converting the worm gear into a through the case foot clutch. I never ran a foot clutch before and wanted to try it. I think I wanted to build it more than I wanted to ride with it because I hate it. Lol It works great I’m just not a fan of it. I prefer to use the lever on the shifter because my hand has to go there anyways to shift. But I have options. Kind of like a back up camera on your car...you have it...but it’s kind of lame to use. Lol

Here’s a thread I put out if anyone’s interested in how I modified the worm gear because that was a whole other “build”.
http://www.xs650.com/threads/how-to-thru-the-left-cover-clutch-arm.54307/
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Then I added the forward controls, linkages that I sourced all of my own parts for, and the handlebars. Chrome 12” apes are in this picture. Later pictures will show the black 15” apes that I switched to. Still not sure what I like more yet.
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Then it was “Fuck me, back to wiring” time. The ignition key and electric starter button were mounted on the battery box/jackshaft side cover. I also added some wiring because I wanted turn signals on this one with indicators.

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(The tach was removed and the speedo was moved to the shifter arm like I said earlier)
 
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Here’s pics with a skateboard wheel tensioner added and when I moved the speedometer. I also welded on some turndown tips to the headers. The headers have since been painted black with high temp paint and are getting wrapped in the titanium header wrap.
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