terry b
XS650 Enthusiast
Was on Craig's list today. Hard to believe how many half finished piles of 650 junk there is out there. I wonder how long this will go on?
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Chop them up.
- Thread starter terry b
- Start date
Hey Jackson, I'm in Hillsdale county. I'm not complaining, I got a good price on an unfinished hardtail that I welded onto my frame. I have other bikes so this one will be just to have something different, at least that is what I'm telling myself. Truth is, I really don't know why I'm building a hardtail, Enjoy these parts while you can, I think there is going to be an end to it, and this may come sooner than we all expect.
Oh yeah, I have no love affair with the XS650's. I can appreciate the niche that Yamaha filled with these bikes and the high production of the model. That 50 horse powerplant and transmission aint too bad either.
Scott
Oh yeah, I have no love affair with the XS650's. I can appreciate the niche that Yamaha filled with these bikes and the high production of the model. That 50 horse powerplant and transmission aint too bad either.
Scott
terry b
XS650 Enthusiast
I am buying up all I can. Lowballem and haulem.
This is a good subject, come on guys join in, might even be a good place for a good rant.
I really can't see some of these guys who have never brought a bike back from the dead tackling a hardtail build. Like the guy riding an old bike while oblivious to his loose chain and worn out sprockets. Or the guy who unburies his bike every spring, jumpstarts it with the car and expects to be trouble free for the rest of the season. I think that was my brother-in-law that I just described. People ask me all of the time about getting an old bike, they see me riding them and figure that I'm buying bikes for a few hundred dollars and putting gas in them and riding happily ever after. If I know the person asking I usually say, forget it, you'll never keep up with it, the work and maintenance. While building this hardtail I've come to a few points that I've seen that could be stopping points for many people. It's not just bringing a bike back to life, there are countless decisions to make and numerous roads that can be followed. There are no instructions or rules that come with that Idea to build a hardtail, experience, engineering and sound design have to be used.
Scott
I really can't see some of these guys who have never brought a bike back from the dead tackling a hardtail build. Like the guy riding an old bike while oblivious to his loose chain and worn out sprockets. Or the guy who unburies his bike every spring, jumpstarts it with the car and expects to be trouble free for the rest of the season. I think that was my brother-in-law that I just described. People ask me all of the time about getting an old bike, they see me riding them and figure that I'm buying bikes for a few hundred dollars and putting gas in them and riding happily ever after. If I know the person asking I usually say, forget it, you'll never keep up with it, the work and maintenance. While building this hardtail I've come to a few points that I've seen that could be stopping points for many people. It's not just bringing a bike back to life, there are countless decisions to make and numerous roads that can be followed. There are no instructions or rules that come with that Idea to build a hardtail, experience, engineering and sound design have to be used.
Scott
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Ha, didn't you come to my house, badmouth my POS Magna, with the hopes of getting it for nothing ?
Scott
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I always say it's fine to sacrifice an old MC so some kid or guy can get his hands dirty and mess around out in the shop. Many do get completed. OK here's the rant, then they ride'm and find just what it is they built. THAT first frost heave or pot hole or, or, can be a wake up moment.
I'm not done, how about that guy who details his bike every weekend and never notices those deep long sidewall cracks in his 10 year old tires that he bought for life, I personally know that guy.
Scott
Scott
It's kind of a shame, that they all get bought up and chopped. There's only so may of 'em out there. I'm just as guilty, but those of you out there restoring these bikes to true, original, unmolested (unless they wanna be!), and pristine condition? God bless you! Sooner or later (probably sooner), we're going to run out of originals. Somebody is going to have the last dinosaur. Extinction sucks. There. That's my rant.
Michaelo
650Mick
If they have been chopped so be it, what irks me is people who buy pretty well close to an original bike, they have no idea at what they are looking at except what the intention and outcome of a series chop job that they've seen on some tv show.
Why destroy a original bike to make something thats appealing to the eye but about as practical as my fractured ankle when you ride it?
Why destroy a original bike to make something thats appealing to the eye but about as practical as my fractured ankle when you ride it?
angus67
Welder's penetrate deeper!!
As someone who has does two 20+ year sleeping barn finds , both intact and untouched, also a 1980 stocker , and a 1980 hardtail, i see the beauty in all four. The chop was holed piston, the 71 and 1972 honda xl needed a wake up, and will remain untouched, and my ol reliable 2003 suzuki marauder are all beautiful to me. And when i look at them together in my shop, i dont see the age difference they all run the same, just took a different way to get there.
Wanna rant? OK then. I started riding back in the 1950s and then, as now, young guys (well, mostly guys) with no money bought whatever pile of rolling rust they could afford just to be riding.
And then, as now, started to think about what could be done to that old clunker to improve it and devote whatever amount they can spare from each paycheck towards the upgrades they reckon are needed.
All good so far, eh? Money is better spent on bikes than on booze, right?
Alas, there is a difference.
Back then we used to hacksaw off the rear ends of our rigid frame bikes and weld on bootleg copies of McCandless swingarm conversions to make the bikes more comfortable to ride.
These days they remove a bike's rear suspension with a Sawzall and weld on a hardtail to make a formerly comfortable bike into a fashion statement.
WTF, the chiropractors need the business after all.
And then, as now, started to think about what could be done to that old clunker to improve it and devote whatever amount they can spare from each paycheck towards the upgrades they reckon are needed.
All good so far, eh? Money is better spent on bikes than on booze, right?
Alas, there is a difference.
Back then we used to hacksaw off the rear ends of our rigid frame bikes and weld on bootleg copies of McCandless swingarm conversions to make the bikes more comfortable to ride.
These days they remove a bike's rear suspension with a Sawzall and weld on a hardtail to make a formerly comfortable bike into a fashion statement.
WTF, the chiropractors need the business after all.
dilbone
XS650 Addict
My hardtail build was my first ever "bring a bike back from the dead" build. The only other "bring a bike back" I had done at that point was a non running '75 CB550 that I cleaned up, tuned, and sold for a decent profit back to my PO's PO. I still miss that bike. I've always liked the look of the stock CB bikes over the stock XS650's....However, I chose the XS for a hardtail build because there were soooooo many more options/parts available AND they have a much more "it came this way" look when done than a hardtailed CB or GS could ever have IMHO.
I think some folks begin a build thinking they can do one super cheap and realize they were mistaken half way through only to abandon it. Some others just don't have the mechanical aptitude to make it happen. I made everything I could possibly make on my build and only purchased the things I absolutely couldn't make myself and still ended up probably close to $3000 total cost from bike purchase all the way to paint(more than I had anticipated). On the flip side...I've got a GS I did a "brat" build on that I have about $600 in total...and another GS currently in the works that is more of a "cafe" build that I should have less than $1000 in at the end of the day. Both of the GS's will be sold for a profit...but not the XS...that one's not going anywhere.
As much as I love my XS I will never buy another one...I only need one jack hammer in the garage!!!!
However, I think the XS is probably the most adaptable platform for anyone wanting to do something other than stock with an almost endless supply of aftermarket support for those builds...waaaaay more than any other model IME. In that way it makes complete sense to see so many people chopping up XS's out there like it or not.
I think some folks begin a build thinking they can do one super cheap and realize they were mistaken half way through only to abandon it. Some others just don't have the mechanical aptitude to make it happen. I made everything I could possibly make on my build and only purchased the things I absolutely couldn't make myself and still ended up probably close to $3000 total cost from bike purchase all the way to paint(more than I had anticipated). On the flip side...I've got a GS I did a "brat" build on that I have about $600 in total...and another GS currently in the works that is more of a "cafe" build that I should have less than $1000 in at the end of the day. Both of the GS's will be sold for a profit...but not the XS...that one's not going anywhere.
As much as I love my XS I will never buy another one...I only need one jack hammer in the garage!!!!
However, I think the XS is probably the most adaptable platform for anyone wanting to do something other than stock with an almost endless supply of aftermarket support for those builds...waaaaay more than any other model IME. In that way it makes complete sense to see so many people chopping up XS's out there like it or not.
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
To each his own, but I have no interest in chops,brats,rats etc. If it doesn't have rear suspension just move along.
CoconutPete
1979 XS650 Special
It's like that with a lot of things.... I have always had a love affair with the BMW e46 chassis. Those are getting hacked all t hell now by the "slightly older than the Civic boys" crowd.
Hi racerdave,
but what if your circumstances are such that you can't "just move along"?
I was introduced to a newbie CVMG member at a club meeting.
"Fred's an XS650 man, show him the photos of the bike you've just built"
He showed me photos of a '76 XS650 that had been hardtailed.
If you are as old as me you can get away with being rude to people so I asked the man:-
"That used to be a nice bike, why did you do that to it, you fucking Vandal?"
"Well," he said "I bought it from a guy who'd backed over it with his Semi and crushed the bike's back end.
I didn't have the money to buy a replacement frame but what I did have was a MIG welder, a pile of steel tube and a Harley rear wheel."
"What a nice bike" I said.
Yes, it's true, some are good for nothing else. It does bother me when the really nice ones get cut up, especially Standard models, and it's even worse if the fucking guy never finishes it. And that happens far too often.
See that hardtail Triumph I'm sitting on in my avatar, that kind of started it all for me. Paid $60 for my TXA. I noticed it driving by a steel shed that had rusted so bad that I could see a motorcycle sitting in the middle of it, stopped to see what it was. The shed was cram packed with tools that were so rusted it was hard to tell what they were. This bike was leaning over on its center stand, almost ready to fall. About an inch of one center stand foot had rusted away. No one home, stopped later and offered the guy $50 so he could take his wife out to dinner, he said $60. I had that bike running in less than a week with not much more than two plug caps. Chased it around the garage on its center stand tuning the carbs. After a few rides I thought that if I only had one bike, this wouldn't be bad. I was amazed at how well this bike road with all of the rust, bad tires and so little work to get a good evaluation of its condition. Started it every weekend, road it around my lake and parked it around my flagpole with my other bikes. After a while it started harder, back fired, blew the carb off once in a while, dirty points, parked it in the shed for a few years. Then I saw this Triumph hardtail, found this forum, discovered TC Bros and learned that they are 30 miles from me. I went to TC Bros, saw the XS's in the showroom, Tim gave me a very friendly tour of the facilities. So I decided that I would use some of my money from changing peoples tires and doing work on bikes to buy a hardtail the next summer. A guy on this forum offered another member a cut-off TC Bros hardtail for $20 plus shipping. I jumped on that, got a decent hardtail for $60.
So, see, I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE, I HAD TO BUILD ONE, IT WAS MEANT TO BE
Scott
So, see, I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE, I HAD TO BUILD ONE, IT WAS MEANT TO BE
Scott
I'm like many others, to each his own. I'd rather see a special get the knife rather than some of the nicer 70's models. I certainly didn't mind cutting up my 81, although I elected to keep rear suspension and front brakes. I think there's wiggle room to get the "look" and still get something unique.
Attachments
The Triumph inspiration, The $60 shed find, $60 bike with $20 hard tail
dilbone
XS650 Addict
looking good mrtwowheel, I'm not surprised you chopped that one...
I totally get that some folks are very much attached to the original stock bikes, but some don't have that emotional attachment to them. I like having one of my 4 current bikes as a hard tail. If I could only own 1 bike it wouldn't be a hard tail, but to have one in the stable is pretty fun IMO.
Here is mine pre and post chop:
I totally get that some folks are very much attached to the original stock bikes, but some don't have that emotional attachment to them. I like having one of my 4 current bikes as a hard tail. If I could only own 1 bike it wouldn't be a hard tail, but to have one in the stable is pretty fun IMO.
Here is mine pre and post chop:
