I figured my 1978 XS500 would have the same frame as a xs650!?!?!?

[RecoveringA55hole]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I had a couple questions for you guys! First, just want to let you know this is my first build, I don't know to much about it but i learn fast.


This Is my bike..



I found a 1978 Yamaha EX500 sitting for sale for a few hundred bucks, runs great, so I bought it. I started seeing some really nice XS650 bobbers online, I figured my xs500 was going to be about the same, frame wise. Buts its different, and it wouldnt be a big deal if I was planning on putting a hardtail on it, but I'm not.

I was planning on doing a "brat" style, leaving the shocks on, and buying a "visual impact brat kit" like this..



That picture is on a XS650.. My frame is a little different, it doesnt have a pipe that goes all the way down the like 650 and it also has 3 other pipes up top.. here are some pictures of my frame (compare them to the 650)..






So what would you guys recommend that I do if I want this kind of style..





I didn't realized the frames would be a big difference. I could probably still make the cuts and extra weld ons. If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate it.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys, Thanks,



Matt

 

[xjwmx]

People think Leo Durocher said "Nice guys finish last." But what he actually said was "Nice guys / finish last." He was talking about another team's chances for the season. He said they were nice guys but they would finish last in the division. But due to the way they ran the quote, since about the 1950s people have believed nice guys finish last

 

[Beau]

People think Leo Durocher said "Nice guys finish last." But what he actually said was "Nice guys / finish last." He was talking about another team's chances for the season. He said they were nice guys but they would finish last in the division. But due to the way they ran the quote, since about the 1950s people have believed nice guys finish last

That pretty much sums things up.

Sell the bike you have an buy something that is a little bit more beat up. Get a saw, learn how to weld really good, look at tons of pictures, search different forums, search tech sections, use Google, use the SEARCH function on here (it really works awesome).

 

[jayel]

had a malware pop-up after clicking on those pics guys

 

[RecoveringA55hole]

had a malware pop-up after clicking on those pics guys

Its not from me?? Its the uploading website I used which never had a complaint from it before. My pcd fine also...

 

[gggGary]

Anything can be done, but it's going to be lot of work. How are your fab / welding skills? Reading your first post kinda gives me the idea you might be in over your head on this one.

 

[jayel]

Its not from me?? Its the uploading website I used which never had a complaint from it before. My pcd fine also...

I would suspect your pic upload site too, the ex500 frame has more in commom with the xs400 frame than the xs650 might want to look at the 400 forum and see what they are doing

 

[Travis]

had a malware pop-up after clicking on those pics guys

I can't duplicate the problem in Firefox but I can in Internet Explorer. I would suspect it's either a problem with Image Shack or IE. Hopefully they get the problem fixed soon.

 

[RecoveringA55hole]

Anything can be done, but it's going to be lot of work. How are your fab / welding skills? Reading your first post kinda gives me the idea you might be in over your head on this one.

Yeah, I'm over my head a little bit. I'm not worried about it, the project isn't breaking the bank. My welding skills aren't the greatest but my brother does it for a living so I'm going to figure out how I want to do this and go over it with him. Just trying to come up with some ideas right now.

 

[RecoveringA55hole]

I would suspect your pic upload site too, the ex500 frame has more in commom with the xs400 frame than the xs650 might want to look at the 400 forum and see what they are doing

Yeah you are right, Im checking out the 400's as we speak and coming up with some ideas on what I can do. Thanks a lot.

 

[grizld1]

RA, what you have there is an XS500. The EX500 is the Kawasaki 500 Ninja. If you're going to Sawzall a bike you'd be money ahead to start with something that's a lot less clean and complete than your machine appears to be.

 

[Travis]

There's a couple of pics floating around on xs400.com where guys have converted the XS400 frame (which looks a lot like that XS500 frame) to a single back bone. Not that I necessarily think you need to go that route to get the look you're going for, but it's an option if you're up for the extra work involved.

 

[crazyazsredneck]

Dude get ur photos off they have mal ware running

 

[RecoveringA55hole]

RA, The EX500 is the Kawasaki 500 Ninja. If you're going to Sawzall a bike you'd be money ahead to start with something that's a lot less clean and complete than your machine appears to be.

The "EX" was a typo, but the bike was only a few hundred bucks so why not chop it, I thought these bikes were pretty common so didnt think it was going to hold to much value as an ALL original bike?

 

[RecoveringA55hole]

There's a couple of pics floating around on xs400.com where guys have converted the XS400 frame (which looks a lot like that XS500 frame) to a single back bone. Not that I necessarily think you need to go that route to get the look you're going for, but it's an option if you're up for the extra work involved.

I don't think im going to make a single back bone, I think I figured out a way to do it the way I want. Thanks for the help, I'm going the other site as well.

 

[CDNTX650]

The "EX" was a typo, but the bike was only a few hundred bucks so why not chop it, I thought these bikes were pretty common so didnt think it was going to hold to much value as an ALL original bike?

hard to find bikes compared to the 400 and 650.