Just Bought My First Motorcycle...

kyladoscope

kyladoscope

XS650 Member
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Hello Everyone! My name is Kyla. I just bought a 1983 Yamaha XS650 for $675 and plan on doing a tracker inspired build. I’m anxious to tear everything off of it starting this week. I’ve never participated in a forum before. I think this is such an amazing way to connect and share information. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and searching on the forum, I’ll more than likely have a lot of questions.
 
kyladoscope said:
Hello Everyone! My name is Kyla. I just bought a 1983 Yamaha XS650 for $675 and plan on doing a tracker inspired build. I’m anxious to tear everything off of it starting this week. I’ve never participated in a forum before. I think this is such an amazing way to connect and share information. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and searching on the forum, I’ll more than likely have a lot of questions.
Click to expand...

Welcome Kyla, from Canada’s sunny southern coast in Windsor, Ontario!

I hope you won’t mind a few suggestions before you break out the tools:
- get a shop manual - even the XS650 has a lotta small parts and it will help figuring out what goes where and how to get it back together
- take a lot of photos as you go - so you will remember what goes where
- buy a bunch of ziplock sandwich Baggies and sharpie marker to keep stuff straight
- plan what you are going to do - before you do it

Clearly, the overall theme is - be organized and stay organized and this will be a lot more fun.

Be sure to ask lots of questions and post lots of photos so that we can all give you some help along the way.

Cheers,

Pete
 
nighthog said:
from all us Old Male Farts!
Click to expand...

HEY - I represent that remark!
Old_Poop.jpg
 
Welcome to the XS650 forum Kyla. As Jim said, pics please. In the UK you wouldn't get very much for that sort of money, but I guess there's a lot more old XS's kicking around in the States? Pete's advice is very good - best to have a think about what you want to do and keep stuff organised.
 
Hi
Cuz no one else mentioned the obvious.
GET IT RUNNING PERFECTLY BEFORE you tear it to smithereens!
That will be a decent primer in motorcycle mechanics and establish a benchmark of what you have gained and LOST from the bikes character and performance when you make changes. All motorcycles are a series of compromises. I've been messing with these for decades and STILL prefer incremental changes to a bike, so I can gauge how each mod has actually changed things. Spend the time to read through a few rebuild and tracker builds here.,mailman and Jim have DETAILED detail refurb, restoration threads. While he's gone from the forum now Pregrid really got a tracker build done. Don't let it scare you but the level of craftsmanship by some of the members here is amazing. Don't worry, even bodgers like me manage to bumble along just fine.
Some threads to peruse
http://www.xs650.com/threads/good-heart-bad-intentions-another-build-thread.13561/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/my-yamaha-xs650-street-tracker-build-by-olddude13.4318
IMHO This one is the tracker build to die for
http://www.xs650.com/threads/buildin-me-a-tracker.7059/
Note the time frames involved
ahem; you want to RIDE THIS YEAR? Plan on starting your build next fall. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Poorly planned, failed projects, IE parts piles are dirt common on CL and FRB marketplace.
 
Last edited:
Greetings Kyla!
Welcome to the forum, you came to the right place to get helpful information on your build. Considering our collective ages, there’s about a thousand years of knowledge on this here forum. :D
I would suggest starting a new build thread in the garage section of the forum , post some photos of what you’re starting with and tell us what you would like to accomplish. That way we can all keep track of your progress and follow along.
As Pete said earlier, tag, bag and photograph everything as you are removing parts, you can’t believe how helpful reference photographs are and how many times you will go back and look at them. Organization is King. Don’t throw any old parts away. I have a couple of big Rubbermaid tubs to keep old parts in. And for parts storage along the way, I highly recommend zip lock bags in sandwich and gallon size and cheapie storage containers for smaller parts.
FB8589F0-60BC-4755-8441-D7A59CD71E11.jpeg

Enjoy your new project, and best of luck to you!
Bob
 
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. I plan on getting a lot of the tear down done this weekend. I’m stocked up on ziplocks and plan on keeping it as organized as possible, thanks Mailman. I’ve been catching up on your build page. The bike is a little rough around the edges, but Gary, when I bought it on a cold start it kicked first try. I’m going to strip it down to the frame and rebuild while only keeping the bare minimum. I’ve decided to go 18” spoke wheels both front and rear with a Brembo conversion up front and keep the drum in the back. I also want to eliminate as many elements overall, clean up the frame, shave the forks, cut and shorten the rear hoop, change the seat. I ordered a CDI from Hugh, I know some of the purist would advise against it, but for the look I’m going for I didn’t want to go through the process of hiding a battery. I know it’s a lot of information and I will save the rest for the build page. Thanks again everyone and look forward to sharing this process and utilizing all the support.
 
kyladoscope said:
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. I plan on getting a lot of the tear down done this weekend. I’m stocked up on ziplocks and plan on keeping it as organized as possible, thanks Mailman. I’ve been catching up on your build page. The bike is a little rough around the edges, but Gary, when I bought it on a cold start it kicked first try. I’m going to strip it down to the frame and rebuild while only keeping the bare minimum. I’ve decided to go 18” spoke wheels both front and rear with a Brembo conversion up front and keep the drum in the back. I also want to eliminate as many elements overall, clean up the frame, shave the forks, cut and shorten the rear hoop, change the seat. I ordered a CDI from Hugh, I know some of the purist would advise against it, but for the look I’m going for I didn’t want to go through the process of hiding a battery. I know it’s a lot of information and I will save the rest for the build page. Thanks again everyone and look forward to sharing this process and utilizing all the support.
Click to expand...
Start a build thread. Would love to follow your journey.
 

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