Let's See The XS's

[baninja]

Thanks for the comments everyone.
@Brassneck, the tank is a Rocket tank made by Voodoo Vintage and yes, those are two adjustable air bags under the seat.

@TooManyXS1B's. Were you looking in the Cedar Park area? If yes, then it might be area.

BA

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

...looking in the Cedar Park area?

Unbelievable. Yes, somewhere around McNeal and Research.

Nice homes & neighborhood, tiny garages. Found a 3-car garage in Pf-ville.

But, that was 15 years ago...

 

[baninja]

Unbelievable. Yes, somewhere around McNeal and Research.

Nice homes & neighborhood, tiny garages. Found a 3-car garage in Pf-ville.

But, that was 15 years ago...

Hahah... that's funny. The "2 car" garage is pretty small. With a little organization, I am able to have a washer/dryer, work bench, up-right rolling tool box, motorcycle lift, 2 lawn mowers, 5 bicycles, 3 motorcycles, 1 scooter and still have room for one of our vehicles.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hahah... that's funny. The "2 car" garage is pretty small. With a little organization, I am able to have a washer/dryer, work bench, up-right rolling tool box, motorcycle lift, 2 lawn mowers, 5 bicycles, 3 motorcycles, 1 scooter and still have room for one of our vehicles.

Amazing. You must have a degree in "Packaging Density", or ........ "Tardis" technology...

 

[glennpm]

Hi All,

After a three year on and off again project, I have an almost completed 1979 Café style XS650! I thought I had a good bike when I started, but lots of corrosion and damaged parts that weren’t obvious. The good thing was that it was low mileage.

I did all the work except for the rephrased crank, cam mod, machined rotor adaptor and final paint. The worse most tedious work was the polishing and wheel building. Did I say that I had a lot of corrosion ;-)
This is my list of big changes and work I did.

Motor:

- 277 re-phased engine
- Port matched, i.e., gasket to head, removed obstructions and polished head flow paths
- Elephant foot valve adjusters
- Re-indexed cam to account for “gasket” change
- Cleanup hone on cylinders
- New rings fitted and gapped
- Assembled without the lower barrels to crank casing to increase the compression a bit
- Knocked ridges off of clutch metal plates
- Used slightly heavier clutch springs
- Did “TooManys’” clutch actuator change with one piece clutch actuator rod
- Cleanup and polishing done by hand and buffers
- Hughs’ PMA
- Pamcote Pete’s Pamco ignition
- Completely rebuild cards with new diaphragm boots

Steering:

- All balls head bearings
- Tarozzi fork brace that I polished
- XSperformance damper valves and damper rod hole mods
- New seals all around
- Clubman handlebars drilled to run wiring inside the bars

Frame etc:

- Powder coated frame after tab and tail section cleanup and removal
- Removed center stand
- Stiffened swingarm with brace ‘ladder” kit
- Added zerk fittings to kickstand and center of swingarm pivot
- New bronze bushings to swingarm
- XS750 gas tank with deeper knee pockets
- Manual petcocks are replacing the modified originals that leaked
- Modified taillight bracket to change angle of light
- Cleaned, polished , rewired and trued the wheels with stainless spokes
- Norton Specialties mufflers with my own hanger and 25° elbows
- Mike’s high performance rotor, Brembo caliper and special spacer (Thanks Joseph!)
- Hammerhead shocks

Wiring:

- Discarded original starter, all wiring and went with kick only
- Capacitor and small .8ah battery
- Rewired with small six position fuse block in plastic 4” junction box under aluminum electric mount plate under seat.
- Used marine grade wiring
- Installed relays for kill switch, horn, high beam and low beam into the headlight bucket
- Installed Acewell speedo/tach etc.
- Led turn and running light signals. The rears work with the stop light

Discards:

- Centerstand
- Seat
- Rear and front fenders
- Original gauges
- Original controls
- Starter
- Headlight and brackets
- Original HEAVY disk brake system
- Original shocks
- Air boxes and filters
- Rear pillion footpegs
- Wiring
- Turn signals

The bike rides, handles well and is comfortable with the only oil leak at the drain plug Mike’s gasket ring. I’m real happy about that since I was dreading case or barrel to crankcase leaks. Sounds fantastic!

Pictures:

Start to Finish:

Changed the handlebars from what I last posted and put all the updated pictures in my albums.

 

[gentlemanjim]

Extremely fine work. I'm on a similar quest. Please tell me where you sourced the front fender.

 

[tonyc]

Glen, Beautiful and great work. You have a good vision for of what an xs should look like. Tony C.

 

[glennpm]

Thanks!

Yes, its from a Yamaha Virago. Its not a complete bolt-on. You need to pivot the fender toward the front and drill and trim for new front holes. The brace needed a little grinding and clearance fitting to to stay off of the fender.

 

[tonyc]

Glenn did you have to clearance the Brembo Caliper for the front wheel?

 

[glennpm]

Yes, I sure did. I ran a chamfer on an arc with a file.

 

[Brassneck]

Nice work! Really clean & brilliantly shiny! Curious about the clubman's being inverted...more of a comfort thing I suppose?

 

[glennpm]

Thanks! and yes on the bars. I was too leaned over and didn't think I would be comfortable in a more leaned forward position. I saw another post on a Triumph site and went with them this way. they are very comfortable.

 

[jay760]

Latest incarnation of my xs, rebuilt the engine, now has 750cc JE pistons, unknown cam hard welded high lift/ long duration, 36mm Dellorto's on tapered manifolds, ported head and an 8 plate clutch, there's no lights, running electrex world ignition which is on the crank with no lighting circuit, topped off with a Tracy body, not sure what the fairing is off but it is quite effective, tucked down a bit and had no wind in my face at all.

 

[fox23]

Just finished!

 

[peanut]

Latest incarnation of my xs, rebuilt the engine, now has 750cc JE pistons, unknown cam hard welded high lift/ long duration, 36mm Dellorto's on tapered manifolds, ported head and an 8 plate clutch, there's no lights, running electrex world ignition which is on the crank with no lighting circuit, topped off with a Tracy body, not sure what the fairing is off but it is quite effective, tucked down a bit and had no wind in my face at all.

very nice Jay you finally got the Tracy body bike sorted, Love the clipon bar setup but the screen obscures how they are fitted

 

[56nomad]

Here's mine. 81 Heritage. Stipped to the frame and cases. New pistons and bore, Mikuni carbs. Pulled the loom and now kick only. Coustom Tank ( Honda Rebel style). Powdercoated rims and frame. Hope you like her.

Really dig it. Great stance. Looks perfect. What rear shocks are you using?

How are your ears holding up? I had those shorty BES megas on mine for a while but they brought me too much attention, if you know what I mean!!! I swapped them for longer Dunstall reverse cone megas so happy ears and happy[ish] plod.

 

[56nomad]

Thanks! and yes on the bars. I was too leaned over and didn't think I would be comfortable in a more leaned forward position. I saw another post on a Triumph site and went with them this way. they are very comfortable.

Hi Glenn,
Your bike looks ace .......... except for the bars in their current orientation (no disrespect intended). I originally had 4 inch drop ace bars on mine and found the same and I have [mid] rear-sets fitted! I swapped those bars for 2 inch drop versions and find those, together with the rear-sets, fine. As you have standard pegs have you thought about M-bars or repro early '60s Triumph Bonneville Thruxton production racer bars? They're half-way between ace/clubman bars and low rise bars and, if they're still too low, you can turn these upside down too and they'll still look good. Great work regardless!

 

[glennpm]

Thanks for your comments Nomad. Love Nomads BTW!

I think you're correct about going with a more curvy bar instead of the Clubmans but I'm not having too much luck finding the early Thruxton bars, only the latest renditions.

I do like the M-bars and have found flat and Norman Hydes which have a slight rise which I believe I want for comfort. Can you help with some links and I can see if I can get a 7/8" set in the US?

Flat M-bars at a good price, "Hotwing M Style Cafe Bars Chrome Finish"

http://www.hotwingglass.com/handlebars/handlebars.shtml

Norman Hydes:

http://www.newbonneville.com/html/hyde_handlebars.html

Appreciate your help.

 

[jay760]

very nice Jay you finally got the Tracy body bike sorted, Love the clipon bar setup but the screen obscures how they are fitted

There's nothing to hide, they are just clamped to the fork legs, did have to get a couple if sets to get them right though, as they all seem to be attached in a different place on the bars.

 

[Spike]

Here's my work in progress. Added some rear shocks and gauges from dime city.

'79 xs650