My 81' XS650 Chopper & Intro

Oh Yeah... It will be running tomorrow.

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You sure banged that out in a hurry, Phail. Looks like you had your nose to the grindstone for the last week or so. Looks real classy. I like the paint. It really flows nice with the seat.
Good job man!
 
Outside shot from this morning. Man I can't wait to ride. Going to try to get it wired up on my lunch break. I put 60 hours in for work this week also!

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Yeah, kicker kickstand LOL. Forgot to make a kickstand. Hate that I have to grind off the paint to weld one on.
 
Hey Phail, in the vid do you have the bike just wired off the coil and pamco to test or do you have it all hooked up to your charging system? I take it you're running a PMA setup as well. Where are you mounting your Rec and Cap?
 
Hey Phail, in the vid do you have the bike just wired off the coil and pamco to test or do you have it all hooked up to your charging system? I take it you're running a PMA setup as well. Where are you mounting your Rec and Cap?

I'm using the PMA + Pamco. So PMA to Rec/Reg to Cap & Switch to ignition and lights.

I made a bracket on the backbone for the Rec/Reg and bolted it up. I screwed the cap on just below where there was already a threaded hole. Wires are pretty messy, but I'm working on cleaning them up. I wired the fuses inline for now until I find a smaller fuse block.

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I found some bad news when replacing the filters.

I purchased a new sump filter and when I took the old one out it was brand new. Super clean and all. So I put it back in.

But when I took out the right side filter this is what I found:

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Looks like my cam chain tensioner is done. I do not want to have to tear this motor down to fix it before Born Free, but I probably need to. Grrrr
 
Got it all finished around 1pm. Pushed it into the yard, started it up, pulled the clutch, put it in gear and it killed it. OK, clutch needs to be adjusted... Don't know why but OK.

Adjust clutch 50 times, nothing. Turn all the way in to where it should be slipping, nothing. It will not disengage. Clutch is locked up.

I dropped it off at the shop on Feb 2nd. Got it back after sitting on May 12th. I was riding it before I dropped it off. There was nothing wrong with the clutch.

Just sitting, maybe the clutch locked up? It had no oil in it for a few weeks. Shouldn't it break free in a quickly? This makes no sense to me.

UPDATE!

I just pushed it fast and jumped on, popped it into first, and rode a bit. Fixed it right up.
 
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Just rode it down the road. It's so nice. No more parts killing vibrations from the badly done 8" stretch hardtail. It's totally smooth. It's a 3" stretch right now. I don't even have a chain tensioner on and it's smooth. Me like!

Now I have to put a few miles on it before going into Reno for Street Vibrations. Awesome!
 
The review:

This new hardtail is 1" and a 1/4" DOM 120 wall. It's a 3" stretch taking five inches out of my previous hardtail. I also have the Firestone 500 16 rear tire and a 21" front.

This is the only bike I've ever had and I've only been riding two seasons. When I got my bike the vibrations were so bad it was destroying everything on it. I spent a year chasing tail on it trying to "fix" the problem and I could never get it fixed.

When I read about these bikes on this site I was told that the vibration was "normal". I couldn't believe it. People said that a rephase was the only way to fix it. So I started saving up for that. I'm still not sure if I really want to spend that much money though.

Finally I got smart and dropped the bike off at Ace Cycles & Service to have them chop the hardtail off and build a shorter one. I also wanted a single down tube and got all that for $400 + tube.

It is a totally different bike now. Totally different. The vibrations I had are gone. It's totally smooth now. I now know the vibration people talk about and it's nothing compare to what I was dealing with. I would say 75% better. Not only did it fix the vibration but it also fixed the chain waging problem. The chain before was flopping around eating the tire and frame. I had two wheels on it to keep it straight. That's all gone now. And the third thing it fixed is the steering. Before if I let go of the handlebars it would start to speed wobble. Now I can let go and it's dead straight. Loving it.

The old hardtail was thin wall tube and an 8" stretch. No wonder why it had problems.

The new rear wheel is totally smooth. I don't even have it balanced. I will put some beads in it but it rides nice already. I really like the look of the tire and tomorrow I'll post up more review on it in the other thread. I'll be riding through Virginia City so I will have a better idea on it.

I still have a few things to finish on the bike. I still have to do the sissy bar, kickstand, tailpipe mounts, and more wire clean up. But it feels perfect right now.

So a badly done hardtail was the source of so many problems I'm glad I had it chopped off. (No I didn't do the hardtail myself)

I'm so happy I will need plastic surgery.
 
sweet bike,, nice job,, You learn so much from the first bike,, The second time around is so much better,,
 
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