Hey guys, I am onto my second build now and after hastily building my hardtail over the summer I decided that I wanted to document my second build a little better. So I figure I will keep track of it here.
A little background info:
I picked up my 81" special for $700 on CL over the summer. Has 11000 miles on it. The guy wanted $1200 for it, but it wasn't running and in pretty rough shape in terms of maintenance. I was confident in getting it running so I low balled him and he took it first offer
I think he accepted the price because he was walking out the door about to leave on a 2 month long vacation with his wife.....who may or may not have been lurking over his shoulder urging him to "just get rid of it." 
So here it is on the day I brought her home. Hard to see from the pics but there was a decent amount of rust, oxidation and general road muck. The chain was stretched beyond survival, the back brakes were locked, the fronts had no pressure and she still didn't start, but over all it was a great foundation for a build.
The first night I spent getting it running, which was as simple as draining the carb bowls and tossing a new battery in it. I then went on over the next two weeks to begin to restore it back to its original luster. At this point I did not know whether I would be keeping the bike or doing a quick restore and then flipping it.
This was my progress after two weeks:
Rebuilt carbs, new chain, new brakes front and back, new levers, new blinkers, new headlight and fenders off my 77' build, some new paint on the pipes, engine, and side covers, and cleaned up the rims a bit.
Here's two weeks in:
And here's where the rest of my money goes....my little lady....I love everything in this picture....
Anyway after this I "finished" up my hardtail build, which is still in progress lol.
I know it was a sin and if I could go back in time I would never have done it to such a beautiful stock bike, but here is what my other build started as and where its currently at (if you look in the background you can see my first bike a 1983 Honda Shadow VT500 that I ran into the back of an Audi A4 at 60MPH
but if it hadn't been for that crash i would have never had the money to buy the Radian that I got for $800 in wisconsin and flipped two weeks later for $2200 which allowed me to buy my XS.):
The Radian: Cool story with this bike. It sat in a Japanese bike museum for 10 years, then went to a lady who put less than 1500 miles on it in 8 years. I got it with 6000 miles on the clock.....it was an incredibly fun bike, but just too beautiful for me...I couldn't bring myself to mod it at all and I wanted to build lol.
Here's the first xs on the ride home from buying it:
Here it is a couple weeks later Wish I had stopped there and kept it a sweet little cafe with the option of stock at any time:
Here she is now:
I know....I know....
Anyway it wasn't until a couple months ago that I started working on the second XS again.
Since the summer I have moved into a new garage with welders, pipe benders, a mill, a lathe, and plenty of other fun toys. It is amazing what the right space can do for inspirations and productivity.
Here's the new garage. Its a mess in this pic and still is but its getting there....slowly
*Anyway it's now 4:30 AM here in Minnesota so I will bring this thread up to date in the morning.
A little background info:
I picked up my 81" special for $700 on CL over the summer. Has 11000 miles on it. The guy wanted $1200 for it, but it wasn't running and in pretty rough shape in terms of maintenance. I was confident in getting it running so I low balled him and he took it first offer
I think he accepted the price because he was walking out the door about to leave on a 2 month long vacation with his wife.....who may or may not have been lurking over his shoulder urging him to "just get rid of it." So here it is on the day I brought her home. Hard to see from the pics but there was a decent amount of rust, oxidation and general road muck. The chain was stretched beyond survival, the back brakes were locked, the fronts had no pressure and she still didn't start, but over all it was a great foundation for a build.
The first night I spent getting it running, which was as simple as draining the carb bowls and tossing a new battery in it. I then went on over the next two weeks to begin to restore it back to its original luster. At this point I did not know whether I would be keeping the bike or doing a quick restore and then flipping it.
This was my progress after two weeks:
Rebuilt carbs, new chain, new brakes front and back, new levers, new blinkers, new headlight and fenders off my 77' build, some new paint on the pipes, engine, and side covers, and cleaned up the rims a bit.
Here's two weeks in:
And here's where the rest of my money goes....my little lady....I love everything in this picture....
Anyway after this I "finished" up my hardtail build, which is still in progress lol.
I know it was a sin and if I could go back in time I would never have done it to such a beautiful stock bike, but here is what my other build started as and where its currently at (if you look in the background you can see my first bike a 1983 Honda Shadow VT500 that I ran into the back of an Audi A4 at 60MPH
but if it hadn't been for that crash i would have never had the money to buy the Radian that I got for $800 in wisconsin and flipped two weeks later for $2200 which allowed me to buy my XS.):The Radian: Cool story with this bike. It sat in a Japanese bike museum for 10 years, then went to a lady who put less than 1500 miles on it in 8 years. I got it with 6000 miles on the clock.....it was an incredibly fun bike, but just too beautiful for me...I couldn't bring myself to mod it at all and I wanted to build lol.
Here's the first xs on the ride home from buying it:
Here it is a couple weeks later Wish I had stopped there and kept it a sweet little cafe with the option of stock at any time:
Here she is now:
I know....I know....
Anyway it wasn't until a couple months ago that I started working on the second XS again.
Since the summer I have moved into a new garage with welders, pipe benders, a mill, a lathe, and plenty of other fun toys. It is amazing what the right space can do for inspirations and productivity.
Here's the new garage. Its a mess in this pic and still is but its getting there....slowly
*Anyway it's now 4:30 AM here in Minnesota so I will bring this thread up to date in the morning.
