New rider, owner, & forum member! My bike & plan inside

[XSFazz]

Hey guys!

My name is Mark, I am new to bikes after being in the car game for a while (and still). My girlfriend has a 1976 Honda CB360T that we transformed into a beautiful cafe racer and she has been begging me to be her riding partner for a while and get my own project. After a good bit of searching and trying to find the right bike for my introduction into the wonderful world of motorcycle riding, I was steered towards the Yamaha XS650 model as it is incredibly easy to work on and fairly light for a 650.

I became familiar with the different trim levels and decided I wanted a Special model, so I found a 1978 XS650 Special with 11k miles about an hour from me. Here's what it looks like after bringing it home.

I am putting the superbike bars back on and new grips for starters. I don't like the bars that are on it now.. too "cruiser." The bike is exceptionally clean and already has the PAMCO ignition from Mike's XS.

I am planning a cafe build on this but not chopping or cutting anything. I want a cafe seat, an aftermarket tail light / turn signals set up and removal of the pull bar.

I am going for a modern look, with new tech on an old bike. Really excited to start learning about these bikes and happy to be a member of this great XS650 forum.

Cheers!

Mark

 

[Royboy]

Welcome Mark! Looks to be a nice, clean 78'SE. Good plan with the handlebars, most folks pitch those. Lot's of good people and good info here. Read, read, read.


roy

 

[richardthemotorcycle1]

welcome to the forum, nice looking bike, the right place for great info, I agree with Royboy too (good people here).

 

[scabber]

Welcome. That is a really clean unmolested bike. I would ride it and café it later. Nice find.

 

[XSFazz]

Thanks guys!

I am not in a rush to go all out cafe yet, I definitely want to ride and enjoy it for the time being. I am, however, going to immediately swap the handlebars out for the superbike bars (which came with the bike too) and I am looking for a cafe seat but Mike's XS only has seats for 1980 Specials and this is a 78.

Do you guys recommend any other sites besides Mike'sXS for cafe parts / seats that are direct bolt on for these bikes? Like I said I'd like to be able to revert back to stock if I ever want to in the future. This bike is way too clean for me to be chopping and welding it into a cafe project.

I was looking at http://www.motorcycleseatsdirect.com/search.php?search_query=xs650&x=0&y=0 but these seem pretty pricey with the $90 flat rate shipping

 

[fredintoon]

- - - I found a 1978 XS650 Special with 11k miles about an hour from me. - - - I am putting the superbike bars back on and new grips for starters. I don't like the bars that are on it now.. too "cruiser." The bike is exceptionally clean and already has the PAMCO ignition from Mike's XS.
I am planning a cafe build on this but not chopping or cutting anything. I want a cafe seat, an aftermarket tail light / turn signals set up and removal of the pull bar.
I am going for a modern look, with new tech on an old bike. - - -

Hi Mark and welcome,
Nice bike!
Yeah, don't change nothin' that you can't change back again.
Nobody likes the rototiller bars. You gotta be 7 feet tall and have wrists that bend the wrong way to be comfortable with them.
Watch the Pamco. All the posts re Pamco say they work great but are kinda delicate.
Do a search here to see all the whining.
The "usual upgrades" are to replace the plastic swingarm bushings with bronze ones and replace the crowded ball headraces with tapered rollers.
I'd add a ScottOiler to increase the chain life by a claimed 5 times.
Do that in conjunction with installing the new sprockets and o-ring chain.
Think about a smaller than 34T rear sprocket too.
You sure about the bumstop seat? No pillion seat means no cuddly passenger.
Aftermarket signals need 27Watt bulbs or the stock flasher won't work.
Tiny signals may have aesthetic appeal but they lack visibility.
Switch to stainless wire braid reenforced brake lines.
Add a second front brake disk (leftside caliper from XS750/850/1100 Standard)
The stock m/c will still work; IMHO it works better with two calipers that it did with one.
No more "feels like wood" operation.
Drill all the disks or use slotted disks from a late model XS11.

 

[XSFazz]

Fred,

Thanks! So the bike came with a bunch of extra parts that I am listing in the classifieds, including 2 wheels, and it looks like one of them already has a drilled disc on it?

Maybe I can salvage that?

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Mark,
those ain't like any Yamaha XS series wheels that I've ever seen.
But WTF? Do a trial disk assembly. If the disk measures up, why not?
Note:- Has to be EXACTLY the same OD, bore diameter, offset & bolt circle.
And there are "false friends" (XS650 rear, XS750/850 all, wrong OD. Early XS650 2-piece front, wrong offset.)
Each one of those will bolt straight on to your front wheel but won't match up with the caliper.

 

[XSFazz]

Yeah I'm not sure what they're from honestly. They came with the bike, maybe they were from a different bike and the seller was unsure.

Either way, you're right, might as well see if the disk measures up! Then I will have to find the same exact one for the other side.

 

[650Skull]

Real nice 78Special. As others have said drop to lower bars. There is a Bremco caliper upgrade, (using the 650Disk), that Retiredgentleman and others have done on their XS650's that gives modern braking power.

XSleo's Brake write up and equations for M/C sizes = caliper/calipers


Do a forum search on the 5 star mag wheel. Remember a while back some one had a set on their bike when they got it and apparently they were a Yamaha XS650 optional wheel. Think Suzuki or some other make also had similar wheels.

 

[ippytattoo]

If memory serves me correctly that star wheel is from a Suzuki GS. There were some star wheels made for the XS but they had a different pattern.

 

[XSFazz]

650Skull: Good info! Thanks! That's exactly what I would like to do with the brakes. Also want to switch to a larger rear wheel.

Ippy good call! I confirmed with the previous owner that the wheels are in fact from an 83 GS100E Suzuki.

More progress pics coming in the next couple of days. Finally getting some time to work on the bike this weekend and swap the bars out for starters along with some minor detailing work.

 

[XSFazz]

So here's a small update. I removed the bars in favor of the superbike bars. Also took some other things off like the center stand and the fenders for now. New superbike grips will be here Wednesday. K&N RC-0982 filters will be here tomorrow. I need to find a tail light now and looking for turn signal solutions as well. Also awaiting new mirrors for the handlebars.

 

[deadchef]

regarding the extra wheels...

the star one you have is an early 80's suzuki. not sure about the other one, looks like an early honda or maybe yama.

rumor has it there was a special star mag wheel option at some point. front and rear disk. here is a pic of a rear.

 

[XSFazz]

Chef: Yea that's definitely the extra wheel I have. The PO said it was off a Suzuki GS1100E.

Anyhow, here's a couple more pics from today's progress. Removed blinkers, cleaned up some stuff, installed K&N pods with the HELP! 80910 Power brake check valves that you guys recommended on this forum, instead of just running open breather lines.

Trying to figure out a tail light solution, I don't want to run a rear fender.

Pic before the check valves were installed.

Possible tail light solutions:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEALTH-LED...Parts_Accessories&hash=item5b029ce9df&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcycle-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ad5ddb3cd&vxp=mtr