New to site but not to the XS family

[jriehl08]

Hey everyone Im Josh. I am from Michigan and have a 08 vstar 650 as my bagger cruiser. I built a 78 xs400 for my father in laws first bike 4 yrs ago. Then sold that bike for him and stepped him up to an 82 650 special and then onto his FXDB street bob. Long story short I love the Yamaha xs line and am going to look at a ton of late 70's xs 650 parts tomorrow for my upcoming build. I am going to build a springer rigid. My only question is what is the biggest tire I can put on the stock rim before having to go with the wide tire kit both on the motor and rear rigid weld on? Im excited to get to the buying parts and building this bike in my spare time. Its not going to be a fast build as I am going to be very picky on what I do and really take my time as I already know what the bike looks like in my head and know how I want it to site when its done.

Here is a picture of my 08 as I was modding it this winter. I have done a full inner and outer fairing with stereo and 6x9 speakers, +4 fork tubes, +4 lower fork covers, j-slam full 4 inch drop in the rear

 

[jriehl08]

Here is a side picture from right before this yrs first ride when I got the bike put back together. It was 28 degrees and I rode to work that next Monday hour and thirty minutes one way and it was 18 degrees when I left home.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hey Josh, welcome to the Forum.

We don't do that kinda ridin down here in the south.

You must be:
1 - A glutton for punishment
2 - a die-hard rider
3 - suffering from 'cabin fever'

Anyway, I've been running a 5.10 width rear, leaving about 1" clearance to the drivechain.
That clearance may be your limiting factor. There are many radical builds on this site, may give you ideas.

Welcome, and good luck!

 

[jriehl08]

Thanks. So I went and looked at all the parts. I pulled the trigger on an all original 74 complete bike with title for 700 bucks. Ill be picking it up in about 2 weeks once the guys yard dries up enough to get the bike out of the barn. Bike is in great shape, runs and drives. Super excited to get this bike home and get going on the project.