New XS650 Owner- Need advice

[Wesley Kagan]

Picked myself up a small project that is going to be a short commuter bike, has 16k miles, fairly well taken care of, but needs some tires, stuff like that. I had a XS400 years ago in high school that I did a ton of work to, so I know my way fairly well around the bike, but have a few things.

I'm going for a cafe racer- Not going to go as far down as some guys do, but will be stripping a lot of the unnecessary stuff. This leads into the first question:

1. Is there any benefit to going with a "points" style instead of the seemingly thousand boxes and wires you get with the electronic? Mine works, so i'm inclined not to screw with it, but finding room to mount the boxes is interesting on an open bike.

2. Tires- Would like some classic tires, My gut is the firestones, but I've heard those can be a little, uh, dangerous. Heidenau seems to have some good options, but what sizes would look good on the XS? The 16" rear rim is rough on that regard, but I'm going for something looking like this tire wise (I am deleting front fender) Link here

3. What other things should I look into doing? Here's the plan, roughly-
front fender delete
Both rims powdercoated black
forks powdercoated black
Get a better seat (possibly the 650 Tuffside kit?)
Cable management (working on now, sorry about the cables everywhere in the picture below, I started before I took the picture!)

Thanks in advance!

 

[motormike]

Points get the job done. But the latest electronic doesn't have a accompanying box. There's a posting about it on this site. Most fellows hide many items in the seat " hump ".... one of my cafe' units has the battery there.. dry battery.. and various electrics.
The direction ...look... for your cafe' will be your decision. I'm not a fan of 2 into 1.... fender delete is fine.. until it rains.
1/4, 1/2 or full faring's are another idea. I put a full on mine... Comes in a big box.. No directions.. no attachments... these will require " clip on's "... Not recommended for long weekends out of town.
Visit the photo gallery here..other sites... then get the direction you want the project to go. Big 0'drum brakes on the front end isn't that difficult to do. Give's that old school look.

 

[uncle meat]

By deleting the front fender you will lose some stability. If you go down that road you should install some sort of fork stabilizer, you will get some twist action when applying the front brake if you don't. Are you powdercoating the rims, spokes and hubs? If you're not doing the spokes, replace those with new stainless ones. Replace bearings as well, those will have to come out anyway to powdercoat.

UM

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

What MotorMike says... Electronic ignition is a no-brainer. Don't lose the fender just cut down the massive Yamaha fender. The fender also serves as a fork brace. Get rid of the 16" rear for sure...

 

[gggGary]

If your electronic is the stock TCI you gotta be careful mounting it, they don't like getting shook (to death). Hint NEVER weld with the TCI box within 10 feet of the bike.

 

[Wesley Kagan]

Figured I should clarify here- I do have the Elect. ignition on the bike currently, it is an '83. I've just seen some conversions back and I wasn't sure what the pull was. Good note on the welding aspect- will keep that in mind. Are the aftermarket systems better?

Will look into cutting the fender- I agree with all the points for the fender, it is nice to have, even though it hardly ever rains in Phoenix.

As far as the 16" rear goes, go for an 18" rear with matching front/back tires, or what? I think I have 100/90/19 on the front, so if I went with a 110/90/19 on the front and a 110/90/18 on the back that would look right? I should be able to find an 18" spoke wheel to match the front fairly easy, i'd figure..

 

[gggGary]

MikesXS sells an 18" rim and spokes to change your 48 spoke rear hub to an 18" and kinda cheap, he must have a pile of those 18" rims he hasn't been able to sell. LOL

 

[DanielBlack]

If you choose to cut down the front fender, I've got one who's chrome has seen better days. Good candidate for cutting up and I'm in central Phx.

 

[Wesley Kagan]

MikesXS sells an 18" rim and spokes to change your 48 spoke rear hub to an 18" and kinda cheap, he must have a pile of those 18" rims he hasn't been able to sell. LOL

Looks like a combination of This and This, correct? Not a bad price haha, Just trying to decide whether I want to deal with spokes haha.

If you choose to cut down the front fender, I've got one who's chrome has seen better days. Good candidate for cutting up and I'm in central Phx.

Thank you, Yeah mine is in perfect condition so depending on what I do I don't exactly want to ruin a good one.

 

[mrtwowheel]

I see my chance here to ask a question about something that I have never understood. Why do people want to change the rear rims from 16" to 18", I just have never understood the reasons for doing this.

I don't get it, Scott

 

[Wesley Kagan]

I see my chance here to ask a question about something that I have never understood. Why do people want to change the rear rims from 16" to 18", I just have never understood the reasons for doing this.

I don't get it, Scott

My thing is is that my "classic style" tire options are very limited with a 19" front and a 16" rear.

 

[mrtwowheel]

My thing is is that my "classic style" tire options are very limited with a 19" front and a 16" rear.

I get that, I had few choices when I was shopping for a rear 16" tire. But, gotta say, road bike, road tires, Shinko has a good combination for that.

Scott

 

[Wesley Kagan]

I get that, I had few choices when I was shopping for a rear 16" tire. But, gotta say, road bike, road tires, Shinko has a good combination for that.

Scott

Just looked into those- I like the combo and the fronts work fine, but for the classic the only thing I can get the 16" tire in is a MT90 or a 5" tire/ 130/90. Which is quite a bit wider than factory...

Edit: After research, I lied. A 5.00 x 16 is what I should be running. Will probably go that direction. Thanks!

 

[MaxPete]

One reason to increase rear wheel diameter is that it raises the rear end of the bike a bit and that effectively reduces rake without changing anything in the frame or forks. This makes the steering a little quicker and the handling a tad lighter. .

When I got the ‘81 Special donor bike running last summer, I rode it around the block a few times and couldn’t get over how heavy, slow and “lazy” the steering felt compared to that on my 1976 Standard. The difference was quite noticeable. The ‘76 felt lighter and much more nimble while the ‘81 Special (with its 16” doughnut rear tire) felt ....ponderous.

I do not intend to offend anyone who has a Special, but If I want heavy and ponderous, I’ll rent another Harley.

Pete

 

[azman857]

You asked for advice so here is mine. Ignition. Ride the stock TCI until it dies or is gasping. It's a good ignition but, it's 35 year old.Maybe the coil and sparkplug caps too. Replace it with the new PAMCO and ride the wheels off. Front fender. Keep it. Stability is important. If it must be tossed, get a fork brace. I like the idea of spoke 18" rear wheel. Shinko 230's are good tires.Ride and wear well. 712's are OK but mine mine tended to follow tar snakes and grooves too well for my liking.

 

[gggGary]

One reason to increase rear wheel diameter is that it raises the rear end of the bike a bit and that effectively reduces rake without changing anything in the frame or forks. This makes the steering a little quicker and the handling a tad lighter. .

When I got the ‘81 Special donor bike running last summer, I rode it around the block a few times and couldn’t get over how heavy, slow and “lazy” the steering felt compared to that on my 1976 Standard. The difference was quite noticeable. The ‘76 felt lighter and much more nimble while the ‘81 Special (with its 16” doughnut rear tire) felt ....ponderous.

I do not intend to offend anyone who has a Special, but If I want heavy and ponderous, I’ll rent another Harley.

Pete

Hey Pete what is the difference in OD? say between a 130/90/16 and a 110/90/18 from the same maker?
ps I prefer the look of an 18 and that's enough for me. Then again I'm running 110/70/18 front and 120/70/18 rear on 3" wide rims, so ignore any advice I might give!
I have a big pig royal star venture, it rides stock on 150/80-16 (front) and 150/90B 15 (rear). It was GFA, was like turning a ship. Front was WAY too wide for the rim. F'n fashion tire. On forum advice I dropped the front to a 130 and raised the rear suspension by making a new set of shock link bars. Also got rid of the massive weight disks on the front, I'm not kidding! MUCH better it now responds very well for a big pig, BUT it's a bit nervous at parking lot speeds. I'm OK with the trade off. But this is typical, why a lot of sport bikes run steering dampers and cruisers don't, you'll have to decide which end of the handling spectrum you prefer. My suspension is also better damped but firmer than stock. I've done trade off rides with guys on stock Specials and some prefer that stock ride.

 

[grizld1]

Wesley, ask yourself this: Do you want to spend your time and money to make your motorcycle look faster than it is, or do you want to spend your time and money to make your motorcycle deliver a ride that satisfies you?

You might want to do some research to find out why the OE front tire and 19" rim are narrower than the OE rear tire and 18" rim, and why most motorcycle tires, even back in the day (1960's and 1970's), had and have different tread patterns and carcass structure front and rear. If you want to get at all frisky in the corners, you'll want to lose that 2-1 exhaust. It'll find the pavement on the right if you pitch the bike over even a little bit hard.

 

[aldo5468]

I see my chance here to ask a question about something that I have never understood. Why do people want to change the rear rims from 16" to 18", I just have never understood the reasons for doing this.

I don't get it, Scott

For me, it was basically an appearance thing - I think nearly-matched rims look better on a "café-"-styled bike. It's possible that there's a bit of unsprung weight reduction - you lose a lot of rubber in the tire while gaining a small amount of metal in the rim - but I didn't weigh before and after, so don't really know. I changed to an 18" rear rim before I "re-styled" my '82 Heritage Special; I think it looked better on the original bike, too, but that's just to my eye - others may well see it the other way.

 

[fredintoon]

Hey Pete what is the difference in OD? say between a 130/90/16 and a 110/90/18 from the same maker?

Hi Gary,
my calculator sez that in theory the 18" tire will take your bike 2.5" further down the road than will the 16" tire for every turn of the back wheel.
& Hi Joe,
130/90-16 is 25.00" O.D. and 110/90-18 is 25.79" O.D.

 

[nighthog]

Like Aldo I have an 82 bike. And I went for the replacement alloy rims from Mikes for broadly similar reasons - I'm restyling bit by bit into something trackerish, it has to look right, and tyre choice is important - I've gone for Bridgestone BT45s.
It'll never handle or grip like my Ducati but I'll try to close the gap as much as I can