Poor decisions, another xs build

[terminus]

AtoXS - I saw the guy's ad on craigslist.
Glad I didn't head out there. Found my project bike in East Highgate about 3 weeks ago.
Will be posting some pictures soon.

 

[AtoXS]

It's certainly been a bit overwhelming, but I definitely feel like I'm learning a lot this way.
I look forward to see what you got, I'm sure you did better than me.

 

[AtoXS]

I started a blog in mid March and basically forgot all about posting updates here. So turns out I should have just left the hub alone like was suggested, but instead put some really tiny 17mm bearings in it that made me way more nervous than a 12mm axle ever could. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the wheel atm, but it holds the bike up as a roller so I guess I'll address it later on final tear down. Here is how she looks now, I'll try to get better at updates from here out.

 

[Nailbomb]

Thats a hell of a jump in progress. looks like you did a lot more cleanup on that frame, found a better seat, mounted the rear fender with the sissy bar, found some better rubber... Where you at now? brake linkage?

 

[jussumguy]

Yup, that's how you builds a chopper son!

 

[XSLeo]

Your 21 inch wheel has 36 spokes? If so lace it to an XS650 front hub.
Then you won't have any problems with fit.
And usable brakes.
Leo

 

[AtoXS]

Your 21 inch wheel has 36 spokes? If so lace it to an XS650 front hub.
Then you won't have any problems with fit.
And usable brakes.
Leo

Leo, it is a 36 spoke wheel so that is likely the plan, I just have to find a hub. I know a disc will work but I wouldn't mind finding drum since that would look cleaner and would be less to salvage to make it work. The other problem is whether it will be possible to weld a tab onto the existing forks or if I will have to spin most of the tab I have off a spare lower. I know welding to aluminum isn't the preferred method, but I know it's been done before, I think Hugh might even have been who I'm thinking of.
Originally I was considering just running the drum I have as a spool since it's small and worrying about making it work later, but as I said that is probably a bad idea with the bearings.

 

[AtoXS]

Thats a hell of a jump in progress. looks like you did a lot more cleanup on that frame, found a better seat, mounted the rear fender with the sissy bar, found some better rubber... Where you at now? brake linkage?

I actually cut out the old seat crossbar and installed a new one about 3 farther back and used a Biltwell Slimline because I hated how close the old one was to the tank and it wasn't the most comfortable. I actually just finished the fender cutting and shaping the other day when I mounted that and the sissy up. I still have to mount the sissy to the fender and get the license plate/light bracket welded to the sissy, but overall I'm happy with the look.
If anyone is interested to see what I've been up to in more detail you can check out the link to the blog below.

 

[The-Buck]

Its great to see a few old rotting Xs's being brought back to life, and better looking than the originals. The back story added some intrigue to this build, I'm hooked!

 

[AtoXS]

Well what the hell I might as well work backwards and add a few photos.
As i mentioned before I cut out the seat crossbar and moved it back to a better location.

This is the before with the sissy and fender just kind of propped there, it looked weird to me and I just couldn't get past it so I had to fix the problem.

 

[AtoXS]

A while back I saw a blog post that Hugh did concerning basic metal shaping on a fender and thought I might try my hand at it. After picking through the scrap pile at my local metal supplier I found a few pieces of scrap and put this T-dolly together.

I didn't take any photos of the process, but it basically just entails banging the shit out of the fender until it resembles the shape you want. It's not perfect, but I don't think it turned out too bad for my first try, although I might have to use a little filler to make it really smooth. If I ever do one of these again (AKA Nick's fender) I'll definitely get a non-marring hammer like Jay in Hugh suggest because using a ballpeen really leaves a lot of cleanup to be done afterwards.

 

[The-Buck]

That fender looks sweet, nice work!

 

[AtoXS]

Well it took me all day, but I got the fender cut and mounted to my liking and the sissy bar lowers were welded into place. I still have to weld the mounts for the upper portion of the sissy, mount the license plate bracket and cut a chain relief, but at least it looks like it's done from a distance.

Ok that's basicly what I've done in the gap in posts other than get the motor cleaned up and installed. Hopefully later today I'll finish up the sissy bar mounted and get the license plate and light mounted up.

 

[AtoXS]

Work has taken up a lot of my time and when I'm not there I'm usually out on the bike so not much has happened with the chop. I got the sissy finished along with the exhaust. Trying out some new stainless bars that I won at HxC3 which I'm really digging.
I just placed a couple of big orders including my PAMCO so if I can get some time this build should start moving along a lot faster.

 

[Herd]

Nice work, Ato! This has been a good read. Like the pipes. Bars are interesting.

 

[bobber_xs]

love the build and the story!

looking foward!

 

[AtoXS]

Here are a few more pictures of where I'm at. For the exhaust I really wanted to keep the mounts as invisible as possible and to have some interesting bends, I think I succeeded. The welds have a pretty high crown, since it was my first time welding exhaust so my settings we all wrong and I was worried about burning through. I got plenty of penetration and am going to wrap them anyway so I figured they were good enough.

 

[AtoXS]

Got a the exhaust painted with VHT and wrapped last night. Overall it came out pretty much like I had envisioned although the wrap, which is supposed to be high quality seemed to want to frey as I was wrapping.

I also go a 21" DID rim with XS dual disc laced up. It had a lot of pucks in it and was painted silver which had to be blend out and strip. Also, this is the first time I've build a motorcycle wheel and it took me 5 ties but eventually I got it.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Whoops. Something doesn't look right there. The inner spokes don't normally cross like that...

 

[AtoXS]

I'm pretty sure it's right, the spokes all line up with the holes nice and the spacing count is correct.