Project... "Fast & Flow"

[fox23]

Fast & Flow will be all about long, sleek, low and flowing lines with a little bit of an aggressive edge to it. The donor bike I found sitting in a guy's garage, no carbs, tank and a few missing parts here and there. Brought it home for $700 only to find it needs an OOP (out-of-province) inspection before It can be registered and insured on the road. Crap, this meant restoring it back to original before I can chop it apart and build the machine I want it to be. Well, let it begin.

 

[fox23]

So first thing to do was get this thing in running order enough to pass the OOP inspection. I pieced together everything, replaced a lot of misc parts and diagnosed/fixed a lot of electrical issues. I bought some carbs and rebuilt them (with help from SolidLex) with some powdercoated parts to match what I’m going to be doing in the end. I really wanted to do spoke wheels but the green bike build by TC Bros inspired me to do Bridgestone TrailWing tires on the factory drilled mags, which is nice because it will save me some money in the long run. Threw the tires on there for the inspection, but they will be coming back off so I can refinish the mags later on.

 

[fox23]

Finally being able to rip into this thing, I had it all broken down and into the frame jig in about 3 hours. Really excited to be starting this part of the build now. I built the bike table and frame jig over the last month or so in preparation for this build. Big thanks goes out to Travis for the neck cones he sent me.

 

[weaselbeak]

This looks like another guy who is way more ambitious than I am. Looks like it's in good hands. Can't wait to see the end result.

 

[bornleader]

Looking forward to seeing this progress.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi fox,
once the bike had passed the inspection process I'd have ridden it rather than torn it down.
But so long as you have something else to ride, I guess that's OK.
So long as you don't intend to create yet another hardtailed poseurbuild.
BTW; love the frame jig. HSS rules, OK!

 

[fox23]

Hi fox,
once the bike had passed the inspection process I'd have ridden it rather than torn it down.
But so long as you have something else to ride, I guess that's OK.
So long as you don't intend to create yet another hardtailed poseurbuild.
BTW; love the frame jig. HSS rules, OK!

Thanks fredintoon, it was hard not to ride it, but I think that I'm more excited for the build than the actual riding of the bike.

 

[fox23]

Little bit more progress; I was able to get a motor jig built up with some tube and scrap steel. Then i bent up a new lower section of backbone that flows with the angle of the front down tubes much better. Next will be to start bending up the rear sections and getting it tacked together. As a side note, before the build began I really really wanted to go with an Ardtail, but sketchy service and delivery drove me to just build my own. So with any luck it should look similar to an Ardtail when its done, but with my own spin on it.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi fox,
well, you coulda ridden it until the snow flies, eh? That's two weeks tops in Edmonton.
However, just to show that I'd help someone even if he is planning to take the great backward leap of hacking the rear suspension off a bike that left the factory with one,
think about using these guys for the frame welds:-
http://www.imperialweldringcorp.com/consumable_inserts.htm
We used to call them EB rings but you google anything with "rings" in it all you get are jewelry shops and Tolkein references.

 

[fox23]

Pretty productive last couple days. Last night I was able to remove the stock neck gussets and install a wire sleeve into the front of the frame. Got a cable ran through it to help with pulling the wires later on. Today I got the hardtail all bent, notched and tacked into place. I put a couple solid tacks on all the joints and let it cool. I wanted to make sure that the bike had the right stance before I welded it out, so I pulled it off the jig and tossed the wheels on. Im pretty happy with how its going to sit.

 

[fox23]

Today I managed to get the lower crossbraces in as well as the rear engine mount cut and mocked up with bolt sleeves tacked into place.

 

[vernk]

first off...FU. second...i love it super skills. love the innovation. can you elaborate on the wire sleeve and your methods to hide and protect the wires? i would like to hide wires too

 

[fox23]

first off...FU. second...i love it super skills. love the innovation. can you elaborate on the wire sleeve and your methods to hide and protect the wires? i would like to hide wires too

Thank you Vernk, I will take both of those as compliments . As far as the hidden wires go, right now its just holes drilled through the frame with cables pull through before I tacked it into an assembly. Later on in the finishing stages I will try to find grommets for the holes that I can, and I'm also planning on adding some extra shielding in the form of heat shrink over the wires in the potential problem areas.

Side note, I got a few parts in the mail on friday from Lowbrow . Hopefully my other two orders (TC Bros & Dime City) will show up this week.

 

[fox23]

Here's an updated overall shot of the frame, pretty much ready to start welding it out now.

 

[fox23]

Welded the frame out last night and also received my package from TC Bros with tank, fender and some other misc stuff. Still not sure about the fender though, it doesn't follow the curve of the rear tire very well so it may need some modifications. I also ordered drag bars from TC but I'm not sure if I'll use them. I'm thinking custom bars made with parts of the stock ones might follow my design idea's a bit better. We'll see.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi fox,
what did you do with the back half of the frame?
My son is rebuilding a scrapyard salvaged XS650 that has a FUBAR rear frame and welding your frame's surplus to requirement arse end onto it's good front half may be more acceptable to him than the current plan to hardtail the thing.

 

[wannabridin]

LOVE the lines. seriously, that frame looks GREAT! can't wait to see more!!

 

[fox23]

Thanks man. I can't wait to get it back on its wheels so I can start mocking up bars, tank and rear fender. Hopefully my last order from Dime City shows up before the weekend so I can get the seat laid down also.

fred - the rear frame is sitting in the garage, but i've got a guy interested in it already.

 

[fredintoon]

- - - fred - the rear frame is sitting in the garage, but i've got a guy interested in it already.

Ah well, he's also got an unmolested 1980 XS650 Special.
When he hardtails the salvage bike and rides it he'll know the old man was right,
no matter how nice they look, it's how comfortably they ride that's important.

 

[arcticXS]

Fred,
Not to mention how a hardtailed bike handles......