Rechop: The Lanesplitter Project

Dieselchanic

Intermittent builder
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Geiger, Alabama, USA
I did some trading and acquired this 81 xs the other day. Needs head gaskets but its got almost new rubber, 2-1 drag pipe, TCBros forwards, TCBros hardtail, mini speedo, mini master cylinder, PMA, pamco, and Sparx capacitor. Gave it a wash and it looked like this..

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For ten minutes...

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Mocked it up like so..

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The plan is a few frame mods to give it a bit sleeker lines, some riserless bars, new exhaust with dual cocktail shakers, frame mounted seat, and fresh paint.

I'm gonna have fun with this..
 
Nice bike!! Curious what you're going to do with the fender and seat you pulled off?

Cover was torn off the seat and the fender is rusty. I'll probably reupholster the seat, since I dabble in that, and sell it. Not sure what I'm doing with fender yet.. Might use it on another chop.
 
I went to work on my fender to shrink the radius to better fit my tire. The most common method seems to be to spread the lip out to pull the radius tighter. I did that and it worked but it only got me about halfway there.. So then I made 3/4" cuts every 3" in the lip around the fender. I then pulled it in to fit the tire and welded it all back up. Worked great and it fits perfect now...

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As I was working on making the neck fixture for my jig yesterday, I blew the belt on my lathe. Well that shut me down on customer work until my new one comes in the mail, so I rolled the xs in the shop.


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I got tired of staring at those drag bars. I want riserless bars on here but with my lathe down that's out for now, so I threw this set together.

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Started on the frame. Cut out one rail and started playing with my bender to see what I could come up with. I like where it's headed. The mark shows where I'll bend it to meet the backbone.

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Wow that will be a skinny tail end! I like it! As far as those bars they are awesome for being just thrown together! Subscribed. Looking forward to seeing progress.
 
I cleaned up the backbone where the seat rails meet it.

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Then I bent up a matching pair of tubes.

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This shows the new rail versus the old...

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Called it quits for tonight. Next chance I get to work on it I'll try to get the frame back together.
 
It's amazing that such a subtle change could make such a big difference in the frame lines. That looks really good. Bet someone is going to offer a hardtail like that before long.
 
It's amazing that such a subtle change could make such a big difference in the frame lines. That looks really good. Bet someone is going to offer a hardtail like that before long.


I hope so. That's my biggest problem with the TC kit is those sharp angles in the top rails... I don't much like the sharp angles in the bottom rails either but they're doable... Since I do all my own frames I couldn't let it be if I didn't like it..
 
I think I've let the whole 'skinny' thing really get to my brain.... I've been concentrating so hard on keeping everything as slim as possible, the frame looks wide to me lol. Anyway, here's a pic of how it stands now. I think I achieved narrow.

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And here's a teaser of what I'm thinking on the exhaust..

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I like the shakers, but I almost want to see some straight pipes that tuck right under the frame keep the skinny going.
 
I like the shakers, but I almost want to see some straight pipes that tuck right under the frame keep the skinny going.


I know right? Like the hhb ones? For that matter the 2-1 is tight, but it's in the way of mids. No way I'm keeping that cheesy forwards setup, they're all bent up, the shifter barely works, and the rear brake is running a cable that simply doesn't work.
 
Yeah Hugh's were pretty much what I was thinking.
Did you already have a plan for other controls? Not sure if you saw but Jason over at Jump Street is running a discount on his mids for $200 shipped. I couldn't resist and had to get a set.
 
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