Roud Revival!

Nailbomb

Central New York XS650
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In the spirit of things I will be offering a build thread. This will give e a platform to bounce ideas off and troubleshoot in the future.

First off a mission statement: have bike in show condition by February and rideable by May.

If you missed my intro heres where I was...

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After a few years of owning my first Xs650 when I came to the grips that I bought a Idea more than a Bike.

Things I've done. Replaced the tires, carbs, exhaust, headlight internals, handlebars, controls, horn, rear light, battery, filters, intakes, air filters, points, coils, then went to bowyer, front forks, triple trees, neck bearings, and went to a dual disc setup up front.

all the above for my $1k purchase of a xs650 that was supposedly daily ridden...

and I suppose that might have been partially true because the engine was tired.

So I pull the engine and decide to take some of my newfound knowledge on welding to fixing the bubblegum welds on the frame...

then I found out there were parts that were fiberglass and bondo layered.

Introducing the sawsall! amazing how it cuts. the original plan was to replace the sections cut, and that was scrapped for a ardcore hardtail to fix all the sins all at once.

Its supposedly on its way. In the meantime I cleaned up the front of the frame. The neck and gussets needed attention.

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after those were removed I installed hughes handbuilt "goose" gussets. and made sure there was ample metal at key connecting areas.

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Went wide with the Tig weave because I wanted them to sit back farther from the neck than usual.

Penetration you ask?

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Full penetration. I'm not scared to share my roots. worst part is off the neck where I used a gas shielded mig to fill some of the gap.

So here it sits until the ardtail comes in... waiting...

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Okay, heres something...

My original rim...
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Another XS650 rim I have...
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I remember buying brake shoes at one point and them not fitting, this somewhat explains that.

Anyone recognize the top rim? With a healthy engine will the 4 bolts be sufficient? Both are 34 tooth, but I did pick up a 31 tooth TC bros rear to see if I like the taller final ratio...

I have the other rim for the reason, I was planning on switching to that, but now I'm wondering if the brake hub will swap properly. I might need to find another rear brake.
 
Well things have certainly taken a turn. The frame I spent all that time cleaning up the neck and gussets on had its lower right frame leg rusting from the inside out as was evidenced when I chopped it. Quite simply not good.

This marks the end of one of the last original parts still left on the bike from the $1000 initial investment. At this point, I'm going to get a new rear rim and tire... if anything is original its something small and insignificant, like a mirror.

My time spent collecting parts for these bikes has paid off in a odd sense. I had another frame with a clean title... and a TC bros hardtail kit on it. Those hardtails lend themselves more for a springer seat, and I didn't want that for this build. In the end the choice was made to hack up that frame and keep the tail section around if I get another clean xs650 frame. I can always re-use it or sell it I suppose.

The Ardtail is installed, welded, frame cleaned up, and I've begun mocking up parts using the old rim and tire.
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Forgot to mention, small changes in the front end, a "pit bike" hydraulic clutch, and brought the upper triple tree to bare metal using a small wire brush, scotchbright, and brake cleaner.
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real progress... made a seat pan for the new frame.
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A beer box made the template, and the old gasket trick of hamering it made the hard lines. Started with a section of rusty sheet metal. Used the torches, and grinder to shape, and the 12 ton press to bend. Wound up with this...
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Pretty happy with the results. Need foam and leather to cover it now.
 
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Seat makin' material believe it or not!

Heres my close friend mike showing off the finished foam he helped with, holding the original beer box template for the pan.
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My ass will surely appreciate almost 3" of neoprene foam rubber(closed cell) on the hardtail on those longer runs.
 
Well i survived, and hit a outage at a nuke. lasted longer than expected, but the good news is finances are back where they should be.

Avon 4.00x18 rear and 3.50x19 front ordered.
Stainless spokes front and rear ordered.
new tubes and rubber bands ordered.

I had a bowyer ignition running on the bike previously, but I want to run batteryless. ordered a basic pamco ignition. need to pick up a coil yet.

its contradictory to everything but being dare to be different, and maybe some odd style points, but a 1.5 farad capacitor has been ordered. The plan is to make a somewhat fire extinguisher style mount for it and run it in place of a smaller capacitor.

I need to order a alternator setup yet... Looking heavily at hughes handbuilt.
 
Good to hear, Nailbomb. Welcome back. Have a deep breath on me...

Done! Just wish there were more of a cause for it. I was diagnosed with spontaneous pneumothorax, meaning my lung basically deflated for no good reason. I've heard its more common in smokers, tall people, skinny people, and runners. I'm 5'8" (not tall) 196lbs(not really skinny) running bothers my knees, and i only enjoy a occasional cigar with a glass of whiskey(last one was for the 4th of july). Basically the doctors told my sorry about your luck, but your healthy and this still happened.

In other news one of the tires just came in! the 18" Avon rear...
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despite driving a hour and 20 mins one way to work and putting in 60 hours, I still feel like I'm making progress!

Stainless steel spokes front and rear with new rubber bands, and inner tubes. New avon 18" safety mileage out back.

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Definitely changes the profile. I'm rather pleased with the taller narrower stance.

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Also the capacitor came in! what better to mount it than the old fire extinguisher mount from my M1009 CUCV?
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Certainly looks like it will work.

Modification to date was as simple as cutting the top and bottom off, shortening the clasp, and welding a scrap end from a hinge on the bottom. Insulation comes from a old inner tube.

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It remains to be seen if said mount is road worthy as is, and I have my doubts. something more will have to be done to make the bracket more rigid. In other words, its not finished.
 
Glad to hear you got your shit back together from the flat tire lung. Those firkin doctors come out with the high dollar names for it. Shit happens I survived few times hard to kill I called it. Glad you scored the nuke job nice work when you can get it. The money is good. Worked on the TVA project browns near meltdown wind and solar safer. Nice job on the pile of crap revival. :D You've got the bike looking good now. Like how the bike sits and you look good on it. The ardtail was the right way to go. The seat might be a little short because when you wheel that bike out the bitches will be screaming. :bed: Snatch the seat off the sportster it looks like it long enough to pack one along. Longer is better for the long haul and lets you move around a little. One shot and occasional cigar you must be packing it with the wrong shit . I prefer a blunt if packed right it won't hurt it's the wrapper that's bad for you. :smoke: Just kidding. :wink2::wink2: The capacitor is kick ass Duct Tape it the back bone and with the digital read great for crowd control keep them guessing. Mid mounted controls better than forewords with no springs on the seat I have found. I liked the old Harley boards that came on the 55 hard tails factory stock. They were hinged and you could raised the.m with your foot in the corners so they wouldn't drag in a hard corner. They were different look good and if you wanted to stand and ride they were comfortable. If I ever build another chopper I would go mids and boards. Your doing a great job. I really like it. :thumbsup:
 
Scabber: thanks for the feedback. I fully agree Mid mounts is the way to go for this bike, I'm not too proud to hop up to stand while going over railroad tracks. I toyed with the idea of having forward controls initially, and frankly the mock ups were not comfortable. With the clip ons and the low seat I would have been bent right in half to ride, and with a hardtail, that's asking for pain. Now as a disclaimer I will say that isn't every bike, that's just this bike, with this frame and seat. I have a rigid with forwards, but its stance is radically different. In this end I ordered a set of jumpstreets mid mounts this morning. I toyed with the idea of making my own from scratch, and chose not to. Looking forward to those arriving.

as far as the seat, let me explain that the ironhead on the stand in the background is not mine. It belongs to a good friend of mine i've known since I was 5.

Furthermore, I've never promised the girlfriend a ride on this bike. She is a amazing woman, and picked up on riding like a duck to water. Furthermore some tough love sent down from my own mother "there is a place for a woman on any bike if she makes one for herself and wants to ride bad enough" has made it very easy for me in letting her know, not all of my bikes will be comfortable in the traditional sense. The seat thats fabbed up for this bike offers a half inch or more air gap between it and the rear fender. that space will allow her to slide a piece of foam under so she can have a seat. Now if she ever will want to hop on a inch of NPR and wrap her legs around me to go for a ride is up to her, but I wouldn't be surprised. She didn't seem to have a problem with my fathers panhead, and that offers no seat but has foot pegs...
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Need to work on her aim though, that water balloon burst right over my head. Still, fine example of a bike with mids and boards.

Also added a order to hugh, and have a PMA inbound.

Question to everyone: Is it worth my $$$ to strip the bowyer and go to a pamco setup? what makes it worth my $? easier starting and reliable operation, maybe performance gain.
 
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hell, you know what after reading this I might add a few bungs to the frame for some passenger foot rests. She still isn't getting a dedicated seat though.
 
The no seat I like that and the bungs sound good. It was seat and no pegs I liked seat better than the solo with springs. I really don't like to ride 2 up. I went out of my way to make it uncomfortable for now X wife. :D The pamco does away with the points and doesn't require as much voltage to fire the coil. I don't know enough about the bowyer and capacitor kick only. Fuck kick starting is my way of thinking. If the alternator was charging I would run a battery and electric leg my self. Save your knees. They wear out the cartilage goes first. :thumbsup:
 
My order from hughes handbuilt came in!

I've been itching to get this thing going again, so I didn't even bother bringing it to my hall to use the TIG setups there. used my hobart 140 mig all the way, just had to do a little fitting to get it to sit how I like.(mostly consisted of shaving some off the top and bottom edges, probably no more than 3/16")
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Not bad for a little Mig welder. Flux core and CO2 backing gas.

While I was at it I welded in the 3/8" tophats for the passenger peg mounts. the idea is that she can screw them in when she wants to ride. 3/8" offers a variety of options including BMX pegs. Also welded in the front mount for my own seat.

wanted to get rid of the rough looking double cable throttle especially since I was only running a single cable. Back when the bike was on the road previously and I was switching over to the clip ons and VM mikunis I had a cable set made for the bike by Michael "Mercury" Morse from 650 central(great guy, gave me a lot of advice back then). switched out a pretty basic black painted single from Amazon and had to do some dremil work to get it to work properly.

that finished I drilled out the front mount for the tank properly.
Garage is a wreck, but this is how she sits currently.
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need to finish mounting the capacitor, and rear fender. also with the PMA in from hughes I can look into where I want to mount the regulator/rectifier. I was thinking about making a bracket mounted to the engine in the small space where the starter was for it, and maybe the horn.

In any event i'm thinking those are where the next steps forward should be.
 
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