GeorgeKillianLett
Pretty new to bikes.
You had me @ Tango & Cash! Subscribed!
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Tango & Cash Build Thread
- Thread starter nineosixdave
- Start date
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- Tags
- build
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
Well, Cash is also going to have to find a 16" rear so the setup works properly. Also, I found a number of xs400 forks on ebay for under $100 to put the 18" wheel on.
Pugsley - that's an interesting monicker.
Pugsley - that's an interesting monicker.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
John and Frank were suppose to visit me in Atlanta this weekend and bring the bulk of Tango down with them. However, this plan did not pan out and I am once again, on my own in the shop.
Last week I received a box from MikesXS with spokes for the rear wheel. I also picked up the rim from the local powder coater and was very pleased with the results.
So on a chilly Fall Saturday afternoon I took it upon myself to go out to the shop and lace my first wheel. Before starting, I watched a video on YouTube ( which I went back to numerous times) read how to lace a wheel in the xs650 Clymer book ( not real helpful - it misses a lot of steps ) and in the end got some great advice from 5Twins in this link on the xs650.com website ( http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27731&highlight=lacing+16+wheel ).
I ordered Part Number 19-0058 16" Stainless Spokes from MikesXS.
Here's a picture of the hub ready for spokes.
And the 16 X 2.75 wheel.
Notice that the there are four distinctly different nipple holes.
When inserting the inner spokes. I used blue masking tape to hold the first set in the correct direction. This saves a lot of headaches.
I laced all the inners and everything was going smoothly and then.. ..the shit hit the fan!
The outers would not even get close to the laying across the flat of the hub and to the center of the wheel. With a bit of force I could get one side to lace but when I went to the other side there was no way to get the outer spokes to fit without some serious bending.
That's when I went searching the xs650.com forum and found this link. http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24148
After reading all the posts I was ready to start throwing things. Seriously. I was pissed after all the trouble I went through trying to get the correct size of spoke from MikesXS and then to learn a lot of others have already had this problem.
But I kept at it and found this post. http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27731&highlight=lacing+16+wheel
After removing all my spokes and starting over things fit better but I still had a bending spoke issue.
The problem is that Mike's stainless spokes must be a bit thicker than OEM or galvanized spokes. This was compounded by the powder coating on the hub. To resolve the problem I did three things.
1. Drilled the depression on the inside of the hub where the spoke goes through and removed the powder coating there.
2. Used a small diameter metal file and removed just a little metal on the lip where the spoke comes out.
3. Used the same file to remove just a touch of metal from the hub edge where the spoke could then lay flat and point to the center of the wheel.
In the end it all worked out and I am very satisfied with lacing my first wheel and working out the problems I came across.
Going to order new seals and bearings today and once finished will have the wheel trued and a new tire mounted.
Last week I received a box from MikesXS with spokes for the rear wheel. I also picked up the rim from the local powder coater and was very pleased with the results.
So on a chilly Fall Saturday afternoon I took it upon myself to go out to the shop and lace my first wheel. Before starting, I watched a video on YouTube ( which I went back to numerous times) read how to lace a wheel in the xs650 Clymer book ( not real helpful - it misses a lot of steps ) and in the end got some great advice from 5Twins in this link on the xs650.com website ( http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27731&highlight=lacing+16+wheel ).
I ordered Part Number 19-0058 16" Stainless Spokes from MikesXS.
Here's a picture of the hub ready for spokes.
And the 16 X 2.75 wheel.
Notice that the there are four distinctly different nipple holes.
When inserting the inner spokes. I used blue masking tape to hold the first set in the correct direction. This saves a lot of headaches.
I laced all the inners and everything was going smoothly and then.. ..the shit hit the fan!
The outers would not even get close to the laying across the flat of the hub and to the center of the wheel. With a bit of force I could get one side to lace but when I went to the other side there was no way to get the outer spokes to fit without some serious bending.
That's when I went searching the xs650.com forum and found this link. http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24148
After reading all the posts I was ready to start throwing things. Seriously. I was pissed after all the trouble I went through trying to get the correct size of spoke from MikesXS and then to learn a lot of others have already had this problem.
But I kept at it and found this post. http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27731&highlight=lacing+16+wheel
After removing all my spokes and starting over things fit better but I still had a bending spoke issue.
The problem is that Mike's stainless spokes must be a bit thicker than OEM or galvanized spokes. This was compounded by the powder coating on the hub. To resolve the problem I did three things.
1. Drilled the depression on the inside of the hub where the spoke goes through and removed the powder coating there.
2. Used a small diameter metal file and removed just a little metal on the lip where the spoke comes out.
3. Used the same file to remove just a touch of metal from the hub edge where the spoke could then lay flat and point to the center of the wheel.
In the end it all worked out and I am very satisfied with lacing my first wheel and working out the problems I came across.
Going to order new seals and bearings today and once finished will have the wheel trued and a new tire mounted.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
It's been a while and I haven't finished my story on how I came across Tango. Here's the continuation (still a few years back) while I await some new bearings to arrive.
In the early 2000s everyone was buying Harleys. There were lines at the dealerships. All my friends were chroming out new bikes. We would ride together. Me on the ’76 them on their new electric start Barco loungers. They called my Harley “The Equalizer.” They would ride smoking a cigarette behind their windscreen. I’d kick start my bike and get bugs in my teeth. I started slow and stopped even slower. But, when we did stop, everyone, and I mean everyone came over to see my bike. I learned then a there how much people appreciate an old bike.
It was around that time I got a call. “Marcel wants to sell the ’52,” said the voice on the other end.
Timing is everything.
How was I going to convince my wife that I not only wanted, but needed to buy another Harley. And then, the most incredible conversation I have had in 25 years of marriage occurred.
It was early on a Sunday morning; my wife was in the master bath getting ready for the day. I walked in and sat on the john.
She asked that oh so dangerous question, “Honey, do you love me?”
Holy crap! Holy crap! What’s wrong? Is she pregnant? God no, not that!
All was silent.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Can I have another cat?”
“Can I have another Harley?” I said without skipping a beat.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
And that is how I bought another "barn find" an all original, never chopped, never bastardized, 1952 Harley Davidson FL with a tank shift and suicide clutch.
Here's a shot of the unmolested '52 after a little bit of restoration.
And another.
In the early 2000s everyone was buying Harleys. There were lines at the dealerships. All my friends were chroming out new bikes. We would ride together. Me on the ’76 them on their new electric start Barco loungers. They called my Harley “The Equalizer.” They would ride smoking a cigarette behind their windscreen. I’d kick start my bike and get bugs in my teeth. I started slow and stopped even slower. But, when we did stop, everyone, and I mean everyone came over to see my bike. I learned then a there how much people appreciate an old bike.
It was around that time I got a call. “Marcel wants to sell the ’52,” said the voice on the other end.
Timing is everything.
How was I going to convince my wife that I not only wanted, but needed to buy another Harley. And then, the most incredible conversation I have had in 25 years of marriage occurred.
It was early on a Sunday morning; my wife was in the master bath getting ready for the day. I walked in and sat on the john.
She asked that oh so dangerous question, “Honey, do you love me?”
Holy crap! Holy crap! What’s wrong? Is she pregnant? God no, not that!
All was silent.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Can I have another cat?”
“Can I have another Harley?” I said without skipping a beat.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
And that is how I bought another "barn find" an all original, never chopped, never bastardized, 1952 Harley Davidson FL with a tank shift and suicide clutch.
Here's a shot of the unmolested '52 after a little bit of restoration.
And another.
Last edited:
Irish_prick
master of the cut'n wheel
Good luck on the build off
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
Seriously, this all leads to Tango and Cash. Hang in there.
I now owned what I thought were the two coolest Harleys in Georgia, in my mind, probably the world. The problem, I like both wrenching and customizing bikes but I owned two that didn’t need much of either. Over time I added beach bars and built a seat for the ’76. Making the seat pan and stretching the leather myslelf. The ’52 had had some chrome put on it from a previous owner and I spent about a year working eBay and vintage sites getting the bike back to original. But once that was done, there wasn’t a whole lot to do.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a coffee table book called Zero Motorcycles. It featured a bike builder in Japan who took old Harleys and Jap bikes and bobbed them. I was in love. Here I was the owner of a panhead and a shovel but I couldn’t do anything with either. You don’t bob an unmolested 52. An the shovel, it looked great the way it was.
2006 rolled around, and though I owned two bikes, I was still a very inexperienced motorcycle rider, with I less than six thousand total miles to my name.
Then Pat Tillman, the football player/Army Ranger was killed in Afghanistan. I knew Pat when he was a young boy. His life's journey made a huge impact on me. In memory of his life and to raise money for the Pat Tillman foundation, I went out and broke the Trans Americas World Record for the fastest motorcycle trip from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 27 days, 7 hours and 52 minutes breaking the record by a week on a BMW GS650. You can read more on that story at www.34for40.com.
In Prudhoe Bay.
Outside Quito Ecuador.
Going over the Andes.
In Ushuaia.
Mom’s keeping me off motorcycles as a kid was having an adverse result.
In 2007 the recession hit. I lost my job. My daughter was enrolled in an out of state university, and tuition was due. The ’52 sold on eBay.
The World Record Trip was fraught with technical difficulties. With 50 miles to go, and a week ahead of the record I almost didn’t finish due to a malfunctioning crankshaft sensor.
When I got home, I swore off technology. Sold the GS and bought the high performance field tractor of motorcycles – a 2005 Honda XR650R. Kick start. No electronics. Fast as hell. Winner of back to back to back Baja 1000s. The best desert bike ever made.
The problem was. I live in Georgia. There are no deserts here.
At this point I started racing hare scrambles in the tight Georgia woods. Now an inexperienced dirt bike rider, I again found myself on the wrong bike for what I was doing.
The 650 did have a real benefit. It got my friends and me into dual sport riding. We put away our Harleys and everyone bought dual sport bikes. And that is when my brother John (Pugsly) bought his first motorcycle. And he got the bug worse than any of us.
I like riding motorcycles. And considering I broke a long distance world record, you would think I like to road ride. But I don’t. I love dirtbike riding through the woods and down fire roads. I liked riding my Harley from one bar to the next. But riding the Harley from point A to point B kind of bored me. That, and along with the fact that I just don’t think it’s real safe to be riding bad 40 year old technology with all the soccer moms texting their kids lead me to sell the ’76.
(to be continued)
I now owned what I thought were the two coolest Harleys in Georgia, in my mind, probably the world. The problem, I like both wrenching and customizing bikes but I owned two that didn’t need much of either. Over time I added beach bars and built a seat for the ’76. Making the seat pan and stretching the leather myslelf. The ’52 had had some chrome put on it from a previous owner and I spent about a year working eBay and vintage sites getting the bike back to original. But once that was done, there wasn’t a whole lot to do.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a coffee table book called Zero Motorcycles. It featured a bike builder in Japan who took old Harleys and Jap bikes and bobbed them. I was in love. Here I was the owner of a panhead and a shovel but I couldn’t do anything with either. You don’t bob an unmolested 52. An the shovel, it looked great the way it was.
2006 rolled around, and though I owned two bikes, I was still a very inexperienced motorcycle rider, with I less than six thousand total miles to my name.
Then Pat Tillman, the football player/Army Ranger was killed in Afghanistan. I knew Pat when he was a young boy. His life's journey made a huge impact on me. In memory of his life and to raise money for the Pat Tillman foundation, I went out and broke the Trans Americas World Record for the fastest motorcycle trip from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 27 days, 7 hours and 52 minutes breaking the record by a week on a BMW GS650. You can read more on that story at www.34for40.com.
In Prudhoe Bay.
Outside Quito Ecuador.
Going over the Andes.
In Ushuaia.
Mom’s keeping me off motorcycles as a kid was having an adverse result.
In 2007 the recession hit. I lost my job. My daughter was enrolled in an out of state university, and tuition was due. The ’52 sold on eBay.
The World Record Trip was fraught with technical difficulties. With 50 miles to go, and a week ahead of the record I almost didn’t finish due to a malfunctioning crankshaft sensor.
When I got home, I swore off technology. Sold the GS and bought the high performance field tractor of motorcycles – a 2005 Honda XR650R. Kick start. No electronics. Fast as hell. Winner of back to back to back Baja 1000s. The best desert bike ever made.
The problem was. I live in Georgia. There are no deserts here.
At this point I started racing hare scrambles in the tight Georgia woods. Now an inexperienced dirt bike rider, I again found myself on the wrong bike for what I was doing.
The 650 did have a real benefit. It got my friends and me into dual sport riding. We put away our Harleys and everyone bought dual sport bikes. And that is when my brother John (Pugsly) bought his first motorcycle. And he got the bug worse than any of us.
I like riding motorcycles. And considering I broke a long distance world record, you would think I like to road ride. But I don’t. I love dirtbike riding through the woods and down fire roads. I liked riding my Harley from one bar to the next. But riding the Harley from point A to point B kind of bored me. That, and along with the fact that I just don’t think it’s real safe to be riding bad 40 year old technology with all the soccer moms texting their kids lead me to sell the ’76.
(to be continued)
Last edited:
jdizon
XS650 Guru
Haha typically I just like looking at pictures but your story keeps me tuned in!
Seriously, this all leads to Tango and Cash. Hang in there.
I now owned what I thought were the two coolest Harleys in Georgia, in my mind, probably the world. The problem, I like both wrenching and customizing bikes but I owned two that didn't need much of either. Over time I added beach bars and built a seat for the '76. Making the seat pan and stretching the leather myslelf. The '52 had had some chrome put on it from a previous owner and I spent about a year working eBay and vintage sites getting the bike back to original. But once that was done, there wasn't a whole lot to do.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a coffee table book called Zero Motorcycles. It featured a bike builder in Japan who took old Harleys and Jap bikes and bobbed them. I was in love. Here I was the owner of a panhead and a shovel but I couldn't do anything with either. You don't bob an unmolested 52. An the shovel, it looked great the way it was.
2006 rolled around, and though I owned two bikes, I was still a very inexperienced motorcycle rider, with I less than six thousand total miles to my name.
Then Pat Tillman, the football player/Army Ranger was killed in Afghanistan. I knew Pat when he was a young boy. His life's journey made a huge impact on me. In memory of his life and to raise money for the Pat Tillman foundation, I went out and broke the Trans Americas World Record for the fastest motorcycle trip from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 27 days, 7 hours and 52 minutes breaking the record by a week on a BMW GS650. You can read more on that story at www.34for40.com.
In Prudhoe Bay.
Outside Quito Ecuador.
Going over the Andes.
In Ushuaia.
Mom's keeping me off motorcycles as a kid was having an adverse result.
In 2007 the recession hit. I lost my job. My daughter was enrolled in an out of state university, and tuition was due. The '52 sold on eBay.
The World Record Trip was fraught with technical difficulties. With 50 miles to go, and a week ahead of the record I almost didn't finish due to a malfunctioning crankshaft sensor.
When I got home, I swore off technology. Sold the GS and bought the high performance field tractor of motorcycles – a 2005 Honda XR650R. Kick start. No electronics. Fast as hell. Winner of back to back to back Baja 1000s. The best desert bike ever made.
The problem was. I live in Georgia. There are no deserts here.
At this point I started racing hare scrambles in the tight Georgia woods. Now an inexperienced dirt bike rider, I again found myself on the wrong bike for what I was doing.
The 650 did have a real benefit. It got my friends and me into dual sport riding. We put away our Harleys and everyone bought dual sport bikes. And that is when my brother John (Pugsly) bought his first motorcycle. And he got the bug worse than any of us.
I like riding motorcycles. And considering I broke a long distance world record, you would think I like to road ride. But I don't. I love dirtbike riding through the woods and down fire roads. I liked riding my Harley from one bar to the next. But riding the Harley from point A to point B kind of bored me. That, and along with the fact that I just don't think it's real safe to be riding bad 40 year old technology with all the soccer moms texting their kids lead me to sell the '76.
(to be continued)
chopit25
XS650 Addict
Oh man don't leave us hangin like that! Lol
I bet you have some good riding stories from south america.
I bet you have some good riding stories from south america.
xskid
xskid
Oh cliff hanger! Subscribed
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Posted via Mobile
SangreDeDios
XS650 Addict
not to be a dick but what's the point?
this is an extremely long winded month long story that is more about your life events and your ability to drop serious cash on vintage harleys than anything related to xs650s.
how this is a build thread fails me. seems to be just be a long winded story.
not really trying to be a hater here but get to the point already
this is an extremely long winded month long story that is more about your life events and your ability to drop serious cash on vintage harleys than anything related to xs650s.
how this is a build thread fails me. seems to be just be a long winded story.
not really trying to be a hater here but get to the point already
neanderthal
neanderthal
hey man no one is forcing you to read this, story telling is how we all communicate. it does the mind good to read anyhow. he's a good writer with fascinating stories. plus if you read it, hes waiting for the rest of his parts to be brought to him.
sounds like you and your wife have a very desirable relationship man, id accept a cat in the house for a old harley.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
So John got the bug. He bought a DRZ400 and gets out on it all the time. John also likes to peruse Craig's List, eBay and antique shops. He collects Griswold iron skillets from the 20's and that's what led us to Tango.
But if you have made it this far with me, you know that there's a story ahead.
In the fall of 2012, I flew into Indianapolis on my way to Central Illinois to visit my 90-year-old mother. John picked me up at the airport, we grabbed a couple road sodas and took the back route home. On our way, we stopped at a junkyard/antique shop and after searching high and low for iron skillets we walked out the door and found a motorcycle standing amidst a pile of junk. It was an old Honda enduro. We looked it over. Seemed mostly all there. Got in the car and continued our ride. On the road we chatted a little about the bike we had just seen and that was about it. Two days later, back in Atlanta, I get a call from John. "I bought that little Honda for $100. It's going to be my winter project."
I wish I had a picture of the Honda 175 standing in the junk yard but I don't. Here are a couple shots of it during the rebuild process last winter.
But if you have made it this far with me, you know that there's a story ahead.
In the fall of 2012, I flew into Indianapolis on my way to Central Illinois to visit my 90-year-old mother. John picked me up at the airport, we grabbed a couple road sodas and took the back route home. On our way, we stopped at a junkyard/antique shop and after searching high and low for iron skillets we walked out the door and found a motorcycle standing amidst a pile of junk. It was an old Honda enduro. We looked it over. Seemed mostly all there. Got in the car and continued our ride. On the road we chatted a little about the bike we had just seen and that was about it. Two days later, back in Atlanta, I get a call from John. "I bought that little Honda for $100. It's going to be my winter project."
I wish I had a picture of the Honda 175 standing in the junk yard but I don't. Here are a couple shots of it during the rebuild process last winter.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
So John and Frank spent weekends and evenings in Indianapolis last winter working on the 1976 Honda 175. During the day, John searched craigslist and eBay for parts.
One day in March I was traveling out of town on business. In the middle of meeting I receive a call. John doesn't call very often so I thought I had better pick up.
"I need you to buy a motorcycle."
"Ok. Give me 15 minutes. I'll call you back."
Turns out John had been searching Craigslist and found another Honda 175. This one a '77.
John didn't really need me to buy the bike. My involvement just helped his explanation to the wife why another motorcycle would appear in the garage.
I made a phone call to the craigslist number and bought the bike for a dollar a cc.
Before I got off the phone I asked the seller.
"Got any more bikes for sale?"
"Yeah, I got a old Yamaha café racer from the late 60's."
"Sounds interesting,"I replied.
"If you buy the 175, I will sell the Yamaha for $500."
So John and Frank pulled the motorcycle trailer up to Gary, Indiana that night. And in the dark in a barn surrounded by junk they found this.
It looked interesting but there was no title or other information like year or cc's. John and I had both worked the system on title-less bikes in the past so we weren't all that worried about titling. Together, they loaded up the trailer with both bikes hoping that they had not been stolen at some point and headed home.
One day in March I was traveling out of town on business. In the middle of meeting I receive a call. John doesn't call very often so I thought I had better pick up.
"I need you to buy a motorcycle."
"Ok. Give me 15 minutes. I'll call you back."
Turns out John had been searching Craigslist and found another Honda 175. This one a '77.
John didn't really need me to buy the bike. My involvement just helped his explanation to the wife why another motorcycle would appear in the garage.
I made a phone call to the craigslist number and bought the bike for a dollar a cc.
Before I got off the phone I asked the seller.
"Got any more bikes for sale?"
"Yeah, I got a old Yamaha café racer from the late 60's."
"Sounds interesting,"I replied.
"If you buy the 175, I will sell the Yamaha for $500."
So John and Frank pulled the motorcycle trailer up to Gary, Indiana that night. And in the dark in a barn surrounded by junk they found this.
It looked interesting but there was no title or other information like year or cc's. John and I had both worked the system on title-less bikes in the past so we weren't all that worried about titling. Together, they loaded up the trailer with both bikes hoping that they had not been stolen at some point and headed home.
LMFAO
.. I don't know how you could be more of a dick really. I mean me calling you out on being a dick may not be as dickish as your post..LOL. I'm not hating I just think this was hilarious. I would also like to second the fact that this dude is a great story teller and a rich, long winded, glory seeking, hey look how cool me and my life are prick to boot
. I'm looking forward to the the next chapter, and yet maybe I should be pissed that ill have to read more... Be nice to one another
And before anyone gets butt hurt I meant no offense to anyone.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
Two weeks into the World Record trip some guy got on the Pat Tillman Foundation website and said I was a piece of shit. He said that Pat Tillman didn't ride bikes and I was a fraud. At that point in time (about 14 days and 7,000 miles in) I was sore, tired, bored, scared and frankly a bit homesick. But I continued on. Raised some money for the cause and completed the ride. I learned once again, that not everyone likes me. And I am very okay with that.
The one point in this thread that I do want to correct is that a central theme to this story is the "Barn Find." Almost all of the bikes I have owned came from barns. I literally walked into barns and discovered the '76 Harley, the '52 Harley, the 2005 Honda, and the Yamaha 500. Lucky? Yes. Rich? No. But if you stick with me and my story, you'll see how Tango was part of that "Barn Find" family.
I enjoy that folks are keeping up with this. And your comments, positive or not are a pleasure to read. Kinsygrl, seriously, laughed my F*ing ass off reading your response.
I have not dropped "serious cash" on any of these bikes.
I have found bikes in barns - something I have never thought possible - and with a little cash, creativity and hard work have panned out to be great purchases.
The one point in this thread that I do want to correct is that a central theme to this story is the "Barn Find." Almost all of the bikes I have owned came from barns. I literally walked into barns and discovered the '76 Harley, the '52 Harley, the 2005 Honda, and the Yamaha 500. Lucky? Yes. Rich? No. But if you stick with me and my story, you'll see how Tango was part of that "Barn Find" family.
I enjoy that folks are keeping up with this. And your comments, positive or not are a pleasure to read. Kinsygrl, seriously, laughed my F*ing ass off reading your response.
I have not dropped "serious cash" on any of these bikes.
I have found bikes in barns - something I have never thought possible - and with a little cash, creativity and hard work have panned out to be great purchases.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
The next day John found the serial number and all three of us searched the internet to figure out what we had. It turns out it was a 1973 Yamaha TX 500 that had a long time ago been turned into a café racer. On the back fender of the bike was a signature and on the front, a dealer tag. We started to think that we may have found a real gem. The concern was, had it been stolen?
John researched the dealer tag and discovered the company was still in business just outside Chicago. Making a call, he connected with the owner and told him about the yellow café racer. The dealer responded that he thought the bike might have been previously owned by his own father, the founder of the dealership and raced back in the day. He asked for some pictures and inquired if his father could give John a call.
The next day John received a call. It turns out the bike was in fact previously owned and raced by the dealership founder in the 1970's. And having just beaten a bout with cancer, the bike, its history, and the opportunity to rebuild it, meant quite a bit to him. He asked if we would be interested in selling the bike back.
John called me and asked what I would like to do. Though the yellow café racer seemed like a good start to our build, this guy owned a Yamaha dealership. Wasn't he bound to have another bike sitting around that would make a good project for us?
So John returned his call and responded that we would be willing to trade, even up, the TX 500 for any running bike, made in the 60’s or 70’s that had two cylinders or less.
And that, my friends, is how we came across Tango, a running 1976 Yamaha xs650.
John researched the dealer tag and discovered the company was still in business just outside Chicago. Making a call, he connected with the owner and told him about the yellow café racer. The dealer responded that he thought the bike might have been previously owned by his own father, the founder of the dealership and raced back in the day. He asked for some pictures and inquired if his father could give John a call.
The next day John received a call. It turns out the bike was in fact previously owned and raced by the dealership founder in the 1970's. And having just beaten a bout with cancer, the bike, its history, and the opportunity to rebuild it, meant quite a bit to him. He asked if we would be interested in selling the bike back.
John called me and asked what I would like to do. Though the yellow café racer seemed like a good start to our build, this guy owned a Yamaha dealership. Wasn't he bound to have another bike sitting around that would make a good project for us?
So John returned his call and responded that we would be willing to trade, even up, the TX 500 for any running bike, made in the 60’s or 70’s that had two cylinders or less.
And that, my friends, is how we came across Tango, a running 1976 Yamaha xs650.
Last edited:
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
A couple weekends ago I walked out to the garage. Tango's frame and engine are still taking up space in John's Indianapolis garage. All I have at my home outside Atlanta is the front end, headlight bucket, wheels and tank. Anxious to get started on something, I took the tank off the shelf and gave it a good once over. Black, it came with a locking cap with keys, sans petcock and badges, with plenty of interior rust and a nice dent on the right front corner.
I've been looking at a lot xs650 pictures on the web over the past couple months. They are shared and discussed with John and Frank as we develop plans for Tango and Cash. I have to admit; it's harder to come up with a final design than I thought it would be.
I have two underlying goals for Tango.
Number 1. simplicity. I want a minimalist bike that is rideable and reliable.
Number 2. I want a bike that is mine. Designed by me and representative of my personal style.
I 've never had the opportunity to drive the design of a bike from scratch before. And how it looks and performs is very important to the outcome of the project.
At the same time, it's almost impossible to be completely original. And thankfully, I don't have to be. If I were, the bike would look like crap. Luckily, I can peruse hundreds of pictures of other's bikes and find features I like of each.
That said, the effort I put into the tank that weekend, looks a lot like others you are probably familiar with.
To start off, I had to resolve the goop that had accumulated inside the tank over the past 35 years. I read a lot of posts in this forum regarding tanks and rust and decided to try the simplest path I could.
I purchased a large bottle of naval jelly and dumped it inside. Every half hour or so I swirled the contents of the tank around then repositioned the tank in a way it had not resided before. After about six hours of this, I took the tank down to the tub and washed it out with soap and water. The next thing I did was dry the inside out with a heat gun. When dry, I dumped a box full of brass screws I had laying around inside the tank, rolled it up in a sleeping bag and stuck it inside the dryer. Setting the dryer controls to "air dry"it ran for about 20 minutes.
Pulling the tank and bag from the dryer, I emptied the brass screws and all the remaining rust from the tank into the trash. I retaped the petcock hole and dumped less than a pint of motor oil into the tank. Swirled it around and figured I had solved the rust issue.
The next thing I did was tape off a stripe on the outside of the tank. This is kind of opposite of what you would normally do when putting a stripe down the tank. In this case, I had a black tank and I covered the area of paint which I wanted not to destroy. The rest of the tank was covered with paint stripper and cleaned away. After removing the excess paint, I was left with a rough, original, black stripe down the tank.
The remainder of the tank, that which had no paint on it was covered with peroxide and "encouraged"to rust. The idea is to have a dented rusted tank with a stripe down the middle. I am not sure I will stick with this design in the final build. But for now, it looks pretty good.
I've been looking at a lot xs650 pictures on the web over the past couple months. They are shared and discussed with John and Frank as we develop plans for Tango and Cash. I have to admit; it's harder to come up with a final design than I thought it would be.
I have two underlying goals for Tango.
Number 1. simplicity. I want a minimalist bike that is rideable and reliable.
Number 2. I want a bike that is mine. Designed by me and representative of my personal style.
I 've never had the opportunity to drive the design of a bike from scratch before. And how it looks and performs is very important to the outcome of the project.
At the same time, it's almost impossible to be completely original. And thankfully, I don't have to be. If I were, the bike would look like crap. Luckily, I can peruse hundreds of pictures of other's bikes and find features I like of each.
That said, the effort I put into the tank that weekend, looks a lot like others you are probably familiar with.
To start off, I had to resolve the goop that had accumulated inside the tank over the past 35 years. I read a lot of posts in this forum regarding tanks and rust and decided to try the simplest path I could.
I purchased a large bottle of naval jelly and dumped it inside. Every half hour or so I swirled the contents of the tank around then repositioned the tank in a way it had not resided before. After about six hours of this, I took the tank down to the tub and washed it out with soap and water. The next thing I did was dry the inside out with a heat gun. When dry, I dumped a box full of brass screws I had laying around inside the tank, rolled it up in a sleeping bag and stuck it inside the dryer. Setting the dryer controls to "air dry"it ran for about 20 minutes.
Pulling the tank and bag from the dryer, I emptied the brass screws and all the remaining rust from the tank into the trash. I retaped the petcock hole and dumped less than a pint of motor oil into the tank. Swirled it around and figured I had solved the rust issue.
The next thing I did was tape off a stripe on the outside of the tank. This is kind of opposite of what you would normally do when putting a stripe down the tank. In this case, I had a black tank and I covered the area of paint which I wanted not to destroy. The rest of the tank was covered with paint stripper and cleaned away. After removing the excess paint, I was left with a rough, original, black stripe down the tank.
The remainder of the tank, that which had no paint on it was covered with peroxide and "encouraged"to rust. The idea is to have a dented rusted tank with a stripe down the middle. I am not sure I will stick with this design in the final build. But for now, it looks pretty good.
nineosixdave
XS650 Enthusiast
John traded for Tango on March 10, 2013 and it was upon this date that the three of us got indoctrinated to xs650s. However, it still being winter in Indianapolis, John and Frank were finishing their first build – the '77 Honda 175. So Tango was parked in John's storage shed and the two of them went back to work on the Winter 2012 project - now having doubled in size with the purchase of additional '76 Honda 175.
Motorcycles are like rabbits. Don't leave two alone together. You'll end up with a whole garage full.
It was never our intent to work on Tango during the summer. We knew the 650 would be a winter build. The plan was for the three of us to build out one bike, even though we were hundreds of miles apart. However, as plans sometimes go, that was not to be the case.
We became members of xs650.com, perused the technical forums, and read what whatever we could find about the bike. And John, once again, began stalking Craigslist and eBay. This time, for everything xs650.
In June, the company I worked for laid-off 50% of the employees. I was part of that rift. And, to make things a little smoother at home, I sold the '76 Harley that had been mostly sitting in my garage for the past three years. I was down to one bike – the xs650 in Indianapolis.
Somewhere between June and August I received a call from John.
"I found another xs650 on Craigslist in Danville, IL (just 5 miles from the hometown we grew up in). Call the guy up and see what shape the bike is in and what we can get it for."
So I called the guy. The bike was running and in reasonable shape, he claimed. However, he was pretty stubborn on the price that I thought was a bit high.
I called John back and gave him the scoop. I offered the guy cash, today. But he wouldn't budge.
John made another call to Danville. About 4 hours later he, the trailer, and some cash were parked outside a shuttered school, where in the basement of the old school house (not a barn mind you, but close) he found his xs650.
And because we now had two bikes for our winter 2013 build and a need to easily communicate about each, they were named Tango and Cash.
One last point, I have been doing all the story telling here. But it is time for John (Pugsley on this site) to chime in. Because his story of finding Cash in a schoolhouse is worth hearing in full detail.
Cash on the trailer home.
Motorcycles are like rabbits. Don't leave two alone together. You'll end up with a whole garage full.
It was never our intent to work on Tango during the summer. We knew the 650 would be a winter build. The plan was for the three of us to build out one bike, even though we were hundreds of miles apart. However, as plans sometimes go, that was not to be the case.
We became members of xs650.com, perused the technical forums, and read what whatever we could find about the bike. And John, once again, began stalking Craigslist and eBay. This time, for everything xs650.
In June, the company I worked for laid-off 50% of the employees. I was part of that rift. And, to make things a little smoother at home, I sold the '76 Harley that had been mostly sitting in my garage for the past three years. I was down to one bike – the xs650 in Indianapolis.
Somewhere between June and August I received a call from John.
"I found another xs650 on Craigslist in Danville, IL (just 5 miles from the hometown we grew up in). Call the guy up and see what shape the bike is in and what we can get it for."
So I called the guy. The bike was running and in reasonable shape, he claimed. However, he was pretty stubborn on the price that I thought was a bit high.
I called John back and gave him the scoop. I offered the guy cash, today. But he wouldn't budge.
John made another call to Danville. About 4 hours later he, the trailer, and some cash were parked outside a shuttered school, where in the basement of the old school house (not a barn mind you, but close) he found his xs650.
And because we now had two bikes for our winter 2013 build and a need to easily communicate about each, they were named Tango and Cash.
One last point, I have been doing all the story telling here. But it is time for John (Pugsley on this site) to chime in. Because his story of finding Cash in a schoolhouse is worth hearing in full detail.
Cash on the trailer home.
xskid
xskid
Cant wait, i really enjoy reading your tread
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