When will the xs650 hardtail fad end

Honestly who really cares about what someone else does with there motorcycle. If that is really going to bother you, you're going to have all sorts of stress conditions at some point in life. It is not worth sweating over.

You don't trash talk someone for totaling their bike, you ask them if they are alright. They may have done the same exact thing in your opinion by chopping it. But what it comes down to is that it is just stuff. Some people have a hard time realizing that unless they risk losing something that is much more valuable to them (Like their own life or a loved one). It's yours to do what you want with. Anyone who says otherwise needs to mind their own business.

Also to do it properly you don't use the cheap bottle jack harbor freight pipe bender, and anyone that has done it know that it's a pain in the !@#.
 
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Hi Guys,

I'm gonna step out of my usual comfort zone. Why? Well, I love a stock Standard XS, especially a 1977"D". Love it! Still.....

I also have a couple of BSA singles. One of them is fairly original (#159) and will stay that way. Another is a BSA B44 engine in a Triumph rolling frame --with the tls front brake-- and a Spitfire gas tank, flat bars, a cafe fairing, a low pipe and a muffler (empty can) from a B25. It's not a hard-tail, but it corners like a FFF in a FF. (Think about it, then ask...) :D

My point? I was reading about chopping up a T Model Ford, something I would abhor today. I do however, remember my father telling us about how they cut off all the excess weight and mounted a 3-speed Chevy gearbox behind the two-speed planetary in the T, and had a Ruxtell (sp?) rear end and (I think) a solid brass head? Anyway, my Dad would lay on the front fender and spray oxygen from a bottle into the carb while my Uncle would drive....my Poppa says that until it blew up, they had probably the fastest T-Ford in Pennsylvania....but if they hit a pebble they had to down-shift. The thing is, they had fun.

Fun for me with an XS is seeing a beautiful, clean, absolutely stock '77"D", cruising down a road on a sunny afternoon. Fun for you might be rolling into town on a chopped XS (hopefully a Special..). As my friend Lynette says, "Whatever blows your skirt up!"

And my little cafe BSA? Well, the guys I know who are into restoring BSA's seem to like her......and so do I! :thumbsup:
 
xstwin said:
It"s sickening to me that all these bikes are being chopped up,but it's even worse that they all look the same. If I see another tc bros weld on hardtail with a sportster tank,whitewalls,and a yellow lens in the headlight I'm gonna freak. If your gonna chop do something different, be creative don't just think your being creative. Jockey shift yeh uh thats not so unique either,but one of the things that boggles the mind is the way these guys set up the frames,worst lines I have ever seen on something with a motor since the pacer.YOU LOOK LIKE A GIANT RIDING ON AN ACUTE TRIANGLE.THE BACKBONE IS SO SHORT AND STEEP U CAN BARELY SEE OVER THE GAS TANK. You know they do sell pipe benders and welders so you can do your own thing :doh:. I just had to get that off my mind.:banghead::banghead:
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:wtf:I've not tuned in for a while, come back now and see the above hate. What a lousy bait thread. How about being constructive, and offering some good ideas.
 
Gordon said:
...very tastefully done machine. Don't you just love the mag hanging off the side like that? Way cool.
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- totally, he did it again here on this TR6C, he has a vision and is a very nice finisher

atom-bomb-custom-vegas19.JPG
 
He can certainly build very clean, no frills machine's. I love that. You can see he put's allot of work into making them look like it wasn't much work.:):D:thumbsup:
 
OK, time to get serious: if my kitty cat has a "hardtail" does that mean that he doesn't suffer from "Erect-tail Disfunction"? :laugh::laugh:

That's a neat bike with the Joe Hunt mag. My only concern would be the cost of laying it down if that ever happened. I also like the tank....I remember when Mustang tanks were the thing to stick on a 74" HD Pan....

Know what? The more I read, the less important it seems to be whether or not someone somewhere chops up an XS or leaves it stock.....
 
ahh Barb.. Come to the dark side!!! something something something something..... DARK SIDE.... Something something something something..... DARK SIDE....
 
why are so many people concerned with the style of someone else's bike?

how about you worry about your own and i'll worry about mine!?

i never knew a certain style of bike could really hurt someone so deeply to they're core.

maybe you should try looking in the mirror and being happy with yourself enough that you don't feel the need to attack others for they're choices

but that's just my thoughts
 
mrkil said:
why are so many people concerned with the style of someone else's bike?

how about you worry about your own and i'll worry about mine!?

i never knew a certain style of bike could really hurt someone so deeply to they're core.

maybe you should try looking in the mirror and being happy with yourself enough that you don't feel the need to attack others for they're choices

but that's just my thoughts
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Only one person started this with nasty comments. Don't bring it and there won't be none. I don't even have a hartail and it offended me. Mabe you should read the original message.
 
xsjohn said:
First time they accidentally run off the road like we all do from time to time they will know why they shouldn't have done that...........:yikes: :laugh:

xsjohn
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I've crashed a LOT of bikes, John, and the most recent was a 2005 1500. Know what? It had the nicest suspension a bike rider could want, and it sucked going down, and hurt just as bad, as if I would have been rolling on a hardtail. I WANT to take my life into my hands when I ride, and I WANT the xs to look different than my production model (read: boring) bike. An old xs650, cut up, no front brakes, built on a dime...that is what will make riding fun for me again, not sweet suspension.
I'm glad that you enjoy the version of the xs that you ride. Keep smiling, good sir.
 
My lower back is trashed.........first I thought it was from playing tennis.......now they figure it is from 50 years of riding motorcycles......and that was with springs........It's not that I don't like the way hard tails look.......I just wonder about all this ......and I still ride at least 100 miles a day weather permitting and may times a lot farther than that...like today......once the back goes so does most everything else we take for granted........ya that too......

I didn't start this thread.....just gave my opinion...and I seldome' care if I get beat for that....:)

xsjohn
 
xsjohn said:
My lower back is trashed.........first I thought it was from playing tennis.......now they figure it is from 50 years of riding motorcycles......and that was with springs........It's not that I don't like the way hard tails look.......I just wonder about all this ......and I still ride at least 100 miles a day weather permitting and may times a lot farther than that...like today......once the back goes so does most everything else we take for granted........ya that too......

I didn't start this thread.....just gave my opinion...and I seldome' care if I get beat for that....:)

xsjohn
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I completely hear and respect your point, John. My back is done from parachuting and kung fu. I plan on logging about 25 miles a month on this. For any distance ride, I'll be on a new, comfy, big bike. This is a project and something dangerous for this old man, thus the hardtail, no front brakes, and utter lack of regard for my wallet, especially in consideration of the final project! LOL
Thanks for the comment and feedback, and have a great rest of your weekend.:)
 
nope it wont end... just as the tracker and cafe builds will not either. thank the japs i say for such a versitile model twin. the xs is one of the very few......very few bikes on this planet that can be made into just about any fad or style easily.....

now as far as looks go. i am glad that tcbros makes the kit they do. it is easy to pick out in the crowd and that makes all other styles more favorable to look at in my opinion. i dont make any hardtails that look like thiers.... i dont like the bends they make but that is just me and my customers...... not knocking them however so please dont misread my meaning here. they got a good thing going on kit sales. i just like more custom and different is all. just like i am glad not everyone makes the same looking tracker or cafe but there are still a lot that look alike....

now to re-answer the topics question.....nope the rigid xs is here to stay just like the tracker and cafe builds. the stock bikes are getting alot more expensive to acquire now that the economy has flipped and biker build off days are gone but as long as their are xs650's around they will get chopped up. unless you are a purest at heart the phrase "stock sucks" is alive and doing well. hell in my buisness we used to say that if you are building a bike to its stock form you have one thing for sure and are lacking another............ you obviously have money to throw away and must lack imagination..... otherwise you would be cutting it up.....hahahahaa now i went and done it. me bad..
 

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