1979 Bosozoku chop? Custom junker? Build thread

[fang88619]

Here she is, my 1979 xs650
Got her a few months after my honda shadow ace was destroyed via a drunk driver

 

[fang88619]

This bike came without a battery, I ended up getting a yuasa and managed to get her to run for a few days, until the battery died
Charged it up and again, killed the battery
Took a lot of tinkering but I eventually figured out that the previous owner had accidentally switched the contact points on the brushes, went through and wired everything in and fixed it
Lots of cussing and confusion where involved figuring all that out

 

[fang88619]

Finally got her down the road with no issues, fiddled around with a custom side cover and some weird fairing and bars before I took a grinder to the frame

 

[fang88619]

After chopping the stock seat off I attempted to make a drop seat and sissy bar, ended up going with something else but here's some pictures of progress

 

[fang88619]

Months went by, Born free 8 had passed and my bike still wasn't running
The frustration led to a parts binge and eventually working on the damn thing
I mounted a slim tank from tc bros along with a brat kit drop seat
The angle I had made my previous drop seat was too steep and short although I did like the way it looked
I also got around to replacing the original battery with a lightweight gel shorai unit, it still amazes me how small and light it is compared to the stock one

I chopped an old fender up that I got from a swap meet
Made a sissy bar
Got some struts to hard tail it
Re laced the front and back wheels with some new stainless spokes from mikes xs
And replaced all the stock bearings
New tires and she's almost ready for some head scratching fun

 

[fang88619]

I also managed to get some 8+ extended fork tubes, I think they look great and the bike is really starting to flow
Made some bars so I can actually move this thing around, modified the sissy bar a bit more and made a seat pan
Made a quick bracket to mount a brake light on the sissy bar also

 

[fang88619]

If you didn't already notice I had to extend the kick stand
Since it seemed very hard to find a longer one to replace my stock one I decided to chop it and weld on a piece of 3/4 round stock
Heated it with a torch and made a couple bends,then hammered the bottom flat until I can weld a small plate on there so she can't sink in the dirt too easy
looks nasty but it works for now
I managed to wrestle the engine back into the frame to start mocking up the wiring etc before I throw some paint on it
I also made a fairing from an old fender I picked up from a swap meet, looks pretty slick with the headlight I think

 

[weaselbeak]

Finally I see a chop that is a bit different than the usual. Not for my butt, but cool as hell. I got 6 over forks out in the garage, always thought 8 was a bit much.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Reminds me of something.

Can't quite put my finger on it.

 

[fang88619]

hahahaha Twomany I can't tell you how many times I thought that also

 

[CoconutPete]

Cool project. I like the fender/fairing idea. Where does your noggin end up being in relation to the top of it?

 

[abyssmaltailgate]

Looks wild! Keep posting progress!