Complete Bike Rebuild?? Worth it?

Skfork

XS650 Enthusiast
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Location
Honolulu, HI
Hey guys, I’m new to riding, I’ve got a couple posts on here, and my piston rings need to be replaced, so i’m looking at tearing the engine down. My bike is my dream bike, its a 1980 xs650g converted to a cafe racer.

I figure while i have it broken down theres a couple things i want done:

- powder coating (550$)
- rt emulator cartridges w springs (400$)
-Hagon rear shocks (410$)
- new wiring harness(??$)
- mostly new fasteners
-gaskets
- checking my electric start (it works, but more of an assist right now)
-replace master cyclinder (150$?)
-cables/hoses



But then i started thinking, could it be worth it to replace everything inside the engine? Literally everything, my bikes got 25k miles and po (and myself in the time i had her) have not done it justice, so if i replace it all, the pistons, springs/valves, crankshaft, camshaft, etc, would that be a good way to ensure I’ve got a good bike or is that just overkill?

My thinking is three-fold, one, the bikes 40 years old, so i feel like this stuff has to be starting to show its age in some way, two, im not very knowledgeable on mechanics (part of the reason i got a carbed bike was ease of working on it) and three, the bikes been converted, but i dont know what alls been done, cosmetically he did a good job, but the wiring harness is quite the rats nest now despite not being all that complicated and he bored up the engine and didnt replace the jets which leads me to believe maybe he jipped some other things internally.

You ole boys have been a wealth of knowledge, I’ve read through so many threads finding recommendations and have started compiling a list of where i want to buy the stuff, so im coming to the brain trust to see if im being unnecessarily overzealous or if it does/could make sense.

If it does make sense, if you guys have any recommended parts for any of the systems/upgrades i should consider please advise! Thank you folks
 

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Well, Hi, Skfork. I'm tempted to say, whoa, just slow down a bit. It's clear you are very exited about your XS, ready to do lots of work and make it a perfect dream bike. But there's not much point just rushing in and doing things you read are good. Life with your cafe racer is a relationship, attune to the bike and it will tell you what it needs. Go for rides, see what is wrong with the bike - makes itself known at the most inconvenient time. See what is right with the bike - the things you don't notice at the time. If you want to bling the bike up with new suspension that's fine but I would hesitate diving into engine until the need becomes manifest.

Ride the bike, enjoy the bike, tweak the things that need tweaking, fix the things that need fixing. Peace and love.
 
Maybe overkill
If a stock machine have only 25 k miles on it then there is about twice that ..mileage left before engine work is needed

This one has been rebored ..i suppose recently ---> and he bored up the engine
Say for the sake of reasoning 12 k then there are 4 times that mileage left

No one Knows how the value will be ;But today there are a lot of bikes .That People have put in money into
Rebuilding and ending at costs 3 X what it is worth and will loose money

May I suggest a compression test and a video here with some throttle Blipping looking for smoke and listening to engine Noise
I would be surprised if any motor work is needed
 
No, it is not worth it.

Take all that money and go buy a new bike if you don’t trust the one you have and want something new.

If I was a betting man…

You take it all apart - drop 1k on parts and powder coating, start to assemble, something gets in the way…

2 years later it’s a pile of parts in the garage still and you’re on market place trying to get 3k for a project bike so your not at a total loss.

If it needs maintenance, do some.

Don’t rip that thing apart, it’ll never go back together.
 
Powder coat because of ocean air, ive seen 1 in person and pics of a few more, why do you?
Haven’t ever had a need to powder coat.
Although Jim here is above professional in quality painting anything, I’ve painted everything since Jr High with rattle cans 😆👍
Pretty safe bet it's the same bike.
Yup, had a feeling that bike had a history on here.
So again asking, do you see other XS650’s in Hawaii ?
 
Don't think I'd even go into the engine unless there was a known problem that called for it.
Bushy topped that engine with fresh 705cc jugs. I'm bettin' there's well under 10k miles 'tween then and now. I'd be very surprised if there was any reason to pull that back down.
 
Don't think I'd even go into the engine unless there was a known problem that called for it.
Bushy topped that engine with fresh 705cc jugs. I'm bettin' there's well under 10k miles 'tween then and now. I'd be very surprised if there was any reason to pull that back down.
Yeah i am at work so havent had time to fully dive in to the thread, pretty stoked to have found the original builder, and to see how much care he put in to it, i think the guy i bought it from posted on that thread as well, but he didn’t really upkeep the bike.

Bikes only got about 3k miles on it, electric start doesnt fully function, and i chased an oil leak/compression issue that ended up being because someone did make a gasket on the camshaft oil seal and it failed, bought new seals, changed the oil and spark plugs and now the bike won’t turn over.

There was oil leaking through the exhaust pipe which i was thinking was piston issue but it seems like everyone disagrees so now im kind of lost as to where to go.
 
I’ve been riding an XS650 for 40 years. I don’t doubt my commitment to it. I think the suspension updates may be worthwhile if done properly. Getting it right isn’t as simple as installing emulators and shocks. My recommendation for getting it right the first time is to box up the forks and send them to Traxxion Dynamics in Woodstock, GA. They’ll be right when you get them back. They can also hook you up with the correct shocks & springs for the rear, but they’ll be Bitubo rather than Hagon.
 
Yeah i am at work so havent had time to fully dive in to the thread, pretty stoked to have found the original builder, and to see how much care he put in to it, i think the guy i bought it from posted on that thread as well, but he didn’t really upkeep the bike.

Bikes only got about 3k miles on it, electric start doesnt fully function, and i chased an oil leak/compression issue that ended up being because someone did make a gasket on the camshaft oil seal and it failed, bought new seals, changed the oil and spark plugs and now the bike won’t turn over.

There was oil leaking through the exhaust pipe which i was thinking was piston issue but it seems like everyone disagrees so now im kind of lost as to where to go.
I
I’ve been riding an XS650 for 40 years. I don’t doubt my commitment to it. I think the suspension updates may be worthwhile if done properly. Getting it right isn’t as simple as installing emulators and shocks. My recommendation for getting it right the first time is to box up the forks and send them to Traxxion Dynamics in Woodstock, GA. They’ll be right when you get them back. They can also hook you up with the correct shocks & springs for the rear, but they’ll be Bitubo rather than Hagon.
I’m originally from georgia, haha, ill keep that in mind and will probably send it off to them to do the work. This sub is awesome thank you guys for talking me out of what was an unnecessary waste of money and thank you @Bushyeyed1 for posting such a good record of your build. This is my dream bike i just want to do right by it
 
also important to not the spark plugs were oil fouled, im running a leakdown test and compression test today and will report back.
 
Well, Hi, Skfork. I'm tempted to say, whoa, just slow down a bit. It's clear you are very exited about your XS, ready to do lots of work and make it a perfect dream bike. But there's not much point just rushing in and doing things you read are good. Life with your cafe racer is a relationship, attune to the bike and it will tell you what it needs. Go for rides, see what is wrong with the bike - makes itself known at the most inconvenient time. See what is right with the bike - the things you don't notice at the time. If you want to bling the bike up with new suspension that's fine but I would hesitate diving into engine until the need becomes manifest.

Ride the bike, enjoy the bike, tweak the things that need tweaking, fix the things that need fixing. Peace and love.
:agree:
Raymond has it right. I bought my dream bike 'Taffy' got excited and ended up taking 2 years and spending way toooooo much money on it.
The bike I have now is wonderfull, but would I have enjoyed it just as much if I'd spent less money :umm:......... Probably.
 
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