I guess I would like to have a build thread, so I can just post stuff on here instead of starting a new thread every time I do something.
I really respect and admire the skill and strength of those folks who can put together an awesome custom bike in a few weeks.
I can't. Its taking me forever! Have had stuff come up in between and "lulls" happen. Have owned this bike for at least 10 years now - more like 12-13 I think. What happened is my Mom backed into this guy's bike and crunched the rear end. Very young dude, didn't particularly LIKE the model of bike per se, but did love it because it was his.
So, the ins. wasn't gonna give him squat for the bike.
My Mom felt very guilty and after some prodding from me, paid the guy like $1000. I'd already been to a local bike boneyard looking for parts to make it "whole" for him beyond what the ins was gonna give him....but I knew what an XS650 was and, ok, I admit, I WANTED it. Crunched ass and all.
So Mom gave him the $$, he bought a used Suzuki Intruder which suited him better. He was happy, I was geeked. My Mom, not so happy, but no longer feeling guilty either.
So it sat here.
I had other bikes in between. Stock, the 80 Special was wayyyyyyyyyy too tall for me.
But I still worked on it some. Gave it a new clutch and some other new stuff. Put shorter RedWing shocks on it. Never did sort the seat out tho. SO I could never really ride it. It sat! It was actually chained to a tree for a couple years. I'd chained it to this oak tree when one of the bigger hurricanes was headed our way a few years back.
In between the other bikes I also had a 79 Special named "Fidel" who was my only running/riding bike. For some reason that bike (flatter seat?) was low enough I could get my feet down enough to ride it stock. Fixed it. It was messed up Learned ALOT about the carbs and about timing on a points bike.
Sold it.
Trying to remember what got me going on this 80 again.
Anyway a couple years ago I sawed the back end off and sent it off to get hard-tailed and a couple degrees rake added to neck.
And slowly it is progressing.
The most recent stuff is making a battery "floor" area and today I bled in the rear brake. Brake works great.
Tried it first just the regular way, was taking wayyyyyy too long. So I remembered that I DO own a Mighty Vac, and was able to find it. Wow, ALL the diff in the world!
Got it up to pressure in no time practically. Stuck one of those Mike's electrical banjo-bolt brake light switches one, too.
Was going to try and deal with relocating the reservoir for the aftermarket master cyl, but I left it where it is for now - bolted to a nut I welded to the front surface of the back fender.
One slight worry I have is that I' relying on the back fender too much, to be functional in other ways than keeping mud off my back and my crotch off the back tire.
But we'll see. Its nice and strong, the back fender, so why not utilize it.
ONe other thing I'm kind of worried about it whe I jack the bike up and turn the rear wheel by hand, I mean its NOT super easy to turn. It was that way too, even before I got the brake working, so its not that.
I know on other bikes, when I've not ridden them in a long while, they seemed hard to back up right at first, or roll easily powered by feet only. ANd then it frees up a bit. Have noticed this on shaft, belt and chain bikes. So I'm hoping I don't have some worse problem. My chain IS tight. I was hoping to go ahead and have it stretch some, so when it gets to the rideable stage the new chain will have already stretched. So maybe chain tightness has something to do with it. But really, I think it was that way even before I installed the chain. So with no brake and no chain and axle torqued to spec, it was already not that easy to spin the back tire, with bike jacked up. In fact I couldn't just "spin" it, like give it a whirl and it keep spinning. Nope. Had to move it by hand the whole time.
Any ideas?
thx. Like I said I will post more here in this thread as I go.
this is a link to my pic thread. Will add more soon.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/album.php?albumid=41
Next I'm thinking front brake and bar controls mounted. Or carbs and pipes. Not sure.
I really respect and admire the skill and strength of those folks who can put together an awesome custom bike in a few weeks.
I can't. Its taking me forever! Have had stuff come up in between and "lulls" happen. Have owned this bike for at least 10 years now - more like 12-13 I think. What happened is my Mom backed into this guy's bike and crunched the rear end. Very young dude, didn't particularly LIKE the model of bike per se, but did love it because it was his.
So, the ins. wasn't gonna give him squat for the bike.
My Mom felt very guilty and after some prodding from me, paid the guy like $1000. I'd already been to a local bike boneyard looking for parts to make it "whole" for him beyond what the ins was gonna give him....but I knew what an XS650 was and, ok, I admit, I WANTED it. Crunched ass and all.
So Mom gave him the $$, he bought a used Suzuki Intruder which suited him better. He was happy, I was geeked. My Mom, not so happy, but no longer feeling guilty either.
So it sat here.
I had other bikes in between. Stock, the 80 Special was wayyyyyyyyyy too tall for me.
But I still worked on it some. Gave it a new clutch and some other new stuff. Put shorter RedWing shocks on it. Never did sort the seat out tho. SO I could never really ride it. It sat! It was actually chained to a tree for a couple years. I'd chained it to this oak tree when one of the bigger hurricanes was headed our way a few years back.
In between the other bikes I also had a 79 Special named "Fidel" who was my only running/riding bike. For some reason that bike (flatter seat?) was low enough I could get my feet down enough to ride it stock. Fixed it. It was messed up Learned ALOT about the carbs and about timing on a points bike.
Sold it.
Trying to remember what got me going on this 80 again.
Anyway a couple years ago I sawed the back end off and sent it off to get hard-tailed and a couple degrees rake added to neck.
And slowly it is progressing.
The most recent stuff is making a battery "floor" area and today I bled in the rear brake. Brake works great.
Tried it first just the regular way, was taking wayyyyyy too long. So I remembered that I DO own a Mighty Vac, and was able to find it. Wow, ALL the diff in the world!
Got it up to pressure in no time practically. Stuck one of those Mike's electrical banjo-bolt brake light switches one, too.
Was going to try and deal with relocating the reservoir for the aftermarket master cyl, but I left it where it is for now - bolted to a nut I welded to the front surface of the back fender.
One slight worry I have is that I' relying on the back fender too much, to be functional in other ways than keeping mud off my back and my crotch off the back tire.
But we'll see. Its nice and strong, the back fender, so why not utilize it.
ONe other thing I'm kind of worried about it whe I jack the bike up and turn the rear wheel by hand, I mean its NOT super easy to turn. It was that way too, even before I got the brake working, so its not that.
I know on other bikes, when I've not ridden them in a long while, they seemed hard to back up right at first, or roll easily powered by feet only. ANd then it frees up a bit. Have noticed this on shaft, belt and chain bikes. So I'm hoping I don't have some worse problem. My chain IS tight. I was hoping to go ahead and have it stretch some, so when it gets to the rideable stage the new chain will have already stretched. So maybe chain tightness has something to do with it. But really, I think it was that way even before I installed the chain. So with no brake and no chain and axle torqued to spec, it was already not that easy to spin the back tire, with bike jacked up. In fact I couldn't just "spin" it, like give it a whirl and it keep spinning. Nope. Had to move it by hand the whole time.
Any ideas?
thx. Like I said I will post more here in this thread as I go.
this is a link to my pic thread. Will add more soon.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/album.php?albumid=41
Next I'm thinking front brake and bar controls mounted. Or carbs and pipes. Not sure.