Uselessclutter
XS650 Member
Ok first post on here. Long post warning. Glad to be a new member of this community. I have been saying I was going to build a bike for 20 years and finally stopped saying and started doing. I recently purchased a project bike(s). I got a lot with it and feel like it was a good deal. For $500 I got a titled, hard tailed ‘82 XS-J along with MikesXS PMA and electronic ignition kits. Also included was a basket case ‘78 XS-E sitting on a rolling untitled ‘71-72 hard tailed XS-2 frame. Along with another untitled stock ‘81-82 XS-J frame. Before I found the deal on the two frames and titled bike I had purchased a 98% complete ‘81 XS-SH motor that turns over for $50. Getting a titled bike with the PMA and ignition kit already paid for itself in my eye. I quickly got the kits installed and got her fired up and she runs pretty well.
Ok so now to the nitty gritty. The titled frame has a hard tail that I have never seen anywhere. The vertical tube under the seat was removed and a flat bar was put in its place. It appears to have been CNC’d specifically for this purpose and honestly gives it some character. The lower portion of the frame has non-typical angle that I don’t find appealing and the previous owner welded on some stuff and his welding is very lackluster as there was no penetration of the metals. Basically just slag tape holding some brackets on. The other hard tail frame with no title has a much more attractive/traditional look along with better looking welds. I just had to remove an insane amount of bondo to even see them.
So I am finding myself not liking the look of the titled frame and not trusting the welds. I am now wondering what to do to have the right look and safety of good welds.
My options as I see them are as follows:
A. Get a new hard tail for the titled frame trying to incorporate the flat seat tube they installed.
B. Get a new hard tail and see if I can’t have the seat tube cannibalized from the stock untitled frame.
C. Have the untitled frame’s hard tail along with the seat tube moved over to the titled bike.
D. Have the titled head tube moved to the untitled hard tailed frame (not sure of legality.)
E. Have the titled head tube moved to the stock frame and then start fresh as though I bought a stock titled frame (not sure of the legality) and then get a new hard tail kit.
I know getting a title for the other frames is difficult, which I could get the other motors running for. Not sure if it’s even worth doing so to sell and make some money or to make other bikes and sell them. Which also weighs in on how much I wanna chop them all up to get this titled bike right.
First four pics are the titled frame, the others are the untitled hard tail frame.
Ok so now to the nitty gritty. The titled frame has a hard tail that I have never seen anywhere. The vertical tube under the seat was removed and a flat bar was put in its place. It appears to have been CNC’d specifically for this purpose and honestly gives it some character. The lower portion of the frame has non-typical angle that I don’t find appealing and the previous owner welded on some stuff and his welding is very lackluster as there was no penetration of the metals. Basically just slag tape holding some brackets on. The other hard tail frame with no title has a much more attractive/traditional look along with better looking welds. I just had to remove an insane amount of bondo to even see them.
So I am finding myself not liking the look of the titled frame and not trusting the welds. I am now wondering what to do to have the right look and safety of good welds.
My options as I see them are as follows:
A. Get a new hard tail for the titled frame trying to incorporate the flat seat tube they installed.
B. Get a new hard tail and see if I can’t have the seat tube cannibalized from the stock untitled frame.
C. Have the untitled frame’s hard tail along with the seat tube moved over to the titled bike.
D. Have the titled head tube moved to the untitled hard tailed frame (not sure of legality.)
E. Have the titled head tube moved to the stock frame and then start fresh as though I bought a stock titled frame (not sure of the legality) and then get a new hard tail kit.
I know getting a title for the other frames is difficult, which I could get the other motors running for. Not sure if it’s even worth doing so to sell and make some money or to make other bikes and sell them. Which also weighs in on how much I wanna chop them all up to get this titled bike right.
First four pics are the titled frame, the others are the untitled hard tail frame.