Hey guys, need your constructive critiscm

Yamaha_chop

Yamaha_chop

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What's up guys? It's been a long time since I've been on here, but I haven't lost the love for the XS650. I have been super busy with a bunch of other builds lately, and I was hoping you guys could help me out with my latest project. I've decided to go the video route detailing my builds on Youtube, so I created a channel a couple months ago, It's still developing, and I'm tweaking things as I go, but I'm hoping to show-case a more detailed style of channel that shows just how to create your own builds.
I've gotten some feedback on a couple other sites, but I would appreciate yours as well. I want to hear from the legitimate motorcyclist community on what you think I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what you'd like to see more of. I've got pretty thick skin so don't worry about offending me, I genuinely want some real feedback.
If it's ok, I'd like to post a few of my latest videos and have you guys/girls tell me what you think!



 
Long time no see!
Did you ever finish up your turbo 650? Last i saw u just got it fired up
 
Hey yamaha_chop, long time no see. ...............

Good vids, here is what i see
You speak well and clearly with no um's and ar's. I didn't get frustrated waiting for the information to come across.

The bad.........Welding vid. As a person who has a hearing problem i found the background music, while you were talking, an annoyance. I still could hear you ok because the music wasn't to loud, but i do question why there has to be any, when trying to talk or get a point across.

Good basic info on the welders and their uses and advantages/disadvantages.

Your set up and presentation feels genuine and is about what your doing and not about yourself, even though it is about your self to an extent.

To many times i have cut vids short after 20 sec because the presenter's ego is what is on presentation more than the content/subject matter, and having these guys go over and over the same point 3 or 4 times because they want to hear their own voice or maybe sometimes they don't stop to think about how they come across.
 
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It's a sad story about that bike. I did get it all painted up, but never powdercoated the frame or anything. Spent about six months trying to tune it properly. Learned a lot and made a lot of improvements. I had to move back to the coast and the bike sat for a few years. Then I took a long look at the bike- and I realized a few things. One of the things I realized is that there were a number of fundamental flaws I made when I initially built the bike. In the years since I had built it I learned a bunch more, and figured out how to do things a lot better than I did.
I realized then that there was no way to make the bike up to my current standards without completely rebuilding the entire bike, which I wasn't willing to do as I always have more projects I'm working on. So, sad to say, I parted out the bike completely about a year ago. I only got the chance to experience it under boost a few times, but it was exponentially more valuable for the experience I gained while trying to build it than it was as an actual motorcycle.
Funny thing is; the video I put on Youtube when I had just gotten the engine running is far and away my most popular video with about 95k views. I wish I had pursued the Youtube thing at that time, as it would have been a lot easier to build a following with a popular video getting a lot of views. Oh well, times change :)
I'm for sure going to build another XS someday though I love the engine character. Stupid people want too much money for them right now to get one though.
 
650Skull-
Thanks for the feedback man!
Yea, I'm divided on the music right now. Seems like some people want it, and others don't. I don't find it necessary especially like you say when I'm talking. But I felt like that video was all talking and was a little sterile. I'll try to adjust in the future videos, try to add music when you're just watching me work ect....

thank you for chiming in!
 
You will only get better, meaning i think you are good now but any edges will get polished the more you do...........What impressed me the most is how you engaged the public with an openness that drew me in rather than the feeling of when will he get to the point and thinking, "why am i here"?.................

You did that with your build threads, the engaging part.
 
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Too bad about the turbo bike. Any pics of it when it was done? Chock it up to learning experience. My first little chop looks amature at best, sitting in the corner, oxidised and neglected, i want to sell it, but i dont want to be a dreaded po. Seeing it ripped apart here would hurt.
 
Really do appreciate your support guys, I feel like I have the tools to be successful with this, but there's a lot of learning to go yet.

I certainly don't regret building the turbo bike at all, it was a tremendous learning experience, and there's no way I would be where I'm at now had I not challenged myself back then. I feel like every project I do teaches me something I didn't know before, which I love. I won't lie though, I agonized over the decision to part it out, as i had somewhere around 1000hrs building it. But in the end it was the right decision. I'll see if I can round up some semi finished pictures.
 
If you could indulge a sidebar question???
With what you've been through and learned :bow:, do you think its possible to fit a turbo on an XS, and it be oh, call it simple, reliable, and (nothing personal, as I know how hard it is out on the bleeding edge...) not look like something from a transformers movie? Maybe there is just too much componentry in the turbo hardware? Note: I went back and looked at your video - there is a LOT of stuff required going this route

Or is a Supercharger maybe the way to go? Either a turbo or supercharger is such a clean way to get more power. There when you want it, sitting quietly in the background if you don't.

I have a couple Valkyries (1500cc Flat 6), currently stock. Awesume bikes, 100 HP, 100 FT-lbs torque. But everyone wants more... :devilish:Some folks a few years ago were going turbos, but the best, cleanest manner turned out to be supercharging.
 
Sorry for the late reply man, I'll try to answer as best as I can. As far as the transformers thing, that was actually intentional on this bike :) In fact, my wife always referred to this bike as "General Grievous" from the Star Wars movies haha. But, yes, I do believe there are a lot neater ways to put a turbo on a bike, especially if you stick with a blow-through carb setup, and don't intercool it. Problem is, there are still quite a bit of components needed, and it's hard to hide all of that on a bike frame. Turbo placement is a big determination of how it'll look in the end, start with that, and go from there.
I've always wanted to try to go the supercharger route on a bike, but there are a couple issues with it. The first is cost, it's hard to find a supercharger that is small enough to work properly on a motorcycle, especially one with as small a displacement as an XS, so the only centrifugal superchargers that are available cost about $1500 for just the charger, so that makes it pretty cost prohibitive. The second issue is how do you set up a pulley system to run that supercharger? It'll all have to be custom made of course, but there's a lot of complexity to that as well. Then of course you have to figure out how you're going to manage the fuel system, which is the same problem if you're doing a turbo or a supercharger. In the end, it would more have to be for the novelty of having something truly original, as the cost to supercharge (in my opinion) would far exceed the cost of turbocharging a motorcycle. When you get into it, it's shocking how much both systems use the same components, they just make their boost in different ways, that boost still has to be utilized properly once it gets to the engine.
Hope that answers your questions.
thanks
Sky
 
I had a look at the XS400 page - holy cow. What a nice installation Drewpy did - very tidy indeed. I didn't get far enough into it to see if he had gotten it running though.

In general, the problems with supercharging or turbocharging a normally aspirated engine involve getting rid of the excess heat and keeping the mechanical bits like rods, pistons, bearings, cylinder head studs, etc. etc. - that are now experiencing much higher stresses than they were designed for - from blowing up.

Other than that - no problemo.

All you are really doing is fooling the engine into thinking that there is way more air going in than it was designed for and then supplying sufficient fuel to go along with that extra air.
 

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