midnightforever
XS650 New Member
Hello everyone!
I've been lurking around here on the forums for a while and I decided to get an xs after a good deal of research. A few weeks ago I got my first bike from a friend of a friend, a 1983 xs650 heritage special. It was running at the time, but as I soon found out, it needs some work... But that's ok! if I didn't want a bike I'd be working on I wouldn't have gotten a classic
After my MSF course and some riding around in the hills I ended up getting into a low speed tank slapper and I crashed coming out of a turn, I walked out of it alright and was able to ride the bike the rest of the way home.
Turns out the stock bearings were screwed, so I got some tapered bearings to replace them and a new front end with rim (bent), tire, caliper and rotor from a kawasaki zx6r 636 from craigslist (great deal!). Later find out it's not exactly a bolt-on, center stem doesn't fit yoke. From some other threads I've read that people have ended up cutting the center stem from the XS out and welding it onto the trees from the donor front and it worked out well enough for them... but now after more looking I'm concerned about how it'll affect my trail, might be too unstable. Alternatively I'd replace the entire triple and try to find a place that would help me fabricate new ones, or just sell the new front and try and find another that would be bolt on. (using allballsracing.com this time to make sure it should be).
Thanks for your help guys, I've really been enjoying the forum, there's been some great stuff and some great bikes! I can post pictures if anyone is interested.
I've been lurking around here on the forums for a while and I decided to get an xs after a good deal of research. A few weeks ago I got my first bike from a friend of a friend, a 1983 xs650 heritage special. It was running at the time, but as I soon found out, it needs some work... But that's ok! if I didn't want a bike I'd be working on I wouldn't have gotten a classic
After my MSF course and some riding around in the hills I ended up getting into a low speed tank slapper and I crashed coming out of a turn, I walked out of it alright and was able to ride the bike the rest of the way home.
Turns out the stock bearings were screwed, so I got some tapered bearings to replace them and a new front end with rim (bent), tire, caliper and rotor from a kawasaki zx6r 636 from craigslist (great deal!). Later find out it's not exactly a bolt-on, center stem doesn't fit yoke. From some other threads I've read that people have ended up cutting the center stem from the XS out and welding it onto the trees from the donor front and it worked out well enough for them... but now after more looking I'm concerned about how it'll affect my trail, might be too unstable. Alternatively I'd replace the entire triple and try to find a place that would help me fabricate new ones, or just sell the new front and try and find another that would be bolt on. (using allballsracing.com this time to make sure it should be).
Thanks for your help guys, I've really been enjoying the forum, there's been some great stuff and some great bikes! I can post pictures if anyone is interested.