Mini XS650 café racer..
I think this was an early 70s model, got it for a few bucks as a wreck. I bought another from the wreckers for another few bucks and stripped them using the best parts.
Interesting little bike with a disk valve. I did a number on this little thing: stripped the motor, modified the inlet disk, shaved the head, rebored it and gave it new pistons, rings and gudgeons. Stripped the crank and replaced the big end bearings. Mains were ok, so, I reused them, cut new gaskets and built an expansion chamber for it.
The frame was a pressed steel unit, I stripped it, cleaned it up and shortened it by removing about 150mm from the tail section, I welded a flat plate there and made up a tail light which bolted to the plate.
Drop bars were welded up from a lawnmower handle, oil tank was fashioned and welded together using an old fridge, the fridge also supplied sheet metal for the left side cover and the seat.
Springs were cleaned up painted and exposed. Hubs polished, rims and spokes cleaned up and the wheels laced together. A simplified wiring harness was made and strung through the frame. The original air cleaner was a mammoth drum thing, sitting top of the motor. That went in the bin and I made a smaller one that clamped over the spigot coming off the right side cover, the carb sat behind the right cover breathing through a crank mounted disk.
Finally, I painted it in F111 green two pack, because I got it free. Didn’t like that, so, repainted it black, again using paint I scrounged. All up it cost me just a rebore, new pistons, rings and big end bearings, plus a few bucks for thebwrecks.
Having just a single seat it was cheaper to register in QLD, around $50 a year. But it failed the road worthy as the mounts for pillion pegs in the swingarm were threaded, allowing pillion pegs to be screwed into place. So I drilled out the thread and it passed. Obviously they’d never heard of nuts. I then rode it to and from work for a while, before breaking it down and dumping it at the tip.
This bike garnered quite a lot of attention wherever I parked it. A copper pulled me up one day to have look at it. It was quite quick for 100cc, way quicker than a workmates Honda 100 and surprisingly these things with the pressed metal frames handled quite well.
After this I bought a little two stroke, 50cc Honda step through with centrifugal clutch, just one gear. They did 50KPH flat out, but the exhaust was coked up and kept cutting out when it got warm, so, I made an expansion chamber for it, put a butterfly carb on it and got 70 KPH out of it, but it really guzzled the petrol. Didn’t handle that well flat out either, steering wasn’t set up for anything faster than 50.
I think this was an early 70s model, got it for a few bucks as a wreck. I bought another from the wreckers for another few bucks and stripped them using the best parts.
Interesting little bike with a disk valve. I did a number on this little thing: stripped the motor, modified the inlet disk, shaved the head, rebored it and gave it new pistons, rings and gudgeons. Stripped the crank and replaced the big end bearings. Mains were ok, so, I reused them, cut new gaskets and built an expansion chamber for it.
The frame was a pressed steel unit, I stripped it, cleaned it up and shortened it by removing about 150mm from the tail section, I welded a flat plate there and made up a tail light which bolted to the plate.
Drop bars were welded up from a lawnmower handle, oil tank was fashioned and welded together using an old fridge, the fridge also supplied sheet metal for the left side cover and the seat.
Springs were cleaned up painted and exposed. Hubs polished, rims and spokes cleaned up and the wheels laced together. A simplified wiring harness was made and strung through the frame. The original air cleaner was a mammoth drum thing, sitting top of the motor. That went in the bin and I made a smaller one that clamped over the spigot coming off the right side cover, the carb sat behind the right cover breathing through a crank mounted disk.
Finally, I painted it in F111 green two pack, because I got it free. Didn’t like that, so, repainted it black, again using paint I scrounged. All up it cost me just a rebore, new pistons, rings and big end bearings, plus a few bucks for thebwrecks.
Having just a single seat it was cheaper to register in QLD, around $50 a year. But it failed the road worthy as the mounts for pillion pegs in the swingarm were threaded, allowing pillion pegs to be screwed into place. So I drilled out the thread and it passed. Obviously they’d never heard of nuts. I then rode it to and from work for a while, before breaking it down and dumping it at the tip.
This bike garnered quite a lot of attention wherever I parked it. A copper pulled me up one day to have look at it. It was quite quick for 100cc, way quicker than a workmates Honda 100 and surprisingly these things with the pressed metal frames handled quite well.
After this I bought a little two stroke, 50cc Honda step through with centrifugal clutch, just one gear. They did 50KPH flat out, but the exhaust was coked up and kept cutting out when it got warm, so, I made an expansion chamber for it, put a butterfly carb on it and got 70 KPH out of it, but it really guzzled the petrol. Didn’t handle that well flat out either, steering wasn’t set up for anything faster than 50.
