the one that got away

T Rex NZ

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I bought what I thought was a challenging project, it was a 70 XS1b that was in a sorry state, it had no motor or carbs just the bear basic rolling bike. It did come with spiral chrome steel square high rise handle bars that had my friends gagging ( mind you one insisted he wanted them in his garage and is today :laughing: ) I also bought a 72 that was painted in a brown color that looked like chocolate moose :poo: I took a photo of both bikes with my friends sitting on them ( the one on the XS1b has the bars, he's got a good collection of RDs )
it was months later I bought another XS2 inc what was ment to be a box of new parts and two spare motors, it turned out the guy was a crook :pimp:and he put his old crap in the box but the redeeming thing was one of the motors was a XS1 motor in good condition.
many months of :twocents::twocents::twocents:
20161124_122325 XS1 IN PRE RESTORE PHOTO.jpg
20171104_131900 (1).jpg
stripping plating painting, rebuilding the motor etc I had this absolute honey finished which lived in my lounge for a while, then I needed a new project for my itchy feet so it was sold to finance the next project hence that was my biggest mistake
 
I laced front and back wheels myself it was the first time I had ever done that. I was very pleased how that turned out.. when I sent the crank away to have new bearings pressed on there were lead weights in the webs, they had worked loose so the mechanic made up steel plugs and tig welded them in, could say if that made it worse for vibration as I'd never riden an Xs before.
 
my friend Mark Hatton did the paint job, he never uses decals he dose al his own pin striping by hand, he's a true craftsman but don't expect anything in a hurry :zzz: between fishing reading books and golf he will paint in the end I said ( groveled someone said ) I need my paint job done now !!! :whistle:
 
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Looks like you had the same issues im sure thats what damaged one bearing :thumbsup:
 
Both of my XS2 engines had loose weights. Since the stater gear was in bad shape I found a good 447 crank and rebuilt it using 256 rods, which was then balanced and welded. The 447 crank does not have weights. I run the Xs2 cam with the help of a megacycle adjustable gear to accommodate the 447 cam chain gear on the crank.
 
Would be nice to see your next build with the Huka Falls or Mount Ruapehu in the background?
We do have some very impressive backdrops to plant your bike in front of, I'm not going to strip the TX when I get it other than going through a Pre start up check over, I'm still debating about the XS2 GS650/750 whether I can afford to do a proper rebuild if I do it could take up to a year depending on financial budget
 
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