To restore or to ride?

[NewToXs]

At what point did you guys decide to go all out and restore your XS?

My bike is a special and I have it running well at this point but it only looks good from 15’ if I polish it up. Its my favorite bike to ride on the street and have only been doing enough to keep it running well. I’m about to pull the front end off and rebuild the forks and add a second rotor since most of my rides on it at this point are two up. It’s funny but I’ll run a 100 hp bike offroad but don’t trust myself with a fast bike on the road so the XS fits the bill.

At this point my thoughts are to buy a second bike as a project to make look nice and keep my current one on the road as a runner. This second bike may be an XS or a triumph. After I get the new one done I’ll strip the Xs special apart and make it look good.

Buying this bike has me looking at all kinds of old bikes. Also contemplating a 70s Honda 350/360 CB or CL or Yamaha RD but I am not sure how practical they would be for riding on the road.

 

[jpdevol]

Your plan makes sense to me. If you've got a good roadworthy bike, it's hard to take it apart and do a proper restoration and not have anything to ride. I've built customs - cafe, bobber,tracker - and have "as original" too. I like to do "second season" restorations, or rehabs: a bike as it might appear in its 2nd season, rather than as from the factory. That way it can, and will, still be ridden too.