XS Build - A Father and Son Project

[army85harley]

First let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Garrison and thanks for having me on this site. I've been lurking around here for years but never created an account. After finally getting an XS and creating an account, this is my first official post.

******

My 9 year old son (or as he refers to himself "closer to 10 years old") and I picked up a 1980 xs650 Special back in early April 2018 from an old man in Indiana. The old man was the only owner of it and he put all 23,000 miles on it over the last 38 years. He looked sad to see it go but was glad I was going to get it running again.

The idea was to get it running, clean it up a bit and just ride it. Instead, my son finally decided he wanted to learn about/use tools so he is now involved and we are going to make a cool chopper.

 

[army85harley]

Here are the photos that were part of the sale ad. Bought the motorcycle off of Facebook's marketplace. Seller was was asking $1,000 but I picked it up for $750 with a clean title.

 

[army85harley]

Upon arriving to check it out, here are the photos I took and 1 of it loaded up on my trailer.

 

[army85harley]

Once the bike was home, we decided to strip off some of the parts we knew we were not going to need. Here are just a few photos I took of my son removing some stuff. This was his first time using tools so it's awesome for me to experience with him.

 

[army85harley]

All of the parts we've taken off my son has cleaned up. We then took pictures of them and have been posting them of various XS Facebook groups. To date, we sold $525 worth of old parts (Not bad since we only paid $750 for the bike!!) and with that money we have bought a few things for the bike.

With that money, we've bought a speedo eliminator (Hugh's Hand Built), a tach plug from (LC Fabrication), a handlebar bushing set (Hugh's Hand Built), a headlight bracket (TC Bros) and a 5.75" black Bates style headlight (Lowbrow), 3 quarts of oil and an oil filter (local Yamaha dealer) and a set of Foomanchoo exhaust from eBay (Wise Guys Choppers).

 

[army85harley]

This past weekend my son and I took a few more things off the Yamaha. He was excited that he could lift the empty gas tank. He expected it to be extremely heavy even though I kept telling him it's empty.

Then we put an old Harley tank on it to get an idea of what we might end up using. Overall, we’re still unsure which one to choose. It will either be a King P-Nut from Lowbrow or a Frisco Sportster from TC Bros

 

[army85harley]

We are at the point now where my son and I trying to come to a decision on what we want the end result to look like. I'm a fan of 12" hanger and he isn't. Luckily we both agreed on the color of this bike: bare metal with heavy gloss clear coat (some parts will end of being powder coated black).

We have also agreed on how it we want it to sit. We want it to sit low and with a hardtail.

Near future parts:

* Zero Stretch Hardtail, disc brake mid controls and hand shifter from Jumpstreet Customs
* Custom seat from Counter Balance Cycles
* 4.34" Manta Ray Smooth Steel Fender from Lowbrow
* Fender Mounts from TC Bros
* Fork Seals from TC Bros
* -2" or -3" fork lowering kit from Hugh's (won't know for sure until the hardtail is installed)
* Fender Strut Kit from TC Bros
* Handlebars - Either 12" Apes from TC Bros or we also like the Panzer Riseless bars from Jumpstreet Customs

 

[army85harley]

I forgot to mention that we did get it running two weeks ago. Some things weren't adjusted correctly (mainly carbs and brakes) but I was able to ride it around in 1st and 2nd gear in my driveway.

You can hear it running at:

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Welcome to the forum, army85harley.
Alright, a budding XS mechanic!
Give your son an "attaboy" from us...

 

[army85harley]

Thanks 2M.

 

[army85harley]

Also, if someone needs some of the stock parts we've taken off so far, let me know.

At the moment we have the following sitting on the shelf. (all came off a 1980 xs650 Special)

Located in Elizabethtown, Kentucky 42701

- gas tank w/ petcock
- exhaust
- crash bar
- seat latch
- indicator lights w/ bracket and wires
- fairing and windshield
- seat
- Brand new electronic Speedo - never installed
- Speedo cable
- tach and cable
- air box
- rear view mirror mount
- rear blinkers
- front blinkers
- reflectors from downtubes
- taillight
- headlight w/ chrome trim
- Center stand
- backrest with rack
- rear fender

Buyer pays shipping or local pickup

Message me on here if you are interested in something or on Facebook: Here is my page: https://www.facebook.com/paul.garrison.50

 

[CoconutPete]

Love the father and son aspect of this!

I'd be very interested in the headlight along w/ mounts or "ears" if you still have it.

Sending you a PM now.

 

[FB71]

I'm curious what you'd ask for the fairing and windshield? You can PM me...

 

[Mailman]

Paul ,
Welcome to the site! Congratulations on having this shared experience with your son. This is a memory that will stay with him forever. Not to mention his bragging rights and street cred at school! When I was his age, I was building models. He’s building a chopper!
You’re a cool Dad!

 

[army85harley]

I'm curious what you'd ask for the fairing and windshield? You can PM me...

FB71, a local guy saw my post on here and is stopping by my house this Friday evening to take a look at it. If he doesn’t buy it, I’ll let you know.

 

[army85harley]

Paul ,
Welcome to the site! Congratulations on having this shared experience with your son. This is a memory that will stay with him forever. Not to mention his bragging rights and street cred at school! When I was his age, I was building models. He’s building a chopper!
You’re a cool Dad!

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[army85harley]

THE STOCK TANK JUST SOLD.

I’m shipping it to California tomorrow.

 

[Jim]

PM sent on the exhaust.

 

[army85harley]

Well, moving forward I’m going to try and post an update every few weeks or I’ll post a quick update if we order some new parts.

With that being said, tonight we placed an order with TC Bros for 3 parts: engine stand, black gas cap and a 2.5 gal Frisco mount Sportster tank.

 

[army85harley]

Also, I mentioned it earlier but I’ll say it again. This bike will have a 0 stretch hardtail and a jockey shift. Pictured below are both products we will be buying from Jumpstreet Customs.

Tonight after taking some measurements with my son, we decided Jumpstreet’s Panzer Riserless Bars are what we are choosing for handlebars. Below is a picture of them too. There is a picture of a bike with Panzer bars from behind in there too. My son loves the look so we are hoping to make ours look similar.

Lastly, the overall goal over the next few months is to get it all built. From there we will strip it all down, clean up things as necessary and spray glossy clear coat right over the bare metal. We are hoping for a badass, bare metal rat roddish looking bike.