XS650 Special - Bobber build for my brother

[nozila]

Looks great. My engine is still in pieces.

 

[ippytattoo]

Enigne looks good and like TwoMany says you are gaining lots of experience. If you are on your 3rd go round with the wheels you have alot more patience than I do and I commend you for it. I remember when I was a kid trying to replace a rim on my bicycle and ending up throwing stuff and as a last resort taking it to a bike shop. When the guy at the bike shop did it he did it in about 20 minutes and made it look SOOOO easy.

 

[6fittyspecial]

Looks great. My engine is still in pieces.

Cheers. Good to hear you are giving it a crack. Apart from making a couple of dumb mistakes the re-build went pretty smooth.

How far along are you?

 

[6fittyspecial]

Enigne looks good and like TwoMany says you are gaining lots of experience. If you are on your 3rd go round with the wheels you have alot more patience than I do and I commend you for it. I remember when I was a kid trying to replace a rim on my bicycle and ending up throwing stuff and as a last resort taking it to a bike shop. When the guy at the bike shop did it he did it in about 20 minutes and made it look SOOOO easy.

Thanks man. Yeh I know right haha I have avoided breaking anything so far but I'm about ready to give it to someone and say... thats as good as I can get it... you finish it off haha.

Yeh I'm liking the fact that even though I manage to make the mistakes I can fix my way out of them too. Its what the journey of the build is all about

 

[6fittyspecial]

Latest update:

Moved house and have a solid new build environment! I'm lovin all this extra personal space.

I even have lights now!!

 

[6fittyspecial]

Just before christmas (and before the move) I tripped back east and grabbed my bro and we burned across the Nullaboring -(Nullarbor Desert) - made the drive in 43 hrs - so he could get a feel for the fit of the bike.

So I am pretty tall... but turns out taller than I thought..

Here is my bro on the bike mocked up (semi roller with old front rim). Nice comfortable position for everything.

Here is me.

Lucky I'm building this bike for him and not me hahaa

 

[6fittyspecial]

So I have recently hit the build pretty hard and made some serious progress over the past 3 weeks.

First tank was installed. Had to make up some custom lugs to weld to the frame.

Front mount:

Rear mount:

 

[6fittyspecial]

Seat arrived and mounted:

(Seat mocked up before centralising springs and welding spigots on.)

 

[6fittyspecial]

Chain tensioner arrived and installed.

 

[6fittyspecial]

Rear wheel centered.

 

[6fittyspecial]

Custom chain tensioner spacers.

We countersunk one end of the axle and grub screwed it to stop it rotating.

 

[6fittyspecial]

Foot peg mounts finished.

Cut the old mounts and re-used them. They were left on the old frame when we made the cuts for the Ardtail. Pretty happy I decided not to chuck it out.

Starting to really shape up into a bike now....

 

[6fittyspecial]

Brake rod arrived. Had to make a custom activator rod to connect the pedal to the brake lever arm. We also had to bend the original lever arm at the drum (shown in third photo) pretty much straight to make it all line up. Used a big MF Shifter and it bent like butter. Came out sweet.

Positioned everything based on the upright of the pivot just behind the engine. Then bent and shaped the foot pedal to shape. Same deal, big MF shifter and it just bent like putty... got the angles easily.. really happy with the result.
Had to bend the lever out where it goes under the footpeg and then back it at the very end (base of the pedal).

If anyone is doing an Ardtail build and they want any of the dimensions from the brake setup... wheel spacers... tensioner spacers... pretty much anything... feel free to ask.

Next step is oil can for electrics, mounting the rear guard and finishing the engine

Note: tyres are just sitting there uninflated.. just mounted them to make it easier to move around. Gunna pull everything back apart to blast and paint.

 

[6fittyspecial]

Has anyone done their own 2-Pack painting using a satin black??

Just wondering if Satin black is any harder or easier to paint with vs say a flat or gloss black??

Also any got any comments.. suggestions on the build???

Cheers