This was the first bike build by my friend and I. We started with a stock 1977 XS650. At an early stage in the in the build, I found a long bar of brass in my garage that we used quite a bit.
Even our hand clutch lever was filed out of the brass. We tried to use whatever we could find laying around my house for the build. We used everything from my brass “Smile” belt buckle to an antique Odd Fellows grave marker.
Ryan from Iron Heart Cycles built us a killer hardtail and gave us a great foundation to start with. It’s a 4″ stretch with a 3″ drop. The forks are 4″ under with a 21″ front tire and 18″ rear. It’s kick only with a PAMCO ignition.
There’s many hand filed brass accent pieces that we brazed on. The hand clutch lever was made out of a crowbar and both the handle and clutch lever were handmade. I had the idea for the handlebars which Taber at Nash Motorcycle Co. built for me.
To keep them looking clean we went for no front brake, added the hand clutch to the jockey shifter and went with an internal throttle. We kept the original rear drum brake and laced on the 18” rim. We made the exhaust pipes like that because it was within our abilities and we dig the look.
You do get a little backfire while braking due to the length, but they sound great to me. We’ll eventually get around to painting it, but want to ride it for a while to make sure we have the freedom to change things as we see fit.
Since everyone kept telling me how stupid and dangerous this bike is, I figured “Bad Acid” was a suitable name.
Submitted by Jeff Moore
