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It all started about two years ago when a friend gave me a running 1977 xs650. It was so ugly and run down I couldn’t force myself to ride it. I saw a xs650 street tracker while searching for parts on ebay and it got me excited so I started to buy parts to build one.

I bought a fuel tank and seat pan and while doing research for the rest of the parts I needed I came across this site and the street tracker idea was out! I ordered a hard tail from tc bros and start tearing the bike down and found the left frame rail was badly damaged. I located a titled 1979 frame just a couple of hours away so I gave my sons some cash and my car key and sent them on a road trip.

Two days later I had the hardtail grafted on to the new frame. I realized then that I needed to make it a roller fast. I laced the stock rear hub to a 3.5″x16″ rim for the back. For the front I had the hub casting turned to slim it down and laced it to a Mike’s XS 19″ rim. I did a lot of polishing to the wheels to get them to really shine. I used a 1936 Ford spare tire cover for the rear fender and welded up some struts for it. I don’t like the look of the front fender so I shaved the fender mounts and polished the fork tubes and drilled the rotor.

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I welded up a battery box and bought a weld together oil tank kit that I used for the electrics. I retunneled the fuel tank so that it would sit really low on the backbone. I had to relocate the coils to the upright bar behind the motor because the tunnel was too narrow. I got a great deal on some froward controls for a 1975 harley sportster that I was hoping would need little mods to make them fit. It ended up being many hours to make them work, I know now that it wasn’t such a great deal as I previous thought. The front brake master cylinder is off a Honda xr650 and is a lot smaller then stock.

The pipes are from GordonScottEngineering and I love the way they look, sound, and run. The brass exhaust tips are from lowbrow customs. I got a chain tensioner from monstercraftsman.com and it works great. I am a autobody repairman by trade but painting was my biggest holdup. Something about doing the same thing all day makes its hard to do on your own stuff. I ended up having a old friend spray the paint for me and hand striped the tank and fender. I was lost when it came to wiring it so I had my sons wire it and they did a great job.

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The gages are from drag specialties and this is where I really messed up. I order the wrong ratios so my speedo reads twice what I am going and my tach reads half of what the motor is turning. So far it says I have 600 miles on the odometer  which would be only 300 actual. Since i got it running three weeks ago it has not had any issues other than some minor adjustments. Between my sons and I we now have 4 other xs650 project in the makings. It is a blast to ride and was as much fun to build.

I have most of my parts for the next one and lots of ideas from this site to try.
Keep on cutting, welding and building!!…..  Steve96mc

Allready got the next XS on the chopping block and a lot of parts rounded up for the build.

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Steve Hill