Another Green bike

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.

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.

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.