79 xs650 TCU BBO leaf springer spit wassell tank i’m not sure what to call it yet bike?
So I had a few spare parts laying around that gave me an idea. A beatup wassell tank that I got from my friend Scotty kinda started this whole bike in my head. I thought it would be cool to split in in half and run a back bone through it and then a couple months later I decided to enter in the tcu build off, which is a forum with a bunch of cool people that build awesome stuff.
So around Dec I called my friend MikeD from biltwell inc and told him what I was planning on doing and like always he hooked me up with a nice goodie box (Thanks Mike). And around the same time I talked my friend Dirty Jason (whom my daughter named ).. haha.. out of a 79 xs650 neck and engine.
the build off started Jan 1 so I started building my frame from scratch I have a few tools like a nice tig, lathe and a good tubing bender .. even the big tree in my back yard came in handy for bending those big arches on the frame. I got most of the frame done in about a week working late nights after my 9 to 5 and durring my 2 year old’s naps. Then I started on the forks my idea was to build a classic looking leaf only way narrower I didnt have any real plans or drawings except in my head.
My friend Greg (also in the tcu bbo) let me burn up a bunch of hours on his mill making my trees and a few odds for the forks. I built a jig for the forks and had them done in a few days. so in a month I pretty much had a good solid roller… then this build kinda stalled for a few months.. I got a new job a couple of new projects and the build went on the back burner until 3 weeks ago when i realized that the deadline for the build off was comming fast.. In the last 3 weeks my wife and kid have barley seen me.
I have been working and building all the small thing for the bike like controlls gas caps and bung ect.. seems like I built every single thing on this bike from scratch. well not everything but alot of it..so just in time for the deadline here it is…anyway there is a whole thread on thechopperunderground.com along with a bunch of nice other bikes (not all xs650’s) to look at. I think voting is gonna open soon so go there and vote for your favorite one.
