Here’s the first incarnation of the Brass Bonsai. It’s a 1978 XS650 that I’ve owned now for over a decade but never finished or got on the road till now.
I built it for Born Free 8, started five weeks before the show and fired it up for the first time at around 8pm the night before the gates opened. The shake down ride from the campground to the show was rewarding beyond belief.
The brass theme all started from the old brass petcocks that were on the tiny 3/4 gallon tank I picked up years ago from the cycle swap. More and more brass was added from my “treasure chest” of oddities that I’ve been collecting for decades.
The look of the bike sort of formed as I was building it, I just knew I wanted it skinny, nimble and unlike everything else I’ve seen.
I couldn’t have put it together without a ton of help from some very talented guys. I designed the bars and pipes, Joe at Wiseguy Choppers brought the triple zoomie exhaust into reality and @willchurchburner did the same with the narrow window bars.
Rob at @cm_speedy helped with the sissy bar and a bunch of other last minute stuff.
Gabe at After Hours Choppers sent me out one of his bitchin’ brass tail lights to mount up high on the sissybar. All the custom leatherwork was done by me at Lower Class Leather and there’s everything from a blanket roll and mud flap to a spare spark plug holder and grips.
After riding it around for the past six months and swapping to a single carb set-up, I’ve torn it down to make a bunch of changes I didn’t have time to address the first go around. Stay tuned for version 2.0 of the Brass Bonsai.
Submitted by VonFuct
