Bought this as a basket project. According to the previous owner, in the early 90’s it had a strange sound and a lack of power. It got torn apart, the fault was never found and was eventually left in a shed until 2014 when I found it.
I have previously worked on XS650´s, you can check it out here, and did an initial investigation in the shed, before purchase. I couldn´t find anything suspiciously wrong with it.
On return, I did a cheap restoration/assembly of the motor, just to verify that everything was there and it actually worked – It did.
In early 2015 I had it assembled and approved.
During 2015, I started modifying it. With a wife, 2 kids, and a full time job, the project slowly dragged along. I really wanted it done during 2015, but as time went, I could see that it was never going to happen. In the winter 2015, I got all in on the project, I made a new swingarm, tank and rear end and then went to a halt again.
We decided to start building a 50m2 extension to the house – that kind of stopped the bikeproject for a while. Then a broken shoulder added the extra spice needed to move along at a fast pace ;-).
Now it is finally ready to roll.
All along, the aim was a budget bike I could learn new stuff from. I had never worked in sheet metal before, never built a swingarm, never “widened” an enginecase.
I learnt stuff and ended up with an (in my opinion) ok looking bike that hasn´t cost me much more than the purchase prize and a lot of hours.
The La Linea figure was just added as a small gimmick – “Don´t take things too seriously” 🙂
Submitted by Kenneth W. Laursen
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