Write about your XS650.: I picked my current project bike up as a total basket case last year. 200 bucks and I got a frame and swingarm, 2 wheels, the motor and a box with the coils and the carbs (dismantled and wrecked) Not so much as a turn signal or a scrap of wire with it. I’m piecing it together a bit at a time.
The design, the bending, everything up to the tack-welding are all my own. I have fairly severe arthritis in my hands, and they’ve developed a shake, so instead of having welds that look like I went at the bike with Silly String, I enlist my brother’s help for the final welds.
The swingarm is stretched 4 inches with a brace made of 1/2″ round stock attached. Currently I’m working on the shock mounts for the ’85 Ninja 900 monoshock that I’m using on the rear.
Shinko tourmasters front and rear. Standard 16 rear and an 18″ drum wheel from a ’71 Yamaha YDS7 on the front that will require a little modifying.
I have another tank coming in that I may use, if not I’ll be removing the filler holes from the mustang tank and installing a pop up cap on the right as well as using a piece of half-inch tubing to make a rib up the center of the tank to match the fender. (I can almost guarantee this happening.)
The factory neck gussets are gone, replaced with some nice, clean new ones. I’m fabricating my own signals and tail light out of various objects that I’ve found. I’ve also designed and am making my own pipes, intake manifolds, forward controls and anything else of that nature.
It probably won’t be finished until snow flies, but that’s what happens when you want everything right.
