Nate K – It all started when I traded some guitar gear for this 83 XS650 in the beginning of 2014. It had been sitting outside near a shed at a friends place for around a year. It was a project that never was finished and left to sit. I traded without doing much investigation on the bike so I didn’t know if it had good compression, bad internals, locked up carbs, or even a bend frame but my buddy is a good guy and said it was legit. Turned out he was right! We wanted to build this on a VERY tight budget to show guys out there that it is possible to be frugal and still end up with a daily rider that is a tad flashy and still tasteful for under $3k.
Here’s what all we did to ‘er:
-Visual Impact brat kit
-Bronze swing arm bushings, tapered neck bearing kit
-swapped the wheels with older standard 16/19 spokes (had HS wheels)
-swapped the BS34 original carbs with a set of linked 1976 BS38s and Uni Pods
-VooDoo Vintage bars
-73 TX650 grips and compression release lever used as electric start
-Simple wiring with Lithium Iron battery
-Narrowed peanut high tunnel tank
-Old trailer fender mounted to swing arm
-1 off sissy bar powder coated
-Biltwell tuck and roll seat
-70’s sporty headlight w/hood
-Mad eggplant and twilight sky flake paint with true white and pearl stripes.
All work done by myself and my buddy Lux both in IdleHandsMoto.com photos by me Nkinney.com
