Kyle – This is a 1979 xs650 that I had originally built for a good friend of mine… unfortunately, a situation arose that forced him to bail on it so I had to sell it (although it would have been a fun one to hold on to, I have limited space in my shop!) I picked the bike up from a guy who had it sitting around in his garage. It had low mileage, but hadn’t run in awhile.
He told me the battery wasn’t charging, so right away I knew that the stator was bad. Once that was resolved, I was happy to find that the bike started right up… and sounded amazing. I went through the motor, checked everything out, and it was in great shape… so I knew I had a solid build. I wanted to keep this one simple and clean, with a little attitude. The front forks were shortened and shaved. Break mount welded for a 21″ endurro wheel.
I whipped up some stainless drag bars. Wassel tank… painted by my friend Kevin. Custom frame. The fender is modified from a ’62 Triumph pre-unit. The seat was made in-house by Brandi, my amazing, talented girl… custom seatpan wrapped in some nice vintage, but never used, leather we were lucky to find. The taillight is an antique 1940’s glass light I found at a swapmeet.
Alot of my inspiration comes from the 60’s and 70’s and I like to incorporate that into most of my bikes… especially in the churchpipes!
Kyle Edgar
http://www.leadfistcycles.
