William Feil – My Wife, Jess and I bought a bone stock 79 XS650SF ten months ago. We did all the work ourselves, except powder coating, in the garage on weekends and nights. We learned a lot, still are learning, and the ride was well worth the work.
The details….The frame was modified with a Visual Impact brat kit and then powder coated Misty Copper mixed with a little gold flake. the Tins are a T100 tank and 7 Metal West brass fender painted by Jess using Little Daddy Roth spray can products, Sublime green base, flake, Silver base for the lace work, all covered in Sublime green candy. The seat was designed by Jess and Rick of Flue delis leather turned out a masterpiece.
The suspension consists of sportster take-off shocks and shave, rebuilt stock forks with a HHB 2 inch drop and fork brace. The Bars are flipped eBay clubmans, with pit bike clutch, slime line brake master, Seven Sins Galaxy grips, and home made switch housings. A set of eBay LEDs provide the idiot lights and Dime city gauges let you know what’s going on.
The electronics are housed underneath the seat in the custom “pizza” box and run through the frame. The battery is a sleek little Shorai unit hung off the frame under the swing arm. The engine was upgrade with a HHB PMA and PAMCO ignition. Jess also put several days into polishing the engine’s bright work while I change out all the gaskets and filters.
The exhaust was cobbled together with stock pieces, some straight pipe, Lowbrow tips and then wrapped to hide the ugly. So there you have it, our first bike. We are still learning…never put a drop of gas in a tank without lining it, no matter how good the pressure test appeared! Tuning carbs, valves, etc… but at the end of the day the leaky, smoky, noisy, ride makes it all worth it.
