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Wizard – xs650chopper.com has been on my favorites, for research and inspiration, since the moment I got my greasy hands on the xs. Thank you for being there. Sometime around the first of the year 1972 my dad’s ridin’ buddy Jerry’s wife come rolling into the driveway in their ’65 Suburban with Jerry , bear-huggin’ a spankin’ new ’72 xs, in the back. I was just shy of 15 years old then and I will never forget that site. Later that same year another friend of dad’s rolled up on a brand new ’72 FL… ha, I was hooked. Been doin’ HDs ever since.

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Four years ago I got a lead on what I was told was a ’72 xs2, but when I got there it was a ’73 TX. Rusted and corroded it came with a cobbled racer with a ’71 xs1b engine. For some reason I couldn’t leave without them. After all the time and effort it turned out pretty good. It also tracks like an arrow, but turns on a dime. It is the scariest bike I have ever ridden and I’ve ridden a few.

The xs rear drum gives even less braking than I thought it would so your pretty much in gods hands while you’re on it. I love it!!

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During the time I was doing the frame work, grafting a “Tigman” hardtail, I tore down the ’76 engine (from a ’76 C donor bike that I picked up) and had Hugh Owings do a rephrase. I also ran a flex-hone down the bores and installed a new set of rings. I deleted the electric start and cleaned everything up and shot some nice coats of “cast coat” on the cases. The juice comes from a Hugh Owings inspired scavenged PMA and the spark is Pamco with XS coils. The capacitor and fuses are housed in the cylinder behind the engine which was made from a piece of tubing that fit the repurposed xs valve covers as end caps. There is an access door which slides open and a kill button is located in the top cap.

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Carburation is from a set of PWK32s that I got from Mike’s XS. Custom cables are from Motion Pro. The 7/8″ throttle housing is from Biltwell. Clutch lever is a cheapo piece of adjustable crap.Buchanan’s Spoke and Rim laced the Husky 21″ Akront rim to the spool [off the cobbled racer which came with the ’73 deal]. I found the rear xs drum laced to a shouldered 18″ rim on Ebay. I mounted Bridgestone Trail Wing dual sport tires on both ends.

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The front forks are ’73 with 2.75″ under tubes from Forks by Frank. Mary is awesome. I hand shaved the legs and gave them a slight cross hatch pattern.

I’m glad you noticed the paint. It’s just crazy… you never know what it will look like from different angles and I have yet to be able to photograph it and capture the color I’m seeing at that moment (Canon 10mp camera). My buddy Oliver laid down the lime green metallic on the Avanti R&D peanut tank.

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Most all the black on the bike is rattle can. I took my time and made the parts that were within my range: seat hinge, fender loop, brake pedal and peg mounts, brake rod, coil bracket, taillight/ tag mount and various small brackets. This bike pulled me back to where it all began for me and helped give me clear vision on my next build (’75FL lane splitter). My first full build was in 1979; a 1200 engine and 4-speed trans in a Jammer frame. The xs is my first full build since that time.

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The original reason to grab the ’73 was to do a restoration in tribute to dad’s buddy Jerry who was an awesome rider and when he rode his ’72 he was the perfect image of a man on a machine… without even trying. He passed away last year. I’ve dedicated this build to the memory Jerry.

Here at NUTNZ garage we love homegrown motorcycles and ridden’ with our brothers. Keep up with us at nutnz.blogspot.com I’m excited to see Woody II on your site. Thanks for the chance to display my hard work.

Wizard Colonel
NUTNZ