Project xs750 lowrider

Markie-V

Active Member
I wanted to build my own bike.... I owned a Yamaha xs 750 20 years ago and loved the bike so I found a basket case triple and decided to try to breathe new life into it, as best I could. As I searched through other's projects... I saw a lot of chopped bikes... a lot of cafe racers... and a lot of bobbers. I wanted to do something a little different.... so I settled on the idea of a stretched low rider with an almost completely new frame, tank, and body parts. Since no one made the parts I wanted... I knew I would have to fabricate almost every piece by hand. My hope in posting here is to get advice from other triple fans and glean as much knowledge as I can from those here with much more experience than me. I officially began the project February 21, 2018. The first three pictures show where the bike is as of today, May 6, 2018. There are still a few things for me to do, but I am very close to fiberglass and paint and am looking forward to finishing the details I can wire it all up and take it for a test ride.. As you can see in the 4th and 5th pictures... I inherited a true basket case. A cut up frame... and basically three boxes filled with varying parts.
 

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First step: Rebuilding the headstock/backbone.
 

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Building the rear suspension subframe...
 

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Cleaning the welds... adding the gussets... mounting the hardware....
 

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Adding the electrical box... rear fender
 

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Carving the foam sculpting block into a fiberglass gas tank shape i want.
 

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Fitting the pieces together....
 

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Cleaning the welds and prepping the new frame for paint.
 

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In building the rear sub-frame, I added 14 gauge steel plating as a larger gusset around the swing-arm pivot. This is where the old and new frame sections connected. I wanted uber strength. But as a side benefit, when frame is painted red, those gusseting brackets will actually blend into the fiberglass side panels that will surround the battery bay.. I am wanting the tank, side panels, and seat to flow seamlessly into the rear fender. In the second pic... you can see how closely I got the backbone to hug the top end. It is a squeeze getting the engine in and out, but the trade off is a seat height of about 22 inches. The downside is... only the coil-packs can be shoe-horned under that tank.
 

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Modifying the stock front fender. Moving the mounts rearward so as to move the front of the fender forward.
 

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Beginning the long paint process. Yes... it will be red and chrome, with black accents. Degreasing older engines is a PAIN. Polishing cooling fin edges is a PAIN. In the end, though, I think it will be well worth it.
 

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Very cool work. Not sure what's up with the upside down pics. Try flipping the camera 180 degrees? Most cameras store EXIF data about the picture including orientation when taken. This data tells a computer how to display it.
 
Thanks CanyonCarver...
I am not a smart phone expert.... frankly.... I suck at it. The bike is fun to work on. I am five weeks into it in my spare time. Quick question... I looked up the serial number on the internet, and it listed that the bike as a 1978 xs 750 D model. However, it has the oil level window and had the shortened exhaustband teardrop tank. I thought these features were released on the 78 x750 se model. Any insights?
 
Engine is now ready for UV baking to cure this finish. Trying to ensure that the paint is scratch, chip, and ethanol resistant..
 

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Squeezed in the three coil packs... or whatever they're called today. Not enough room for three individual brackets, so I fabricated a single bracket to hold all three. Not a millimeter to spare. I even had to cut away the upper crossmember on the downtubes. (I'll replace and move it down lower later... maybe) Even carved out the space for the triple packs in the foam fiberglass tank mold. Another day. Slow and steady.
 

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Okay... today's geometry challenge... how to get the Hitachi electronic ignition box, the rectifier, (pic 1) into the currently itty bitty space be tween the battery box and the rear fender. Geometry sucks.
 

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Modified the fender to gain additional 5/8 inches of space to install the electronic ignition box. Made a mounting bracket and welded the bolts to the back of the bracket, which was then welded to the battery box. Everything fit with 2 millimeters to spare. The rectifier can now be mounted above the rear master cylinder and it's fins will be exposed to cooling air through a hole I will fabricate into the fiberglass side covers.
 

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