XS750 Brat First Build.

I purchased my first bike a 1978 Yamaha XS750 Special in December and decided it would be my first build as well. My budget this first go around was $800 total, that includes parts and paint. Hopefully next winter when I have better knowledge of the bike, a good job, I can finally do a complete build with removal of the engine and some frame work. I also plan on cleaning out my garage so I can work on the bike in there instead of in my backyard like I am doing currently.

How the bike looked when I first got it back in December.






First job taking off the awful seat, I ended up cutting the rear thinking I could get my hands on a welder. That ended up being a mistake since I haven't found someone to either lend me a welder or a place to make and weld on a rear loop.




With that hiccup I started working on the front end of the bike. Replaced the stock bullhorn bars with some bars from Dime City. Also had to replace the stock Throttle and Clutch cables to work with the new bars, figured stock cables from a standard xs750 would do the job.




Next was dealing with the gas tank. I hated the black paint, it was worn and in just a horrible state. So I started taking the paint off and noticed all the caked on Bondo the previous owners used to smooth the tank. Wasted roughly two days working on getting it back to decent enough state for paint. By the time I had it ready for some silver paint, I noticed this rubber creme product down at the petcocks, but wasn't anywhere near the gas cap section. I didn't know if it was Tank Liner or Bondo, and had enough trying to fix it, so I opted to dump this tank and buy a replacement gas tank along with manual petcocks.


Replacement tank in and test fitted





While the tank was on I wanted to see how the Brat seat from Dime City would look.





That's basically how it looked as of last week, now I am waiting on my tank to come back from paint. I ended up deciding I wanted the bike to match my car and couldn't find a place that sells VW Platinum Grey paint in spray cans so it had to go to a professional shop. I hope to have the tank back Monday, and on the bike by Tuesday weather permitting.

Next on the list is finding someone near Jersey City who can weld on a rear loop and some brackets for turn signals and my seat. But all in all pretty happy with the build.

Good to see another Thrice Pipe project. Gotta get my arse in gear and get back on mine.
Keep the updates coming.

BTW, how's the fuse box look as it's a very weak link in the XS750 armor?

I haven't touched my bike in a week thanks to the weather. Supposed to hit 40's here soon so I plan on working on the wiring as the previous owner replaced the stock fuse box with single fuse lines. You can see how they look currently in the last picture with all the red wires hanging out. Not the greatest setup so I picked up a 6-fuse, fuse box to clean up the clutter and plan on putting it where the tool kit used to be by the battery.

Thanks to the week off all I've been stressing is the gas tank at the painters. I'm semi-worried about the inside flash rusting because I really don't trust the people painting it. Picked up some Metal Rescue just in case and should have updates on Tuesday.

Got my tank in today, and it looked good. All I have to do is connect the fuel hose, add the in-line filter, add some gas and she is ready to ride.





Next thing to do is get the rear hoop welded on and possibly replace the Dime City Brat seat with a hand made custom seat.

Lookin good so far... keep diggin

Looking great! Do you have plans on lowering the front end? If you want to get rid of that seat, I may be interested

I do plan on lowering the front end probably an inch, it may go lower depending on how it feels. The ultimate goal is to upgrade the front end completely. I did end up selling the DCC seat a few weeks ago.

I am now in the process of cleaning out my garage so I can move the XS in and work on it without issues. Since my last update I've ordered a Longevity welder and a few other things, but haven't touched the bike yet. Hopefully the weather is good this weekend and I can finish up the garage and keep plugging away at the bike.

Damn it! DCC has sold out of that seat and I was so set on it, then I saw my opportunity here but you've sold it! Breaks my heart! Anyway love the direction of the bike keep up the good work.

Finally got around to updating this build. Since we last left off I ended up with some electrical issues where the start button would not work. So after 2 starter solenoids I found out the area under the turn signal switch needed to be sanded down to achieve connection and since then she works fine. I also finished up the relocation of the fuses to under the seat in the battery tray. The welder and gas came in and I went to work getting the rear hoop welded on and started working on the seat.





The wrap didn't come out great, but this is meant to get me through the summer so I can get one professionally upholstered.




This is how she looks as of today. I put on a all in one turn/brake light for the rear, and I really like how operates. Zip ties are temp and will be removed soon.





Next thing to do will probably be lowering the front end, and maybe putting on rearsets, since I believe they will make it feel better to ride.