1980 XS850 Brat (FINISHED!!!)

treitz

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Brand new project... Buddy of mine and I picked this up to work on over the winter for a ridiculous steal of a price. Shortly thereafter my brother in Texas decided he wanted a bike. Long story short, he bought it, then sold it 9 months later.

The beginning...

It will probably end up being a blend of brat, track and scrambler styling.

Plans include daytona bars, dual sport tires, new paint (colors TBD), and of course all of the little things like gauges and grips and a new seat...

Going to brake it down to the frame, shave the tabs and what not, paint the frame, and then start building it back up.


Before & After pictures below. I just realized I lost all of my photobucket links in this thread.

This build took a total of 3 months start to finish.
 

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Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Forgot to post these pics...

Tear down is going smoothly. Thursday we will get the back wheel off, and pull the engine. Then it's on to cutting the tabs and working on the frame before it's off to powder coat.

Night 1:

\

Night 2: (Like my high quality stand?)


Super Organized Pile of Parts:
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Motor pulled. Next up, shaving the tabs. Then it's off to get the battery box and rear hoop installed before going off to powder.





 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Tank is ready for primer, and frame is off to powder coat tonight.

Going to go with a dark gunmetal style gray on the frame, and decide on the tank color once we get the frame back.






Frame hoop and battery box building...






Battery box + key hole.



 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

that white bike is one of my all time favorite motorcycles. It's just so right..

nice progress so far
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

I think these bikes were over looked gems. I've owned several and will probably own more. They run well with modern traffic, take modifications well and are easy as hell to work on. I talked of putting a single sided swing arm on one once and the triple guys almost strung me up... By the way, the Ton is a joke to these bikes, they run hard when set up right. Oh and your progress is looking really good.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

D4N63R said:
that white bike is one of my all time favorite motorcycles. It's just so right..

nice progress so far

It is a beautiful bike. Our color scheme has changed a million times already, so we will see where we actually end up.

ApriliaBill said:
I think these bikes were over looked gems. I've owned several and will probably own more. They run well with modern traffic, take modifications well and are easy as hell to work on. I talked of putting a single sided swing arm on one once and the triple guys almost strung me up... By the way, the Ton is a joke to these bikes, they run hard when set up right. Oh and your progress is looking really good.

Yea, really excited about this bike. Actually building it for my brother though who lives in Texas. I guarantee I will wish I was keeping it when it's done though.

Topoisomerase said:
Treitz, as in, ligament of?

Treitz as in first initial, last name.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Beldrueger said:
Saw the build on the triples site. Looks good.

Thanks man! Love your build. Probably my favorite 850 I've seen.

Thinking we will go with a gunmetal frame. Probably similar to what you did.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Been cleaning and painting everything in site, and I picked up the frame from the powder coater last night. Hard to show the color in a photo, but it is a metallic gunmetal gray. Looks really sharp in person.

TANK PRIMED


FRAME POWDERED



 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

LOVE the frame color. I've really grown to be a fan of these yamaha triples, I've had 4 of them through the shop lately for various builds and every time I finish one and ride it I'm impressed with them and want to keep them haha.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

focusinprogress said:
LOVE the frame color. I've really grown to be a fan of these yamaha triples, I've had 4 of them through the shop lately for various builds and every time I finish one and ride it I'm impressed with them and want to keep them haha.

Ha I hear ya! I'm building this one for my brother and I can already tell that I'm going to have a hard time watching it leave on the truck for Texas.

I've always wanted a XS750 before I found this one to build. So if I find one of those I would probably build it to keep.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

iGreek said:
Looking good so far man! Any updates?

I got the oil cooler on and painted the wheels... But I'm waiting for some more noteworthy progress before posting more photos. We should have the front end and MAYBE the rear end installed Wednesday night. I'll post more pics Thursday for sure.

My brother is going to be in town the weekend of February 22nd. So I'm hoping to have most of the major assembly done by then so we can pick a tank color and paint it while he's here. Then I'll get to wiring and getting it running before April when my little one arrives (first child, so I don't know what to expect, but I do know that garage time will be much more limited). That being said, things should start going pretty quickly here. Thanks for watching!
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Looks great so far man. Definitely gonna be something different. Looking forward to the progress.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

iGreek said:
Looks great so far man. Definitely gonna be something different. Looking forward to the progress.

Thanks. I'm hoping it's a little unique. Want it to stand out a bit in Texas with all of those other awesome vintage bikes.
 
Re: 1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

I love the shaft drive. It works so well on BMW scramblers, I'm surprised there aren't more Japanese shaft drive scrambler/tracker type builds. Can't wait to see the finished product.
 
1980 XS850G Brat/Track/Scrambler

Had I know the 'scene' well enough to know about trackers and brats I probably would have never sold my GS850 three years ago.
 
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