XS 250 Cafe build

[CafeWill]

Hey all, this is my first post about my first bike. I'm a university student, and am building the bike to get around on in Melbourne, so its going to be a low budget build. I've had a bit of experience building cars which I'm hoping will carry over to motorbikes.

So heres the bike as I bought it, $600 off eBay as a non runner. She fired up for the first time in 10 years with new spark plugs (it had a lawn mower plug in one cylinder ??? ), new fuses and a good clean of the carbs. The starter solenoid is rooted, but I'll just put up with kick starting in the mean time because I'm poor haha.

I'm still working out style options on photoshop, but this is my favourite so far

I've ordered a bunch of parts such as clip ons, bar end mirrors, pod filters etc, but I can only work on the bike when I go home on weekends so progress might be a little slow.

 

[CafeWill]

Pulled the tank and seat off to get at the electrics properly when I got the bike running. I was pretty happy when i found she had spark!

Got the bike through roadworthy and registration a couple of days ago, the only issues were cracked side walls in the front tire, and leaky fork seals which I decided to fix myself after getting quoted 3 hours work at $90 an hour

I painted the forks and wheels black while they were apart, which I forgot to take photos of : Also lowered the front an inch

 

[session101]

im just like ooogling at the fact that its a 250 with a 180mph speedo....obviously yamaha did test drive the bike, they should have put warp speed after 180

 

[YogiBear]

I like that last sketch alot.

 

[CafeWill]

Haha the speedo is in km/h, and I'm lucky if I can get the thing to 100!

G'day Swivel, I am actually looking for an electronic ignition setup. I'm glad there's one that fits! The bike runs fine, I've only just got my licence but rode the bike as much as I could and didnt have any problems. I've already replaced the fork oil with the new fork seals, and fitted a Pirelli City demon front tire. I have to save a little bit more for the rear. I'm pretty set on chopping the frame and adding a tube crossmember or hoop, is there a reason why you recommmend not doing it? I've ridden the bike already with no air box or mufflers and it ran fine, I'll be running some small baffles though

Cheers for the pointers though any advice is appreciated, as this is my first bike build.

 

[CafeWill]

Cheers Yogi!

Great idea Yeah I put an electronic ignition system on my old Falcon, by far the best bang for buck I got out of anything Ive done on the engine! Haha yeah lean is definitely not good, I was considering putting some mechanical slide carbs on at some point, and I know carburation can be extremely fiddly with these little engines. The bike does actually start with no choke, but I cant figure out how to use the damn thing. It has no cable going to it, and from what I can see it looks like it never did? Sorry for being such a noob haha I've never worked on bikes before. No worries I'll have a good read of those threads too

 

[CafeWill]

Also has anybody had any major issues with cheap clipons? I've already ordered a pair :-\

 

[CafeWill]

Yeah I'll keep an eye out for some carbs, cheers

 

[Big R]

First off - that's a helluva bike for $600 down under. Congrats!

What kind of clip ons did you get? A link would be beneficial. Cheap as in "not well made" can be dangerous, but a good deal on some quality ones are ok.

 

[porterhouse]

Nice buy mate. I paid a bit more than that for mine but it had rego & i live in Sydney where bikes seem to cost more than the rest of Oz.
If you havent already then i reccomend you change the oil & oil filter. You will probably need to get a new oil filter bolt as they are soft as butter & the only way i could get mine off was to hose with wd40 & hammer an imperial size socket onto it. Make sure you use mineral oil as it has a wet clutch.
It is quite common for XS owners to cut the back of the frame off so i would cut it off if you dont want it.
If this is your first bike then I would just get it rego'd and ride as is. Sooner or later you will drop it on the tram tracks and then do your mods.

Good luck with the build & post lots of pics.

 

[Weezy]

Welcome!
If you need engine help you should check out "XS400.com". The XS250, 360 and 400 models are all basicaly the same bike except for displacement.
Of course this is the only place to be if you want to build a cafe racer.

It would be helpfull to know the year. The older models have a lever on the left hand carb that flips up and down to apply the choke. The newer models have a black knob that is pulled out to apply the choke to both carbs. There are no cables.
With pod filters and less restrictive mufflers you will most likely need to rejet.

 

[CafeWill]

Cheers for the tips guys

Yeah I was pretty stoked for $600, especially when it fired up! It's passed rego with minimal work too

An oil change has definitely been on my to-do list, 10 year old muck probably isnt the best thing to lubricate an engine with haha. The clip ons were just cheap ones, they havent arrived in the mail yet but I'll see how they look I guess.. Its a 1980 model and the choke does have a lever on it, I just didnt know if it was supposed to have some way of being held open.

The plan is to do all the cutting and welding at home, then bring the bike to Melbourne where I can finish it off. I go insane without having something to work on up here ;D

 

[porterhouse]

I had a leaky petcock & left the bike sitting for a few months & basically emptied the petrol tank into into the bottom-end. Luckily I changed the oil before riding it as riding it could have = boom.

 

[CafeWill]

My bars arrived today! They look plenty solid enough to me, CNC billet aluminium, with steel inserts for the pinch bolts to run through, spreading the load.

I also came across this jacket at Savers, the pattern on the back almost looks as if it was designed to be a seat cover!

Can't wait to go home this weekend and break out the angle grinder and welder! ;D

 

[CafeWill]

I'll try to keep the bike as practical as I can I've got the bike registered, so at least it won't have to pass another inspection, I'll just have to hope I don't get pulled over and have the bike scrutinized!

Great tip! That certainly sounds like the way to go to keep moisture out of the seat

Cheers

 

[CafeWill]

I took a trip down to Modern Motorcylcle Company in Collingwood the other day and picked up some nice bits; new baffles, brown gum grips and some headlight brackets. Great setup they have there, and they're building some killer looking bikes too!

Made my first train ride home to work on the bike, pulled about 10kg of crap off it and mounted the clip ons

The master cylinder was hitting on the bars, so had to grind it down a bit in order to slide it on the bars all the way

Got the headlight mounted nice and low, I'm going for a bit of a low-slung look with the bike, I'm not a massive fan of jacked up rearends with huge bum stops and high headlights. I'm trying to design a low bump stop, but the only problem is that the bike seems to have a pretty wide frame, which will make the stop look too flat from the back view of the bike.

I'm not really sure what I'll do here, just find a middle ground I suppose

I made this very rough mock up, but wasn't sold on it. I think it needs to be lower and shorter (and less pointy), but then it would be wider than it is long which might just look odd from behind.

Also removed the speedo, tacho and dorky warning lights

I think I might just make up a little bracket to mount the original speedo like this

I would love a mini aftermarket one, but its a little out of my budget.

And a shot with the old mans A model, just because

 

[CafeWill]

Cheers for the ideas Swivel, it looks like they have extanded the hump on that harley to make it not so fat looking, I'd have to see it in person to properly appreciate the shape as you say. And I kinda like the look of the big tank on the bike, kinda reminds me of an old Norton (if only) :

Did a bit more on the bike today, and decided I'm loving it so much that I'll skip a few classes and go back to uni Monday night

Replaced those crappy stripped out screws in the controls, they were a pain in the arse

Also removed the tach cable, and made a ghetto plug to fill the hole using a piece of hose with a bolt in the end of it, filed a slot in it for the holding screw to grab onto

Also cut that cross section off the frame and the hinges for the seat

 

[CafeWill]

I also made a mould for the seat today and 'glassed it, just waiting for it to set overnight now. This was my first time using fibreglass, the how-to's on here came in very handy! The seat turned out okay, could be better I guess but I'll see how it comes up when its sanded and gets some filler on it. Hopefully there are no air bubbles in it!

Pictures

The hump will sit lower on the bike when its finished, I plan on channeling it over the frame about an inch instead of it sitting on top

 

[CafeWill]

Shit you're quick Swivel! They sure sound like expensive bikes, for an extra $50 I got a whole Yammy! Easy way to make a dollar though

I'm thinking about doing an aluminium pan for the seat which I will rivet the upholstery to. Also toying with the idea of cutting a hole in the front panel of the seat bump, and making the seat pan hinge up to use the hump as a little glove box, I'll see how I go tomorrow (Last day on the bike for a while )

 

[porterhouse]

G'day Will, the build is coming along nicely. I think the seat hump looks great - nice lines and just the right length. The white wall tires looked cool. lol

I am just about to paint my wheels with VHT Engine paint but would like to know what paint you used?

I have bought a few things from MMC - they are good guys to deal with.