yama xs 500

[tattooedcaferacer]

ok i picked it up with no carbs and dirty also with ninja 250 wheels im wondering about the gearing and all the engine has the stock gear on it, the rear wheel has the factory ninja gear. the wheels front and back are both 16" they look good on it but what bout chain and gears?

 

[Ringo]

Hmm, how bout some pics? I thought the ninja 250 ran a 520 chain. XS500 should have a 530...? You'll probably need to replace one of the sprockets whichever way you go.

 

[Durgam_K]

I am running into minor gearing issues on my XS650 cafe build. Im running Katana forks/wheels, with a Ninja 250 swinger and a GS500 Hub. (its narrower than the Katana Hub) And going to a 520 chain, the smallest rear sprocket i could find for the GS500 was 39t. Stock 650 is 34. But i was able to get an 18t for the front. SO i will be at 2.18:1 instead of 2:1. close enough for a street bike i guess.
You may be able to find something with the same bolt pattern sprocket as the Ninja.

 

[tattooedcaferacer]

i have the original 18" wheels and tires and sprockets

 

[tattooedcaferacer]

i have put the original on the back but id like to go with the ninjas

 

[Ringo]

I'd say find a way to make it work! Sprocket Specialists will make you a sprocket for any bike with any amount of teeth. Aluminum too! They are a pretty cool business.

So gearing shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure you're running the same pitch on both sprockets and that they're aligned.

 

[two-smoker]

You say you've got Ninja 250 wheels, but that's the original rear wheel in that picture.... Did you change it since?

 

[SrgtBear]

Wow, that's some bike... Needs alot of TLC.... and carbs. However it does look like the original rear wheel. If that's the case it probably has it's original sprocket too. You got alot of work ahead of you.

 

[saywhat]

Make sure you don't have the typical cylinder head cracking before you get too deep into it. I believe the '75 and older are more prone to it than the '76 and later.

 

[jimmer]

saywhat is correct about the heads.Later the model the better the head.So make sure the engine is healthy before going any farther.Do a leakdown test.I have a 250 Ninja front wheel on mine also.

 

[tattooedcaferacer]

I got the bike free with a lot of 6 cb750 engines. Yes I have put the factory rear wheel on but it looks better with the ninja wheels. And yes a whole lot of work ahead of me the bike is a 78