Quick make over.......or so I thought.....The ubiquitous XS650 - UK

[Maritime]

nice work so far!

 

[SquidHunter]

I’m in.


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[beachcomber]

Nice work !!!!!

 

[lchris21]

Back to the tail/seat/rear hoop......

Decided to relocate the ignition module and starter solenoid, and also provide a bit of under seat protection from spray etc. Out with the cardboard for a bit of CAD

Also knocked up a bracket to hold the M-unit box of tricks for the wiring..

 

[lchris21]

Apologies for the disjointed thread order, but I'm going through my pics as and when I worked on the various bits....

id left the rear swing arm for a few weeks, before deciding on its fate.....

First job was to remove that nasty brace and see what I was up against.

 

[lchris21]

Out with the bender, and a slightly wider version should eliminate the rubbing problems. few bits of extra tubes welded in for aesthetics and I was much happier.

Its mostly cosmetic on this bike as it ain't no BHP frame twisting monster

 

[lchris21]

 

[lchris21]

Next up, the seat pan.....

had to make a seat base, ready for when the shaping of the foam takes place. Strips of masking tape to get the shape then transferred this to some 1mm alloy sheet. Knocked up a couple of bobbins to secure it to the frame and fixed in place. Also layered in some more GRP to give it a bit more rigidity

 

[lchris21]

After all that fiberglass and seat stuff, it was time to get back some good cutting and welding....

The side stand was a joy of pigeon crap welds and washers stacked up, along with a bent piece of re-bar!!

Needed to tidy that up, so cut off all the crap and started a fresh with some bits of steel I had lying around...

 

[lchris21]

As we know....70's Japanese bikes were still a little rough around the edges....a bit like the Chinese stuff of today. So I set about tidying up some of the welds and brackets, filling in here and there, ready for the powder coating stage.

 

[NoRiders]

Another awesome build coming along very well.

 

[doc_rot]

Nice metal work. with that big ol swingarm brace do you have plans to lay down the shocks?

 

[HerrDeacon]

Yup, some amazing work going into this build, looking great.

 

[lchris21]

Cheers guys............

Onto the wheels. I decided to remove the valanced ally rim as I prefer a more conventional looking rim so secured a random Takasago rim off eBay that would do the job. Whilst I was cutting out the hub, I wanted to reduce the "bulky" looking slab by adding some details, pure aesthetic just break it up a bit. Few dimples which should look half decent when its powder-coated and machined back.

 

[lchris21]

Next up was a seat pad for the GRP seat pan......

Searched high and low locally for some decent material to use as foam padding but most of the stuff available was for sofas etc, so after securing a few bits and pieces and trying it for comfort it was still too soft..............then after I had a tripped over just the right material...my old car work mat sacrificed itself. So I bonded it all together and set about shaping it to the desired form.

 

[lchris21]

Getting various bits and pieces ready for the powdercoaters.......decisions, decisions.......I hate choosing colours

 

[lchris21]

And as if by magic.......................
Went for a metallic Gunmetal finish on the frame and satin gold rim finish....should look nice when the colour choice tank/seat??

 

[NoRiders]

Great box of goodies...carry on

 

[gt alex]

Hi, Great work really enjoying this, my last bike was a xs650.

 

[kickracingmotorcycles]

You really used a spinning table to weld the exhaust? That looked very perfect if so. Crazy.