XS 250 Cafe build
- Thread starter CafeWill
- Start date
CafeWill
New Member
porterhouse said:
Cheers porterhouse, the paint I used on the wheels was 3M acrylic laquer, but VHT make wheel paint in a rattle can which sets like really hard plastic, its great stuff I've used it restoring old steering wheels, they come up like new and don't feel painted at all. I might give the wheels a coat of clear wheel paint if I get round to it
That would be great to have studs in the upholstery, but I don't think I'm that skilled at upholstering :
Also cheers riotten!
CafeWill
New Member
This is the hump mocked up, I cut a bit out of it to lower it about an inch over the frame
I decided just to use a few dome headed bolts to mount it. It wasn't the prettiest looking option but it was the only one I could think of without doing more glassing.
Tabs welded to the frame
Some more of that hose as a high-tech squishy washer
Also knocked up a new battery box, I plan on mounting the battery sideways so it can't be seen a much
Back to uni for a couple of weeks now, I took the hump and some body filler with me so I can sand the crap out of it while I'm up here
I decided just to use a few dome headed bolts to mount it. It wasn't the prettiest looking option but it was the only one I could think of without doing more glassing.
Tabs welded to the frame
Some more of that hose as a high-tech squishy washer
Also knocked up a new battery box, I plan on mounting the battery sideways so it can't be seen a much
Back to uni for a couple of weeks now, I took the hump and some body filler with me so I can sand the crap out of it while I'm up here
CafeWill
New Member
Finally got some time off uni over Easter, so headed home to get some work done
First on my list was to mount the battery box, and find somewhere to mount the electrics. The ignition module got bolted to the rear side of the battery box, and I fabbed up this little mounting plate for the rest of the electrics
I also decided to make a small compartment in the hump to put things in, and as a way to mount the unit without those visible bolts, they were shitting me!
Not heaps of space in there, but alot better than none!
Also cleared the electrics nicely
Next it was on to the guages/ignition. The ignition barrel didn't look too flashy sticking up in the air, so some longer bolts and aluminium tube fixed that
Got the oldschool grips on (which I love!) and shortened the levers a bit
First on my list was to mount the battery box, and find somewhere to mount the electrics. The ignition module got bolted to the rear side of the battery box, and I fabbed up this little mounting plate for the rest of the electrics
I also decided to make a small compartment in the hump to put things in, and as a way to mount the unit without those visible bolts, they were shitting me!
Not heaps of space in there, but alot better than none!
Also cleared the electrics nicely
Next it was on to the guages/ignition. The ignition barrel didn't look too flashy sticking up in the air, so some longer bolts and aluminium tube fixed that
Got the oldschool grips on (which I love!) and shortened the levers a bit
CafeWill
New Member
Made a bracket for the license plate
My girlfriend was thrilled, haha
I also decided to mount both guages back on, so started making a plate to hold them with small LED idiot lights mounted in it.
Made up a bracket to house the original tail light on the side of the bike
It's not very pretty, but it works for the time being.. I'd like to invest in a nice small round light at some point
I'm not completely sold on the lines at the rear of the bike.. Looks a bit too bent upwards, but I'm not too sure how to go about it
Before I had to leave back to the city I took it for a good old blast up the road, definitely the most fun I've had for ages!! The noise of the open pipes attracted a few people onto their front lawns :
But one thing that really stood out.. man this thing is GUTLESS upards of 80km/h.. It needs almost full throttle just to maintain a constant speed at 100km/h on level ground!
I'm not too keen on the design of these CV carbs.. It just seems pointless and annoying. So i figured I might attemt welding up a manifold for a single MV style carb, something like this:
This seems the way to go to me, it halves the cost of carbs, makes hooking up the throttle cable alot simpler and just looks cool!
I need to deside what size venturi to get though, I was thinking a 30-32mm mikuni or keihn from a dirt bike would be a good size, and might even be jetted reasonably well for the bike?
My girlfriend was thrilled, haha
I also decided to mount both guages back on, so started making a plate to hold them with small LED idiot lights mounted in it.
Made up a bracket to house the original tail light on the side of the bike
It's not very pretty, but it works for the time being.. I'd like to invest in a nice small round light at some point
I'm not completely sold on the lines at the rear of the bike.. Looks a bit too bent upwards, but I'm not too sure how to go about it
Before I had to leave back to the city I took it for a good old blast up the road, definitely the most fun I've had for ages!! The noise of the open pipes attracted a few people onto their front lawns :
But one thing that really stood out.. man this thing is GUTLESS upards of 80km/h.. It needs almost full throttle just to maintain a constant speed at 100km/h on level ground!
I'm not too keen on the design of these CV carbs.. It just seems pointless and annoying. So i figured I might attemt welding up a manifold for a single MV style carb, something like this:
This seems the way to go to me, it halves the cost of carbs, makes hooking up the throttle cable alot simpler and just looks cool!
I need to deside what size venturi to get though, I was thinking a 30-32mm mikuni or keihn from a dirt bike would be a good size, and might even be jetted reasonably well for the bike?
riotten22
Been Around the Block
I just got done installing my 2 into 1 manifold made by Choppersprocket from the chopper underground forums on my xs400. Used the stock BS34 carb so far it runs ok. Does the xs250 have a 180 degree crank? If so it will run lean on one cylinder and rich on the other like my bike. If you have a 360 degree crank you shouldnt have to worry.
CafeWill
New Member
riotten22 said:
Yeah the 250's are also 180 degree, I think they are essentially the same engine as the 400's with smaller bore/stroke. Thanks for the tip off on this, after looking into it, it does seem to make sense that one cylinder will get a shot of lean mixture.. :-\ But i've seen numerous pics of jap race bikes running single carbs, I wonder how they go about it? I didn't assume they were al 360 degree cranks? Apart from the lean/rich problem, how does your bike feel to ride after the conversion? Is there any loss of power?
Cheers
PS I'm loving your build, it looks great!!
CafeWill
New Member
Been a while since Ive updated this..
After hours of filling and sanding the tail piece, it was ready for paint!
Two days after painting I strapped into the trailer to bring it up to Melbourne, but one of the tie dows broke on the way! Should have used a backup rope... The tank was badly dented so I had to take it home again for more bodywork.. I wasn't happy.
After hours of filling and sanding the tail piece, it was ready for paint!
Two days after painting I strapped into the trailer to bring it up to Melbourne, but one of the tie dows broke on the way! Should have used a backup rope... The tank was badly dented so I had to take it home again for more bodywork.. I wasn't happy.
CafeWill
New Member
Since then I've made an aluminium seat with hinges on it, and upholstered it with the leather jacket I bought. It fit quite nicely! I'm pretty happy with how the seat and cowl came up, this was my first time playing with fibreglass. I had some trouble with the LED indicators, which turned out to be that the dash light now being an LED would only allow current through it when turning left, as the voltage across it was reversed when turning right. A couple of diodes fixed this issue by soldering both wires to the positive terminal of the LED and grounding the other side. I've also since put in some number plate lights and the bike is good to ride! It still needs some mufflers or baffles, however
