Wannabe Cafe Build - '81 XS650 Special

haha yeah I like that starter switch position too, lots of folks wire up a momentary keyed switch like in a car to clean things up even more.

My seat mounts a lot like the stock one, a couple of tabs up front that slide in, then a single bolt in the back. We'll see how sturdy it is.

 

Alright small update tonight. I got the rear set linkage pretty close to done, just need to cut the rods and source a lefty 1/4" die to cut the threads for the reverse threaded rod ends.

Also got a video with the new mufflers.

Click the image to play.

 

I know! I freakin' love it!

 

Spent a few more hours in the shop today. First order of business was getting the linkages done for the rear sets. It turns out that 1/4"-28 Left hand thread dies are very hard to come by in a small town, so that'll have to be ordered.

In the mean time I made some ghetto linkages by welding bolts to some steel rod and threading the rod ends on to those. You have to remove one side to adjust these because both sides are right hand thread but this'll do for now.



on the brake side I ran out of female rod ends so I just welded some male ones directly to the rod. No adjust ability whatsoever!



I also got the gauges I bought installed, and found out the retard I bought the speedo cable from on ebay sent me another tach cable. So no speedo for now.

Next I started painting the tail section, decided to go with a factory toyota silver color. This will be a rattle can special for now.





At this point I couldn't take it anymore. I had to ride it. So I threw a welding jacket on the bare frame to form a "seat" and took it out. The shifter works surprisingly well, and the exhaust is just awesome!



Finally I went ahead and made some simple exhaust hangers to support the muflers. They're made of 1/4" round stock.

 

Nice bike, I love the tank.

 

you're inspiring me to get to work on mine more. just wish my garage was heated.

 

haha Im doing all this in our school's shop, which is basically a tin can in the middle of the desert. Luckily it does have a heater which manages to keep the temp around 50*.

So small update today, started the day with carb tuning. I attempted to set the mixture screws using the dead cylider method, but was unable to detect any change in idle speed with adjustments to the screws so not sure what's up with that. Im thinking my pilots may be too small still.

So I left those at 3 turns out and moved on to syncing. I got them close to sync'd by ear, then hooked up my home made manometer.



Turns out my ear was pretty good! only had to move the screw about a millionth of a turn to get them dead on.

Next I moved on to the seat. I had carved up some foam earlier for the seat and my mom helped me sew the cover since Im full retard with a sewing machine. I think it came out okay, better than expected.

Rolled it outside for some pics.









Finally I was able to ride it home tonight! Found out that the rear brakes SUCK! also my gauges don't light up, need to figure that one out ASAP.

Edit: forgot to mention that I also bent up the kick starter to clear the rear sets. It came out really nice surprisingly, other than the fact that I torched to rubber on it accidentally . I'll get pics of that tomorrow.

 

Looking really sweet man. I still haven't found one here.

 

looks sick! i want to build one up one of these so bad

 

Thanks guys, yeah this has been a ton of fun! Made a normally boring winter break useful lol

 

check out xs650.com and look for some old school bicycle kickers. there are DIYs in there or you can order a cool brass one and send your stocker as a core.

also, monstercraftsman.com

 

I was thinking about retrofitting a bike pedal on there. I really like the clean look it has now though. I was thinking about just wrapping the part your foot rests on with grip tape and calling it good. We'll see...

 

sorry about taking so long for this but here's a pic of the kick starter.





I've been day driving it this week. I love how easy it is to start now on those 20* mornings. Hate how my hands feel after my commute though

 

lol nice, this was only the 3rd or 4th time I've used a torch so it took a few tries to get mine to look right. I kinda wish if followed the lines of the engine a bit better but Im happy with it.

 

Really digging this build. Love cafe style bikes.

 

thanks man

 

So daily riding the bike has revealed a few problems. The biggest one being that the rear tire contacts my tail light when jumping speed bumps So I need to be on the lookout for something more low profile since I kinda smashed this one.

Also my rearsets are a little too high, no biggie, I'll just make some new mounts.

And finally the seat foam is way too soft so you sink through to the metal pan underneath. That'll maybe get fixed some day haha.

I still need to tidy up the wiring and do some final painting but Im going to call it good for a while since school is starting back up and I now have a reliable bike to use for that.

I finally went out and took some decent pictures of it today as well.

 

Such a sweet build! Great bike Steven.

 

Thanks dude. I love being able to just beat on it and leave it anywhere without worrying about damage or it getting stolen. I think I have a good solid 10 miles of burnout mileage on this thing

 

Must be a so fun!


I've been looking for a 250 or 450 lately just because gas is killing me with just the 4runner and I have some projects on it that will require me having another vehicle. Same style of bike, any recommendations?