Some pics of my XS650 project

Yamaha_chop · Posted: June 23, 2007, 1:40 am Post subject: Some pics of my XS650 project

Hey guys, figured I'd throw up a couple pictures of what I'm working on. Yet another long term project, this one won't be done for at least a year or so, but I'm having a blast building it.

Specs:
1978 XS650
2004 zx6r front forks
Chrome spoked wheels front and rear
240 rear tire, 120 front
Clip-on bars
Lot's of other good stuff yet to be bought Smile

So here's the concept, I know there's a lot of people lately that will hate on the large rear tire, but since I was 12 I knew that if I ever built a chopper it'd have to have a 240 on it, so that's what I got, and I love it!
The bike will not have a kickstand, the rear half of the frame and the swingarm I will fabricate myself, it will hinge at the bottom frame-rails, and will have an air cylinder attached. When I park the bike, It'll simply set down flat on the frame, then lift up when I go to leave.
The tank will be a standard sportster tank, but I'm going to build an exocage around it to give it some pop.
I'm running the full twin disc front brake setup from a 2004 zx6r-I had one of those before, and I love being able to stop well.
The clip-on bars look hot, but I just might come up with a newish idea (i'm sure someone has done them before) but they'd be clip-on mini ape hangerss. Could definitely look pretty cool Smile

I'm building my tubing bender right now- should be done in a couple weeks or so, as soon as that's ready, I can finish chopping the rear half of the frame off and building the new rear section.

I know this bike isn't very traditional, but I'm all about expanding new borders and new challenges for myself, and I'm thinking that this project has what I'm looking for, and to be honest, I'm very excited with what it's looking like so far.

I just finished building a supercharger system for my old car from scratch, here's the complete build-up log from that if you'd like to see some of what I've done in the past.
forums.neons.org/viewt...p?t=254466

Now I'm looking for something new, and I can't wait to get into this further.
Progress will be slow because my wife and I are paying off some debt, and we have a limited allowance, but I'm pretty good at stretching money, as I'm sure many of you are as well, Ebay is my friend Smile

Enough talk, Here's the sweet bike when I got it.
Very hot Wink

took it down to the bare frame quickly, mocked up the new forks

Got my wheels and tires, I LOVE this thing

Time to start chopping!

Now keep in mind all that rear frame section will be gone eventually, this was just a basemark because that's about where I'll be sitting on the finished product.

Think I'll be low enough. :nice:

And finally, here's my super sweet MS Paint version of what the frame and bike should look like when done.

Comments and critisisms accepted Cool

INXS650 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 645

Love the front end, Hard to do? Not much of a fat tire guy, so no comment there. Love the hinged rear concept, seen it on a few bikes, and looks/works cool. Keep up with pics and progress.

hesredbird · Posted: June 23, 2007, 8:24 am Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

Looks really low. How do you plan on offsetting the drive? Oh and don't forget you have a couple of carburetors in your seat area with this drop seat design. Smile

Yamaha_chop · Posted: June 23, 2007, 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

hesredbird wrote:

Looks really low. How do you plan on offsetting the drive? Oh and don't forget you have a couple of carburetors in your seat area with this drop seat design. Smile

I'm going to have to build a jackshaft for the offset, and I'm still working on a couple ideas for the carb areas Smile

Also, yes the front end has not been the easiest thing to do. Still working on the final touches, but should be great when done. One of the biggest problems is the fact that the sportbike axle size is 1 1/4" and the harley wheel axle is 3/4" So that was fun to figure out, but I've got her whipped now.

beys · Posted: June 23, 2007, 3:41 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

Yamaha_chop wrote:

... and I'm still working on a couple ideas for the carb areas Smile

First of all you should take care of your balls! Laughing

milldinaire · Posted: June 30, 2007, 7:07 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

Man you got to keep us posted on this bike. I currently ride a 2005 R6 and am picking up a 84' 650 with only 820 miles on it. The bike you are creating is exactly what I am interested in doing. Love the inverted forks, and low seat look. Can't wait to see how it all works out for you.

itsacommuter · New Member Joined: May 11, 2007 Posts: 3

If this thing ever gets built, you're going to have major issues with that rear pivot/suspension design. Any throttle input will compress that shock.

Yamaha_chop · Posted: July 22, 2007, 12:30 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

It's not actually a shock, but an air cylinder. I'm thinking of running two side by side to offset the load.
It will ride like a rigid when up, there shouldn't be any compression, thus, the pivot point only actually works when you set the bike down.
If the air cylinder ideas don't pan out, I'm going with dual actuators, but those are slower and not as cool.

Work is coming along on this, I'm taking my sweet time finishing my tubing bender. Drilling holes through 5/8" thick metal sucks!

Yamaha_chop

Quote::

Originally posted by 04zx6r
I'm building my tubing bender right now- should be done in a couple weeks or so, as soon as that's ready, I can finish chopping the rear half of the frame off and building the new rear section.

Hah, I make myself laugh- so three months and two welders later, it's finally finished :rolleyes:

I finally ponied up and bought a Miller instead of that chinese welder crap. I feel much better now, plus I can do aluminum, but I don't have a plasma cutter anymore, oh well, the trade off was definitely worth it.
Here's a couple shots of the tubing Bender.
I have realized that drilling large holes through thick metal is NOT my calling in life- that has to rank high on my list of crappiest jobs ever.

I built myself a little table to raise the level of the bike to where I could work on it better, and sort of use it as a frame jig. Don't worry it's not fully bolted down or anything, just used this shot as a reference.
This is basically the length the bike will be when done; 7' 4"
So it's pretty lengthy, but again, now that the bender is done, I'll be able to brace the frame, and cut the final part of the rear section off and FINALLY start building the rear frame sections.

Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll have updates a little more regularly now
:rolleyes:

Yamaha_chop · Posted: October 7, 2007, 7:39 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

Got in my tubing last week, was able to get a good start on building the frame.

First off I have to say, to anyone thinking about building one of these tubing benders........DO IT! this thing is awesome! it worked extremely well.

Keep in mind that these peices are just rough cut and set into place with painter's tape Smile

but you can see the general shape. I should be able to refine this setup a lot in the next week or so.
Until then, here's some pictures to tide you over.

Looks like just a bunch of bent metal Smile

mocked into place

It's going perfectly so far, I'm really excited because what's in my head is coming out through my hands perfectly.
Stay tuned for the next updates!

thanks
Sky

ghostyder · Posted: October 7, 2007, 9:02 pm Post subject: Re: Some pics of my XS650 project

That thing should be awesome. I love those wheels

Teal95v6 · New Member Joined: Sep 18, 2007 Posts: 5

Wow that bike is gonna be freaking awsome I can't wait to see more pictures of it in the future. It gave me some inspiration for my custom xs that I am in the middle of building.

Teal95v6 · New Member Joined: Sep 18, 2007 Posts: 5

Wow that bike is gonna be freaking awsome I can't wait to see more pictures of it in the future. It gave me some inspiration for my custom xs that I am in the middle of building.

Yamaha_chop

So i got some work done this weekend, and should have been able to post some good pictures of that, but about 2:00 on sunday my angle grinder decided to try to cut off my index finger of my left hand.
a trip to the doctor and 6-8 stitches later i should be o.k.

hopefully i'll be able to finish some stuff up this weekend and get you guys some good pics of the progress.

On a side note, my total count of novicane shots is up to 46!

moral of the story, don't be a dumbass when using a grinder.

weaponoir · Full Member Joined: Oct 12, 2007 Posts: 10

Ok, so this is my first post on this forum, because the curiosity is killing me. I've got a set of GSXR forks similar to yours, and the only way I found to get the triples mounted to the steering head was to have a custom steering stem machined. What was your solution? And how on earth did you get that front wheel mounted on that big bloody axle?

Yamaha_chop

It was definitely tricky to get it to work.

So for the steering stem portion of it, I ground the weld off of the stock Yamaha lower triple holding the steering stem, so I could remove the stem itself. Then I choped off the excess steering stem from the stock Kawasaki lower triple and bored that stem to 7/8" inside diameter, then I bored the stock steering stem for the Yamaha to that same diameter and inserted a hardened steel shaft. I haven't welded it into place yet, but that's the plan. As you can see this allows you to use the factory triples for these type forks, but still allows it to bolt up using the factory Yamaha stem and bearings.

For the wheel, the axle diameter is 3/4" and the fork diameter is 1 1/4"- I ordered a piece of tubing from Mcmaster carr with 1 1/4" O/D and and inner diameter of 3/4" then cut that piece into two spacers, one for each side, and used a 3/4" axle. Worked like a champ.

Let me know if none of that makes sense Smile

weaponoir · Full Member Joined: Oct 12, 2007 Posts: 10

Brilliant. Kudos on the innovative thinking, and on the slick ride you're building. Can't wait to see it finished. Watch out for rabid grinders, and thank you for the info.

Yamaha_chop

So I worked on the bike pretty much all day today. doesn't look like I got that much done, but I felt like I did.

Got the frame pieces tacked together finally, got it all braced so I could take the motor back out.

Also got started on my handlebars: these bars are costing me $14.00 Razz

They'll be much shorter than this when they're finally on the bike, but this is approximately what they'll look like, basically just like factory, just longer.

I never get a shot of me welding so......

On a totally separate note, just because I feel like saying it, on Nov. 2nd my wife and I get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl! Yay! Needless to say, I'm excited. Smile

thanks for looking
Sky

stevied58 · Full Member Joined: May 24, 2007 Posts: 68

nice concept on the bike and congrats on the babe

Yamaha_chop

Got some more work done tonight, worked some more on the new bars, they turned out pretty good I thought, still need to finish them up, but they are in their final position.
Here's a few shots:

I like this shot Smile

I also worked on getting the rear swingarm pivot arms tacked into place.

And a final parting shot, my yet to be born kid's new ride:

Thanks for looking
Sky

Yamaha_chop

Yo, so I was going to buy some axle blocks for the rear of my frame, but they cost like $100.00 and I don't have that kind of money to spend on something like that. So I decided to try to make my own.

Here's what the real thing looks like, usually CNC machined out of steel.

Basically they are axle blocks that have a plate covering the axle, so they're called hidden axle blocks.

y version:

cut the 1.5" inner diameter piping in half

space the two sections apart using 1.5" pieces

Bevel all the edges and weld it up then grind them smooth

now do the other side

I had some spare aluminum from building my last intake manifold, so i used that for the covers

to attach them I made some little tabs to go on the inside, welded a nut to the backside. and countersunk the holes in the cover for the screws

These basically took me all day and they're not done yet, still have the cut the plate that goes on the backside for the axle. I might make another aluminum cover for the one because the fit is kind of poor. Other than that, I was pretty happy with how well these came out. Never tried it before, but it was a lot of work.

Big thanks to mechwerks for giving me the idea that I could make a set myself.

Let me know whatcha think
thanks
Sky

Joseph · Full Member Joined: May 22, 2007 Posts: 767 Location: NY

I'm not sure what an axle block does but you are crafty. I'm inspired to get a welder. What would be sugusted as a welder to buy for a small garage or big toolshed? I am a tradesman but just hvent welded much.

KYLEPRESTON

i have also been thing about doing more of my own welding I was able to do a little but nothing anyone sees and not the cleanest. I think I am going to take a class or I might hurt someone. Me

Yamaha_chop

I think the TIG welder I have is perfect for what I do. It's a Miller Econotig, and I got it used with about 8hrs on it from Ebay for $1000 which I thought was a fantastic deal.

It's a great beginner TIG and does everything I need it to do.

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Yamaha xs650