My take on the XS650D

XSKID · Posted: May 11, 2007, 9:59 pm Post subject: My take on the XS650D

Hey everyone, I know I don't post much but I prefer to lurk in the back watching whats going on. Well I think I need to share my latest work on the XS.

I looked at ALOT of cafe's and choppers trying to find the perfect match of race/show to make it streetable. This is what I came up with, the bike needs to have nice weight, check, it needs a torque happy engine, check, and it needs to HANDLE!

The XS has everything but the latter and we all know we are never gonna keep up with an eighties honda interceptor of even a newer cruiser on a track or some twistys for that matter.

I needed to do something about it and I don't have alot of money to go throwing around on attempts at making a cruiser a sportbike, but, I am a metal fab/welder so I can do some things the normal do-it-yourselfer may not be able to get for cheap.

I tried everything with the stock suspension but never got the real "flickable" handling I was after the whole time. I know a newer sportbike would suffice but man, I love the XS for all the reasons someone loves their children. Laughing

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

Seems a bit extreme to me. I have owned 3 sport bikes in the last 2 years, sv1000, gsxr750, and a hayabusa. The XS does have the flickability you speak of. It reminds me of my SV, but without all the power. Man I wish we had more power. I guess you did the above mods for more cornering clearance? I scrape my kickstand all the time. Still haven't removed it yet.

XSKID · Posted: May 12, 2007, 1:56 pm Post subject: Re: My take on the XS650D

Well, making less rake in the forks would either take designing a new head tube placement or jacking up the back and lowering the front like I did. It doesn't take as much as stock to get it to "flick" between lefts and rights.

The ground clearence was not too much of an issue but when it comes down to it I suppose the higher ride will make it less likely to scrape the chassis/kickstand.

I ride like its a GP race no matter what the speed, ie. hanging off the sides, knees down, tucked in. Twisted Evil

I did it to be diffrent and to try something new, it worked. Laughing

Take it easy!

Ben

edit- I am also 6'2" tall so it makes it more comfortable for me to sit higher!

XSKID · Posted: July 19, 2007, 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: My take on the XS650D

Its lowered back to stock and the forks are back to the regular position, it is goofy looking at it like that, it was only like that for a few weeks anyway.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650