I started the XS650 "Interceptor" (uh-oh)

XSKID

So I wanted better brakes, better suspension, and lighter weight. I don't have much money and a few options came about lately and I jumped at the chance to swap the STRONG 650 engine into the smallest chassis I could find! So the end result is a hastey "mock" fit that I grabbed some pics of for everyone to see, it will all be black in the end of it all, and there is a massive amount of fabrication before it even runs in the frame, but for the first few cuts it looks like it will be one monster of a bike!

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

If you can get it all together, it oughta work pretty good. Same concept as the smaller ninjas. Take a decent parrallel twin and a decent frame, and you should have a decent handling bike.

beys

That looks great, thats the kind of stuff I love!
looking forward to see it finished.

XSKID

Thanks for the encouragement on this little project! I started back into it this afternoon and have the engine fitting really well. The chain and everyting like that is lining up really well also. I am expecting to have it welded into the frame pretty quick today. I still have alot of brace/gusset work ahead to make it strong on a level that is a little higher than most of my work to date.

CornbreadRed

I hope all of this goes together as easy as possible. One question, -how hard is setting the valves going to be on the finished bike?

Chip

XSKID

The valves wont be too bad if you pull the tank. The swap is almost done! I have to route the wire harness tomorrow and slip the exaust together. The first ride should be tomorrow or so.

Spax · Full Member Joined: Jun 20, 2007 Posts: 12

Man that is nice! I really like the streetfighter vibe you got going. I hope you plan on doing a writeup, with pics of course :). Now I know what to do with my spare engine once I put it back together.

XSKID

Well I am into the 3rd full day of work on the XS Interceptor. Yes the "Street Fighter" vibe is alive and well. I have many pics of awsome euro bikes and this thing is turning into a rat bike show stopper as I am writing this.

ALL structure points I welded in are made from parts of the 2 bikes frames, not because I don't have metal, I just want this thing to be so on the level with everything I see out of the euro's. The upper front of the bike does have some 1" tube steel to gusset the areas that will be taking major stress though.

I have the wiring layed into it and the sensors and what not layed out around the bike now. I WILL have video for everyone to check out, I will film it at 200x300 pixels so no matter what the connection you will be able to view it too!

The pics I am including are from moments ago, I have so little to do to it that I should not be here typing, I should be working, but hey, a break isn't too bad.

First fire should be by tonight!

Grimm_Rider

aka- XSKID

XSKID

Here are a few more pics with all the wiring done. It turns over, lights work, and it looks sweet, I have some finishing work to do. Tomorrow I will release a video of the beast in action I hope.

y body type, ie; leg length, torsoe size, arm length, all fits into the curves of the tank and the clip ons like Honda designed the bike around six foot, two inch, me! Laughing

XSKID

Done! 1st fire was 2 hours ago and I tested it in the driveway, about 15ft to get going in first and test the brakes! WOW! Tomorrow is going to be test and tune.

I will start on a write up on the build, a little history on me and my thoughts on the project and an explanation of why I did it so quick. To say the least, this is built for 0-80mph roads, twisty, curvy, "flickin' the bitch" kinda corners. The whole concept is about going fast through corners SAFE.

I gotta charge the camera battery tonight and have another beer! Video tomorrow afternoon!

Grimm

tintin · Full Member Joined: May 07, 2007 Posts: 96

That's some wild stuff. Would have taken me all three days just to lift the engine into the frame!

jayel

well there you go you've been doing it wrong, you don't put the engine in the frame you put the frame on the engine, much easier if you do it the right way

CornbreadRed

I'm pumped! This has such a huge Cool Potential I am going to look for some Honda with a lunched engine and probably try it myself.

Thanks for walking point on this, Kid.

Chip

XSKID

The first ride was moments ago! I took it down the road, then around the block, then I HAD to take it out of town and see what it really can do when it is opened up! I dropped out on the clutch from a dead stop and left 10 feet of rubber behind me, the front end lifted and second gear carried the small power wheelie through till about 35mph, I grabbed a fist full of clutch and off I went 3rd gear full tilt. This thing vibrates so bad but its soooo much fun!

As I expected the rear gear turned it down in the top speed department, I have a full top speed of 85mph, but, the purpose of the bike was to be exactly like that. Kinda buzzy at 60mph, but, I am young and dumb, I can take it. Wink

The bike feels like your riding an engine. Its hard to say wether I am going to like it like this or just use it for weekend stomping. Its a hard call.

BTW, I did lift the chassis with a hoist and lower it onto the pre-leveled engine, it was just lineing up the mounting points while the frame floated. I found that its indeed alot less stressful to do it that way.

The ride reminds me of a ninja 250 on crack! Its so damn powerful I am kinda scared to let it full tilt out of a corner for fear of it spinning the 110-18 that is holding the bike in check. Sooner or later I will find out how hard you indeed have to push it to get it to get unstable, for now, its all about getting the rest of it together and testing.

Video this afternoon!

XSKID

XSKID

Can I do that? Embed a video? If not, here is the link,

www.youtube.com/user/toctuning

ost of my vids are car related but anything to do with motorcycles is clearly marked as such, the vid was posted there about 2 min ago so if you can't play it wait a few minutes and then give it a try.

Like I said, its like a lunatic 250 ninja. The wheel spin seen at the start is with it running kinda weird, I have to sort out the coils still, I may as well just replace both at this point.

Enjoy the sounds and sights of speed!

XSKID

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

That's crazy. Glad to see it coming together. Sounds like it'll go pretty good too. Have fun.

tintin · Full Member Joined: May 07, 2007 Posts: 96

I know about putting the frame on the engine - just commenting about how quickly this went.

I hadn't thought about a hoist though - a friend will be helping me lower my freshly powdercoated frame onto my engine, but a hoist will help that much more. Or I might get two friends to help so I can just fiddle with engine mounts.

XSKID

Yeah, it was quick, I had about a week of reserch and development into it before the first cut was made though. Thanks for all the support on this adventure of mine. The video on youtube shows a nice launch and the sound and sight of it running through the gears. The rear tire spun all the way through 1st! My XS never did that! Maybie it's just my head, but, I think it moves MUCH faster than my XS did.

beys

What type of Honda is the frame of?

650Commuter

That's some kind of crazy! I love it! Looks like a Buell project I saw last month that was just getting started. Good luck. You definately have more mechanical ability than me.

Glen.

XSKID

The bike(s) started life as a 1977 Yamaha XS650 and a 1984 Honda VF500F Interceptor. The idea came about around 6 weeks ago, but, was cruelly dismissed as a stupid idea.

The thought of re-powering an 80's Super Sport chassis with a 650 yamaha twin was kinda dumb when it was thought of. But, the measuring started, and, it was soon realized how smooth it would go to swap the engine into the 500 chassis.

About 2 years ago I started into the motorcycle lifestyle. One of the first try's at swapping an engine was kinda nuts. I had sourced out an 88 suzuki 80cc dirtbike. Then, I somehow, couldn't tell you how, found an old suzuki 380 triple engine. I chopped the frame up on the little 80cc and wedged the 380 triple into the frame rails. It was held up with the same strap that you see in the XS Interceptor pictures.

I never got to puting a new rear sprocket or a chain on it, let alone figuring out how the hell I am gonna make a frame or let alone get it running. The idea of the XS Interceptor was alot like the 380-eighty. It just wasn't plausible.

About a year ago I f-ed up pretty good. The system took over and I ended up settling the case with the sentence of 30 days in jail. I now have less than 48 hours till I have to check in to the crap hole they call a jail. Thus I needed to finish this swap in record time. Exactly what I did!

Today was the last ride I get to take before I go sit a good chunk of my life away. The first time I ever did a real burnout (rolling burnout too!) was today on the Interceptor, about 5mph and a little front brake and alotta throttle and I left 35ft of rubber in front of my house! The bike is amazing!

I know everyone is probably curious about the writeup on the build. I have 30 days to detail everything I did, so, mid september will be the release of the write up on how to build one of your own. There is much to be done though! The swap is by no means easy at all. I would personally never suggest doing something like this yourself, unless you have a TON of spare time and nothing to do for 2 weeks.

The XS650 cost me about $1500 to build from boxes, then $1200 for the Honda. The seals on the honda went, so it was scrap, the XS had f-ed suspension. So the combination of the 2 was just a natural for me. I am heavily involved with metal fabrication, and, auto mechanics. This was MUCH easier than building a turbocharged 91' toyota corolla, or a 4x4 toyota pickup "baja truck".

I bid you farewell for now. I have 30 days to go think about what I did to myself and my life. I suppose its a big kids time out huh? Talk to you all in september!

XSKID

Grimm_Rider

Benjamin O. Bowen

feel free to email me with questions, can't say I will answer before mid september though!---> dorikinae86 @ Yahoo.com <------- Have a good month everyone!

Thank you all for the support and the kudo's! I love my life despite the hardships here and there. Being American has MANY perks that I and most of us take for granted, and 30 days in jail is MUCH less than you can get for less of an offense than a stupid pot pipe and no dope, in other countrys so I will take my slap on the wrist and be back soon. Wish me luck, I have socail anxiety and clinical depression so it makes it that much harder for me to do ANYTHING. So I will try to be strong and keep my head up through all of this...

XS owners are some great people! Thank you for your support on my insane project bike!

xsjohn

You might just be the one to figure out how to water cool the cylinders.....

John

XSKID

How in the world do you water cool an air cooled bike? Buy a watercooled bike... Or, you could machine out a complete head that accepts water/air cooling. Water jacket with finned sides and front?

Cylinder temps are an issue from what I gathered about the prospect of turbocharging these 447 engines.

The only problem I have with water cooling, as well as turbocharging, is the fact that it was brought up that the engine is so simple, why complicate it?

But, if indeed you are not B.S.'ing about water-cooled cylinders I can try to figure something out for us all. I can't say it will be worth trying until someone pioneers the route of cooling with water. Me? Sure, why not. I will have a good chunk of change this october to play with and I know a few casting/machining shops in the area and I can see about trying to do it. But, if indeed it was done, I personally would build the heads in a 650-750 size, thus being able to be bored out like the stock unit to accept big bore 840 pistons at the most. I will try, can't say it will get much further than paper though.

XSKID

xs1961

Nooooooo..dont do it ...The classic 'air-cooled-brit-vertical-twin-thing' look would be lost !! Wink

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Yamaha xs650