My XS650 build

[daveyg]

Well, love it or hate it, I'm turning a bone stock 1980 XS650 that has under 15k miles into a little barhopper/minichopper. Heres a few pics of the carnage.


The pipes and carb tuning is all I have "mostly done", the pipes are made up of the stock headers, both gathered on the left side, with a Y-pipe from an 08 Warrior stock exhaust, and a hollowed out shell of a megaphone from a Honda CB650, cut in half, acting as a "muffler" (In the near future I will be turning an end cap from aluminum, that will hold the baffle from a YZ-F450 muffler, and probably utilize some fiberglass packing, as I want it to rumble, but not make my ears bleed, as it currently does. On the intake side, I am in the process of fabricating an aluminum intake plenum, to utilize a single oval K&N filter, made for a god-knows-what. I also have a neat, medium size 'kinda teardrop' tank, also from a god-only-knows model of bike, that I will hopefully have fitted tonight with some more pics. I also have the frame cut behind the backbone, to lower the seat height about 2-3 inches, and on front are some forward controls I have machined from aluminum. I haven't decided yet but I think I want to run some drag bars, and cut the frame neck and increase the rake by about 5 degrees... Sorry the pics are so dark, it was like 20 degrees outside and I didn't want to open the garage door for more light. Anyway, thanks for reading, and let me know what you boys think! Thanks, DaveyG

[fredintoon]

Well, love it or hate it, I'm turning a bone stock 1980 XS650 that has under 15k miles into a little barhopper/minichopper. - - -

Hi Davey,
coulda been worse, the '80 is quite common. At least it wasn't a '77 Standard that fell to your Sawzall and you did retain the rear suspension.
Up here in the frozen North our bike club does garage tours to keep interest going in the winter.
On last Sunday's visit I was introduced to "a fellow XS650 expert" who proudly showed me a photo of his hardtailed XS650. Seeing as the gentleman was 6" taller and 30 years younger than me, I politely asked him:-
"Why did you do that, you f##king Vandal?"
"I bought it" he said, "after it had been rear ended and there was nothing much left behind the seat post. To buy all those used parts to fix it would have cost me money I didn't have. What I did have was some steel tubing, a Harley rear wheel, and a TIG welder."
You gotta respect a man like that.

[daveyg]

True, this was a Special, and hardtail might look neat, but I like my spine and kidneys where they are at, especially since I hope to make this bike for me to sit up straight, with my arms straight out, and my legs just slightly bent. I didn't get a chance to work on it last night since my car was acting up after work, but hopefully I'll have a few pics to show tonight. And props to guys who use what they got layin around, that's my motivation with this thing, I don't have the rear end done yet, I have yet to lower the shock mounts, and I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna use some shocks from a 1972 Kawi dirt bike or go shock-less and use my airbag thats been sitting on the shelf for years, mounted monoshock style... What you boys think? The stock 650 shocks are way, way too stiff for my 160lb ass on the cut off rear end, even with just one mounted, the bike only drops about 1/2 inch when you sit on it, it might as well be hardtail as stiff as it is...

[fredintoon]

- - - The stock 650 shocks are way, way too stiff for my 160lb ass on the cut off rear end, even with just one mounted, the bike only drops about 1/2 inch when you sit on it, it might as well be hardtail as stiff as it is...

Hi Davey,
you checked that the Yamashocks are clicked round to full soft?
Of course you did.
You could fit softer springs to the Yamashocks but replacement springs cost money that could be better spent elsewhere.
How about moving the top shock mounts forward to run the shocks at more of an angle to soften them up?

[T99Ford]

Fred, Fred,Fred...That is twice now that I have seen you let a hardtailer get away. You are slipping friend

Davey: Nice job so far. That exhaust matches up really well. Can't wait to see the next pics!

[fredintoon]

What hardtailer?

Hi t71,
Davey ain't no hardtailer and indeed, was asking for advice about rear suspension.
My XS650 buddy's options were to hardtail or to part the wreck out.

[daveyg]

Ya fred, the plan was to move the upper shock mounts forward and lower and use the shocks from the little Kawasaki dirtbike to make it actually travel the suspension, but what do you mean by changing the stiffness? The shocks that came on the bike appear to not have any adjustability. (other than height) Unlike the rear shocks to my 11, which have that little thumb screw near the top. Please educate me... And yes, the budget doesn't have room for custom spring rate replacement springs. lol

[fredintoon]

Ya fred, the plan was to move the upper shock mounts forward and lower and use the shocks from the little Kawasaki dirtbike to make it actually travel the suspension, but what do you mean by changing the stiffness? The shocks that came on the bike appear to not have any adjustability. (other than height) Unlike the rear shocks to my 11, which have that little thumb screw near the top. Please educate me... And yes, the budget doesn't have room for custom spring rate replacement springs. lol

Hi Davey,
those shocks have a 5-way clickything at the bottom of the spring?
That alters the spring's preload but not it's rate.
I think the XS11 shock's thumbwheel is supposed to alter the damping rate but fiddling with mine don't seem to make any difference, most likely my shocks are too worn out for whatever the thumbwheel does to work.
As to rotating the shock away from vertical, no, it cannot alter the spring rate, that's inherent to the spring.
What tilting the shock does is to give the swingarm more leverage on it which lessens the effective spring rate to make the shock feel softer.
Google "Velocette" to see the slotted arc their shock top mounts could be adjusted through to alter the shock's feel.
This link should do it:-
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike%20...20Thruxton.htm
The Thruxton's shocks are shown as upright as they'll go but you can see the slot that lets them be adjusted to lean further forward.

[xs11lover]

Fred, Fred,Fred...That is twice now that I have seen you let a hardtailer get away. You are slipping friend

Davey: Nice job so far. That exhaust matches up really well. Can't wait to see the next pics!

Yup I had to read the thread just to see what fred said.

[daveyg]

Ya, the preload is set at the lowest possible setting, but still no travel like at all. Plus I need to cut a few inches down from where the original shock mount is anyway to make the frame flow a little better. Hopefully a couple more days and I will have some new progress to show.

[fredintoon]

- - - Plus I need to cut a few inches down from where the original shock mount is anyway to make the frame flow a little better. - - -

Hi davey,
yeah, the more sloped the shock is, the softer it will feel.
The top shock mount needs to move down and forward to make this happen.
But there's practical limits on how far the top shock mount can be moved.
If you moved it to where "the frame flows better" and the shock is still too upright to feel soft enough, there is another thing to do.
They used to sell "lowering kits" The kit was a pair of metal blocks that bolted into the swingarm shock mounts and extended back mebbe 2" with a new shock mount on the end.
With those fitted, the shock was at an increased angle, the rear of the bike was lowered and the effective shock rate was less.
The kits were not cheap but anyone who has the gear to cut'n'weld the frame should have no problem making his own.