XS650 Chopper Project:
Hi,
Like others before me,
650motorcycles.com has been a great inspiration to me. Here is my
hardtail project on the road after 13 months of fun. The XS650 is
a simple 2 cylinder that is very durable. The Yamaha 1981 XS650H
was purchased on Craigslist. The bike hadn't been ridden for
awhile and was missing the battery and seat. Once I got the bike
home and put a battery in it; I was able to start it up and it
ran fine. With only 6K on the speedo, it should have lots of
life. The first step was to decide what type of Chopper to make,
how far to rake out the front end and how long to extend the back
end. I mocked up some drawings in ProE and started planning the
bike. I wanted to make the bike long and low, drag style/bobber.
The cradle, fork, wheels, and engine are stock. Here are some
numbers:
* 4.5" rear stretch
* 35 degrees rake (27degrees*)
* 6.5 Trail (4.53"*)
* 90.5" Overall length (83.5"*)
* 64.5" Wheelbase
* 4" ground clearance (5.3"*)
* 25" Seat height (31.1"*)
* 2.5" Seat vertical travel
(* means stock number)
The tank and fender will
be painted by Crazy Horse Painting, color TBD. I have designed a
LED tail light assembly and a LED handlebar turn signal assembly
for the bike. This will finish the work for now. Future stuff
include: polish/paint hubs and SS spokes, rebuild/paint engine,
pretty up the exhaust.
Parts were purchased from MikesXS, a great source for XS650
parts.
Craig Collins - cccdesign@gmail.com
XS650 Cycle Links, Images & Info: Click Here!
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