Texas Tracker:
Thanks for
the compliments everyone on the first ‘unfinished’
version of the yellow beasty... And I have have been getting lots
of requests on my brake set up, so here’s the skinny on the
bike now and what’s been done. As far as the brake set up..
They are 320 mm Brembo rotors off a 998 (I think). The bolt
pattern is exactly the same as a Yamaha, but I used thick washers
to space them out by about 5mm (you could have a proper spacer
made.. But I got quotes around the $300 mark for that). The brake
calipers were SV650.. Not sure what year, I just got them on Ebay
because they looked like they might work. The only requirement
was that I needed 2 piston calipers rather than the 4 pot ones I
intended (I bought GSXR ones but the 4 pot calipers were simply
too wide unless I spaced the rotors a silly amount). The brackets
were hand cut (a real pain) and spaced a little with single flat
washers to get the right position in relation to the rotors. As
for the master.... I found a guy on ebay selling re-furb masters
and the one I got was for an old FZR1000. Brake lines were from
an English company called Hell and they’ll make them up to
your requirements (I think my right one was 36” and the left
38”, the rear I can’t remember... And mine are in the
super sexy Carbo-look with stainless fittings). It’s really
hard to get anything metric here. Have to say.. The brakes are
amazing. It’s like hitting a padded brick wall. Oh.. The
rear brake is a front off an FZR600 with a 12” flat track
hanger (from Total performance Racing) and a Grimeca caliper....
Very nice ‘soft’ feel. As you can see now, I have 4
1” LED cluster rear lights (Blinkers/stop/tail) in a home
made housing using $2.50 red reflectors from Wallmart... And the
Jemco pipes are on now (loud + leaky + occasional flames = cool).
All the electrics are under the seat and the alloy bracket you
can see behind the tail light is where the license plate will
live... With a micro LED to make it light up. The only thing I
have left to do is the front blinkers (trying to find a way to
hide them) and I have a steering damper to go on there. The
engine is stock (apart from the pipes and carbs) and I opened it
up in second and it yanked itself out of my hands... So the
weight reduction sure helps! Oh... And a seat pad would help too,
it’s slippery (if anyone has a nice one.. I need one).
Anyway.. I hope this info helps a bit and I know what it’s
like to fumble through something like this.... For instance... I
nearly had FZR600 rotors on the front with stock XS750 calipers.
I’m glad I went over the top now.... It looks a lot better.
Oh... And the bronze swing arm bushings, taper bearings and fork
brace help no end! Next one the list is an Acewell digital
speedo/tach... I did order one from the UK site but I have had no
replies to my emails and I placed the order a month ago... Maybe
they have gone out of business, does anyone know? They
haven’t taken any money, so that’s a good thing! In
case anyone was wondering... Paint work is courtesy of 5 cans of
Rustoleum black enamel... Takes 3 months to dry, but you can get
a really nice hard wearing paint job out of it.. I use it on all
my old British stuff. Good luck to all you Café and street
tracker builders out there.. And as for chop builders... Stop it,
you’ll go blind and get hairy palms.
Chris (from London to Texas... Yeehaa). texassausage@austin.rr.com P.S. I still have a bunch of 80
Special parts if anyone wants them (no engine or exhausts).
XS650 Cycle Links, Images & Info: Click Here!
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