I've been playing with a similar project but finally gave up on the mono shock idea. Either way he will have issues with the chain angle crossing the front of the swing arm. I have a plastic runner off a DR 650 which may work but haven't run it yet. Jack [/QUOTE]
The front end and swingarm are off a YZ125.Our friend milled the triple trees to work.However he found an old MX(400?) and is thinking of using that frontend.I'm not sure of all the details,and he's very busy with his shop,so I don't know if he'll find time to post about the build here.
G.day all Spent a couple of enjoyable hours in Nabiac a week or so back.750 bikes I think they said.It was my second visit after at least 12 yrs. I WAS expecting a little more this time.No modern era Triumphs for one.There must be a ton of early 80.s &90.s bikes lying around that should/ and deserve to be there..I,m pretty sure alot of the machines are on loan so WE [in Oz] should get .em out there .Not leave ,em rustin in the shed. my 2c Chip
Went down to Victoria for the 'Spaghetti' Rally on the weekend set up for the weekend Bev loves her Strawberry wines 'White Beast' ran well, despite carrying about 300kg of people & camping gear! :eek1 I post most of the photos in a separate thread http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=836317 Cheers Baza
[/QUOTE] The chain angle is an issue, but using the stock chain slider from the YZ125 swing arm looks to take care of the top side. I installed a chain roller on the under side to keep it off the frame. It works in the shop, but it obviously has not been on the road yet. Here is what's been done so far: The swing arm from the 1987 YZ125 bolted straight up with the original XS650 swing arm axle. We just had to remove the rear peg mounts. Mounting the mono shock linkage, both to the frame on the underside and building the top shock mount took a lot of trail and error to get the full travel of the shock without binding. In the end we cut off the mounts from the YZ and reconfigured them to the XS. The linkage is stock except for the lower dogbone which we had to shorten and are getting a new one milled up. We'll have about 9" of travel there. The front end was supposed to be a straight swap, but not so We ended up cutting the steering stem out of the XS650 lower tree, re-machining the lower tree from the YZ and pressing the XS stem in. Then we had to build a top-hat shim for the upper tree to mount the tree to the XS stem. After all that I came across a 1989 YZ490 rolling chasis that I bought for the second set of wheels to lace up as supermoto wheels. That top tree fit right on the XS stem with no machining and it has rubber mounted handlebars that the 125 did not I think the YZ490 entire front end may have been a direct swap, but I haven't swapped it out to verify that yet. Right now we're laying out the battery / electrical box which will be right under the seat. We're removing the electric start and running a very small LiFePO4 battery to save weight. Once we have that we can fiberglass a new seat. The chain alignment is almost there. I need to push the front sprocket out just a tad. We're trying to find a 520 series front sprocket to match the 520 on the rear and stick with the 520 chain, but the XS uses a 30mm shaft and we have not found a 520 sprocket to fit. We're leaving the drum brakes in the back and have the stock brakes from the YZ490 in the front. Eventually we're going to need to find a larger front rotor and make a relocator bracket to move the caliper out. The headlight is being replaced by a lightweight enduro style light and the gauges are being replace by a small electronic tach / speedo combination set. Then all we need to do is rebuild everything and it should be good to go
If memory serves me right I purchased a 520 front sprokett from Michael Morse over at www.650central.com I'm using an aluminum swing arm (after market) from a sr 500 which is a direct bolt on. Rear wheel from a Suzuki DR 350, frontend and wheel is from a late 80's yam XT 600. Pretty close to a roller now but I keep getting side tracked with this project. I'm looking at about 6 inches of rear wheel travel using a twin shock set up. I moved the upper shock mounts forward with longer shocks to achieve the extra wheel travel. Jack The chain angle is an issue, but using the stock chain slider from the YZ125 swing arm looks to take care of the top side. I installed a chain roller on the under side to keep it off the frame. It works in the shop, but it obviously has not been on the road yet. Here is what's been done so far: The swing arm from the 1987 YZ125 bolted straight up with the original XS650 swing arm axle. We just had to remove the rear peg mounts. Mounting the mono shock linkage, both to the frame on the underside and building the top shock mount took a lot of trail and error to get the full travel of the shock without binding. In the end we cut off the mounts from the YZ and reconfigured them to the XS. The linkage is stock except for the lower dogbone which we had to shorten and are getting a new one milled up. We'll have about 9" of travel there. The front end was supposed to be a straight swap, but not so We ended up cutting the steering stem out of the XS650 lower tree, re-machining the lower tree from the YZ and pressing the XS stem in. Then we had to build a top-hat shim for the upper tree to mount the tree to the XS stem. After all that I came across a 1989 YZ490 rolling chasis that I bought for the second set of wheels to lace up as supermoto wheels. That top tree fit right on the XS stem with no machining and it has rubber mounted handlebars that the 125 did not I think the YZ490 entire front end may have been a direct swap, but I haven't swapped it out to verify that yet. Right now we're laying out the battery / electrical box which will be right under the seat. We're removing the electric start and running a very small LiFePO4 battery to save weight. Once we have that we can fiberglass a new seat. The chain alignment is almost there. I need to push the front sprocket out just a tad. We're trying to find a 520 series front sprocket to match the 520 on the rear and stick with the 520 chain, but the XS uses a 30mm shaft and we have not found a 520 sprocket to fit. We're leaving the drum brakes in the back and have the stock brakes from the YZ490 in the front. Eventually we're going to need to find a larger front rotor and make a relocator bracket to move the caliper out. The headlight is being replaced by a lightweight enduro style light and the gauges are being replace by a small electronic tach / speedo combination set. Then all we need to do is rebuild everything and it should be good to go[/QUOTE]
This thread has embarassed me into getting back on my project. I guess a picture is worh a thousand words so will give this a try. Using a new photo account so bear with me. Jack [/QUOTE]
Footpegs are off a Suzuki DR 650. I made adapter plates which lowered and moved the pegs rearward a bit. The plates bolt right up to the exhaust mounts on my 77 frame. I can stand up real well in the current position with risers to bring up the bars as I am 6'2". If you want I can post a closeup of the peg mounts. Jack
Hey Ray, Apparently not!!!! But you'd be proud of me now. Threw a motor in the frame so I can work on the sprockett alignment and make a rear wheel spacer. Will likely add an easily removable side car so the bike can do double duty. We're building up some steam now. Blame Hunter Greyghost and the rest of the posters on this thread for the motivation. Jack
Have any of you guys experimented with swapping a larger fuel tank onto an XS650? I'd really like some extra range, plus I don't really like the shape of the XS tank, anyway. It's a little too "custom" shaped for me. I've tried on all sorts of other tanks that are a bit better and still look period correct, but so far nothing has worked. I have a '74 CB450 tank that would fit with some mods to the mounts, but it's a bit too short and sits back from the steering neck a bit and looks weird. Plus, I think it only holds a small amount more than the 650 tank. I do like the look of those early '70s, flat bottomed Honda tanks, though. I need to ask around to find one of my buddies with an early CB750 tank that I could try on. My dad has some '70s BMW tanks that I plan to try, as well. The petcock location is consistently a problem, but I plan to relocate the petcock(s) by welding a bung in the proper location. Anyone else tried any bigger tanks?
CB750 tank sitting on the frame, haven't been serious about mounting it up yet, have some mods to do, Bottom tank is off a early '70's Moto Guzzi, either an Eldorado or an Ambassador, fitted up really easy, will take further photos of mounts later, you have to move the fuel taps back to clear the XS engine on 'Kenny', '74 XS650B - Adventure model :eek1 on 'White Beast' - '81 XS650SH, you can see in the photo that the seatbase had to be shortened to allow the seat to fit with this tank 22.5lt capacity - anywhere from 300kms to 500kms, depending on what you're doing! Chers Baza
Great stuff. Thanks for the info. I'm intrigued by the Guzzi tank, but it's decidedly non-Japanese looking and I'm not sure that I want to go that route. Nothing against Italian bikes because they're great, but I sure like my Japanese styling. I really value function over form, though. Hmmm...I need to think about it.
Working on getting another 850T as a tow bike for my trailer! Nasty looking but it works already a hole through the frame gusset - almost as if Yamaha planned for this event! moved the taps back to here on both sides :huh just fits up nice & snug was a bit of a lucky guess when I saw the tank but it all works great, & gives me heaps more fuel range Cheers Baza