Manky Monkey Motors

This one's VooDoo's fault! He posted the link to it on Ebay in the For Sale bit of the forum.
Just driven half way across the country in a rented van to pick up this little jewel from sunny Lancashire.
A 1980 Yamaha XS650 SE.
The "factory custom" version of the XS. Came with pullback bars, (similar to these but lower), smaller tank, stepped seat & cast wheels. This one has a 2009 tax disc so has presumably been ridden in the last year or so. Looking a bit sorry for itself, but it's got potential.
The clutch & throttle were disconnected & the chain's hanging off, so not rideable, but after 10 minutes of jump starting from a battery pack & spraying bucketloads of "EasyStart" down the carb mouths, it finally fired up & didn't sound too bad. It came with 3 plastic buckets full of odds & ends, some of which might actually belong to this bike.
 

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Superb project when and if you ever get the time lol....Voodoo....

I just grabbed it while it was there. No huge rush to build it -I'll put it in the shed & just tinker with it when I feel like it.
The plan is to build a low budget bobber/chop.
Cut the back off the frame & hardtail it, stretching the arse end a few more inches. Maybe rake the front end out slightly once it's sitting lower at the back. A Harley Sportster tank & sprung solo saddle. Short rear guard. Strip & polish the aluminium wheels. Add gaiters to the fork legs. Flat bars. Standard position footpegs. Long straight high level exhausts down the lefthand side. Gloss black frame & a big bucket of gold metalflake on the tank & guards.
Just something to blat around on on sunny days.
It was on Ebay with a Buy It Now price of £795. I made an offer of 600 & we agreed on 650. It wasn't in a rideable condition though & only seemed to run on a constant stream of Easy Start, (actually the can was called "Start Ya Bastard"!). Might just be out of fuel, who knows. The battery's dead or the charging circuit's not working cos there was no power there at all other than the Jump Start thingy.
So we settled on 600 quid. Less than 2 week's wages.

I'm seriously thinking of going "legit" & putting it in for the SVA registration test once I've cut & reworked the frame. Don't know anything about the bike test so will look into it & see what's involved.
That "sissy bar" & ape hangers have gotta go!

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Bars & backrest binned. Lookin' better already!
I'll strip it down, cut the back off the frame, then start mocking up the look I'm after.
Not taking precendence over all the other projects, just something different to play with.  :)

Will you never learn!  ;D
On the plus side though, its nice to have "something different" to do every now n then, i find it can kick start a struggling interest in whats allready going on.
Andy, if you are getting rid of the bars, i`ll happily swap them for a few quid with you  ;)

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Measure up the sissy bar an if it's wide enough I'll buy it off you (providing you want to sell that is) ;D

Ha ha so its all my fault!!!!!...So could it be you who is smiting me into oblivion? lol.....Hope you got it for a good price in the end.......Voodoo.....

The guy wanted over 700 quid for it but because of the state and condition of it Manky managed to knock him down to 600 and it was paid cash on the spot. Have sent him a text with all your requests for the bits and yes they will not be going back on so they will be up for grabs. Will measure the sissy bar in a bit for ya Doc and when he took it off one of the mounting tabs broke or atleast was already broken but should be able to re weld it back on.

What was that about getting the Pop finished before the rules change..................    ;)

If Twisted decides he doesn't want the cissy bars then if you are willing to post to me let me know and I can either send cheque of Paypal if you prefer.

bugger, Tbone beat me to the apes  :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

How about I put the sissy bar in the middle of the carpark at Pete's show this weekend & you lot can fight over it.  :D Not into that whole 70s look myself, so you're very welcome to it.
Twisted, you asked first, so you get first refusal.
It mounts to the top shock absorber mounts & also bolts through the rear mudguard. One of the mudguard tabs has snapped off, but they don't show so you could carefully re-weld it & touch the chrome in with paint. I've got the tab.
Yours for 15 quid? Will offset some of the diesel costs to drive to Preston & back! If you're at Pete's New Forest show I'll take it along.
Measures 11 inches between the shock mounts & stands 23 inches tall.

I'll go measure up an let you know, I will be at Pete's do on sunday.

Yep it'll fit so I'll have it thanks but if it don't fit for some reason will pass it on to Nabsim

Okey doke.
Handlebars are no good I'm afraid chaps. Didn't notice when they were on the bike, but they be bent. So I'm assuming there's been some bike/tarmac interfacing going on at some point.
I need some long straight sections of 7/8" bar to step down the ends of Taz's trike bars, to take Japanese switchgear. So I'll cut 'em up for that.
Bobbi, yeah, the Pop still comes first as it's on a deadline, followed by the trikes, followed by this. Taz's muscle car is on a whole different time scale!
Like I said, this is just something to mess about with when I feel like it -might throw it together really quick, or spend years browsing autojumbles for just the right bit for it. Who knows.  ;)

The tank will also be up for grabs when that's off the thing  :)

Tis off now.
It was bone dry -no wonder it'd only start with gallons of Easy Start squirted down the carbs.  :D
Tank's for Sale in the ...For Sale section if anyone's interested.

Oi! Get your own ideas! Pipes down the left hand side, hardtailed, posh paint. I'm keeping my mouth shut down the workshop from now on ;D.

Sod hardtailing it cafe racer / flat track the barsteward!

And let me steal lots of bits.

 ;D Beat you to it all about 20 years ago, yer young whipper snapper!

low brow customs in the states do a real nice weld on hardtail for these... oh and nice buy mate  ;) ;)

pah I'll give you a race to see who's is slowest. I bet mine is

I bunged a pair of 32mm Dellorto carbs with accellerator pumps on my XS lowrider. Went like a rocket but drank fuel by the bucketful.

I'LL also give you a lairy riding competition. First one in a hedge wins!

i bet its archie in the bush first  :P

 ;D

I'm thinking of something along these lines -though not that hat.

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Yeah, I know it's a Harley, but I like the lines of this.

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It'd be this one for me, all the way!!!!!!

Clive

I should be able to get really lairy on the xs in a controlled manner as it only has 2 wheels.

Also check out the ardcore choppers site. Some really really nice xs's on there

well lets hope you do better on 2 wheels cos you cant ride on 3 !! lol  :P

this uns cool

this might interest you Andy
http://www.dirtybobbers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1228.60
a blow by blow build of an XS chopper/bobber thingy  :D :D

(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/archie_837/2b0aa76b.jpg)

(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/archie_837/9b987ac2.jpg)
(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/archie_837/f6ecf5d2.jpg)

Number three and four for me please ,   My only criticism is I would prefer a nice tls up front 8)

Received a pair of 10mm thick mild steel axle plates in the post today. 29 quid from Cycle Haven in Lincolnshire, via Ebay. They come with a 20mm slot for the wheel spindle, allowing chain adjustment, cut outs for the hardtail frame tubes to fit into & mudguard strut mounting holes.

I didn't realise that axel plates were so easy to get hold of! This thread has given me an idea, I'm so excited I could not get to sleep last night for thinking about the possibilitys  ;), Cant wait to see the progress on this!

Bargain 8)take best part of a day to make those by hand!

That's what I thought Paul. I like making my own parts & do try not to throw money away unnecessarily, but as you say, you'd be hard pressed to make 'em yourself for less.
Can't sleep for thinking about axle plates? Well, there's a man that's easily pleased! You got the building bug bad, boy!  :P

I normally think about Bridget Fonda when I can't sleep :o

I was not thinking about axel plates, I just saw your post today and said what I said. I only saw this thread for the first time last night and had a trawl through which got me thinking about the GS250 I got sat doing nothing, Spoke to Doc today regarding chopping and bobbering it, I think it'll have to be done!

Everyones getting on the building malarky.

That's why we're here Archie, we all build. ;D

Tsk, kids eh. Think they're the first ones to do everything.
There's nowt new under the sun, young fella me lad.

hmmm, taking the easy route eh? i remember the days when you`d have made your own plates!

I don't think I'm the first to do anything....... And by I mean everyones getting on it is you're starting a new one, toms got one going, petes possibly doing one, the guy aboves getting excited about it etc etc.

First to do it aye? You know I grew up amongst this whole building malarky - the old mans cb750 arrdtail, dannys bikes he's built, all the bikes terry built and so on. I'm just excited I can do my own now

Just jesting Archie we know you 'aint the first hehe at least your first is gonna look superb.

Yeah, we're only joshing Archie.  ;)
Quite jealous that your first build is turning out so cool actually. I remember my first attempts. I'd rather forget them. Looks like you've kick started our interest matey.  ;)

I know you all are lol

This is the problem with foruma no one can see your foice and the grin

Trust me, you don't want to see some of the faces here.  :o

a 5 page thread and all youve done is buy axle plates?

That was a bit below the belt ;D

3 of em have loads of sweet pictures though!

The joy of owning your own website Chewie -you can waffle as much as you like!  :D

Could of bought this instead (if you had too much money, and no colour perception!!!! :D :D)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130393919753&_trksid=p2759.l1259

(Was posted on Britchopper too by someone else!!, and as said there, check out the answer to the question at the bottom!! :D)

Clive

Ooo,,,,,, touchy, when really you need a sense of humour think this one will fetch that kind of dosh!!!  Morag

Not planning on selling mine just yet.
My new fuel tank arrived today. Actually, it arrived yesterday, but I was at work, so it was re-delivered to Taz's workplace today. 2.8 gallon low tunnel Sportster copy.
I couldn't decide between low or high tunnel, standard Sporty or the wider King Sportster. In the end the choice was made for me when Angie at Cycle Haven said she had this one on the shelf for 89 quid. It's a low tunnel, so will sit high on the frame tube.

FRISCO STYLE ANDY!! FRIIIIIIISSSCOOOO!!!!

Super cool  ;D

(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/archie_837/fc1ff9c2.jpg)

Now that is very, very nice. Can't do that now with the tank I've got -unless I start cutting it up, but I love that style, (I've been pestering Archie to dig out that pic cos that's the exhaust set-up I want on mine).

those are speed triple forks in the front I think. We can steal them and not tell Marcus

Ilike that too, looks good with the fat tyres 8)

Loony hasn't finished paying me for the Triple yet. Let him pay up -then we'll steal them. ;)
You don't think he'd notice when it falls over then?

The moment when "Oh my Gawd, what have I bought" turns into "Oh my Gawd, what have I done".
Started stripping the bike down in the shed this afternoon. Good job I hadn't planned to ride it home. The swinging arm, shocks & rear wheel spindle were only bolted in finger tight. The guy I bought it from was a bit of a Del Boy type, buying & selling all sorts of stuff. He had a yard full of building materials & small plant. He said he'd taken the bike in part exchange. Looks like it must've been in boxes & just thrown back together & slapped over with some black paint to flog it on. 

It looks a lot nicer in photos than real life.

Might fit the big chrome headlight to Taz's trike, but got a set of XS guages for sale if anyone wants them, plus the swinging arm -not much use to me in a hardtail.
I remember my previous XSs had 2 seperate coils. This one's only got a single, twin lead one, so presumably not standard. I started off trying to keep the various electrical components hooked up to their respective connectors so I'd know how it goes back together, but eventually gave up & just ripped it all out -it'll need simplifying & re-wiring anyway.

Started cutting away the back end of the frame -yes Archie, before you say it, I will be losing the huge sections that held the swinging arm pivots, brake pedal, footpegs etc, but am trying to figure out alternatives for it all before cutting it all off.
Past the point of no return now.

Ive got a haynes XS manuel if any good to you?...Voodoo....

When you get to the elec-trickery, and want a hand, give me a shout buddy!!

Clive

Lolz. I'm going to steal your coil. I can't find my 2 seperate ones and 1 will hide away better then 2

That pink thing on ebay is definitely the ugliest,most awful XS I have ever seen  >:(

VooDoo- yes please. PM me with a price & I'll try & meet up with you somewhere soon.
Archie- I'm hanging onto everything for now -just in case!
Clive- consider yourself shouted when the time comes. When I pulled the electrics apart there were several "black boxes", none of which mean anything to me. Never understood leccy stuff.

I used Archie's chop frame to model my new Sportster tank today. Having blown 80 odd quid on it, I'm not sure now. Archie's is a high tunnel Sporty tank, so sits low over the top frame tube. Mine's a low tunnel so sits high on the frame. I think I prefer the high one. Any opinions?
Archie's high tunnel.

My low tunnel.
I think it'd need a lot more rake on the front end & less stretch on the back end for it to look in proportion.

I like yours better.

I reckon you might be able to swap it back with Thoms,I know you'd endup being out of pocket, but think he's quite taken to the frisco style, not sure though  :-\

I agree about the rake but the stretch looks right to me

Prefer the low look myself 8)

Damn you Andy! The more I look at this pic the more I like it on my bike - follows the lines really nicely

looks very much alike to me. how bout a "dead on" and profile shot?

low tank, same rake but a slightley shorter rear end for me  :D :D :D

New solo seat arrived today. Slightly bigger than Archie's Highway Hawk one & just half an inch thick. It'll be mounted on scissor springs.

Cut a few more chunks off the Yam frame this afternoon.
It's now this much lighter.

Back wheel in roughly the same position as the original swinging arm set-up. This produces a straight line from the headstock right down to the rear wheel spindle. XS650s have quite a high headstock, giving quite a chopped stance already when you remove the standard tank.

Just under 6 inches of ground clearance here, so I can afford to lose one or two. That'd mean cutting the headstock to rake the front end out a little. The engine's leaning back a touch, so raking the front would bring it back down level.
Comparing mine to Archie's current XS build, his has a 17 inch rear wheel & dumpy "Upside Down" sports bike forks, whereas I have a smaller 16 inch rear wheel & longer original Yam forks.

keep the rake and extend the downtubes  ;)

Stop buggering around wiv that an get on with your TRIKE!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Yep she's gonna have clearance issues I reckon  :-\ low n slow

wrong way round tbone, he would need to shorten the tubes to lower the front of the bike as the engine is leaning back . go on rake out the front end and slam it to the ground , just go on runs that miss speed bumps

I think on xs650chopperdawtkawm, there's a proper guide on how to shorten your front forks, which will bring it all level again.

only if its raked more, or used different forks. If the rake is kept, lengthening the tubes mearly drops the frame lower

yep thats what i said keep its standard and short tubes lowers the front bringing the engine forward , or rake out the stock and use appropriate tbes to level it of with the rear wheel shaft so the lower tube is level

1word. Gooseneck.

Fixed that for you Doc!

Would having the engine leaning backwards slightly affect it's running?

Not enough to worry about I would've thought mate, but I'll level it up.
Sheesh, I'm getting nagged by me own forum!
I've got part of the trike exhaust in the vice at the moment, cleaning up the spring tabs, ready to trial fit it again & I spend a couple of hours working on the Pop every day -so there!
I'm gonna go with increasing the rake to bring the frame level I reckon.
I'm missing the finned exhaust clamps from my engine. Anyone happen to have any?

I DO!! ;D

I bought a reproduction 1937 ...something, tail light at a rod show at the weekend -Chevy? Ford? Not sure.
It's quite big. The lens is about 3 inches across, but I liked it. Loony found an old "bullet" chrome wing mirror in the workshop & the plinth from it would work quite well as a light mount. Maybe too big to sit on top of the mudguard? I guess I could sink the end into the rear guard so it looks less obtrusive, but I kinda like it's quirkiness. Could bolt it to the hardtail as a side mount, but I'm not keen on side mount number plates. Wonder if it's SVA compliant to have the light offset on one side of the frame, down by the rear axle, with the number plate on a seperate bracket off the bottom of the guard?
Modelled here by Mr Lunatic on Archie's XS.

beautiful!!!!!! leave it like that

Not sure if loony would be able to run fast enough to keep up in that position though ;)

skates

Quite like them lamps more I look at them Andy, when you going back? ;)

I bought it from "Pop Brown's" stall at the Billing rod meet.
He sells an LED version for 40 something quid, but I prefer the look of a "proper" bulb, so went with the cheaper version. 30 something quid.

http://www.popbrowns.co.uk/

Haha so much for not going to get on with this one until the Trike's and pick up are finished oh and lets not forget the Charger lol....Voodoo.....

I found some of those finned collars on mikes xs dawt cawm, but they're in America and 20bucks each.

Any idea if they ship to little ol' Britain?

I imagine they do, but might be hassle. I think there is a german equivalent site of the topof my head - xs performance??

nope its this http://www.xs650shop.de/shop/exhaust-system/?t=2219

My day off today & Taz is away for the weekend, so I had a bit of a road trip, all by myself.
Drove up to Lincoln & back to visit Cycle Haven. Angie & Nic have been running the business for ...Gawd knows how long. I was buying chop parts from them about 25 years ago, so they must be one of the longest running custom bike shops in the country by now. Very nice people.
One of the first trikes I ever saw, & the one that inspired me to have a go at building my first, was Nic's low riding XS1100 Yam. I saw it at the Bulldog Bash in Stratford on Avon back in the mid 80s. That looks so simple & tidy I thought, I could do that.
Amazingly, as I walked through the door of their shop, I saw a familiar shape under a cover in the middle of the showroom -that's not the old XS11 is it?
Yup. Apart from a change of forks, it's still exactly the same as I remember it. 
After a 4 1/2 hour drive there, they made me a cuppa & I perused their shelves.
Having decided the low tunnel Sportster tank I'd bought mail order from them just didn't look right, I took it back & swapped it for a high tunnel, the later model with the screw in cap. That'll let me fit a pop-up flush mounting cap for the SVA test. I think a standard chrome cap will suit the chop more though, so bought one today & will pinch the pop-up one from my trike for the test.
I also bought a tap, a pair of flat drag bars & some vintage style grips. Trouble is, the grips aren't availbale in 7/8" Japanese bike size, only 1" Harley size. Can anyone help me out with some steel or nylon reducer sleeves? 

The handlebars came with 6 pages of instructions!
All in German.

I also ordered a few parts that weren't in stock.
A 5 1/2" side mount Bates headlight -"nobody buys side mounts any more. They all go for bottom mounts". Not me. I'm keeping the original Yam yokes so will make some 6mm rod brackets to fit between the top & bottom yokes to hang the light on. I might cut down the Yam headlight brackets to make plain sleeves to cover the fork tubes between the yokes.

Also on the shopping list was a chrome mini speedo.
A pair of black rubber fork gaiters.
A pair of seat springs.
And a pair of bar-end indicators, though I'm not sure I'll use them yet.
I'd hoped to get some custom footpegs but all they stock for Jap bikes is the chrome & rubber "SunDance" style, which ain't really my thing. So I'll try to find some replacement rubbers for the original Yam pegs.
That little lot should give me enough to be able to get the bike into the frame jig PD & Loony made when it's available & start putting together the hardtail. 

Messing about in the shed again this evening-
new fork gaiters fitted. I wanted a short, chunky looking front end, rather than long skinny forks. I also tried the standard Yam chrome fork shrouds. Fitted upside down, they hold the side mount Bates headlight more or less where I wanted it, so I think I'll keep them. As always, I'm hoping to re-use or adapt as many original parts as possible on this build, partly to save money, but also cos I think it's kinda cool to give old parts a new lease of life. Re-cycling rules!

New solo saddle also propped in place. Not cheap, but just a bit different from the usual Highway Hawk ones & despite it's minimal padding, very comfy. It's slightly wider & longer than the Hawk ones & will sit on 3" "Hairpin" or "Scissor" springs.

I've had forward foot controls on chops before & always had problems with the long linking rods flexing or the footpeg mounts bending etc, so will be re-using the standard Yam footpeg/pedal set-up.

Rather than running a straight line from the headstock, right down to the rear wheel spindle, I'm going to mate the top seat rails to the bottom of the top tube an inch or 2 lower, so that when the seat's on, it'll flow from the back of the tank, rather than being perched up high above the frame.
Still planning on a gloss black powder-coated frame, with heavy gold 'flake tank & guards. I'll run 2 long straight, high level exhausts down this lefthand side, finishing level with the rear wheel spindle. Still looking for a pair of finned cylinder head exhaust clamps if anyone has any.

You had me fooled by the first picture, i thought you`d been a busy boy  ;D.
Thats a nice looking mock up Andy.

You should know I don't work that fast Tim!
Waiting to use PD & Loony's home-made frame jig to build the hardtail, so just playing with ideas at the moment.

Mankey - I’m interested in the original tank if still up for grabs, maybe the clocks too.

Bike looks like it could be pretty cool when done, nice old lumps the XS650, the grass track sidecar boys take them out to silly sizes and they just hang together. For the solos, there’s a bit of bracing to stiffen up the area around the swing arm mount, and then the frame does the grass track (or American flat track) biz no sweat.


The site Archie mentioned on June 10 (www.xs650shop.de)
is a European outlet for a place in the States called Mikes XS. They do some replacement parts along with some nice goodies.
Mikes XS also have a place called Heiden Tuning (www.xs650.biz) in the Netherlands but it seems both the European site’s websites don’t  show all the stock that the US site shows (if that makes sense).

Am aware of a guy with a ‘76 650 with a 750cc 270 degree motor and spoked wheels making a street tracker, should be interesting.

Cheers all

Tony

Hiya Tony. I've got the clocks on the shelf in the shed, but the tank went to PD. He might well be up for selling it though.
I've had several XS650s before, but not for ...oooh, maybe 20 years. Just really fancied another one.

If you want it ive got a mini chrome speedo in my parts shed..might even have the matching rev counter too?....Let me know...Voodoo....

MR Voodoo you must have a blooody big spares shed and a heart of gold

The wife took pity on me last year as my workshop was filling up with spares.and got me a shed for the bottom of the garden that ive managed to move 90% of my spares too...trouble is its now full and I am thinking of a shed extension lol....Voodoo.....
oh and yep got the Rev counter to match...actually got 3 sets of each lol

Finned covers mate - eBay item 220645844392

Just what I'm looking for, thanks. Wonder if it's cheaper & easier to just order them from someone who stocks Drag Specialities parts? (hate bidding for stuff on Ebay -mind, you, our last 3 project vehicles have come from there).

cheaper - doubtful

easier - definately

Haven't even opened the door of the shed for weeks. Ventured in there this morning & it's full of cobwebs & has that musty, damp smell, (the roof leaks like Niagra Falls).
I finally picked up a pair of finned exhaust clamps from Ebay a couple of weeks ago & also bought a pair of 930 Amal concentric carbs. The guy I bought them from was very nice on the phone, but lousy at shipping stuff out -I Paypal'd him the money nearly 5 weeks ago & they finally arrived this morning. I was on the point of contacting Paypal. Although my particular carbs weren't advertised on Ebay, he sells stuff there regularly, so I wasn't sure what I could do to get my money back.
Anyway, they've arrived safe & sound & he threw in a set of gaskets, plus fitted the correct size main jets for me, so I'm happy. No real reason for switching from the standard Mikuni vacuum carbs, other than I'm old fashioned & like something mechanical that even I can understand, that's easy to adjust & which I can buy new repair parts for if necessary -plus I think they look cool. Burlen Fuel Systems, who still make Amals as well as the SU carbs fitted to Reliants, sell polished aluminium bell mouths for these. They also do cast aluminium ram pipes,, which I'll probably go for, just cos I think they look better.
Still waiting for Loony's frame building jig to become available, but I'm quite looking forward to tinkering with this project over the Winter.

Japanese Mikuni vacuum carbs

British mark 1 Amal concentric carbs

Cool.

Putting on a couple of 'real' roundslides as opposed to the old CVs sure makes the old XS look better (older/more traditional), and makes fettling a whole lot easier!!!!
Plus all the bits are so easily available for the amals too.

About to change my XS's CVs for a pair of Mikuni VM32s which ironically is what comes in replacement kits for ’69 – ‘78 Bonnies replacing the Amals, (maybe that's where your chap gets them from!!)

Depending on the space available, changing the inlet trumpet’s length will change the engine chracteristics (low down torque or top end oomph). Good old Phil Irving explains all in "Tuning for Speed".

Hi. I like the way the tank looks in bare steel. Ive started to make my own seat pan which i might be selling on the good old ebay soon.I will try and get some pics on at the weekend.They will be the basic pan shape similar to your seat,but made in stainless steel with a swirled pattern edge,to give it a hot-rod look about it.Then a smaller piece fits over the top,which can be padded.When you see it you,ll know what ime on about.

Coming on nicely I see

 :)
Just collecting parts at the moment. Haven't built a chop for decades. I want to keep it real bare-bones simple -no electric start, nothing it doesn't need to make it go, stop & point in roughly the right direction.
Seat sounds interesting -I'd like to see some pics of that.
Mr Oily- I'm only fitting trumpets for the looks -so which is better for normal road use -long or short 'uns? (found me a buyer for that pair of 26 mills yet?   :)  )

I`ve got a pair of those Amal carbs sitting here doing nothing. Did start to fit them to my virago but had a new standard set land in my lap so took the easy route.

Now you tell me! Typical.
I bought a pair of 26mm ones from Ebay by mistake -too small. The latest set are 30mm.
So if anyone wants a pair of 26mm mark 1s, taken off a 1972 Triumph Daytona 500cc twin, they're going for 30 quid the pair.

Did you not see the effort trying to get mine running again today. And when it folded it sidestand up, fell over where i caught it and trapped the bridge of my toes / foot between the frame rail and ground. I swear it was in the air balanced on my foot.

Ha, ha, ha!!
Experience lad -I come from an age when youngsters knew how to use a kick-start. 

Mr Manky sir, re your Trumpets.

Today, you should be mostly using............................. long trumpets (for low down power)


Shorter trumpets/velocity stacks are for the higher rev range.

Whether you'll actually notice any difference is perhaps a different matter

Man up wet pants!!! :D

Real bikes have kick starts, Sh*t Bust!!


Clive

This is a real Bike. an original Bobber.

(http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll259/spares_photos/Picturewhatamess014-1.jpg)

 ;D
Tis jolly nice too mate.
Thanks Tony. I'll be buying a pair of long trumpets, (trombones?), then.

bugles?

if you find your tappet covers and the round side cover are cracked or rotting away i am on machining some billet ones for someone so models will be in laptop if you need some..   ;)

with tuning fork or Maltese cross machined in top..

sam.

Buggles? -didn't he kill the radio star?
There's a guy on Ebay selling finned ones in cast ali. Very nice but too pricey for me at 70 quid a set. Might be interested in something like that. He's also selling billet carb manifolds to fit the Amal carbs to the Yam motor -again though, 120 quid a pair is too much for me.

Nice 8) I had a sprung hub thunderbird in my youth ;D Wish I still had it :'(

I still have this. ;D ;D

Just had a visit from PD & Big Darren.
Pete's been desperate to find a cheap XS650 to play with for ages, but seems cheap ones just don't exist any more -which is why I snapped mine up for £600 quid from Ebay when I saw it.
It's been sat in the shed ever since cos I just don't have time to build the little single seater bobber/chop I want.
Solution: farm the project out to Pete.
I've got most of the major components I wanted -Sportster tank, flat drag bars, Bates headlight, sprung solo seat, Amal carbs etc. Loony's already lined up to spray the tank & guards in 60s style heavy metalflake. Probably in a colour called "RootBeer", a sort of golden brown, like Coca Cola -appropriate as I'm known for drinking gallons of the stuff. Maybe we could name it in 60s fashion too -"The Coca Cola Kid"? It needs a hardtail making up to graft onto the original engine cradle then all the bits hung in place -easy! So we loaded all the bits in the back of Darren's van & they're heading back to Pete's place with them as we speak.
I just want a simple little chop to blat around on. Never had anyone build a custom for me before, but I trust Pete's artistic eye & he'll consult with me along the way so it doesn't stray too far outside the overal look I want. I'm curious to see what he comes up with. We'll keep you informed.

Excellent!

Cheap XS ? - Seems the USA Ebay has 'em, check these out - sigh...  :'(:

An XS2 for a buy-it-now of $500, and a bunch of 4 partial bikes for a buy-it-now of $900

19-04-2011 XS2 sold for $500 Bargain or what!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/YAMAHA-XS2-XS650-1972-CHOPPER-BOBBER-CAFE-AHRMA-650-/200598209325?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2eb495c32d


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LOT-4-YAMAHA-650-TWINS-XS650-AHRMA-DIRT-TRACKER-/390306077701?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ae00e1c05

21-04-2011. Starting bid on the pile-of-four bikes was $600, and no-one bidded so not sold........

Sheesh!

Dam n blast! No not you, me.
Should have asked this while you still had it but maybe someone will know......
I`m needing to know how far apart the bottom frame rails are and am I right in remembering that the rear wheel spindle is 20mm diameter?

I'll email Pete & ask him to reply here.

There's a few here.
http://www.xs650.org.au/Geoff%27s%20She ... 20shed.htm

That link does not work for me mate

Nor me ..........

me either..


Fank oooo

The spindle's 20mm, but Pete'll have to measure the frame rails.
I visited his vast fabrication workshop this evening for a consultation on my XS build.
"This alright?"
"Yup".
"Seeya".
I've got a good idea of what I want the bike to look like, but want to give Pete enough freedom to put his own mark on it.
Can't wait to see the results.

Pete's little bro Ryan's taken up pinstriping & has tried a spot of hotrod flaming on the XS's original fuel tank.

Nice,I like it  ;D

He did, thanks again PD.
Nice jig, I`m in the process of knocking up something similar.

An update from Pete.
I wanted to build the hardtail from 1 inch bore ERW -the same stuff we build our trike frames from. Some thought that'd look too heavy, but I think it works. After another quick consultation with the customer, (that's me), Pete's taken 1 1/2" out of the length of the bottom tubes & bent the top seat tubes.
I likes it.

.

that rear wheel don`t look standard to me !!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

yea tis, limited edition,  ;D

What stretch have you gone with Andy?

I didn't measure it -simply mocked up the parts in my shed until they looked right. I'll get Pete to have a measure up for you.
Another visit to PD's Palace of Mechanical Delights this evening, this time with Loony in tow. He's also building an XS for someone else, so was checking out the competition & comparing notes.
The frame out of the jig & rolling -I'm really pleased. No photos of us onboard it, but I can report it's a very natural riding position & feels like it'll be a lot of fun to ride. We want to keep it simple & useable. Pete's aiming to work on it as much as he can in the next few days before we put it on show on our pitch at the Basingstoke Festival of Transport next weekend.   

Loony & PD.

Looking good  ;D ;D

Look what I just spied on fleabuy.................................

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-XS650-Bobber-/330563570815?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D12%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D77711039503222288


vurry purty  ;D ;D ;D ;D

The auction's finished cabby. What was it?

a motorised bicycle  :D

im sooooooooooooo jealous off that andy ive allways wanted a xs650 every time one comes up im broke having just paid out on bits for the trike  :D

it was a beautiful xs650. Link still works Andy

When I follow the link, it opens very briefly -enough to give you a tantalising glimpse of the bike -then switches to "Other Related Items". From what I saw it looked a nice 'un though.

Try scrolling down the page Mr M.....................     ::)

I've tried, but you hadn't written anything else.

Here ya go, piccies from the ebay link....  ;)

(when the page opens for me, it briefly shows the bike then jumps to the related items, but the scroll bar on the right hand side lets me view the bottom of the page which shows the bike..... )

This has been kicking about for a while now. Really don't like it. Don't think the bars work for it. Think the mudguard and struts on it don't help it much either

I like the guard & the pipes, but I'm not an ape hanger man myself, (just an ape man). Some nice ideas there.

The Kinks (good job you're not Lola)  ;D

They're playing my song.  :)

I'm liking where yer goin with this!!!!! kinda reminds me of me CB 500T lowrider wot I builded a few years back. Must look out some piccies. ;D

The first bike I ever rode on was pillion on my mate's CB500T. T'was a metallic brown one. Another mate had the bright orange version with huge apehangers on. They were the blokes who introduced me to the bike club I joined when I was 17 -so always had a bit of a soft spot for the 500Ts. Much under rated bikes I think.

Much under rated! Good torquey little motor. Good for sticking a chair on the side. I passed my test on my chaired up lowrider!!!!!!! those were the days!!!

Have ya checked out these guys before, they do loverly XS's!http://www.freewebs.com/glchoppers/index.htm (http://www.freewebs.com/glchoppers/index.htm)

Very nice. This is just the sort of thing I have in mind for mine.

http://glchoppers.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/5076774-flat-black-xs-test-ride

If ya wanna play with CB500s, how's about this sprint/drag special............. tell ya, it sure don't sound (or go) like a 500T!!  ;D

http://www.thefang.co.uk/news2009.htm

If you wanna read the whole history thing start at  http://www.thefang.co.uk/news2001.htm

Some clean rides indeed... liked this one

me like......
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/gunn2.jpg)

& me like.....
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/orangeweb2.jpg)

& me like......
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/flatblack2.jpg)

& me like.....
 (http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/RRrightside.jpg)
oh damn it i likes em all......

jeeez, never managed to get mine to lift the front like that!!!!!

jeeez, never managed to get mine to lift the front like that!!!!!
[/quote]

I had one of them that did that with the front wheel.................the missus at the time weighed 19 stone though so there may have been outside influences methinks ;D ;D ;D ;D

ya think?

anyways i found some piccies of me 500t that i said i put up.....

(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/scan0006.jpg)(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/scan0004.jpg)
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff441/TLSADE/scan0007.jpg)

Oooh, dat's nice.

ta v much...... which version?

Hmm, the first one, wiv da blue flames.

twas nice,but it sat a lot better with the twin disc xs750 front end on it (all black one,last version before selling) sorry i aint got any side on shots to prove it, got lost in the mists of house moves!

Re the blue bike -

Its pretty rare to see a 500T motor used for custom bike, but that 'fits' nicley.

Here's how Mr Honda made it.

mine looked jus like that in metalic brown.......but the forks were a bit worse for wear after a late nite arguement with a dry stone wall..........thats why i only paid £50 for it.

I dropped in to see Pete today. He's got my MIG welder on long term loan to build the XS with, but I needed to borrow it back for a day to weld the stainless exhausts on my truck.
He showed me his progress -he's started tacking together some manifolds for the mark 1 Amal carbs I wanted to fit. Must admit, the main reason for using these is to make the engine look a little more British & classic. I reckon they'll look great. Pete's angled them out to follow the line of the seat rails.
He's also started work on a shallow electrics box under the seat, as well as making up a cross member for the seat springs to mount to.
Lookin' good Pete.  ;)

.

To enhance that British/Classic look, simply damage gasket sealing faces and oil seals prior to assembly, that way, the external corrosion protection system can come into play, giving your pride and joy a new lease of life as a pseudo Brit and adding longevity to components that may be prone to suffer from corrosion.  :D

Ouch!........ but so true  ;D

Tony,is that the "total loss" oil system your on about

my grandad has a 1957 model 88 norton dominator like new beautiful bike but he said he knows the oil needs topping up when there is no fresh puddle on the garage floor ;D ;D

Could be.....  ;)

just having a sunday after noon browse as you do. and see that theres been no update on this is it still work in progress  ;) ;)

As far as I know Terry  :)
Haven't seen Pete for a while. I gave him as free a hand as I could to build the bike on my behalf & supplied him with the components I'd already bought & a rough idea of the overall look I was after.
I bought the donor bike on an impulse from Ebay after being inspired by Archie's XS. I've had 4 or 5 of them before & had forgotten how nice a bike they are. But it would've sat in my shed until I get the time to build it, so any progress PD makes is better than none. I'd really like to get it on the road for the Spring & after all the work & headaches we've had with my truck build, putting a bike together seems childs play now -but I'm not going to breathe down Pete's neck about it. It'll be ready when it's ready.
But I will contact him & see how it's going.  :)

Ok it will be nice to have an update and some photos. and may be a bit of a write up from Pete   ;)

I'll tell him you asked!

Saw Pete a couple of days ago. The XS is still ongoing but temporarily on hold until he rebuilds his leaking shed. He's experimenting with "lost wax" aluminium casting though & hopes to be able to cast some carb inlets soon.

Piccies of that please! if i remember correctly, that`s the original way to cast?

I thought the original way to cast involved a 'couch'  ...........    ;D

  ..  Hagar  ..   ;D

 ;D

They still use the lost wax method to make dental fittings, crowns and such like.

You lot have "LOST" me on this one  ;D ;D ;D ;D ??? ??? ???

It's no wonder mine are falling out. :D

Just stumbled upon a pic of someones cool xs650 bobber project.

I think if it was mine I wouldn't even bother painting it.

Ooh, that's nice.

Yes i like that.

Yep I like that. Alot  8)

Loony sent me this pic.

NOW THAT I DO LIKE  8) 8) 8) 8)

yep....i could live with that quite nicely!!!!!

That's nice,
now that's worth having

Be carefull when buying projects off ebay that state "few bits needed to finish".

This poor chap got caught out when he bought his XS650 project. The box of parts that came with the engine did feel a bit light.


 

Looks neat , be interesting to see it on the road with carbs, zorsts, front brake etc............

Pete's still experimenting with casting aluminium.

Y!

Y not!

Nice :)

O.K, time to catch up with this one.
Regular readers will maybe remember I bought a tatty XS650 two years ago, plus a pile of off-the-shelf custom parts. The plan was to put together a basic little "bobber" at some point, whenever I got the time/money/enthusiasm.
Enter PD. Pete fancied building an XS chop but couldn't afford one. So I farmed mine out to him, to build on my behalf. He built a jig & hardtailed the original Yamaha frame, fitted the sprung solo seat, made a start on the battery box etc.
Eventually he lost his building mojo & the project came to a halt again.
So Big Darren collected it yesterday in his van & delivered it today to Loony's workshop. Loony's a big fan of ol' school chops & shares similar tastes to me. He's hoping to take his bike test soon, but in the meantime, looks like he's got an XS to play with.

looking good mate...

On the road in a couple of weeks. Easy!  :P

I'd intended to take this home & put it back in the shed at the end of the garden until I had the time to play with it, but it got hijacked & delivered to Loony's place instead.  :)
I don't want to get side-tracked from completing my Pop, but having built an entire truck from scratch, a bike looks a lot simpler & quicker to put together now!
With it in the workshop, Loony & I have already begun bouncing ideas around. Looking forward to blatting around the lanes on this.
A heap of bikes in the corner of the 'shop. My XS650, Tom's XS650, (up on the bench), & Loony's own Bantam -& his Mum's bicycle.

Loony's Dad's just taken delivery of a new mill for the workshop, which takes up most of the space where the bikes were stood. So no sooner had the XS arrived than it'll be going again. Gonna dismantle it over the next few days & transport it back to my shed as it's only in the way & going to get damaged where it is. Not gonna get distracted from the Pop, but it'll give me something to tinker with when I need to wind down.

Always liked the look of the xs650s, they looked the part. The old xs1 and 2s were quite a good looking bike in their own right back in the day but they handled quite bad until they fettled the frame by gusseting it here and there in the later models. . My mate got his nearly new xs2 and ground up all the frame welds and re welded the whole thing tidy, it did handle better than before too.

This is my 5th or 6th one over the past 30 odd years. People used to buy them to pretend they had a British bike, but these days they've got a cult following of their own.
Tony Oily Bike lives locally to me & sprint races one, so I'll be asking him to take a look over the engine at some point. I grabbed the donor bike when it came up on Ebay, just to put by for a future project, so it's already further ahead than I'd expected. I'd like to have it on the road for the bike swapmeet in Dorking, Surrey in the Spring.

 As i said my mate got a near new xs2 650 back in the late 70s we were still on Tiger TR7Vs and trident T150vs  . I was sort of shocked when he showed up with it, but i actually liked it, apart from the handling. Another jap twin i never owned but a mate did was a Kawasaki Z750 that was heavy from what i could remember. but ran well enough. 

Ha! That's weird! Loony's just gained a Z750 twin from ByzMax in an exchange deal. He plans to build a chop around it.

Stripped the rolling chassis down & got everythng except the frame & engine in the back of my car. So it's back in my leaky shed for now.
As I said, not going to forsake my truck project for the bike, but will quietly potter along with it when I get some spare time, (ha!). I'm aiming to have it roadworthy for the Dorking Harley swapmeet, about 10 miles from home from me here in Surrey, in the Spring.
I've been thinking about mudguards. I want to fit a ribbed rear one, similar to those on my truck. They're the "in" thing to have on chops & bobbers at the moment to give a more classic look to the bike. I'm using the original Yam' 16" rear wheel though, whereas most "bobbers" use taller, thinner wheels, often with skinny crossply tyres. So the guards I've found are the wrong diameter or too narrow. Not cheap either.
A quick email to the guy in Oxford who made my truck ones & he says yes, he can make me a pair for the Yam & take them with him to the Beaulieu autojumble next month. That's handy. So I'll measure up tomorrow.
He makes aluminium bodies for vintage specials. Check out the photos here:

www.brooklandsbodycraft.co.uk

Lovely workmanship Mr. M, but I would imagine very,(very!!) expensive, Morrag

The guards for the Pop cost me 50 quid each.

Bought these little beauties at the local Popham airfield MegaMeet bike show this weekend.
A pair of aluminium bellmouths for the mark 1 Amal carbs I'm going to fit. Turned from thick walled tube.
Ooh, so-o-o shiney. Lookit the pretty things. No. No you can't touch. They're mine. All mine. My preciousess. 
Managed to buy the wrong size though, (600 series instead of 900), so after trying them on my carbs back at Loony's workshop, I had to dash back to the show & change 'em. Fortunately the stall holder was still there.

Saw Doc at the weekend. The sissy bar that was on the XS when I bought it's now adorning his trike.

We've loaded the XS frame & engine into the back of my pick-up truck at Loony's workshop -partly to create some more space & partly so it's at a workable height for him to weld it.
I want the newly hardtailed frame to look like it left the factory like that. We talked of adding fake castings or mounting lugs to it to make it look "factory". So we've borowed an idea from a rigid framed Triumph in Back Street Heroes magazine & capped the ends of the frame rails with stubs of tube mounted sideways on. These are actually the threaded collars that come on the ends of the lengths of ERW tube we build frames from. They don't do anything at all, but look like they must be there for a reason.
PD, who built the hardtail in a jig in his shed, left the frame tubes overlength as he was unsure how to finish them. I was worried the new back end of the frame would look too long & "stretched" compared to the engine cradle. Shortening PD's tubes & adding the lugs makes it look dumpier, which I like.

All 4 lugs added to the axle plates.

Front gusset, between the 2 down tubes, extended by a couple of inches to meet the new tubular brace.
The old one was hidden by the original fuel tank & held the ignition coils. The new one sits parallel to the ground when the frame's on it's wheels & is made from 1" bore ERW tube.
Triangular plates added to fill gaps in the headstock gussetting.
Top yoke de-lugged & smoothed.

A few odds 'n' ends to tidy up, including sleeving the bottom tube joints, then the frame will go back in my shed, just to get it out of Loony's way, until the mudguards turn up.
Been waiting for them for a few weeks now. No real rush, but I need the rear one to set up the seat mount, mudguard mount, sissy bar etc.
Pleased with the frame so far. The large diameter tubing of the hardtail matches the diameter of the front down tubes, which are actually double skinned. It now looks suprisingly short & chunky.

The seat tube, (the red oxide coloured one), will be replaced, so no point fully welding it.
The front tank mount can be added, but the rear one needs a tube machining. I could add the footrest mounts, but they'll require the engine back in the frame.
So for now, this is about as far as I can get.

Front tank mounts done. Rear wheel in & measured up for the brake caliper anchor rod.

Those single sided see through forks are novel Andy, can't see how they attach to that car wheel at all. Looks a bit too low at front though :)

Muppet!  :P

 :D :D :D :D
really nice looking andy how do you get the time
al

Blagging lots of favours from mates & no sleep!

Looking TIDY but thought you was working on the POP

 ;D Just using it as a fill-in project. I need some lathe work done for the Pop.

 ;D   Was my first thought too!

What do you need Andy?

 :) Got to re-make the door hinge pivotty bits that the pins sit in.
Loony's Dad's lathe's stood about 6 feet from the truck -just got to ask him nicely.  :)

I'm on holiday this week, but Loony's got 3 cars to paint, so it's all a bit manic in the workshop -best I keep out of his way.
So not much I can do really. Had a phone call from the mudguard guy to say he's making several sets of wings for vintage cars this week & will do mine too, but he's lost the letter I sent him with the measurements. Fortunately I'd kept a copy & have posted it to him. So might have some ribbed guards to play with soon.

Collected the mudguards from Darren at Brooklands Bodycraft near Oxford this afternoon. He builds aluminium bodies for vintage race cars & turns out some lovely work. He rolled these guards from flat ali sheet & hand punched the raised beads to match the ones he made for my truck.
Made to my measurements, £100 for the pair.

nice workmanship

Yeah, very talented bloke & a real nice guy too.
You know the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang replica in the Beaulieu motor museum? Chris Evans, (DJ, TV star, Joe 90 lookalike), recently bought it. Derek's making the bodywork for a new one to replace it in Beaulieu.
His workshop.

He'd just taken on an apprentice. He started yesterday. Derek, showing him how to use an English Wheel to create curves in flat sheet.

I asked if he had plans & dimensions for the various body styles. He said his customers supply him with a chassis, (in this case a 6 cylinder, 2 litre AC engined beastie),

http://www.ac-6.co.uk/

& he builds a car around it to suit their requirements, driver's size etc. So it's all done more or less off the top of his head. Beautifully done.

Tried the rear guard in place on the bike when I got back to Loony's place. I had it made deliberately overlength, cos I'm not sure how long it needs to be at the front end, (the bit under the saddle). It may well be shortened. The seat will be lower at the back, but I need the guard in place to decide by how much.
I think it's quite cool that my truck & my bike will have some parts in common.

When PD hardtailed the Yam' frame, he covered the saddle in an old T shirt to protect it from welding spatter. Unfortunately the chrome springs & front mount have been spattered, so will need filing off & re-coating. These "hairpin" or "scissor" seat springs are normally mounted the other way round, poking out the back of the seat, but I prefer them tucked underneath, so the back end appears almost unsupported. They should still work just the same shouldn't they?

The front forks are at home in my leaky shed, so I tried the front guard on them this morning.
You can buy steel versions of the ribbed guard design from some of the custom bike shops, but only rear ones & only in large diameter, skinny width. They're popular with the guys building vintage style "bobbers", who often run tall, skinny crossply tyres. Looks like all the shops order from the same supplier though cos no-one's got any in stock. Plus I'm using a fat 16" rear wheel, so needed a wide, small diameter one.
A lot of bobbers don't use front guards & they don't seem to be available off the shelf, but I thought if I'm having a rear one made, I could have a matching front one, just to be different. It's a thin, tapering blade. I'm really pleased with it.
The steel rear guards, probably stamped out in a Taiwanese factory somewhere, cost up to 90 quid. I paid 100 quid for my 2, made to order, ones. 

.

http://www.brooklandsbodycraft.co.uk/

It's great when you see someone so skilled, I don't think price is out the way at all Andy and you have hand made ;)

That guy is a true craftsman....simply stunning workmanship and skills.Are you building the xs with the original wheels,or are you changing them to traditional wire spokes? I personally prefer the way it looks now with those wheels.

Keeping what I've got.
Mine was the SE model, basically for the American market, with fat 16" rear wheel, stepped seat & pullback bars. I've always liked these mag' wheels.
I'm not really going for the traditional "bobber" look, but more of a sensible, rideable chop with bobber influences. No clever engineering, just something cool I can jump on & blat around the lanes on, on sunny days.

think i had hold of one of them front wheels in the garage today might even be some fork legs about aswell

if any body wants to swap something of use to me (or beer tokens) for them, ;) ;)

There was a pair on Ebay last week. 15 quid for the front & 20 for the rear, with good tyres on 'em. Didn't sell.
Loony's just bought a Z750 Kwaka motor & said he should've picked up the Yam wheels.

Won't your seat springs "bottom" out on the ring? if you know what I mean

To be honest, the springs barely move Fred. More for show really.

Started bending up a pair of rear mudguard struts from a length of 10mm steel rod, picked up for £1 from the local scrap metal yard.
I plan to mirror these with a pair on the front guard. They'll eventually be chromed.

Made a pair of tabs that bolt to the original mudguard mounts on the fork legs, then bent a pair of 8mm rods to form the front hoops. They need to be a bit closer to the tyre, but summat like this.

Then I started cutting a sheet of heavy guage steel for the seat base. Loony preferred to leave this area open, but I plan to mount the electrical stuff under it, so don't want it all being soaked by rain etc. The seat springs will mount to the back edge & I'll add a mudguard mount underneath. Then I'll cut an access panel in the middle. A bit more trimming & it should drop into place so Loony can weld it along the centreline of the seat rails.

Coming along very nicely sir. :)

Just a fill-in project while I wait for parts for the Pop. I seem to have missed you every time you call at the workshop -sorry!

thats because youre not there working  :D :D

LOOKING REALLY GOOD THOSE MUDGUARDS STRUTS DO FINISH THE BACK END OF NICE AND CLEAN

Cheers. They're only propped in place at the moment, (Mr Lunatic's going to get some lathe practice by machining the mounting lugs to bolt them to the frame).
The seat panel's actually quite complicated, with an access hole cut in it to reach the electrics that'll be underneath, a flange cut to form a lip under that hole, a lid cut to sit in the hole, on the lip, recesses cut for the Dzus fasteners to hold it shut, a curved tab under the back edge to hold the front of the mudguard, a suspended platform underneath to house the electrical components -not a 5 minute job & needs a bit of thinking about to get it right.
Mike, I do actually do an 8 hour shift at work every day before going to the workshop you know!  :P

Access hatch cut in the seat base.
This will give me access to the electrical components. Rather than housing them in a sealed 'leccy box, they'll be bolted to a platform mounted below the seat. Removable side panels will give side access as well -I've learnt from past experience that it'll always be the component in the unreachable far corner of the box that wil pack up in the dark & rain on a country lane in the middle of nowhere. Not being inside a closed box will also stop things from over heating.

Parts made to produce a flush fitting lid to the panel.
The corner pieces will be spot welded to the underside of the flange to hold the Dzus fasteners. The flange will then be welded under the main panel. Hopefully the lid will then drop in on top & sit flush.

Electrical components.
The bike was running when I bought it, but I ended up just pulling the bodged up loom apart & throwing everything in a box, along with a few spare bits that came with the bike.
So without going into too much detail, can anyone tell me which components need to be mounted close to which other components in my box?

Twin lead coil.
Not the original Yamaha fitting, (it should have 2 seperate ones), but was on the bike when I got it. Will this be O.K or should I buy the proper jobbies? (available new from YamBits).

Ignition unit. I know that's what it is cos it says so on it. What does this hook up to then? I've had several XSs before but have never understood vehicle electrics.
I'm a creator -I can build a vehicle around an engine, but when it comes to making it go, I tend to seek the help of those more mechanically minded than me.

Rectifier/regulator units.
I know they take the AC current from the alternator & turn it into a steady 12 volt DC supply, losing any excess in heat, through the fins. So I plan to mount it under the electrics panel in the air flow.
One came with the bike, 2 were spares. No idea which is which -is there an easy way to test them?
I assume the round thing, bottom right, is the starter solenoid, which I don't need as I'm blanking off the starter motor & going with kickstart only.
What's the other unit, top left?

The engine's also got one of these hanging off it by it's wires. Boyer electronic ignition. So what does this connect to?
I also need a fuse box & probably an indicator flasher relay as I'll more than likely put the completed bike in for MSVA. Nobody seems to bother testing bikes, but surely if you've chopped the frame in half & added a hardtail, it should be MSVA'd as a new build?
Bikes don't seem to have headlight or other relays. The ignition switch will go in a seperate housing next to the battery.
Anything else I'm missing?

Try this
http://raskcycle.com/
tech tips, wiring diagram
Agreed , if you alter the frame it should go for MSVA but you may be able to keep the original registration number if engine and frame numbers match the V5
Bikes generaly don't need light relays as the headlight is often 35w not the 2x 55 or 60w of a car.

Think you mean old bikes don't have relays on lights Andy, think the newer ones with better listing do. Certainly my BM has relays (extremely expensive ones too :( )

That`s the voltage regulator Andy, they were seperate units on early XS650`s

That connects to the coil pick up unit with other wires for the kill switch and a feed in.
Is it a 6 or 7 wire ignition unit?

An electronic conversion, if you can get me the number on the unit we can sort that too.
It`s the box no. we need, so it`ll be BOX000??,  numbers, not question marks  ;D, probably 10.
Ah, just re-read some of this and your scrapping the starter motor, these electronic conversions dont work great with a kick start system.
You`ll need to check wether or not you still have points fitted, chances are they will have been thrown away, including the base plate & the advance unit.

I have used these on my race bikes for years with little problem. There should be a stator plate where the points used to be. Probably under a cover at the end of the cam (not too au-fait with Yams) It is a circular PCB type material with two small hall effect coil bobbins and a magnetic trigger on the end of the cam. This picks up the trigger signal and converts it to 12v switch for the coils. The type you have is quite elderly but should be OK. If not they are not wildly expensive to replace. The only down side is the advance curve programmed in is designed for a Brit twin and may not be suitable for the XS. Really easy to wire up as the instructions are on the box pictured. ;)

They still make them. you may still get spare parts
http://www.boyerbransden.com/micromarkiv.html
http://www.boyerbransden.com/pdf/KIT00052__BOX00023_.pdf

I use a twin output coil from a honda CB250/400n. Is is a wasted spark (fires on exhaust stroke as well) system. NGK V or EGV rated plugs are best.

So should that early type voltage regulator be used in conjunction with the finned rectifier, or is the finned one a later, combined unit? The donor bike came with a pile of spare bits. Stupidly, I stripped it down & chucked eveything in the same box -so now I don't know what was fitted & what wasn't.

O.K, the number on the Boyer unit is 00010/twin12  01/102.

5 wires coming out of it.

As you said Andy, the points have been replaced with the Boyer stator plate. It's marked "XS 650".

.

I can't remember what used to sit in the other chrome casing, on the other end of the cam -it's been 20 years since I had an XS. Balance weights? Whatever it is, ain't.

This was among the pile of 'leccy bits that came with the bike. XS or just random bike part? 2 wires.

Various layers of the seat base plate welded together to form the flush fitting access hatch for the electrics box. Held with 3 cadmium plated Dzus fasteners from my spares pile. The seat will hide this, but will hinge up to reveal it when needed.

O.K Tel.
Experimenting with side panels. PD cut these curved panels from an old Calor Gas bottle when he had the bike to build the hardtail. I like them, but not sure how to mount them yet. Probably going to hang a platform from the underside of the seat base plate, to bolt the electrical components to, then slip the 2 side panels, welded together in a V shape, up over it & hold them with more Dzus fasteners.
These aren't very deep so I might have to mount the regulator/rectifier unit on the back of the battery box, although I may extend the panels to make the box a bit deeper.

Rear mudguard struts welded to a pair of mild steel bosses, machined by Master Lunatic on his Dad's lathe.

Nice and neat andy it's looking bloody good

Thanks. The Pop's on hold for a little while, waiting for parts, so I'm enjoying a change of scenery, working on something different.

There's a list of downloadable instruction sheets on that Boyer-Bransden site - doesn't specifically mention the XS250 only the 650 - but I bet if you contacted them they'd be able to help.

I must keep reading these threads, they almost inspire me to get out in the garage.....   :)

Mine's the 650 Bobbi -read the threads again!  ;D

It`s a good thing that the XS 650 is very much based on the BSA A65 Lightning so that boyer ignition will work fine. Not too sure but if you put a capacitor/battery eliminator into the system (we always used to use big blue ones sitting inside a spring for mounting) then it should make it easier to kickstart with that ignition setup, just kick it over a couple of times with the kill switch off but ignition on, that puts a charge into the capacitor which will be used to power the electronic ignition on the initial kick over (if I`m wrong i`m sure someone will correct me).  ;) ;) ;) ;)

Had 1 on my old XS and kick started no bother,never let me down all the time I had it. (wish I still had it) Still, the new bike's gonna be very er different

Neat electrics box.
PM sent.

Not sure how deep I can make the 'leccy box, so I've been playing with the battery box that'll sit underneath it.
When PD hardtailed the frame he also put together a little battery box. Nicely done, but it needed a lot of finishing & I wasn't entirely sure it was my taste,. So I've quickly folded up a sheet of scrap steel to form a box & Loony's glued it together.

Yamaha batteries sit in a rubber "bucket" so I've made the box the same height. It'll be powder-coated black, with a black leather retaining strap, mirroring the straps on the fuel tank of my truck.

Decided to ditch the "hairpin" seat springs as they didn't sit right against the seat base. So I picked up a pair of traditional coil springs, (11 quid from Ebay).

Some offcuts of tube, a couple of washers & a bit of round bar will provide a flat platform for the springs to sit on.

Hi Andy,

On your bike, the RHS end-of-cam cover would have had the advance/retard bobweights with ATU shaft running to points plate at the other end of the cam, but as you're running electronic ignition, the bobweights are no longer needed as the Boyer electronics has a pre-mapped curve, Triumph/BSA twins in your case.

My XS650 runs Lucas electronic ignition, lifted from a T140E, works fine, though the Lucas system is more susceptible to reduced voltage than the Boyer system, so my personal preference of one over the other would be to have the Boyer.
I haven't been aware of any issues with respect to the advance curve being set for a Triumph.

I've phoned the guys at Boyer as I had big issues with my ignition a couple of years ago and thought it was the electronics (Lucas) and was going to throw it away and go for Boyer. The chap was incredibly helpful  ;D, and suggested doing some tests first, as opposed to selling me a new system!!! I did the tests and kept the Lucas. So I can't sing Boyers chaps' praises high enough.  ;)

My bike's problem turned out to be the original coils – they were breaking down when they got warm/hot. Testing had suggested the electronics (no spark with good plugs), so when Dslam and I put a borrowed replacement Lucas box-of-tricks on, it worked (because by then the coils had cooled!!). So don't always believe what you see..............

The coil replacement route I took was to fit a 12v twin-output Green Dynacoil, mounted where the originals were. The spark is superb. Downside is cost, a new one can be around £100. I found an un-used one at a bike shop for £40 and snapped it up.
Its runs a wasted spark too, as per the Honda coil Dslam uses on his sprint bike. In full agreement with Dslam about the plugs, NGK V or EGV, them be good.

I'm planning (sometime........) to fit a battery eliminator whilst running electronic ignition, so hopefully it'll work!! Should make the bike less bulky, and with no need to maintain (or buy another) battery ever again.


The unit I have is a Boyer (Power Box) for use with a 3 phase permanent magnet alternator and has a footprint of about 3 1/2” square (85/90mm square).

The XS650 has an excited field alternator fitted as standard, which means the magnetic field is generated by battery voltage instead of permanent magnets.  If you have a weak battery, you get a weak field, and weak spark, and hard starting, so I'm planning to swop the alternator at the same time – have a peer

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5536

Nice easy to read wiring diagrams  ;)

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61


Just for interest, here's a pic of the replacement alternator

Hello Tony. Haven't seen you here for a while Sir. Good to have you back onboard.  ;)

Some lovely looking 'lectrickery there. You make it all sound so simple -when I look at wiring diagrams & looms, all I see is a mass of confusing spaghetti.
So- bearing in mind I'm putting this bike together on the cheap, using as many original, (cheap), parts as I can, & want it to be reliable enough for a Summer get-to-work bike if needed, just what components from my pile of bits do I need to squish into the box?
I'm happy to stay with the standard battery set-up & have already made a container for said Batt'. Is the twin lead coil I photographed O.K? Seperate rectifier & regulator, or is the finned jobbie a later combined unit? To help with laying components out, which unit connects to which? -ignition unit. fusebox, finned thingy, rectifier if needed, coil etc.

I'd keep this unit if you're gonna run the Boyer. From memory, both the Boyer and the Lucas prefer a single coil as opposed to twin-coil original set up. (single coil will be wasted spark, which should be no problem).
Suggest you mount the coil somewhere near the original position, thus keeping the HT side of things away from the relatively sensitive electronics.

If you're gonna run the Boyer (I would) this Yamaha electronic ignition pack is no longer required.

Looks like previous owner replaced the original Yamaha Transistor Controlled Ignition (TCI) with the slightly elderly Boyer system.

Just for info, TCI was stock only on the later SE/Specials as opposed to the spoked-wheeled models Roadsters which had points.

I tend to think the top left unit is a relay for the electric start, if it is, you don't need as you're using kick-start only. I could be wrong, as Tbone said it was the regulator, but as far as I know the regulator had the round widgget-thing attatched to it??  :-\

Yep, bottom right is  starter solenoid, which you don't need.

The bigger units in the pic look like they're prob combined Rectifier/Regulators (you'll want one of these!) , but could poss be Rectifiers from early models.

The XS650s changed from a separate Rectifier (to change the AC from the alternator to DC) and Regulator (to control the newly generated DC voltage level) on the spoked-wheeled Roadsters, to a combined Rectifier/Regulator unit on the later cast-wheeled SE/Specials.

The combined unit was mounted on LHS below side panel - it has an 8 way connector with 7 wires.


The older separate rectifier mounted beneath battery carrier (full wave rectifier, 6 diodes) - I think it has 6 way connector.
The older separate regulator was electro-mechanical and mounted underneath LHS side panel - 3 way connector.


Pic of what I beleive to be an old style electromechanical regulator  :-\

Have a look at the pics as they show a way of testing.

Wiring can be confusing, and I'm not great at it, but the best thing is to get your head around each separate 'bit' and what it does, then kinda join the dots of all the separate 'bits'.
So what are the main the bits: Power/battery, Ignition, lighting, charging, etc

Apologies to anyone (incl Sir Manky) if I make this very basic  ::), but we may have some newbies reading this, so here goes......

Power/battery
The bike runs on 12v DC (hence the battery) and the bike would run/function quite happily for a while (so long as the battery had enough oomph) even if the alternator/rectifier/regulator system wasn't on the bike. In fact many competition bikes run this way.
The battery supplies the power for all the ignition, lighting etc to function

Electronic ignition system
The bikes needs sparks from the plugs to run the engine, and these have to be at the correct time with respect to the engine internals etc.
The ignition pack (Boyer/Lucas/Yamaha) is a little box-of-tricks that is powered by the 12v battery. At the same time, the ignition pack also feeds the coil(s) with 12v.

This ignition pack is connected to a sensor on the end of the cam, so when the cam is in the correct position (ie with respect to degrees away from Top Dead Centre of the piston) it sends a signal back to the ignition pack.
The ignition pack takes this signal and says 'its time to drop the 12v I'm constantly sending to the coil', which it does, this then allows the HT (high tension) from the coil to reach the plug, which jumps the plug-gap (old machines had a gap of around 25 thousands of an inch, about the thickness of a thumbnail), and hey presto, the engine fires.(in an ideal world)

The sensitive electronics of the ignition pack are best kept away from the HT cables. In fact, on the XS650, I've heard it said (I think by Lucas??) that the metal cover over the sensor/pick-up is replaced with a plastic unit.

A slight side topic - Coils have different ratings depending on their performance (a coil firing a single cylinder 4-stroke engine doing 4000rpm will be firing 1000 times a minute. If a single coil is on a twin-cylinder 4 stroke at the same revs it will be firing 2000 times a minute)
High performance coils take more power (partially dependant on the resistance of the primary coil, and hence the current supplied by the battery), and as such, all coils generate some heat, so they need to be suitably mounted to allow the heat to dissipate.
Its not uncommon for coils to degrade with age. When they get hot (from use and/or engine heat) they can give up the ghost.

So that's kinda one self-contained system.

Lighting/fuses/relays etc
Again this all runs on 12v DC, so there's a feed from the battery which then distributes itself to things like switches (for horn, headlights, indicators, brake lights, relays etc)

Depending on the bikes age depends on the sophistication of the fuse system. Older XS650s (say from early 1970s) have just one fuse, more modern XS650s (1980s) have a fuse box with fuses for specific functions.
The fuse, fed from the positive feed of the battery (one negative earth machines), is located before the component its protecting, and is designed to blow if too much current tries to flow in the circuit its protecting, thus preventing damage to specific components (and maybe even the wiring). There are different ratings (3A, 5A, 20A etc) so its no use protecting a circuit that will be damaged by 5 amps with a 10 amp fuse. Carrying some spares can be useful !

In general, all the above (and the ignition system) use relativity low current (measured in amps) and therefore do not require relays to be used. A 55 watt headlight uses 55W/12V amps =  less than 5 Amps, that's why most of a loom is made up of a certain size of wire (ie one that can take the required current without burning out)

If there's a requirement for more power, such as a starter motor which can be up to around 300 Amps, the use of a relay is required. The relay uses the standard size wiring to make a switch in a heavy-duty/high-current circuit, which runs using thicker cabling. Its still all 12v DC.
In order to power things like the starter motor, which take a lot of current, a suitably sized battery and related wiring is required.

Charging system
From the above, it can be seen that the 12 v DC battery has a fair bit to do, but it only has a finite capacity, which is where the ability to have a charging system comes in pretty handy (saves carrying loads of 12v DC batteries around!).

If we go back in time, pedal bikes and early motorbikes had a dynamo (remember them?) to produce electricity, and it just happened to be DC as well. To prevent over-voltage from the dynamo feeding the system and frying things like the battery (cos you pedalled really really quickly!), a voltage regulator was fitted, early ones being the famous 'Zener diode'. The regulator generated heat, so was mounted on a heat-sink, often out on the breeze to aid cooling.

One of the down sides of the dynamo was the efficiency, and the dynamo was superseded by the alternator.

Although hugely more efficient, the alternator made that confounded AC (alternating current) sort of electricity, so a rectifier (a converter of AC to DC, good band by the way!) had to be included as well as the regulator.
Early systems had one of each, newer system combined them into a single unit, so depending on the machine, you get what you're given. But the regulator always produces heat, hence its cooling fins, and therefore has to mounted such that the heat can dissipate.
Its not uncommon on modern machines for the alternator to have an in-built rectifier/regulator, so no separate boxes to wire into the loom, sweeter still – until something goes  AWOL.

There are no real restrictions for how far away the battery is from alternator etc (Jag XJS has its battery in the boot).

So bottom line of the charging system is that it generates AC, which in converted to DC, limited (regulated) so it doesn't fry things, and its output then goes to the battery which keeps it topped up, thus keeps everything supplied – or so the theory goes................

Breakdowns/failures
One of the biggest cause of breakdowns is 'electrical', and one of the most frequent reasons is the condition of the wires/connectors, whether the factory fitted snap-together sort just getting old and corroded, home made crimped-on connectors, or switch-gear contacts. (how many of us have pulled a connector apart by holding the wires??)
Modified bikes/cars tend to have the wiring following routes that are new, so tight bends and chaffing should be addressed.
HT leads/caps age and can breakdown.
Water/condensation had the knack of getting where you don't want it, so stuff like WD40 comes into its own.
Old style batteries are lead/acid and need to be maintained.
Newer batteries are 'maintenance free' (phew!)



With luck, that should have either completely confused anyone who read it, or maybe just made it a wee bit more understandable..................  :D



A book worth considering in by a guy called Tony Tranter called Motorcycle Electrics, search Amazon or ebay, but he also did the current (pun!) version of the current Haynes shown in the pic

Great info Tony. Didn't understand a word of it.  :P
So- little red Boyer box; finned reg/rec unit, (assuming that's what I've got), twin lead coil; fusebox, (just got a new repro one from YamBits).
Anything else?

I fitted one of those power boxes to my goldwing. done away with the regulator and rectifier. a lot better

Didn't understand it??!!  :o  We needs to edyoukate you!!

Tend to find having a wiring loom/harness with all the connector blocks relevant to the boxes etc can be beneficial.........  :D (lets them electron wotsits travel about)

With your battery box, it can be a good idea to have a large hole in the bottom of it, as this can help get the battery out if its a snug fit.

If you're going for indicators/flashers, you'll need a flasher unit. (I don't run indicators on mine)

Guessing you have all the relevant handlebar controls switches, lights, horn, brake switch along with an ignition switch?

Think that's about it............. at least for now.

Yup, just trying to figure out what needs to go in the 'leccy box.
So the red Boyer unit takes the place of the big black Yamaha box marked Ignition Unit? It's currently hanging off the engine by a couple of wires, so presumably can be relocated in the box.
Got to fit indicators cos I'm planning on putting it through the MSVA test -Blair's the only guy I know who's had a bike tested, so it'll be interesting to see what it involves. How many terminals on a bike flasher relay? (hoping to fit indicators that I can add rear facing warning light lenses to, so I can see them flashing, which should negate the need for a seperate warning light).

 
So the red Boyer unit takes the place of the big black Yamaha box marked Ignition Unit? YES
It's currently hanging off the engine by a couple of wires, so presumably can be relocated in the box. YES

How many terminals on a bike flasher relay? THREE
(hoping to fit indicators that I can add rear facing warning light lenses to, so I can see them flashing, which should negate the need for a separate warning light). Maybe think about some neat little LEDs or short piece of fibre optic ?


Examples of flasher relays in piccie

Yup, did the fibre optic cable thing on a previous bike -an XS750 cafe racer type thingy. Warning lights mounted under the side panel with optic cables running up to tiny lenses mounted in holes in the bars. I bought the cable & lenses from Maplin Electronics. Might try that again.

So these are the parts I need to fit in my electrics box?

The flasher relay only has 2 pins.
Still not sure what this is, either an electric start relay or a regulator. Hopefully, either way, I don't need it.

It has this printed on the side.

Still don't know what this is either.

The finned thingy has the 8 way connector block & 7 wires you mentioned Tony, so is presumably a later combined rectifier/regulator.

Some flasher relays have 2 pins, some have 3. I looked at ebay USA under XS650 parts

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Motorcycle-Parts-/10063/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A4390&rt=nc&_nkw=xs+650&_dmpt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&_sticky=1&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_sop=10&_sc=1

to try and identify parts I wasn't sure of, and that's where the pics of (XS650) the flasher relay came from, and they had 3.



The other widget - not really sure what it is, sorry.
If it's a regulator (ones I saw had the round piece on it as well), its not needed as you have the combined regulator/rectifier (the 8-way plug with 7 wires with big heat sink)

If its a relay for the starter, you still don't need it!

If its something else - ????

Me stumped on that one too................. :-[

I beleive it is......... :D

I'd say yes apart from the coil. Prob advisable to keep the HT away from the sensitive electronics of the Boyer and regulator/rectifier.

Guess you could have the box divided so the sensitive stuff is one side and the HT the other, but bear in mind the heat sink of the regulator/rectifier unit has disspate it's heat, and coil needs to be able to stay (relatively) cool too, which is why they're (the coils) are usually, to some degree, out in the open.

Personal view would be to mount the coil where the originals were.

The original pair of coils mounted on the bracing tube under the fuel tank, which we've replaced with a length of ERW tube cos it was so damn ugly & sits at an odd angle as standard, (normally hidden by the standard fuel tank). So I don't really want to put it there, but could sling it under the electrics box, along with the reg/rec unit.
Not sure if I've explained it well, but I plan to hang a platform under the seat for the electrics with the "box" simply a pair of covering side panels, (actually welded together at the front edge & held with a couple of Dzus fasteners). So I can make the platform half the depth of the side panels & mount components above & below it, but still hidden by the panels.

Your idea of coil position/mounting should be fine  :) sounds like where it'll be it should be protected from tyre spray too.
Worth double checking the coil you have has removable HT leads cos you're gonna need some long uns .............

Used to use inline HT lead joiners to extend leads. Basically a plastic tube with a brass screw in each end. Screw the old lead in one end & the new length in the other. Job done.

Used to sell loads of those, In the wet they were almost guaranteed to shock but the newer ones seem better waterproofed.
Still with the coils mounted under your arse you'd better be careful how you route the HT leads. :D ;)

Thanks people,I'll be needing all that info (for someone else to wire up me bike,thick me)

You don't have to be thick to need someone who knows what they're doing to wire up a bike!

Bought these a week or so ago from a guy on Ebay who casts pieces in aluminium.
Manifolds to fit my vintage British mark 1 Amal carbs to the Yamaha engine.

Original Mikuni carbs.

New manifolds.

Amals. Missing half the internals, but all available new from the Amal website.

They look nice, and fitting non-CV carbs give it an older/classic look too.  Always like the look. ;)

I've a set of roundslide mikunis to fit to mine (quite a common mod), they’re kinda the Japanese equivalent to the mkI Amals

Couldn't quite see if you had insulating blocks between the carb flange and manifold, but just in case you haven’t, I’d suggest it will be worth fitting them as the Triumph workshop manual shows the following assembly order for MkI Amals: carb, O-ring, insulating block, paper gasket, manifold.

One reason for insulating blocks (and in more modern times ‘rubber mounts) is to reduce the heat transfer from the cylinder head to carb,

The original XS650 CV carbs used ‘rubber’ adaptor mounts, and photos I've seen of XS650s with the roundslide mikuni conversion also use rubber mounts.

Really old (early 1900s) vintage bikes can actually boil the fuel in the carb when the bike is parked up after a run........... ask Dslam. We had to wait ages for the darling little bike to cool down!!  ;D



Photo shows original CV carb mounting

SMOKIN ;D

Well hopefully not ;D

Andy , a few questions on the Amals .
{ 1 } Are you going to be using separate cables or the single into 2 adaptor on the Amals ?
{ 2 } Gonna balance the 2 carbs up using lollipop sticks etc ?
{ 3 } Doing away with the choke slides { if fitted} and fitting blanks ?
{ 4 } Gonna fit the viton tipped needle valves ?
{ 5 } Gonna enjoy have petrol fingers again after a tickling session ?
.
.



   

Ahh, the joys of stinky fuely fingers!
I was going for the 1 into 2 cable set-up to operate the choke slides.

I think I`ve got a nice little chrome 2 to 1 able housing thingey somewhere. I`ll see if i can find it for you Andy, if you want it? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Yuss please Mr C.  :)
Various jets & needles ordered from the Amal website. Looking for insulating blocks now.

Andy,What size carbs are they,I have some insulating material here could make some.

It's O.K mate, just ordered some 3mm thick ones from Hitchcocks Motorcycles, thanks to a link from Dslam.
Ain't t'internet wonderful.  :)

No problem,Thestuff i have is thicker than 3mm,probably 12 or 14mm.

A quiet afternoon at the workshop today. Various bods there working on their own projects, so I was just tinkering.
Decided to quickly chuck the motor back in the frame to check the carb clearance. Quickly chuck it in -ha!! Big Darren & I struggled with it for over an hour & got absolutely nowhere -except he managed to pinch his big fingers between the engine & frame. Ouch. Could've been worse though. Could've been my fingers.
Even though the engine was in the frame when it was hardtailed, it looks like the bottom frame rails may have tweaked inwards a little during welding. In the end I had to sand the inside faces of the engine mounts with a soft pad on the angle grinder to clearance them. Still took 4 of us to get the motor in. XSs are bloomin' heavy old lumps. Gonna be fun doing it when the frame's painted.

The new cast aluminium carb manifolds aren't as sharply angled as the steel ones Pete started making when he built the hardtail. That means I have to fit 1" Amal bellmouths rather than the 3" ones I bought at the Popham Megameet back in August, otherwise they'd foul on the frame. Just as well the 3" ones I bought were the wrong size for the carbs I've got.  :P Anyone want a lovely pair of polished ali 3" bellmouths for 600 series Amal carbs?

This old exhaust flange is almost exactly the same as the standard Amal 1" intake.

Never leave Loony in charge of your camera.

.

You did say that it was a tight fit. Seems like I left at the right time :D
Shame it's got to come out again, but the carbs and manifolds look just right.

Nice to see you today Dave.

haven`t had a chance to look for the cable doowidgey thing yet, had some domestic issues in the past couple of weeks. But i will do it soon I promise.

If my memory serves me well XS650 lumps were always a bugger to get back into the frame. I`ve done a lot of work on them in the past and every single one was a struggle and half to re fit in the frame. I thing it`s because the frame is such a rigid structure compared to other jap frames that flex like spaghetti. I have had to jack the bottom frame rails out (less than 1mm!!!!) to get a lump in, and that was after I stopped the owner from trying to drill the mounts out to get the bolt through!!!!!! Wherever possible I laid the lump on it`s side and lowered the frame over it. Partly because the frame is a bit lighter and easier to handle but also gave us the option of seeing what the frame needed to do to fit. Every one was different, never had two the same and I must have done about 10 of them!!!!! :o :o :o :o

Yup, standard way of fitting a Sportster engine is frame over engine I believe. We tried that too. Can't even strip the motor down then build it up in the frame cos there's not enough room to get the head off.
Nothing worth photographing, but I spent the afternoon yesterday messing about with the rear mudguard & struts.
Just filling in time until the truck door hinge parts arrive from soggy Somerset.

Loony's been having a practice on his Dad's lathe & turned these 10mm thick stainless collars from a length of round bar blagged from Doug of the Guzzlers car club. Loony Senior then milled the slots in them. The threaded mounts weld to the frame & the collars sit over the rear wheel spindle. Undoing the lock nuts & winding the bolts through, pushes the spindle backwards to tension the chain.

I bought a pair of 600 series Amal carbs for the bike over a year ago, then discovered I actually needed the bigger 900 series. So I picked up a pair of empty carb bodies on Ebay. There was some cash in my PayPal account from recent merchandise sales, so I've invested it in all the needles, jets etc I need. Fortunately the guy who sells the cast aluminium carb manifolds on Ebay listed the jet sizes needed to run with the XS motor.
Every piece arrived sealed in it's own individual Amal bag. Even the new throttle slides came in tiny little cardboard boxes. 
On the left are the 3mm thick heat insulating gaskets, recommended by Dslam.

Looks like you've got a couple of fun hours assembly time ahead of you. At least this you can do inside in the warm :D

Yeah, I was going to bring them home to do this evening, but the new tickler buttons are on roll pins, with the ends splayed to stop them pulling out of the carb body -so I'd need a hammer & punch to fit them. Less hassle to do at the workshop!

I'd do as little as possible at the workshop. Grinding dust and new carb parts etc. etc. ;)

 :) They're my job for tomorrow. Saturdays are always busy with lots of visitors to the 'shop, so I'll find a quiet corner of a bench to build them, then fit them back on the engine & seal them with some plastic bags.

Another late day at the Post Office, (it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas). Trudging the streets in the freezing cold. So not a lot of time at the workshop today. Especially with a visit from Uncle Kev, (Kapri in his gorgeous new motor. See the Fury -ous thread in General Discussion).
Managed to fit the new float bowl priming pins though.
These are supposed to stop fuel seeping out & soaking your fingers when you prime the carbs. Must admit though, I just bought 'em cos they're shiny.
They're spring loaded buttons that push the fuel float down, filling the float bowl prior to starting the engine.

I've got an extended tickler.

As good a reason as any!   :)

Chain tensioners welded to the axle plates. I'm leaving all the frame welds till we're done, then will clean them all up in one go.

Carbs rebuilt. They're now set up the way the guy who sold the cast aluminium inlet manifolds set up his. So should hopefully be somewhere close.
I love the look of these Amals on the XS.

.

Dragged out into the sunshine this afternoon to fit the rear wheel. With Loony's newly machined stainless spindle collars & chain tensioning bolts, I could set the wheel up square & true in the frame. So now I can finish mounting the rear mudguard.

Arty farty shot.

lookin gud real old skool

Thank you.  :) Nuthin' fancy, I just want a good, simple ridin' machine.

Nipped over to Phil the upholsterer a couple of days ago. He very kindly shortened & stitched a loop in the end of an old camera bag strap I found -while I waited. For free. It's now the battery retaining strap.

I've been messing with this while waiting for parts for my truck project. Now I've got them, (thanks again Doc), I need to put the bike aside -there's a time limit on the truck build so it has to take priority. I'm sure I'l still tinker with this, but the truck comes first.
So this afternoon I de-lugged the bottom yoke, (removed several unwanted mounting lugs), then Chris & I put the front end back in. Just means we can move it around the workshop easier. I'm pleased with it so far. The bracing tube above the engine's slightly out of line with the top of the motor. Think I'll make a tapered fillet of tube to weld under it to fix that.

Tank on. Loony tries it for size. No seat here, so the riding position will be a little higher.

Seat propped in place.

.

.

Looking better and better (apart from looney ;D), nice and compact. Will be a cracker when finished.

 ;D I'm looking forward to blatting around the lanes on it on sunny days.

love the stance of it
and the clearance is really good as well
question though sorry not about xs but about pick up the rear door has the manky on it
is it embossed, swager or is it a sticker
 

The tailgate?
The raised bead around the lettering is a swage, rolled into the flat steel sheet for me by a local sheet metal worker. I drew the shape on the sheet in marker pen & he ran it through his former, (2 wheels that run against either side of the metal sheet to form a raised line). Cost me a tenner. Often used to add rigidity to flat panels. You'll usually see it in interior panels of race cars etc. Any decent metalwork shop should be able to do it for you, but you can buy home versions of the tools from places like Frosts Restoration. Or you could make a wooden former & buck & do it by hand.
The "Manky" lettering's actually old fashioned aluminium number plate letters. In the old days kids, the numbers were individually clipped onto a backing plate, not printed on like today's number plates. I found a big box of them at the Dorset Steam Fair a few years back & bought enough to spell Manky for 10p each. I was going to hang them on my shed wall, but they found their way onto the truck instead. The tailgate panel's sunk a little in the middle, so we might have to try & pull it back out flat before it's painted. Should look good when it's finished.

.

Back to the XS. What is the chrome fitting, on the battery box, the strap is clipped to from please?  I know that I've seen them somewhere but for the life of me can't remember where! Seatbelt guide springs to mind but then my mind is so cluttered, it's like my garage, can't find anything when I need it. :P

Door check strap mount.
There's one on each end of the strap.
I think I bought them from Europa Spares, although they only show black powder-coated finish here

https://www.europaspares.com/product/62/20331/BRIGHTWORK/FASTENERS/Check_Strap_Staple_Black.html

Car Builder Solutions probably sell them too

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/

I bought 4 of them for the leather straps on my truck fuel tank, but wasn't sure if I needed the 1 1/2" or 2" ones, so bought 4 of each.
Should have 2 more 2" ones somewhere if you need 'em Dave.

Thanks Andy, might take you up on that. Remembered where I'd seen them before, screwed to back of the rear seat on my MGB.   
This morning, noticed the same staples, but narrower, holding the carrying handle on my VOX guitar amp. God my brain is so slow :P

vox guitar amp,not a AC30 by any chance is it?

Nope, AD30VT. An early AC30 can go for silly money.

Took Loony's Dad, Dave to meet Phil the upholsterer the other day. Dave plays drums in a band & Phil used to play guitar. Turns out they both collect guitars so spent quite some time comparing notes.

Newbie, I've left the spare 2" chrome brackets in the pick-up bed of my truck at Loony's workshop, should you call in & I'm not there.

Loony's been pushing the bike in & out of the workshop every day to give him room to work on other stuff & was getting fed up with propping it on bits of wood. After hardtailing the original frame, the side stand was too long & the bike threatened to topple over. So today he cut a couple of inches out of it & welded it back together. That's better.
While he was doing that, I cut a slice off the back of the engine side casing. It used to form part of the chain guard, but isn't really needed & I decided it looks better without it. I also gave the casing a quick rub over with some wet n dry paper to take the worst of the gunge off it.
Loony also machined a couple of new mounting lugs for the rear mudguard as the previous set-up ended up sat too close to the tyre. Just dabbling with this from time to time at the moment, while working on my truck.

Not much going on with this at the moment, while I'm working on my truck. Picked up a twin pull throttle cable unit from Ebay last week though. Allegedly from an old Douglas. Being aluminium it should polish up nicely & means I don't need a "splitter" box, (single cable from the bars into 2 cables for the carbs).

Rear mudguard mounts reworked. There's now about an inch of clearance between the trye & the dome nuts under the guard. I had to slot the holes in the guard as the mounting bolts pointed inwards toward each other. So I've just used some large "penny" washers to cover the slots. keeping this build very low tech. Eventually the struts & washers will be chrome plated & the guard painted in Metalflake "root Beer", (a sort of treacly golden brown).   

Same hand made aluminium guards as my truck, which is kinda cool I think.

Seat base propped in place. I'll make a tray, suspended below the seat base, to hold the electrical components, hidden by side panels. The front mounting tab for the rear guard will be welded to that.
Once I've fitted the side panels, I'll trim the front end of the guard to the height of the back of the electrical tray.

Now that's shaping up,You will have it finished in a week or two.

I do like the twin hoop rear stays, very clean and simple. Nice   :)

We had to shuffle some vehicles about at the workshop today, so the bike was wheeled out into the Winter sunshine for the afternoon. We plonked the seat on & propped the front mudguard in place to see how it looked. Still need to straighten up the brace tube under the tank, but not looking too bad.

.

my Lillian (6) just walked up and said "thats a nice bike, is he going to paint it?"

looks like she is going to hustle mate... shame you aren't having a tow bar on the Pop, would make a cracking combo to take to show's, I know that's not what you have built it for but hey  :D :D

Lillian has great taste Ben!
Just for Summer country lane blatting really.
This is the colour I'm aiming for. Metalflake "Root Beer".

very close to  ford  roman bronze, old mk3 cortina colour  ;)

Oh no! It's fallen over!

Fortunately it's landed on those 2 spare car tyres though, which is handy cos it makes fitting the battery box a lot easier. It also meant I could swap the front brake disc for the proper XS650 one I found on Ebay for 10 quid, (the previous one was from some other bike & had different shaped slots around the centre. Now it matches the rear one).
I know it's going to cause me some major hassle at some point in the future, when I'm trying to take the battery out at the side of the road, but I've decided to bolt the battery box in from underneath the frame, rather than from the top. I wanted it to sit down low between the frame rails, partly to give more clearance for the electrics box above, but also just cos I think it looks nicer, with the mountings hidden. So I cut & drilled a couple of flat steel straps & Mr Loon welded them to the underside of the box.
With the bike on it's side, I drilled the frame rails & tapped the holes to M8. So now the box is bolted up in place. Still just playing with this when I get time spare from working on my truck, but now I can see how deep the electrics box can be & sort out the side panels.

.

The bike's gonna be called "The Coca Cola Kid", (I hardly ever drink anything else), so needs to be a golden brown 'flake. Rootbeer seemed the obvious choice. Hopefully Clive can add some gold leaf lettering too.

For you, the world!!! ;D

Just the lettering will be fine thanks mate. Tomorrow the World.  ;)

Found this pic yonks ago on XS650.com

Cool huh?

Nicely done.  ;D

Haven't touched this for a while cos I've been concentrating on my truck, but I picked up these new cast aluminium finned carb tops for the Amal carbs the other day -an impulse buy while ordering something on Ebay for a mate.
They got me thinking- they match the finned ali' rocker covers on the Pop. The bike's also got the same ribbed aluminium mudguards, (hand made for me by the same guy who made the Pop ones).
I plan to eventually paint the truck in satin pale green -one of the original factory colours available for '53 Ford Populars, with gloss black chassis & black MMMotors logos on the doors. I'm thinking I'd like to paint the bike to match, with green tank & black frame, (not sure if the 'guards should be black or green yet). I could fit the same green woven spark plug leads too. My green Triumph Speed Triple was affectionately known as Kermit the Thug & I'd like to carry the name on to this build. With the truck already christened Junkyard Frog, they'd make a good matched pair. I could even build a custom trailer to haul the bike behind the truck.

Ohhhh i like the finned tops ive seen finned tappet covers for the xs but there too rich for my blood  :D

Yeah, there's a guy selling lots of cast covers for XSs on Ebay, but he's not cheap. I bought the Amal carb manifolds from him. They were 115 quid the pair I think, but so much nicer than anything I could've made from steel tube. These were 15 quid each. Not cheap, but I like 'em.

you know yourself with what you have achieved with the pop
the wee differences always stand out well
they make a bike trike or what ever
the carb tops will be really nice polished
like them lots
me personally i really like a satin or matt finish to a frame but everyone to there own
have you thought on style of exhaust you are going to go for

Long straight ones down the lefthand side.

i,v got two brand new tapered silencers here ,could be youre,s for a donation to ,EMILY,s  charity fund  ;)

Already bought the pipe to make them from Mike.

50 quid's worth of 1 1/2" bore exhaust tube, (a couple of straight lengths & some pre formed bends).
Haven't worked on the bike for ages, although it gets wheeled in & out of Loony's workshop most days. It's the local transport festival this weekend though, so I thought I'd knock up the pipes to make it look a bit more like a proper bike.
Started with the left pipe, cutting a 180 degree bend in half & twisting it a little, then tacking it back together. Added a metre of straight pipe. Job done.
I've got some push-in baffles, so will add 2 to each pipe, held with a captive nut & bolt through the back of the pipe.
The right hand pipe will wrap around the frame tube & through the bend of the left pipe, to run above this one. Then they just need a simple hanging bracket at the back & they're ready to chrome.

Parked in front of Scottie the hotrod haulier's Chevy sedan.

ouch! the inside of my left leg is starting to burn!

 ;D Don't worry Tim, I've got a heat shield for the pipe. If that doesn't work I'll get some asbestos trousers.

Right hand pipe made today. It went suprisingly well for a change.
Started with a 135 degree bend at the cylinder head, which I "pie cut" to pull it round tighter, (a series of wedge shaped cuts around the curve, then pulled together to tighten the bend). With that tacked together, I added a 45 degree bend, with just a couple of small cuts in it to open it out a little. Then a long straight tail section. Lots of discussion about slash cutting the ends or cutting the top one shorter to follow the line of the hardtail -if I did that the 2 pipes would end up exactly the same length, which in theory would be best for tuning. In the end I've decided to leave them as they are. Hopefully, with a couple of baffles in each pipe, they should be reasonably quiet.
Waiting for full welding now.

.

shotgun pipe's ...I like it ;D

 :)  Always fancied high level pipes on a twin, but never tried them before.

Good job there Mr Manky. Just an idea....would it be possible to cut both of them a little bit,so you could kink them inwards to miss your leg,and then swing them back out again.

Looks very neat and tidy Mr. M and I shall need to do something similar for my three wheeler, when I get to that point in the build! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D.Morrag

A very basic system, but it's just a little Summer day blatter.
Hornet, the pipes should miss my leg as they are, but I've got a chrome heatshield for the top pipe anyway, (a Harley one, originally bought for Taz's trike).

they look fairly up against the case as is I think

I used a couple of offcuts of rubber fuel pipe to space the pipes apart & also to space the bottom one up off the alternator casing, so there's about half an inch of clearance.

Looking great, nice and simple!

Thank you Bobbi -& what do you think of my bike?

He-He the old ones are.................crap ;D

Manky's not that old.

thats what i meant, no room to "tuck in"

andy the pipes look really good and do look perfected on a twin small baffles and no more perfect
but will be very warm for your leg
did you get the flange for the exhaust or the thicker pipe that goes into the head if that makes more sense
from the bend supplier and also who did you use

I AM FITTING A HEATSHIELD.

I cut the last couple of inches from the original downpipes to give me the flange that pushes into the exhaust port.
Just typed "pre formed exhaust bends" into Ebay & it brought up a whole bunch of companies selling them. I've used 1 1/2" I/D tube.

And to think I carefully held myself back from adding  'just like you'


 ;D ;D

I'm used to it Bobbi.  :P

Andy, I think those cable tie mounting brackets might be a mistake.

That's why knee high leather boots are popular with the lady bikers

Not just the lady people.  :o
Actually I used to wear knee length ex Police motorcylists boots when I was a teenager.

,,kinky,,,, boots,,,,, :o :o :D :D :D :D :D

 :P
Me on one of my old Triumph Bonnevilles. I was maybe 19.
*sigh* whatever happened to that kid?

Come on, you can't pretend he's not still there inside!

Tell me about it  ;) :)

Hey Pete. You was a goddamn hippy :D
Actually 35 years or so ago, I looked very similar.
Admit it, our bods may have aged but we haven't. We're still dumb arse kids at heart.

I don't feel any different now than I did then. Maybe a few more aches & pains, but I still think exactly the same. Which may not be a good thing!

Messing about with the bike again this week, just to have a break from my truck now that it's running.
Not much to show, but a lot of measuring & tacking together of bits of metal. I'm making a box for the electrical gubbins, but don't want it to look too chunky & slab sided. So I've made a tray, suspending under the seat, with mounting tabs for side panels. The various electrical components will bolt onto it, (probably with the regulator/rectifier underneath so it's in the airflow), then I'll make side panels to suit.
Combined with the access hatch in the pan under the seat, I should have good all round accessibility if I need to get to it. I'll cut the side panels deliberately 10mm short on all sides to leave a gap around the edge of them cos I want to keep it looking "light & airy" rather than solid sided.
The front end of the rear mudguard bolts to the base & I've cut it flush with the underside.
Before you ask, yeah I know there's not enough room to get the battery out. The batt' box is open topped so I can charge it or top it up in situ, but it's held by 4 bolts to the underside of the frame, so I can drop it down to ground level to pull the battery out if necessary.

Fitting bits & pieces as I go. Reproduction hi/lo beam, horn switch & new "Jackhammer" grips.

I like those little switches......where did you get them from ??

It's a Wipac switch. About 15 quid from Vehicle Wiring Products.

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/motorcycle/switches.php

The bikes coming on really well Andy looks nice, what's the seat height?

Too low for you!  ;D

I'm only short but my saddlebags may scrape the ground

They will on this,tis pretty low!

Coo! Hello stranger! I thought you'd abandoned us for the dark side of sports bike riding.
Welcome back my friend.  ;)
Seat height's maybe 20 inches or so.
I'd planned to work on it this afternoon after work, but it was just so hot today I went for a drive in my truck instead!

Make hay while the sun shines

I've just had a 4 into 1 pipe conversion done on my b-king and recently bought a harley lowrider ill post pics if I can work out how to make them small enough

I've been messing about with the side panels for weeks now, between other jobs. Finally got them done today.
I'd spent ages making a folded one piece left hand panel, with a recess for the chain to pass through & was really pleased with it. Unfortunately I'd got the lower fold in the wrong place & the chain would've fouled on it. So I had to cut the bottom edge off, fold a new section & get Mr Loon to weld it on for me.
I've cut the panels deliberately "short" around the edges as I want to show some space around them so it doesn't look like a slab sided box.

The left side of the bike's quite "busy" with the drive chain & exhausts, while the right side is relatively empty. It has a full sized side panel. I think I'll cut some sort of recess into it to break up the slabbiness a bit, then reproduce a smaller version of it on the other side. The ignition key will go top right in this panel. Doesn't look like it in these pics because of my wide angle lens, but the bottom of the side panel's level with the top of the battery.

Drilled the handlebars a few days ago & fitted a small hotrod "peep mirror", given to me ages ago by Postie Dave for my truck but never used.

Loon tries the XS for size.
The exhausts are just cable tied in place to see how they'll look. The back end of them will be a little lower to run parallel to the bottom frame rail eventually. You'll need a heatshield on there mate.  ;)
I'm not trying to build a period "bobber", which are all the rage at the moment, but just a simple, rugged, rideable cut down Yam'. Something I can just blat about & have fun on. So I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible. No trick engineering or finicky detailing.

Sweet  :D
The bike that is !
Not a bobber, a blatter

Well, he's not really my type, but I guess he's sweet to a certain type of fella Dave.  :-*
Yup, a blatty bimbler.
I toyed with the idea of painting it the same pale green & black as my truck's gonna be, but think I'm gonna go with the original plan of "rootbeer" metalflake with a few splashes of chrome & some gold or silver leaf lettering on the tank -"The Coca Cola Kid", (my favourite beverage).

silver lettering, "Dynamic Ribbon" font

No idea how to download that!
Either in the original Coca Cola font, as you say, or 60s/70s style bubble font.
Might add some air brushed bubbles in cream to the leading edge of the guards & side panels.

'Loki cola' is the font!

Why not put the bubbles under the root beer candy?

Sounds like you've just talked yourself into a paintjob Clive!  ;D
I don't do details, I'm just the ideas man.  :P

Loony was aghast when he read I wanted bubbles -he imagined 70s custom van style big, multi coloured bubbles. I meant just a very small trail of miniature cream coloured Coke bubbles on the leading edges of a couple of panels -where you might normally use hotrod pinstriping or flames.
Base colour will be metalflake "rootbeer", which is a kind of dark, golden brown, (imagine the colour of a glass of Coke held up to the sunlight). Hoping Loony will handle that for me.
Then I'd like a panel masked off on the top of the tank, around the left side of the filler cap & down the top face of the tank, with that 70s style bubble lettering -kinda like the letters have been inflated to fill the available space -in probably gold leaf, with cream outlining to match the cream bubbles. One for Clive, our resident airbrush expert.
Frame will be gloss black powdercoat.
No rush for paint though. If I manage to get it up & running this year I'll probably do the same as my truck & run it in bare metal till I know everything works O.K, then strip it for paint & chrome later.
Today's jobs- drilled & filed the righthand side panel for the ignition/lights switch. I'm toying with some sort of recessed panel in this, just to break up the "slabiness" of it a bit. This panel's simpler than the left one & is more on show so looks a bit blank. Might be easier just to do something with the paint. Maybe some gold lettering or something?

I've been looking online for a universal fitting chainguard. All the custom bike shops used to sell them, but I couldn't find one.
The gentlemen of the workshop can't understand why I want one, but I want to ride this in all weathers & want it as practical as a chop can be. The guard will probably be needed for the MSVA test, but will also keep crud from the chain being flung up -if you've tried washing chain lube off your paint you'll know what a pain it is.
So I nipped down to B & Q today & picked up a metre of lightweight angle for 6 quid. Cut one face off the end of it, & a curved "tail" from some flat sheet, then rolled the other face of the angle around it & handed it to Loon for welding. A bit of trimming up & filing & I had this.

It'll bolt into the recess in the lefthand side panel & to a mounting tab on the frame, behind the exhausts. I'll slot the mounting holes so the guard can be slid back & forth when the chain's adjusted. It's almost hidden behind the exhausts, but worth fitting I think. Modelled here by Mr Loon.

Mounting stud welded to the frame & slotted holes cut in the chainguard, then bolted to the underside of the side panel & the frame. My only concern is that it might be too close to the sprocket. Depends how chunky the chain is.

Another stud welded to the front face of the frame at the same point & a pair of chrome exhaust clamps bolted to it,

Exhausts slotted back into place. Just need to finish cleaning up the welds on the right hand pipe & fit the baffles & they're done. They need to be chromed before the engine's run, (the chromers don't like exhaust carbon contaminating their vats).
-yes, there'll be a heatshield!  :) 

Nice fit Andy. That should keep the muck off your Flared trousers.

My bicycle clips will do that.
Can you still buy bicycle clips?
Decided what to do with the blank looking right hand side panel. I'll ask Mr Clive if he can airbrush a small cartoon character in the bottom left corner of it, (won't be worrying about paint till it's had a bit of a road test, same as my truck).
The bike's gonna be called "The Coca Cola Kid", so I'd like Yosemite Sam from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but with 2 bottles of Coke in his holsters instead of guns.

its looking good andy

Thanks. Just plodding along, a little bit every afternoon after work.

Heatshield added. I had one from the balance pipe of a Harley in my spares box. It would normally mount with Jubilee clips through tabs on the back, but that looked poo. So we welded a couple of 6mm nuts into the pipe & it bolts to those. 10mm spacers tacked to the back of the shield raise it off the pipe to allow cooling airflow underneath. Hopefully it's enough to keep my leg clear of both pipes.
I bought a bunch of push-in exhaust baffles a while ago. We ended up welding 2 together to form a 12" long baffle for each pipe, held with a single 6mm bolt at the back. I grew out of overly loud pipes years ago & think a nicely set up, smooth running machine's more impressive than something that pops & bangs & won't tickover. I may also keep this bike outside the house I lodge in to commute to work on in the Summer, so noisy pipes wouldn't be appreciated. I'm hoping these custom pipes will sound more or less like the original bike. Of course, it might turn out to be over baffled & restricted, in which case I'll just pull the baffles out & cut a bit off the end of them.
A bit of smoothing around the front curves & these are ready for chroming.

Looking really nice Andy , make sure your baffles  are secure I done a trackday on Saturday and on the third session my bike spat the baffle out of the silencer, maybe a spring washer would be an idea, loving the exhausts tho looks good now so should look awesome chromed.

Cheers Scott.
Finished cleaning them up today.
Mr Baychimp's found a place in Alton, Hampshire, (local to us), who do chroming. He's getting his exhausts done in the next week or so -he bought my trike project from me. A couple of guys here have offered to do them, but as he's putting his in fairly soon, I'll bung mine in with his.

Is he getting the trike manifold chromed. If he is I'll be interested in the finish and cost

Yup. Entire system, about 150 quid.

Will you post pictures when its done

But of course!

Bob, (Baychimp), & I visited a local chrome this morning & dropped our respective exhaust systems off. Mine are made from a mixture of mild steel & stainless steel sections. They said the 2 metals react differently to chroming, so there may be some difference in the colour when they're plated. That's fine -this will be just a daily rider, not a show bike. They also said they can't guarantee the chrome will reach into every nook & cranny of Bob's Reliant manifold. The copper & nickel coats should, but the top chrome coat may not. Again, he's happy with that.
About 150 quid per system, but they're snowed under with work, so it'll be 8 to 10 weeks before they're done, which means I won't be riding the XS to the "Trip Out" show in September as I'd half planned to.
Some before snaps.
My XS650 system.

And the pipes I made for Bob's Reliant, including the tubular manifold I bought from Ebay.

This evening I went & bugged my brother Steve at his workshop over in Wiltshire. He's a proper craftsman & I do try not to bother him with my bodged together bits & pieces, but I needed some fuel tap mounts TIG welded into my tank. I bought a pair of 1/8" NPT taps from the States for 10 quid each, then some threaded inserts. Steve blanked off the Harley fuel tap mount under the tank, then TIG'd the new mounts into the holes I'd drilled.
Thanks big bro.  :)

If you fancy some bespoke fabrication, he's the very chap to see, but be warned, top quality work doesn't come cheap & he doesn't suffer fools -unless they're related to him.

 http://www.fieldcraftfabrication.co.uk/

.

Nicely done, but I hope you'll take to wearing a cricketing "box" now you have those taps fitted!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 ;D  They look more prominent than they actually are, plus the tank actually sits quite a long way above & in front of the riding position, so should be fine.

Manky said,They look more prominent than they actually are,

To much information.

 :P

T.I.G welding is the work of the devil ??? you diabolist lol nice job i have to do same job to my twin tanks ... where did you get those taps

Ebay. Just type in Motorcycle fuel tap. There's a million different styles.
Tank fitted back on the bike & the fuel lines hooked up to the Amal carbs. I've fitted a pair of mini chrome inline fuel filters too. 

Rear light mount. I've been messing about with a couple of off-cuts of tube & came up with this, to mount the reproduction 1940s Chevy rear light to the offside of the frame. I plan to eventually put this bike through the MSVA registration test as the frame's been cut in half, so it should be re-registered. Very few chop builders seem to bother doing that though, so I may end up running it on the original logbook to begin with, just to get it on the road.
The test requires lights to be centrally or symmetrically mounted, so if I fit one on the right side of the frame, it should have a matching one on the left. I've got the original Yamaha light though, which is the size of a house brick. I'll fit that temporarily to keep the testers happy.

The Chevy light will fit here, level with the exhausts on the other side of the frame. The frame will be powder coated gloss black, so the light housing & the bracket will be black too.

Rear light fitted, though I need to slot the mounting holes as it's drooped very slightly. The lens is about 3" diameter, so it's actually quite a sensible sized light. The wires will run inside the frame tube.

.

Next job is to rework the Suzuki footpeg mounts, using the original Yamaha pegs. They need to be a couple of inches higher to be comfortable with the gearchange pedal & also to give better clearance for cornering. Once they're done I can sort out the brake pedal.

Decided the rear mudguard was a tad too long as I want to hang the numberplate underneath it. I've already drilled all the mounting holes though. So while I was out & about today, I took it back to Darren at Brooklands Bodycraft near Oxford. He very kindly shortened it by 2 inches & reshaped the end, adding the wired & beaded edge, all for a princely 10 quid.

http://brooklandsbodycraft.co.uk/index.html

Been a while since I worked on the bike. Other projects getting in the way.
Had a couple of hours to myself in the workshop this evening though, so I cleaned up the rear numberplate mount I began a while ago. Bashed out of a flat sheet of steel & rolled & bent, then bashed some more, until it fitted under the mudguard. I had to cut it in a couple of places to follow the shape I was after, so Mr Loon then welded the gaps up & I cleaned the welds back. 

Bolted in place under the guard. I hate side mount numberplates. I've had them on several of my old bikes, but never been happy with them. So I'm using a 5" x 7" plate, curved to the profile of the tyre.

I'm going to re-register the bike, but found a place on Ebay selling flexible Perspex plates, for trials bikes, & wanted to see how much they'd bend. They were only 6 quid, so I had one made with the original bike reg on it. They're normal hard Perspex, so are reflective, but have enough give in them to curve around the tyre. I'll add a yellow plastic numberplate screw in each corner to keep it in place, (taped in place for now). I have a small LED light that'll tuck up under the lip of the guard to illuminate the plate.

That looks quite smart - and legal as well!  - a bonus!

Plate size should actually be 7" x 9". The digits are the correct size, but the spacing between them is less than it should be & the overall size is 2" smaller each way than standard. I've run this sized plate on most of my bikes in the past though & never had a problem. A lot of sports bike riders use 4" x 6", which is literally the size of a postcard & unreadable from more than 10 feet away.

This is the size I have used for many years, and is a standard plate, turned through 90 degrees and shortened accordingly!and I have had no probs. to date! ::)...Morrag

Hi Andy, maybe I've missed something  ::), but why are you re-registering?
Thought you still have:
The original headstock/front frame section section and hence VIN as per log book.
Original engine number as per log book.

And a frame that's been cut in half.
Yamaha, (or any other high volume manufacturer), is granted a licence to build bikes, based on a sample batch of vehicles submitted to VOSA for testing. They guarantee their quality control will ensure every bike will be the same & meet the same test standards. In return, they get a licence to build, say, 10,000 bikes. All the same.
Some muppet in a shed hacks the frame in half & builds his own back end from whatever he's got laying around, chrome moly, ERW, cheese, whatever. However good he may think he is, it's not the same vehicle any more. It hasn't been tested & may well be lethal, not just to him but to every other road user. It's supposed to be tested & given a new identity.
If you build a hotrod you can use an old chassis & can add extra outriggers or strengthening, but can't remove anything, to stop you compromising it's structural integrity. Same with a bike. Older British bikes had 2 part frames that bolt together in the middle, so you can mix & match front & back ends. All modern bikes are one piece. Cut it in half, it should be re-registered.
There's a million hardtailed bikes out there though & no-one seems to bother with re-registration. Presumably the relevant authorities just aren't as clued up as the car guys. Things are changing though & the whole system's gradually tightening up. Having put my truck through the test & now starting a roadster build that'll also be properly tested, I know it ain't as hard to pass as some think & I'd rather get it right now, than have an MOT refused somewhere down the line & a letter telling me to submit it for testing.

OK, can see some logic. Have no issue in road going vehicles being "fit for purpose" (so long as its not by the cheese-builder).

If the bike is examined (and passes), does it therefore loose it identity as a Yamaha (as per the four wheeled Manky Wagon?) and require a new frame number along with a new registration number?

Will reg number be a Q plate?

 :( not round here though, you can get away with an inch or so, but thats about it...

Yup, to all of those.

when a bike is cut in halve and a new back end usualy hardtailed does it under go any sort of weld testing

MSVA  has non destructive inspection ie it has a good looking at ,if it looks like a pigeon has been near it then it's going to fail ;)

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Got the exhausts back from the chromers today. £175. Ooh shiny!

Can't see them here, but there are 12" long baffles slid into the ends of each pipe & secured with a 6mm bolt & captive nut.

.

Thems a looking good.  I see you have fitted yours, I hope you have wrapped them up well.

Not yet, but I will. No gaskets where the pipes push into the cyclinder head yet, cos the engine may well need looking at before it's run. So the pipes aren't clamped up tight to the head. I need them on the bike to make sure nothing fouls on them though -got footpegs, clutch cable, maybe altered chainguard etc to do yet.

Messing with the footpegs again. Suzuki mounts, welded to sections of the original XS pegs. The ends need cutting off & turning through 45 degrees so that they fold in the right direction. I've got brand new rubbers to replace the worn out ones.
They sit a couple of inches above the bottom frame rail, which will help with ground clearance, but feels a little odd at the moment cos I've been used to just wedging my feet onto the frame. Perfectly comfortable though.

Just tacked in place at the moment. The left peg's a totally different shape to the right one, but they were as standard anyway. Once they're fixed I can sort out the brake pedal.

Those pipes are so Purdy and almost looks like they were made for the job ;). I would never have the patience to make pipes like that.

Says the guy that makes his own forks!

Haven't touched this for several months, while I've been driving my hotrod about, but some time ago I gave my brother, Brock, a spare pair of engine casings & asked him to TIG weld up the Yamaha lettering. He gave me the first one back as a Christmas present. Nicely done. The other to follow soon, (it's my birthday in 2 months so maybe I'll have the set by then!) I plan to nickel plate these cos although he's done a top notch job, the lettering's still visible from certain angles as it's a different colour. I've got a spare set of tappet covers for the top of the motor so will have them plated too.

Have liked the clutch-cover concept for a while.
Will going to be going for a similar effect on a spare case I have , but plan to take a somewhat different route to get there......   ::)

Overall plan is to de-badge any sign its a Ahamay, which'll nicely confuse anyone not familiar bikes of the era.

It'll be ages till I start, but will show pics when finished (assuming it looks it OK  ;))

Yeah, I prefer to de-badge my custom vehicles if I can -I usually end up building more of them than the original manufacturers did. Looking forward to seeing yours Tone.

That's looking good Andy

Hi Paul!  ;)
Hasn't progressed any further yet, but doesn't need a lot more fabrication really. I'm waiting for Loony's Dad, Dave, to machine me some stainless headlight brackets, & I need to finish the footpegs & make a brake pedal mount. Oh, & a speedo bracket to bolt to the left fork slider. That's about it really.

Not hanging about then  :)

 :D I'd like to have it rideable by the Summer.

As a guide how much is it lowered over a stocker and how much lower is the seat than standard ?

Standard XS650 seat height's around 30", (different saddles on different models, but somewhere around there).
Haven't actually measured the new seat height on mine, but it's about the same as most of my trikes, so about 20".
I've kept the original engine cradle, (frame tubes around the engine), so ground clearance below the motor should be more or less standard -whatever that is. 4 or 5 " maybe?

It was primarily the frame clearance I was interested in Andy. 10" drop on the seat ,that's pretty low ! Mine is 30" as stock and I was looking at about 4-6" drop as it needs to be comfortable as well as cool looking.

Cool and comfortable? Is that possible?!
I'll have a proper measure up for you tomorrow Kev.

It had better be or I'm not playing !  I'd be interested to know as I'm now ready to start assembling my trike as I've got the basic frame made .Probably working arse about face to the way you guys do it but I've no idea what I'm doing .I'm mixing car and bike building methods .

Been looking through the various bobber builds on here to get a feel for frame to wheels to bars relationships.

 ;D As you say Kev, it's gotta be rideable or there's no point. The thing I always liked about trikes is that there aren't many recognised styles -more or less anything goes. I've said it before- some of the most interesting designs come from "non bikers" cos they think outside the box. Looking forward to seeing this one.

Checked the measurements Kev. My saddle's curved but the bit you actually park yer bum on is indeed 20" off the deck. I guessed between 4 & 5 inches of ground clearance -it's actually 4 1/2.

Thanks Andy:) I've dummied up basic ride height and it's 5 -5.5" ,seat will be higher than yours. When sat on yours with feet on ground it was comfortable so will help me with calculations. looks liek seat will be around 25" or so to be comfortable .

Don't forget that with a trike you DON'T put your feet on the ground!

Yes, I know BG ;) Trying to recreate something like Andys feel but when my feet are on the boards ,Indian/ Harley style foot rests.

Ha ha!  It was one of the first things I was told - not to put my feet on the ground or I'd be sure to run over them - he was right!   :-[

Bob, (Baychimp), called at Loon's workshop this afternoon. He now owns my last trike project & is finally getting down to finishing it off. He's looking for a mobile welder & a good auto electrician in the Basingstoke area by the way. Next time you're up this way Kev, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to let you try his for size -we can push you up & down the road to get a feel for 3 wheels!

Pair of Harley footboards for sale on Ebay at the moment Kev. Starting price of 5 quid.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harley-Chopper-Bobber-/231146876273

When looking for Harley footboards, it's worth noting that rears, tend to be about 2/3 the size of fronts.

Yeah, those are rear ones, but personally I think the front ones are too big anyway.

Called at my brother, Mr Brock's Wiltshire workshop on Wednesday. He handed me the other engine side casing while I was there. He's TIG welded up the "Yamaha" lettering in the circular alternator cover. This is a spare casing -it's only the circular cover that he was working on. A small area that kept bubbling, due to impurities in the casting, but otherwise it's come up well. I'll gently run a flat file over both casings to smooth out the ripples, then wet n dry them & buff them as best I can. I plan to get them nickel plated to hide the slight difference in colour between the weld & original metal.
Thank you Steve.  ;)

Saw this on FaceBook.
I'm known for my addiction to Diet Coke & the XS will be named The Coca Cola Kid when it's done -maybe I should pinch this idea?!

lovely jubbly, you know it makes sense  ;D 

I luv it :D Needs a little hook for the ring pull and maybe a bottle opener eye. Could get silly OTT and fit a lighter as well, ashtray???

Except he doesn't smoke...

A lighter attached to a tank full of petrol?!
I was thinking the petrol would keep the Coke cold so actually not a bad idea -apart from it being shaken up as you ride along & probably exploding in your face!

A beautiful morning down here in Hampshire for a change today -let's hope it bodes well for the Summer. So Mr Loon & I dragged the XSs, kicking & screaming, out into the sunshine. Loony bought my spare XS engine from me last year, (I'd arrived with it in the boot of my car & he bought it before I'd even unloaded it), but he's building this one for his mate Tom. The deal is Tom buys the parts & Loon has a free hand to do what he likes with it. Yes, the knobbly front tyre will be changed!

Tom's.

Mr Loon.

Mine.

Tom's/Loon's.
Mine.
Not photographed on a beach -that's the flood water in the yard outside the workshop.

The alternator casing that my brother Mr Brock TIG welded for me, (he's removed the Yamaha lettering). Waiting for him to repair the other exhaust pipe at the moment -I had them chromed, but had ground the heatshield mount down too far, to make sure the exhaust collar would fit over it, & the threaded insert pulled out of the pipe when I tightened it up. Hopefully Brock can TIG a new one in without too much damage, (it'll be hidden under the shield).

Tom's & mine nose to tail. Amazing how different they look considering they share a lot of the same parts.

.

I've got to alter the frame brace under the fuel tank, by raising the front end, so it sits horizontally, (I know it looks right in this shot, but it's not). I'd also love a tad more rake, but that would mean putting the frame back in a jig & cutting away most of the headstock bracing, so it's unlikely to happen. Quite pleased with it so far though. I haven't had a bike for a few years, so I'm looking forward to blatting around on this.

Nice!

Tom is obviously a very trusting person. Oh the temptation to go absolutely mad with a brief like that  ;D
Bikes are looking good guys.

if you cut the downtubes and bend the backbone tube at the seat
the add 2 slugs of identical dimensions to the backbones
the bike can be raked without even removing the engine as the identical slugs will line up everything
looking for a write up on it but cant find

Think Chewie means add the slugs to the down tubes.
 Do folk still do that in the land down under?  Not seen that done since the 70s (and there are good reasons why).

on the frame tubes not the fork tubes

There are indeed good reasons Olds :o :o :o, which are probably obvious, so best not, eh......................Morrag

Haven't posted anything here for a while, but the XS is still very much on the go.
Best Christmas pressie this year was this voucher from my big brother Mr Brock. After being made redundant last year he's finally gone into business as a welder/fabricator, building everything from tractor mudguards to drag cars. I couldn't normally afford his rates but you get what you pay for & he's definitely one of the best. He's rushing to get his own race car ready for the coming season at the moment, so I won't be redeeming this just yet, but will spend a day at his Wiltshire workshop as soon as he's free, re-raking the headstock & as many other jobs as we can do. Thanks bro  ;)

I've had a change of mind on the colour since I last posted too -much cheaper to do before the paint's bought. Instead of golden brown with the name "The Coca Cola Kid", I'm going with the same pale green as my truck & "Junkyard Frog", (the title I wanted for the truck but it'd clash with all the Manky logos).
I've been saying for a long time now that these will be my last builds cos I just want to get out & enjoy what I've got. So I think it'll be cool to have a matched pair, truck & bike, (yes, I have thought about building a custom bike trailer to tow behind the Pop). So black frame with pale green tank & side panels. Both vehicles use the same handmade ribbed ali' mudguards so the bike ones will be black to match the truck's. The bike carbs have limited edition finned ali' tops, similar to the rocker covers on the Pop engine & I'll use the same green cloth braided HT leads. I've also just picked up some green plastic fuel pipe which I'll use on both vehicles.
Instead of painting the name on the tank I plan to have it engraved on the engine casings & they're already in Spain, awaiting the attention of a very talented metal artist called Tony Reynolds.
So nothing new to show, but things are slowly moving forward.
Something like this.

Love the idea of matching vehicles!

Like the play on words "meaner then a junkyard dog". Like the bikes. Just got the Vmax running, not very well, and now found that the back end is, um, loose.

I also seem to have ended up with a matching truck and trike but not by design as both are a colour I would never chose to paint a vehicle.

Seen some of his work and it's good. Sorry I lied, it's not good, it's REALLY GOOD.

Bit like this then...............  ;D

Oooooh I like that

 ;D

I've been on Tony the engraver's waiting list for a while, but looks like my engine casings have reached the top of the To Do pile.
Tony's an English old school biker who lives in Spain with his wife & churns out some gorgeous work at a phenomenal rate. All done with nothing more than a hammer & chisel.
My brother, Mr Brock, TIG welded up the Yamaha lettering on the aluminium cases for me, but the alternator cover had a lot of impurities in it, so didn't weld too well. Tony's got a mate in Yorkshire though, who machined up a batch of thicker replacement covers. So this is my lefthand casing with a new circular alternator cover, hand engraved by Tony.

WOW!

Wow indeed.
As Mr Olds pointed out on FaceBook, it rather raises the stakes for the rest of the bike build now doesn't it.
I ain't rich & this work's costing more than I paid for the original donor bike, but I really don't intend building anything else, (apart from a joint project with Loony at some point), so I figure I'll do it right & have something I can enjoy for years to come, (I hope). Tony really is a craftsman in the old style & I'm pretty sure he'll become as well known as Don Blocksidge for example, who's been the name in gunsmith & bike engraving for 40 years at least. So I'm looking on this as buying an artist's work before he becomes super famous.
The man himself.

That really is a piece of art :) 

Great craftmanship, see he has the fingers well taped, I get that a lot. Plus I love those tats. If I was younger I'd copy them. ;)

 ;D We've been trading messages for a while now. Crazy guy but crazy good.
First part finished. He rubs black paint into the low spots then polishes the high spots to achieve this effect.
I've basically told him I want the frog on both sides of the engine, facing forwards, & the words Junkyard Frog on the right side, (not enough room for "Greener than a" but it doesn't really need it), then to go crazy with the rest & do whatever he thinks appropriate, but keep it frog or junkyard related. So I'm expecting lillypad or bullrush styled filigree or loads of tiny spanners or frog footprints, something like that. We'll have to wait & see. Just PayPal'd him a large wadge of cash to cover the first half of it. Super stoked about the results so far.

Does he really have a stove pipe coming out of his head? Does that make him a proper Steam Punk?

He looks like a right nutter!  :)

Yeah, but the best people always do Bobbi.  :P

Very nice that verrrrrry nice
👀👌👌👌👍

Oh definitely, that's what I was saying (I should know that, after all!)   ;)

I,ve seen loads of his work on facebook, its amazing. And yes, the guys a nutter...in a good way. I seen him at the kickback bike show last september...hes about 6ft 13inch tall  ;D ;D 

:) He lives in Spain with his punk wife, but he's got a mate in Yorkshire who's a machinist. They were both going to a bike show in Germany, so I sent my cases to Yorkshire, then his mate took them to Germany & passed them onto Tony, who took them home to Spain. My bike's still only half built so I've told him to just fit me in around other jobs. No desperate rush & it'll give me time to save up the rest of the cash.

Proposed lettering for the lefthand side. It'll basically be the same thing on both sides, with the empty space filled with curly filigree work.

work of art. i love the lettering  ;D

Yeah, that was just a mock-up on tracing paper. We both think the name should only be on one side of the engine, but he'd thought on the left & I'd assumed on the right. Can't go on the left though cos it'll be partly hidden by the exhaust. The righthand case is bigger & is easier to see when the bike's parked up on it's side stand.
So same lettering but on the other side.

Tony's an ex tattooist, so cleans the cases up, blows them over with a light coat of matt white paint, then draws the design on tattoo transfer paper before laying it onto the case.

 ;D

 ;D

note right side gearchange

? How? Why?

Only one leg  ???

European market model (they drive on the right) ::)

Ahh, of course. Obvious.

Lillypad leaves don't look very exciting apparently & not easily identifiable as being frog related, so we're going with the more traditional filigree work.
Bit of a problem with the welded up lettering. Early Japanese engine casings are notoriously poor quality & full of impurities which bubble to the surface during welding. I've had XS650 & 750 covers welded before & had the same trouble each time, so no reflection on Brock's welding. Tony's probably not too pleased about it, but says he can usually hide blemishes in the background. Hopefully it works out O.K

Otherwise lookin' rather groovy so far.

it is stunning...

As long as the pinholes are in the background, if it came to it, he could add a dab of filler cos it'd be hidden by the black paint he uses on the low areas, (these holes are just in the surface of the metal, not all the way through). Worst case scenario, the holes are in the raised areas & he has to get them re-welded locally, (& it costs me a lot more money), but technically, he shouldn't need to cut into the raised areas -so, we'll wait & see.
Tony had exactly the same problem with an XS650 casing for his own bike, to be called The Gentleman, which is why I sent him my spare set of covers.

Nice to see some close up pics in progress. Shows how he works. :) I know there is a lot of time and effort, but I'm also amazed at how fast Tony works.

Yeah, I think once he's "in the zone" he just keeps going.
He told me he hates people saying I wish I could do that - he couldn't do it either till he knuckled down & learnt & practised & practised. Obviously he's got a natural flair for art, but the skills have come with a lot of hard work. Real nice guy. I hope he gets the fame he deserves.

More from the metal basher.

Isn't that just beautiful!

Very nice
 some time and effort gone into that really nice design too  ;D
He's a very talented guy well done

Can't afford to ever get any more done, so if I ever sold the bike, I'd find a spare set of casings & keep these. Artwork for the wall if nothing else.
We'd talked of getting really wacky with it -"funked up filigree" as he put it. I gave him a free hand to do whatever he fancied, but in the end, it's pretty traditional. I'm certainly not complaining though. I love it.

Another full day spent on it. Tone's well & truly knackered now.
The pin holes in the welded up areas have messed with his funked up filigree plans, so he can't cut as deep into the centre of this panel as he'd like. Still pretty damn cool as far as I'm concerned.
You can see dark areas around some of the "Junkyard" lettering here. I'm assuming that's Chemical Metal, or whatever the Spanish equivalent is, in the holes & won't show once the background's blacked.

Love the way the filigree's entwined around the lettering.
Shining a light across the case shows just how deep the work is. I'm amazed you can produce something like this from a beat up ol' Jap' engine part.

More detail added to the "Frog" today.

That is truly amazing  glad I'm not the one that's got to dig deep into my pocket to pay the man.
A Andy

Yeah, not cheap.

I'm glad it's not cheap, it's art, it's crastsmanship, and it's beautiful - so often those sort of skills are not properly rewarded!

I agree Bobbi -apart from the being glad it's not cheap bit.  :D
I'd planned the bike as a very simple hardtail for blatting about on, on sunny days. Just hope the engraving doesn't seriously out-shine the rest of it now.
Tony's finished the righthand cover, but can't engrave the oil filter housing, (the small circular bit on the right), cos the face is only 1mm thick. Chatted with him by FaceBook message earlier & his mate the machinist in Yorkshire's going to turn a new one on his lathe with a domed face, so Tony can do his thing on it. That's another 60 quid.

Cover finished & buffed.

that is  :o :o you will just have to make the rest of the finish just as big budget now  ;D on thing always leads to another. when we were building the trike i always thought it was going to be a bit ratty buy when is saw it finished and on it's wheels i knew it would have to get a good paint job to finish it right..i know you'll do that justice

That is seriously wonderful ,a true piece of art 

i have drooled on my laptop  :P

Ewww.
Yeah, it was supposed to be a nice simple every day rider. Something I wouldn't worry about using in bad weather or parking unattended. Now if I ever fall off, I'm gonna have to hurl myself under the bike to protect my investment.

That or fit some massive crash bars.  :D

Air bags -or an XS trike.

Scrolled or shiny ally bobbins from the down tube engine mount? Could look sweet and be practical in a spill.

Or maybe just frame the casings, hang them on the wall as art & not bother building the bike!

or build the bike and keep it in the house ;D

That's been done before!

Yeah, several times by me.

Onto the main body of the lefthand casing. A monkey spanner entwined with filigree.

More detail.

.

Sure is coming along......

Like the subtle ref - Monkey Spanner  ;D

So who remembers Dave and Ansel Collins with the song "Monkey Spanner" from 1971 ? (they did "Double Barrel" too)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmPQFyoXKiI

Yeah, Tony came up with the spanner idea. I told him it was strangely appropriate. I wasn't sure a "bendy" spanner would look right & thought a normal straight headed one would look better. He told me he's actually got one that shape in his shed so I told him to do whatever felt right to him. Glad I did.
That's weird -they played Double Barrel on the radio this morning. Yeah, I remember :)

Main cases finished, ready for final polishing. 2 small covers left to do, (the oil filter housing on the righthand cover & the square tappet cover from the top of the engine).

.

Whatever it costs Andy, that is SO worth it!   Fabulous!

I'm a bit green with envy.

 :D Basically a month's wages. Financially painful for a few weeks, but I'll still be enjoying them in 10, maybe 20 years time, (I hope).
I couldn't hope to do this myself & if you want quality, it ain't cheap I'm afraid. By the Summer I hope to be riding the bike & Id've forgotten the cost.

Think I may seriously attempt something. Will try to scrounge a casing from someone, wife is "arty" and I'm good with a hammer and chisel, years of breaking off rusty nuts in the bowels of ships must count for something.  :o

Think Tony's surpassed himself with your cases Andy. Good idea letting him have a free hand with a lot of the design.

:D
Go for it. At least you must be used to knocked knuckle syndrome.   ;D

Single frog footprint on one of the tappet covers -a tappet dancing frog?
XS650s have 3 triangular tappet covers on the top of the engine & one square one. The very first models had a de-compression lever to help starting & the valve lifter was fitted to the square cover. I asked Tony to add something Froggy to the odd one.

Finished side cases looking good.................

Curved handled spanners were fairly common, in fact this one's for sale at the moment till 29th March - go on, you know you want it  ;)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-tool-curved-handle-adjustable-spanner-wrench-9-1-2-inchs-gwo-/321703024310?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ae6fe96b6

Don't show me stuff like that! Now I'm wondering what I can make out of it for the bike! -gear change pedal?

reckon it could make an interesting brake pedal as it has a bit of a curve to it and could look like the foot pad was held in the jaws of the spanner.

Stix

ive always wanted a King Dick

Whatever works for you mate.
Yeah, I was thinking a rod clamped in the jaws for the gearchange, but might work better as a brake pedal. Not overly keen on themed bikes or ratrods covered in spanners for door handles, link rods made from welded up chain etc, but I've never seen these swan neck spanners before & I've got one engraved on the engine now.
I might have a bid on that. It would make interesting workshop wall art if nothing else.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oBppCUOnppA/TJURtWA5rWI/AAAAAAAACoA/LyPhZZFG0IU/s1600/King-Dick_adjustable-spanner_SIDEBURN.jpg)

Thanks to Big Darren & his van, the bike's now at my big brother, Mr Brock's fabrication workshop in deepest Wiltshire. He foolishly offered to do a day's work on it for free as my Christmas present -so I took it, & all the parts I had for it, over to him, listed all the jobs that need doing & said keep it as long as you like & do as much as you want.

Brock begins to realise it may have been the worst present idea ever.   

First job is to add a little more rake into the front end. The fork tubes are pushed up through the yokes by about an inch & a half at the moment. So push them back down to where they should be, which will raise the front of the bike, then probably cut a wedge out of the top tube under the tank & heat the top of the front down tubes. Pushing down on the top of the frame will then lower the front & push the forks out, further forward. Maybe.

I think the stance looks great.
If it was mine i would shorten the forks.

Like most hardtails, it's a few inches longer than the original frame. So standard length forks make it look a bit "flat nosed". Needs the front kicked out a little to bring it back into proportion. The bottom frame rails sit an inch & a half higher at the front than the back, so adding a bit more rake to the front end should drop it down level to the ground & give about 4 & a half inches of ground clearance.

Mr Reynolds the engraver's been busy with the polishing mop.

Oh, shiny stuff ;), get that cheque book warming gently. Very good, great work will make the bike look special, is that your brother looking very studious ?

Yup, that's Steve. He's a proper engineer & tends to look in silent despair at anything I make.  :P

Despite managing to seriously hurt my back, (typical -right at the start of my week off), I drove, very painfully, over to Steve's workshop this morning. Just confirming I was happy with what he'd done really, then we stripped the bike down to a bare frame so he could fully weld it.
He sent me these photos yesterday. He's raked the headstock. Barely noticable but he took a 30mm slice out of the top tube, heated the top of the down tubes & gently eased the front end out. The bottom frame rails now sit parallel to the ground. It's enough to look "right".

He's also made & fitted threaded bungs to mount the front mudguard to the hoops I'd already made.

And made & fitted headlight brackets to the stainless sleeves I'd fitted over the fork tubes between the top & bottom yokes.

When I left him today he was planning to make new footrest mounts plus fitting the brake pedal, master cylinder, reservoir & top engine mount as well as modifying the chain guard.
Top work Mr B. Thank you.

Very nice and such a subtle chop, hoping my kwak will have the same look to it albeit on 3wheels, a case of less is more.
Now all you need is for your back to get better cos a hard tail ain't gonna be to comfortable.

Stix

 :) yeah, a nice, understated every day rider -apart from the crazy engraving on the engine. More than half my bikes have been hardtails. Never as bumpy as people imagine & in many cases better than a sprung back end.

 Normally I'd say don't do this to a frame, but Steve is one of very few people I'd trust to do it right.

Yeah, he builds drag cars for a living so I don't question his judgement.

Steve's one day of bike fabrication turned into 3 or 4 days in the end. He's now spending his Easter weekend building his own race car ready for it's first meeting in 2 weeks time. Very much appreciate your help bro. Thank you.

Mr Brock & my bike, attacking it with a TIG.

Lots of tidying up to do on the frame, (not Brock's work, which is super tidy), so I need to spend an afternoon with the MIG welder or body filler, depending on whether I go with paint or powder-coat. All the mounting tabs are in place now though & it just needs a couple of fixing holes drilled in the electric box base.
Steve spent a huge amount of effort on the footpegs, which were completely different from one side to the other. They're a mix of Suzuki frame mounts & Yamaha pegs & now sit level & true to each other & fold as they should, with newly machined capped bungs in the frame mounts.
He's fitted the torque arm for the rear brake caliper, though as he pointed out, it's in compression when it should be under tension.
Re-worked the top engine mount to remove the brace tube that normally runs under the tank.
Made & fitted a very tidy brake pedal/master cylinder set-up, which involves a rod turning inside a tube across the frame, with brass bushes in either end, with the modified yam' arm pushing up into the cylinder, with a nice little return spring bracket.
Re-worked the left side panel to lift the chain guard clear of the chain.
Modified the front headstock gusset I'd made.
Fitted the headlight.
Fitted the front mudguard.
Made & fitted a bracket to hold the mini speedo down on the left fork leg.
Oh, & cut, raked & braced the headstock. It now has 35 degrees of rake. As far as I can ascertain from the 'net, standard rake is 27 degrees.

I'm really happy with it & very grateful to big brother, who hasn't charged me a penny for his time -yes, I'll find a way to pay him back.

I think you meant to say"he'll find a way for you to pay him back". :D And tell him to stop TIG welding with bare arms, skin cancer is rife in TIG welders, pass it on.  ;)

Yessir.

Big thanks to Big Darren for transporting the bike back from Brock's place in Wiltshire to the lock-up garage that Loony & I share in Hampshire this afternoon.
I need to strip it down now, take it to the workshop & spend a couple of afternoons filling low spots, cleaning up old welds, working out where the electrical components will go & drilling holes for wiring, then it's ready for shot blasting & powder coating.
And of course, huge thanks to my big bro for his time & talents. Thanks mate.  ;)

And don't forget Pete did a lot of work on it too.

Yup, PD hardtailed it. Another multi forum member build.   :)

Took the top cover off my engine this afternoon to get at the 2 top engine mount studs, which are seized into the ali casing & have just been hacksawed off at either end by a previous owner. Managed to snap the chrome oil feed pipe that runs up the front of the engine in the process. Poo. There's a guy in Germany selling brand new ones on Ebay, but they're 70 quid each.
On a brighter note, Tony the engraver's finished the main cases. The small round cover inset in this case holds an oil filter. Although it sits quite deep into the main case, the front is only 1mm thick -too thin for Tony to work with. So his mate in Yorkshire machined up a new cover with a domed front & he's added the frog's head on it. I'm really, really pleased with these & so is he, which is good. I've Paypal'd him the last of the cash for them, which is apparently paying for a new roof on his workshop in Spain. Just need to sort out the postage now. Somehow I've got to clean the rest of the motor up to be worthy of these.

Beautiful traditional engraving with a modern slant. Nice.

The pics of these on Facebook are great buddy



Yeah, those ones!! :D :D

And they're mine, all mine!  :)

Make sure they are  WELL insured !!!!!

Yeah, so much for my ride it anywhere, chuck it against a lamp post & try & remember where you left it, daily hack.
Maybe I'll just frame these & hang 'em on the wall.

It's known as mission creep;)

What he said^^^

Found a way of paying my brother back.
I bought another XS engine from a bike breakers in Stoke on Trent. I picked it up for spares for my own, but most of the bits I wanted aren't actually on it -so I've given it to Steve. He hasn't got a bike licence but always had an interest in bikes & had asked me to look out for a cheap engine. There ya go -do something interesting with that.
Drove up to Stoke today, collected it & delivered it to Steve's workshop in Wiltshire.
I've swapped the aluminium handled dipstick for my plastic one, taken the top engine mount & Steve's going to take off the chrome oil feed pipe that I broke on my own. It's also fitted with the early model decompression valve lifter, (to make starting easier). Slight damage to the cable clamp which can probably be repaired. I'm very tempted to fit it on mine, just because I've never seen one fitted before so it's an interesting detail. Need to check that it will fit a later engine though -plus I've just paid a small fortune to have that tappet cover from my engine engraved! Maybe I could fit the engraved one on the Pop somewhere  :)
So a very expensive dipstick, (no, not me), but nice to do something for my big bro for a change.

Spent the morning at a local vintage Japanese motorcycle autojumble & picked up a few XS650 parts.
Found a Haynes manual, a set of points & backplate, a brake pedal pivot & the phone number for a lefthand engine casing for Brock;
A pair of front brake calipers & mounting brackets for Tom, which I bartered for his spare alternator for Brock:
A headsteady bracket & an oil feed pipe for my own:
A righthand engine casing, phone number for the lefthand one, dipstick & front engine mount for Lunatic.
-handy that we all have the same model of bike  :)
I also picked up this little tank for a fiver. Early 100cc Suzuki maybe. Plus a brand new Honda chrome fuel cap to fit it, still in it's bag for 6 quid. Picked it up cos I knew Loony would like it & sure enough he's grabbed it for his XS. Propped in place on Tom's.

Displayed my unfinished XS on our pitch at the Basingstoke Transport Festival yesterday, minus the engraved engine casings cos they were still in Spain.
They arrived this morning. Amazing workmanship & as Loon said, great to be able to handle them after just seeing the photos Tony the engraver posted on FaceBook. Nowhere safe to put them for now, so they're tucked away in my bedroom! Really, really pleased with these.

Compared to Loony's standard cover, just to give some idea of how much work's gone into them.

And you should be Andy! :D

That's my next foray into the art world, engraving!

Very labour intensive, (as I'm sure your airbrushing is), but trust me, there's big money in it! (these cost me more than I paid for the bike).

Out & about this afternoon & had to pass the lock-up garage the bike lives in. Couldn't resist taking one of the covers with me & very carefully propping it in place to see how it looked.

.

.

looks really really good mate  ;) ;D

Nice it's coming on matey

Slowly but surely.

Those covers look excellent. Really great work. Bet you're well pleased with them.

If I ever sold the bike, (which I don't ever plan to do), I'd take them off & keep them.

 ;D

Those covers look gorgeous 

Still quietly sorting out bits on this while working on my truck every afternoon.
I had a leather stirrup strap left over from the truck, so took it to a local saddlery shop who shortened it down & stitched a loop in each end to form a strap over the top of the battery. My truck has the same over the top of the fuel tank. I'm trying to build them as a matched pair, with as many shared features as possible.
After the saddlery shop, I collected a pile of parts from the powder-coaters. These were just easily unboltable bits that could be done in gloss black while the bike's just sitting in the garage, including both mudguards & their mounts, the rear light, number plate bracket, rear brake anchor arm etc. Unfortunately they had a problem with the mudguards, which kept reacting & wrinkling the finish. Not really a problem as they can be flatted back & spray painted.
I need to spend some time going through the bike, marking all the wiring holes that need drilling & any other modifications, then I can strip it down, smooth the frame out & get it off to the coaters.

Is this going to be on the road for august 16th ???

August 16th sounds alright. Its just the year we aren't to sure about. ;D ;D

I like that :D

Might be there in a van!

That's not quite the idea of a classic bike meet.  ;D

"Classic Bike Meet" on August 16th ? - you guys going to the Ramsgate Sprint Revival (vintage & classic bike show, Wall of Death, Funfair, live music, Sprint Demonstrations) ?

http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14522.0

http://ramsgatesprintrevival.com/index.html

Popham Megameet at Popham airfield.
I have to work all day on Saturdays, so it's Sunday-only events for me I'm afraid.

Lovely little chop mr manky..

Thank you.
Not sure if I've mentioned it before in this thread, but now I'm in my 50s, I've decided I don't want to spend the rest of my life building things -I want to get out & enjoy the vehicles I've got. So my truck & my bike are my last, but they're the keepers.
I've had half a dozen XSs over the years. Lots of other bikes in between, but I keep coming back to them. They're the level of biking I'm comfortable with. Fast enough to be fun without being stupidly fast, basic enough to be fixable, stylish enough to be cool. I'm hoping this one will be a good, rideable mile muncher. If it makes me grin it's doing it's job  :)
Hope to have the frame powder coated & the tank painted in time for the Popham show, but it won't be finished. Not far off though.

"Not sure if I've mentioned it before in this thread, but now I'm in my 50s, I've decided I don't want to spend the rest of my life building things"

 Yeah, I keep saying that as well Andy but can't seem to follow it through. 

I'm getting where your at dude..and feeling the same way some days..being at home every day ( albeit poor health ) does allow me more building time..defo no more hot rods for me..but iv got to do something ,life's boring otherwise

:) I'd love to have the time & money to try other stuff. Got no intention of giving up, but if I weren't always working on projects, I'd have the time & the money  :)
I figure if I say it often & publicly enough, people will stop me taking on anything else!

Like yourself I HAVE to do something .Without doing it I'll sit about slowly seizing with increasing pain. At least if I do something I have a reason for the pain ;)

Iv Sussed it..kev and I can watch monkey build the stuff while we direct from the sideline while eating jaffas and drinking tea..   " don't do it like that,do it like this !"

you could be the Manky Monkey peanut gallery!

Do we spit out the peanuts thru peashooters..he,he..

That's mostly my current mode of operation but I struggle to get the staff ;)

Yes why is it they don't want to do it for us old crips?  It's not like we know it all or we're grumpy ?

So. With just a week or so till the Popham Megameet bike show & with the Yam' all in one piece in bare metal in the garage, it's time to pull it all apart, paint it, then panic about getting it back together in time.  :P
I've got a couple of wiring holes to drill & a mounting tab to make for the rear brake reservoir, but otherwise, it's just a case of cleaning up some scruffy welds around the back of the engine cradle & sorting through the pile of bike parts I've taken off to decide what needs powder coating. The frame, yokes & any small parts will all be gloss black. Hopefully I can aerosol spray the tank in green before next weekend too.
Had a minor panic when I suddenly realised the battery box is missing. I remembered taking it to the coaters about a month ago, but not actually collecting it. A quick call to them confirmed it's still sitting there waiting. So I'll pick that up when I drop the frame off on Monday. It'll be tight, but they reckon they can have everything coated by Thursday night.
While that's being done, I've been collecting some of the service parts I need -new headstock bearings, fork seals, front & rear wheel bearings, clutch cable, sprockets etc. I'll clean up & fit as many as I can while it's apart, but it's just going together again for the show. I'm not planning on having it road worthy till the Spring now. I've rented a van to take Tom's XS & mine to the show next weekend.

.

Your cutting it a bit fine there Andy :o see you and Tom on Sunday :)

Don't we always Terry!

Remember to stay calm..it doesn't matter if bits are missing for the show mate..it's looking good and we can all see the potential of the beast..

Ohhhmmmmm -thinking calm thoughts.

Ohhhmmmmm -a week to go.

Ohhhhhh, bugger.

You're right Mr S, doesn't matter if it's not finished, but I'll get it as bike-like as I can. I was going to spend a couple of hours pulling the forks apart to fit new seals, then realised it won't look any different, so it can wait. Not planning on getting it on the road till the Spring, so this is just a visual exercise for now.
Got the frame back from the powder-coaters this afternoon. 120 quid for the frame & a big box of all the small parts from Tom's & my bikes, shotblasted & coated in gloss black. Done in 2 days. It's an industrial quality finish, but fine for our needs. They shotblast in the same workshop they coat in, (but obviously in a walk-in cabinet), so there's sometimes pinheads of grit trapped under the coating. I've spotted a couple on the top seat rails, but they'll be almost hidden by the saddle & the engine engraving will hopefully distract people's gaze from them anyway!
We built the hardtail from ERW tubing -"steampipe". It comes from the suppliers with a screw-on collar on the end of each length, presumably to join them together. So we welded 4 of them into the axle plates, just to add a bit of detail & to make the frame look a little more industrial. They don't have any function at all, but the coaters have very carefully masked the threads before coating, so I'll have to paint them back in by hand.  :)

Many thanks to Big Darren, (& his neighbour who was unwary enough to wander over for a chat while we were there), for lifting the engine back in with me this afternoon. No swearing at all, which has to be a first.
I'm going to run the motor as it is & see how it goes, rather than stripping it right down to inspect it when it may well be fine. So now it's in, I'll scrub the ali' casings up in situ. Only spotted one hole I've forgotten to drill so far, which is better than I expected. The coil mount. Of course, it'll be a bugger to get to now.
Back to Loony's workshop later to clean the wheels & forks up.

Looking good,and of course I won't stand and point while speaking very loud about the bits in the powder coating ? ;D

 :D

Bet your sweating now ?  8) he.he..

Swearing -I've rented a van for the weekend. I hate the logistics of ferrying non running projects about for these shows. Always costs a fortune in rented transport, always last minute hassles. I enjoy the shows once I'm there, but getting there's a nightmare.
I've got an American made "Western Eagle" saddle on the bike. Cost a fortune but it's a lovely low profile, sculpted shape. Bought it 3 or 4 years ago & it's been moved from one place to another without a scratch. Loaded the bike frame & boxes of parts in the van this afternoon to move it all across town to Loony's workshop. First time I dabbed the brakes the frame tipped over in the van & the headstock sliced a neat semi circle through the vinyl seat covering. Poo. That'll be another 50 quid to get it recovered then.  >:( Not sure if Phil the upholsterer can stretch vinyl that tight, but hopefully he can do something with it. He's got all Winter till I need it on the road, (though I'm still wondering if we can get it to the Dutch show in November somehow). Ideally I'd have it done in tuck n roll vinyl to match the seats in my Pop.
I was at Loon's workshop till midnight last night, fitting new bearings to the wheels & bottom yoke & will be heading over there again later to paint the mag wheels & spray the tank.

Oops..typical..which show in holland ?

The Rockin' Jalopys show at Autotron, Rosmalen. Loony & I have just booked the accommodation.

We go to the same place for the Big Twin show ?

Yeah, Kapri's been to shows there before & Goforrest used to take his beach buggy to VW shows there. This'll be our third visit.

What dates are you going ? I'd advise going from a different port,don't want to bring back new friends ? ;)

Thursday the 19th of November. We catch the overnight ferry from Harwich to Rotterdam.
Been at the workshop this evening, putting the bike together for the Popham Megameet bike show tomorrow. Not running, just mocked up, but I'm quite pleased with it. Looks totally different with the frame coated. Built it up in the back of the hire van I'm sharing with Tom & his XS. I'll fit the tank in the morning, but maybe leave the engraved engine casings off until we get there!

Just as well I decided to fit the engine casings before we left -had to take one of the exhaust pipes off to get the left one on.
A very busy day on Sunday, starting at the workshop at 7am, fitting the tank, cases & a few odds & ends, before Tom arrived at 8 to load his XS in the van. Then we were off at a very sedate pace, listening for the clatter of bikes falling over in the back, to Popham airfield. Only 6 miles away, so we were there in plenty of time for the 9.0.clock meet up with Terry T & his Portsmouth Trike Club guys.
We parked the bikes on his pitch, but ended up pushing them across the field later to display them on a stall specialising in XS650 parts. The stall owner said they really pulled the punters in & he could've sold mine 15 times over. I was curious to know what people thought it was worth & every time we came back past, the theoretical asking price had crept up a bit more. 2 1/2 grand by the end of the day, which is about what it's cost me, (1 1/2 for the donor bike & parts, plus a grand's worth of engraving). Bizarrely, there was another bike at the show with engraving by the same guy, (he lives in Spain).
I blew the petrol tank over in the same green I painted my truck, just in aerosol paint, scrubbed to a satin finish with a Scotchbrite pad. Suprising what a difference a bit of colour makes. It suddenly looks like a proper bike.
Tom & I agreed, it really boosts your enthusiasm to show the bikes & get some feedback from other bikers. Seemed to go down well.

I really like it without the mudguards. Think I might shorten the rear one a little & curve the mounting struts. Also wondering if the side panels should be green or black?
The bike's now safely stowed in the lock-up garage again. Need to crack on with my truck, ready for the Dutch hotrod show in November. I'd really like to take the bike too, to display alongside it, so can see me renting a van yet again. Looking forward to riding this now.

.

.

My last 2 projects. No more after these. I just want to get out & enjoy what I've got now instead of spending my life building things. Keeping them forever  :)

The latest issue of Duro Rider Gazette.
That's my lefthand casing on the righthand page.

Paint the side panels green Andy.

 I agree

Great looking pair Andy, as for being the last, I think you need a matching Trike  :o

bike looks fab MM and yes green side panels for me too,coppersmith's right i think you should too!!

I think those two are a fine display of the culmination a lifetimes learning and creativity. Well done, you should be proud.
You need a trike in the collection tho...

You just gota build something..it's in the blood 8)

N-o-o-o. No, no, no.
Maybe.  :D

Well I built the trike(s) as a lower cost way to build a hotrod/chop and the missus can ride it too ? Plus it's a hobby..I don't let a piece of metal get me down..but it's defo a passion..always will be..trouble is my illness stops me riding..so count your blessings Andy ..get out an about..throomm.. 8)

Well I'm in the other camp - while the side panels would look good in green, I think they would draw attention away from the casings, and the nearside one would also have the exhaust cutting across the shape of it.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same Bobbi. I'll try 'em in black & can always re-spray them if it doesn't work.

Satin black's the way to go Mr. M ;) ;)

Okey doke.

Oh, and bye the way, very tidy Mr. M. as I would expect, and an excellent example of less being more! ;) ;)..Morrag

Less being more doesn't work with holes ? ::)

Depends on the size off hole, and your philosophy for life ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hotrods have to holes,chops too,so why not hotrod trikes..even golfers have them..I was born with one in my heart..in fact I'd say I'm not a hole without one..I'm sensing mr manky should find some room for some on his bobber 8)

 :)

I think green but hey, I just built a purple bike so my taste is probably not the best ::)

 ;D

Green holes then ? :-*

my 2p worth ? has to be green, holes are optional.

The thing with holes is...you don't know they are there ?

I always keep the holes from my doughnuts. And throw the rings away.

I think they should make Jaffa cakes with holes ?

Tim Horton's, the chain of coffee shops in Canada & the States, sell boxes of donut nibbles, supposedly the bits from the middle of their ring donuts.  :D
if anyone's still interested in the bike, rather than holey Jaffa Cakes, (sounds like a line from Batman & Robin), it's tucked away in the garage for the time being while I concentrate on my truck, but after a little bit of welding, I'll probably get the side panels powder-coated in black. If I don't like them I can spray them green over the top.
I'm going to try & shorten the rear guard a bit & reshape the support struts to make it less obtrusive cos I really like the look of the bike without them, but need to keep it reasonably road legal.

Andy that bike is dam fine..don't worry to much about mr plod..ride it sensibly ( fit a mirror n use it ) it's the power ranger types they will be after..iv only been pulled over once ( complete jobs worth lying twat ) in 14 years of riding my chop

I've never been stopped on a chop or a trike either, only on standard bikes. Obviously riding customs is the way to go then.  ;D

Well we're riding along..with that " look at me " attitude ..we're defo not trying to avoid detection..

If he's riding that so blatantly, it must be legal!

Something like that..but ssh ! 8)

Same thing with trikes!   I thought I was in for a speeding fine once, just clocked the officer with the speed gun as I entered the speed limit going rather too quickly (but slowing) and he very deliberately turned away from the road!

Never been stopped even with my Heath Robinson suicide shift.

Seems most cops are into stuff..when I had my shop..one day 12 motorbike cops came in.." Got any chrome German helmets mate ? ". Turns out they we're all off to faro on their chops the next day ?

Yeah, I had a visit due to welding very late at night. Turned out they wanted a brew and had a complaint from a dog walker so just turned up.

Theyn probably appreciate someone making something other than trouble!

Ok to walk a dog late at night,but not weld ? Praps he thought it was Aliens firing up the spaceship ?

dog had a welding flash  ???

Now that look good, wish I had both.

i just wish both were finished.

They will be mate..don't give yourself deadlines..

A parcel arrived by courier at 7.o.clock yesterday evening. A new saddle to replace the one I damaged a few weeks ago. It's A "Western Eagle" solo seat from the States, the same as before, but they don't seem to make the one I had any more. This one's slightly smaller & not as curvy, but is in "tuck n roll", pleated vinyl, which will match the seats in my truck.

I really liked the previous saddle, so asked Phil the upholsterer to try & repair the tear in it. He did a good job, but I just wasn't happy with it, so decided to replace it. This one sits a little higher, so I might end up fitting shorter springs. It's fine, but will take some getting used to after the ultra low one I had before.
Archie's bought the old one from me for his budget chop project.

Photos taken in very dim light with my phone.

The forks are out at the moment cos I replaced the seals, then decided to powder-coat the headlight & it's mounts black, to match the truck lights.

Looks nice, now put a cover on it, or better still, stick it in a box, till the bikes finished.

What Olds said, you don't want to keep spending hard earned money replacing things that get damaged   

And don't forget to spray some wd40 over your bits (ooh er ! ) to protect em from the cold weather ,don't want em going rusty ? :o

looking very nice andy

Right hand side casing's been off to re-fit the oil pump, (I dismantled it when the casings were sent away for engraving). Also replaced the oil strainer & refitted the cover with a new gasket. Everything looks fine in the bottom end so I'm not going to pull it apart if it doesn't need it.
I've fitted the twin lead coil under the seat -not the original XS one, but it was on the bike when I bought it. I used a pair of inline suppressors to join the original HT lead to the new cloth braided ones & fitted new caps & plugs. The vintage style cloth covered HT lead is the same as used on my truck, (green with a red fleck). I had 2 offcuts of it left over & they turned out to be almost exactly the right length. 

Rear light's back together & on, though I managed to scrape the black powder-coat in the process. I've touched it back in with black paint, which will hopefully polish out & not show. It's a reproduction vintage Chevy truck light. Mr Olds kindly extended the wires for me as I haven't got a soldering iron -they run inside the frame tube to the battery box under the seat. It's supposed to earth through the body, but as everything's powder-coated now, I'm not sure it will. May have to run a separate earth, or scrape off some coating when it comes to wiring it up.
At some point while my brother was raking the headstock or Pete was hardtailing the back end, the upright tube behind the engine's moved about 5mm. Not a huge problem, everything's still nice & true, but it means the rear engine mounting plates don't fit. So I spent this afternoon cutting a new pair. Once I know they fit I'll get them coated.
The saddle's growing on me now I've got it properly fitted, but can't really try it out till I've got the front end back in.

thats some bike ,, so good i want one  ::) ::) ::)

 Coming along well Andy. Love the simplicity of this bike.

 :) Determined it'll be my last bike build, so just want a good, solid, reliable ride. Nothing too fancy or fussy. Something I can just jump on & go.

A bit more tinkering today. If my truck's not ready for the Dutch hotrod show in November, this'll be Plan B. I'll rent a van & take the bike to display instead. So it needs to at least look like a complete bike, rather than a box of bits propped together in the exhibition hall.
Every job I start seems to involve having to drive across town to Loony's workshop to pick up a tool, or drive across town in the other direction to buy nuts & bolts etc. Slow progress, but getting there.
I decided to shorten the rear mudguard as much as I could cos I really like the look of the bike with no guards at all, but don't want the hassle of being pulled over for not having them. Ended up slicing 3" off it -any more & the number plate would be horizontal & unreadable. I cut it from the front end, so that I kept the rear mounting holes & wired rear edge on the guard. It's made of aluminium, (hand made by a guy in Oxford, who made the similar guards on my truck). The powder-coaters can coat ali', but have to warm it in the oven, then spray a light coat of powder on to it, so that it partially melts, then a heavier coat over the top. Normally works, but this time it ended up wrinkling & sagging. So I've rubbed it back with 180 & 400 grit wet n dry & Mr Loon will spray it in 2 pack gloss black.

I was going to replace the guard support with curved rods, but quite like it as it is. It matches the front one. Sits more upright than it used to though, because I've shortened the guard, so now it will foul the brake caliper. I can cut a section out of the front hoop though & replace it with an S bend.

The engine mounting plates fitted with a little adjustment, so now I'm making the top ones. The original Yam' head steady's an immensely complicated affair, made of 6 pieces that bolt together. Without it, the engine shakes a fair bit though, so I'll make a much simpler 2 piece version. I've cut the bottom sections from 3mm angle & just need to make the top bit, then weld them together.

I know I've asked this before, but need to check again -the bike came with aftermarket electronic ignition, which replaces the points. There's a pick-up mounted where the points used to be & it's got a slightly more modern twin lead coil.
I've also got this little red box of tricks. It all worked when I bought the bike, but there were all sorts of dodgy connections & wires not doing anything, so I ripped the lot out & just kept the components. I also had a box of spare parts though, so now I'm not sure what I need & what I don't.

I've got the original Yamaha CDI unit, but not sure if I need that too? (I'm a Postie, not a vehicle electrician). It has a finned casing to help it cool & happens to have exactly the same bolt pattern as the fusebox in my 'leccy box, so I've bolted the 2 together for now, with the CDI hanging in the airflow under the box.
Not needed? The red Boyer unit doesn't have any mounts on it, but I could attach it to the underside of the box lid or the inside of a side panel with Velcro, with a multi pin plug for the wiring.
So I've got wires from the points/pick-up unit & from the alternator & from the coil -what connects to what?

Why not just contact Boyer Bransden, send them the pic, and ask them?

They do instruction sheets spo you only need to know which unit you have and you can get all the gen!

http://www.boyerbransden.com/instructions.html (http://www.boyerbransden.com/instructions.html)


They're not the best for nothing!

Ahh, didn't know they were even still going Bobbi. Thanks.

O.K, looks like I don't need the CDI unit, just the Boyer red box. They recommend fixing with a cable tie or tape -very high tech  :)