Mock-Up

I got a few minutes to mock up my new ride!

Found this old Motobecane Moped tank, thought it would fit just right...

I've had my Dual Sport 80/20 tires mounted up for a little while now to the stock mag wheels.  Tossed the rear into the frame, and mocked up the front right where I think it should sit once the forks are built...

Tank height is 31", frame height is 4"

I am 6' tall for reference....

 And a quick shot of potential riding position...  Real diggers have Rear Sets!!!  No Forwards or Apes for this thing.  Might figure out a sissybar of some sort to carry all my junk, but I think I can pull it off...

I've been a little busy stocking up and cleaning parts for the build too...  Bead Blasted cases, ported head, polished side covers, etc...  All the internals are hiding in various boxes somewhere in the shop. 

And of course, one of my Rephased Cranks... 

From this:

To This!

Thats it for now, I gotta get to work building my lower end of the engine, and doing some other things to plan for the Girder...  Stay Tuned...

My Birthday Present To Myself!!

So you guys have seen Death By Wheel! which was a sorta kinda start to this newest build for MYSELF.  Yes folks, I'm taking some time here and there to do something for me, and I've been planning this bike for a good long while.

Well, those Death Wheels got their tires mounted up this week, and I've got several engine parts all bead blasted, cleaned up, and waiting on some parts before I can build the engine.  I ordered a pile of tubing, several new dies for my HandBuilt Tube Bender, and got to work.    PS - Support the XS650.com forum and purchase your XS650 Axle Plates from Travis - HERE!!!

I built a NEW jig to hold the engine by itself, I have plenty of engine cases and dead parts, so this one is ugly and grimy, but it's gutted and easy to use for this.  I wanted to build a tight frame - with super close tolerances to the engine, which made this pretty much necessary.  Using a stock frame for reference, I stretched the rear 2" and bent up some tubing to get started. 

Then I made the front section of the frame.  5" out, 3" Down, 35 Degree Rake...   I used 1.25" OD Tubing sleeved over smaller tubing to make the front end similar to the stock frame.  The engine was lowered into the frame almost 1" lower than stock, and then tilted forward a few degrees.  You'll see why in a bit. 

And yes, before I catch hell, the shop was/is a mess...  I don't care, I was having fun and making progress, the mess can wait. With all the lower frame rails tacked on, sat back and made sure I liked my dimensions.  Yep, looked pretty radical to me, so I kept on.... 

I took a few more measurements with my Micrometer Eyeballs, and bent up a toptube / backbone out of some 1.5" OD Tubing... 

Here is a better shot to see how tight it all is.... 

I really wanted a more sloping angle behind the engine, and to get that effect, I knew I'd have to rotate the engine a bit forward.   And don't worry about oiling issues, I've been running my personal XS about like this for several years now due to the lowered forks and how I set up my tail section.  The case parting line on the engine isn't horizontal stock either, so it looks more angled than it really is... 


Then I made sure I could get the engine in and out - Kinda important, since the top tube is about 3" lower than stock... 

Put the mock-up engine back in, and started finishing out the rest of the engine mounts....

Front was gonna be a bit tight as well, look how much further forward the stock engine mount would have been out of the frame - wasn't planning on keeping it anyhow...  (You can see the sleeved tubing / slashcut here as well - nice details like this pay off in the end...)

Spent some time scratching my head, and decided against a thru-hole in the frame for this mount, as it would ugly up all my work making those slash cuts and sleeved sections.  So I machined up some stainless, and put together this trick little setup.  It took alot of work to make them come in and out, as they have to pivot into place...  These aren't going anywhere! (You can see how low the cases are inside the frame in this shot. 

Upper engine mount (Won't be using one anyhow, Rephased Engines run so smooth you don't need it...) is TIGHT! 

I was getting pretty happy with how everything was coming along, so I went ahead and bent up the rest of the tail section, and tacked it in...  I still have to add fender braces and some tabs, and then spend a little bit of time finishing all the welding, but so far soooooo good.... 

I'm stoked!!  I ordered my Lectron 34MM Carbs today, as we as my JE 750CC Pistons and liners (10.5:1 Compression, not that lame 9:1 from those other folks) from Hoos Racing.  I gotta build a new front end, and start getting a tank of some sort put together.  I have a few here I am thinking of narrowing, but might do a Prism tank too (anyone got one on the cheap??)  

Until next time folks, it's been a long day, but I feel like its been a good one. 

It's My Birthday! - 15% off all purchases made today!!!

Thats right folks, in celebration of my birthday, I am feeling generous.  All purchases made today will receive a 15% refund via paypal within 24 hours.   This is for 4-12-11 ONLY, so get your orders in today!

I will be in the shop all day if you are having any issues ordering parts - feel free to call.  (828) 505-8171

Interview with Carolina Rider

Always love to support the local talent, be it my painter's, upholstery dudes, or brewmasters... Ashley Wesley did a little write up for the Carolina Rider on Hugh's HandBuilt.... Thanks again Wesley!

Interview with Carolina Rider

Another Rephased Engine! - Jason H's Chop

Another engine I built for a customer.  This one is 650CC, All Stock Internals, 5th Gear Overdrive, and of course a 277 Rephased Crank and Cam. There are more handmade parts on this bike than you can shake a stick at... Very cool bike Jason, thanks for letting me be a part of the build!

Dino's Savage - Done for now...

Over the winter, a friend of Mine decided to finally repair his broke down Suzuki LS650 Savage.  It has been worked on by some "Mechanic" up north, and now had a fubar'd carburetor and a blown headgasket.  Dino and his roommate had been riding this thing around town regardless, even if it would only hit 35 MPH they both agreed it was better than not riding at all. 

So we tore down the engine for a rebuild with all new gaskets and such,  cleaned it all up, and then decided to start hacking on the frame.  Don't all good builds start with some mundane repair like that?

So we tossed the frame into the jig, cut off all the ugly on the stock frame, and made a tail section.  3" of stretch, a Chain Conversion, dropped the forks,  a decent seat and some random parts from around the shop and this thing was ready to hit the streets.    We topped it off with a sweet set of Stainless Z's from  Deep Six Cycles that he made to our exact specs for this build. 

Don't let the 650cc single thumper fool you, we breathed a little bit of life into this bike with a new pipe and rejetted the carb using a tried and true Dynojet kit.  I made a super sweet baffle inside the 2" pipe, wrapped with Moose Muffler packing and all.  Of course we had to test the new build, so I hit the road and all seemed to be great.  Strong power, lightweight, and good handling.  So I decided to hit the throttle and see what she would do.  My friend Andrew was riding behind me and said it looked like I hit a Chicken once all the packing instantly blew out of the muffler!  So now we were up and running good,  I hit I-40 for some real speed tests...  The new gearing, lighter weight and lack of common sense really helped this little thumper to come alive at Highway Speeds.  I have no idea how fast I was going, but Andrew was on my KZ650 and he was no where to be seen as I was passing cars like they were backing up. 

While it isn't as finished as most would like to see, riding season is HERE!  This winter we'll tear into is a lil more, paint the frame, make a patch panel for the tank (Gotta run that gas outta there before I weld it up!) and maybe do some porting to the head...  Until then, you should see this lil' HotRod Savage hitting the roads and mountains around NC.  Dino is a cool cat, so if you see him grinning from ear to ear on the road, throw him a thumbs up, because that's what it's all about.

Aluminum Pegs - Deep Six Cycles Style..

So a few days ago, my friend Tom over at Deep Six Cycles brought me some sweet brass pegs for an XS I've got here in the shop.   Tom makes some of the finest pegs and handlebars on the market, all handmade and his attention to detail is outstanding.  After posting the Brass Pegs up on the XS650.com forum, we realized that not everyone can handle the Radness that brass brings.  So I sent Tom back to work with some Aluminum Solid Stock, and he kicked out a new set of pegs that you guys (and gals) should be plenty happy with.

 

Made from Solid 6061 Aluminum, this oversized peg is 1.25" in diameter and knurled with his roughest knurling pattern for extra "Gription".  Extra deep grooves, Deep Six Cycles signature reverse dished ends, and a brushed finish make these a killer addition to any XS650.  Toss those ugly mofo rubber things in the trash, because these mount up just like stock pegs to the factory brackets.  

Retail is going to be $85.00 a set, with all hardware to mount them up included.  Be sure to get up with Tom over at Deep Six Cycles if you want a set.