The (almost) holy grail of quick dirty and cheap choppers...

Almost cause I gotta hit ebay and look for spoke rims...

This is the XS 650, this ones very late in the productio run, ('81) but they made them for nearly a decade, this late one has the sorta fugly mags with the electronic ignition, earlier is points....

Inspired by the triumph, which, though I love them, has gone the way of the harley as far as mad crazy desireablity...

"Punk is long dead, and indie is just the new sellout pop..."

 

It almost looks like a triumph motor... sortakina...

 

Hands down coolest thing about it? see the kicker...

 

BANZAIIIII!! chopp-chopp... bobb-bobb... arigatoo gozaimas...

 

That's one of my favorite bikes. I too like the '78? one's with the laced wheels but it's still got the right engine looks.

 

an example of not-so-cheap and dirty... heck, its not even a hardtail... I dont think I want mine to be so purty....

 

Great looking bike for a project! I love the Brit bikes, but they're getting too damn expensive for me. The 650 Yamaha twins are just as nice.
I bought a beat-up '79 650 Special last year that I may or may not turn into a chopper. Not nearly as nice a start as yours, but it runs great.

 

hey, how do those yamahas sound? with straight pipes, do they rap pretty good?

i have a mid seventies honda cb 750 chopper that i actually think LOOKS really good, but the thing just SOUNDS like shit!

thanks
jeff

 

Here is mine, i bought it last year. And i have a Triumph tank, that i will graft on it. Take care of the oilchanges and it will last forever.

 

Checkout the registration number 41 Meaning of life according of Hitchiker guide to the alaxy ;-)

Did not see it until i got it home, it must mean that this is a keeper. I have a Honda CB 750 also with 42 in the registration number, saws that after the fact to. its spooky ;-)

 

My son & I are building a Hardtail 650 Yam. right now.It was a savior frame that we converter to a hardtail(springs where shot), It has a springer front end & HD front wheel.
He was all hot on getting it done, then last week I helped a guy who dumped a big honda in front of us & got his foot ripped off from about mid shin, after that my sonn said" I thing when i get the bike done i'll sell iot & by a rod" !!
They are a great bike & plentiful, he picked up his fro a duece!
Jim

 

Damn, howd he get his foot torn off? Was he wearing boots?

I've been keeping an eye out for one of these for a while, and this is the first "cheap" one I found... seem to be a bit scarce around here...

 

You guys need to quit talking about how great these bikes are. You're driving up the prices of XS650s for those of us who are still looking.

 

Wicked Death Chop...one of the major drawbacks to the 750 Honda is that they ALL sound like shit!

I worked at a Honda dealer back in the 80s and heard about every type of stock and aftermarket pipe you can imagine on those things...and they ALL sounded ugly!

A co-worker had a 650 Suzuki that had a nasty snarl to it, even though the thing was a DOG...I walked him every time with my tricked out 350 Honda Death Chopper!

Wait till you hear my NEXT bike, though...a 'wing-dinger' (two stroke!).

I'll call it the "Chainsaw Chopper"!!!

 

Can't tell ya how it sounds...Actually I've never heard this one (or any) run, personal taboo for buying any motorized apparatus... but its in clean shape for its age, spark plugs look good, good compression, oils smells good, blahblah blah, so I'm not worried, they're bulletproof. I've heard a story of a guy removing a pile of cars from a junkyard and finding an XS underneath, and riding it around later in the day... Anyway, I didnt receive the set of keys, once its titled I'll take it to a dealer, pay thru the A$$ and get a code key cut or something... that way when I sell that gastank on ebay I can recover a sizeable chunk of my initial investment... key included with integral locking cap...

No shit on the hondas sounding lame! My 900 sounds barely cooler than my ol 250 did... I'm gonna lose the 4into4 and and get a 4into 1 for that one...

 

Dump the original pipes...they are double wall and very small inside diameter....I have a two into one on my daily driver and its WAY too obnoxious....I love it!!

 

I paid a local locksmith around $20 (I think) to make a set of keys for my '76 Yamaha XS500. They just needed the numbers off of the ignition (the numbers should be located right next to where you put the key in the slot).

I have a set of XS650 wire wheels laying around. I was going to try and make them fit my 500, but that was a no go. I did find some 500 wire wheels. I had to get the swingarm off of the same bike I got the wire wheels from, beacuse the wire wheels use a larger axle. Not sure if the 650 is the same?

 

Check the pic above your post....NEEDED...WIRE WHEELS!!!!....I'm interested if you want to sell them.


OOPs...didn't realize burndup was looking for wheels...sorry

 

You guys operate on a one track mind, chops and nothing else.

Those bike have so much potential for other stuff besides chopper fodder. You want some examples?

Try this, they make killer street trackers:



Omar's Street tracker

Google search for "street tracker"

Or you could do this to it, Cafe'/ Clubman racer style:



Google search for "clubman racer"

And of course if you need some further inspiration to do this, check out Ace Cafe, London or how about this TonUp.

 

Hey ELpolasko........or should I say KENNY ROBERTS!.....can't hide.

 

Learn to love that kicker.The xs 650 electric start SUCKS. I love the bikes and have built many crazy choppers and bobbers out of them.The xs 650 motor was actually a copy of the Norton Atlas engine.They Shake and rattle just like a real teabag and sound realy sweet with straight pipes.Tommorrrow I will post some pix of some of xs chops Ive done
Jerry 58villager

 

did you get that one from the recycler in LA? I saw that ads and was gonna call!

 

SHIT! I'm hooked. I've been wanting to build a Trump Chop bar-hopper but this route seems like it could be cheaper. What about frame and front end? The one you said was not so cheap and Hatch's are killer. What on them is stock and what is from oher sources. Thanks for the info.

 

How about this one?

1977 XS YAMAHA 650 CAFE RACER STYLE. ALL ORIGINAL AND VERY CLEAN. BLACK , DUAL CHROME PIPES (ORIGINAL W/NO RUST OR BLEMISHES) RUNS AND LOOKS NEXT TO PERFECT

NEW TIRES

CALL TOM

He wants $975


Then there's this one. Is this a HAMBer bike?

 

Mine, it's a 79' xs 400.

 

James, what frame and front end mods did you do?

 

I stretched the swingarm 7", then built new downtubes for the rear. The front is dead stock except for fender removal. This pick shows it all pretty good-

 

Oh yeah, mountain bike bars and I cut the balls off the ends of the levers, and removed the gauges.

 

Well, damn, I'm gonna have to get a second one and cafe it, and a third one and streettrack it!!!


Hatch, did you cut the coils on the rear shocks on yours? What kind of seat is that? My idea is sorta similar to yours, except I was gonna yank the shocks and throw on struts to see if I can tolerate a hardtail... that, and replace the rear fender with something.... uhh, different! (rear fender is where I'm gonna buck all the fads and trends at...)

mountain bike bars.... hmm, a trip to target or wal mart...

The kicker rocks, I want to get a factory service manual to see if its possible to totally delete the starter, that way I can run one of those small surplus gel batteries that are coming out of computer UPS's...

Any of you guys know if its possible to retrofit points ignition on the elctronic ignition bike? Not that I want to throw away something good that works, but if the mystery box dies, OR, if I totally rewire the thing, I may want to attempt simplification...

Wow, great bikes guys, I had no idea this would turn into such a bitchin thread, I expected to catch flak for playing with japanese shit again!

-J

 

I cut the coils and now it has NO suspension travel...but its LOW!!!...these bikes are the best japanese bikes ever made...they sound great...good torque, ...just rip off the yamaha badges, and people are clueless about what it is.

If ya wanna eliminate the elec starter, just rewire the whole bike..pretty easy when you are into basics.