First build 1981 Yamaha XS650

[RussosRide]

Hey guy's my names Ryan and I’ll be starting my first chopper build on a 1981 Yamaha XS650. I bought the bike bare bones stock back in April and rode it for a bit. But so far I’ve chopper the frame, welded on the hardtail with my buddy David. And have started working on the bike myself. I don’t have really any experience building choppers except reading forums and scrolling through Instagram seeing a lot of badass chops I take ideas from.
Right now I’ve just gotten the rear fender mounted without a sissy bar, and gotten a new chain on and spaced out. Hopefully you guys can help me with the bajillion problems I run into and I can have this bad Johnny up and running come spring time
Thanks!

[RussosRide]

Here’s the bike stock and what I have so far!

[AlbertaFarmer]

For whatever reason, your pictures aren't working. At least for me. I'd like to see what you've got going on if you get a chance to try the pictures again.

[Tattooo]

^^^^^^^^ Me either.......^^^^^^^^^^

[RussosRide]

Off to a great start haha let’s try this again


Hopefully this works thanks for the reply’s!

[Tattooo]

Yep it worked........ Very nice looking start.................

[AlbertaFarmer]

I really like the look of that frame. Best of luck on the project man. I'll be watching it come along.

[farmall]

That will make a practical chop.

Noob errors to avoid:
Poor fender mounting like drilling through the frame instead of using bungs. (I'd add a cross tube to support the upper part of the fender. If you don't mind a little extra work you could fab welded internal support for the fender and eliminate needing rear struts since there's room between tire and fender.)
Lack of fender reinforcement (on the inside of course) at mount points.

Figure out what tank you want to run.
Typical noob error is a low tunnel tank sitting atop the unattractive backbone. That brace connecting the top engine mount to the front down tubes could be replaced with a round tube mounted high enough to be concealed/mostly concealed by a high tunnel tank. You could also replace it with higher mounted gussets. Goal is reasonable neck support mostly out of sight.

There's plenty of room for a comfortable seat. Find pics of what you like and remember auto upholstery shops can cover custom seat pans if you decide to make one.

[RussosRide]

Hey guys, so I made some good progress today. The top cross tube was relocated about half an inch back closer to the rear fender in order to have a little more room for an electronic box in the future. I was thinking of doing a horseshoe HD style but instead of oil have it house all the electronics. I still have to figure all that out but that’ll be further down the line. I got a pair of 7/8 4 bends that I slapped on there and I really love the look of them. The last guy I guess cut the cross section out of them which holds them together so I want to find a design to weld onto them and fix that issue. I also created another mount for the fender on the lower section to give some more support. And I shaved down the original fender mount on top just to put a little design on there so it’s not so basic. On top of that I notched out the fender itself so the chain doesn’t scrape it when riding. Take a look hopefully the pictures actually work this time. Thanks again!

[TriNortchopz]

Lookin' good. What make is that hardtail?
Gotta ask, your buddy David, don't tell me that is the young guy that chopped his XS on here:
'77 XS650 Chopper Build: My First Chop!

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50518

[RussosRide]

Lookin' good. What make is that hardtail?
Gotta ask, your buddy David, don't tell me that is the young guy that chopped his XS on here:
'77 XS650 Chopper Build: My First Chop!

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50518

[ATTACH=CONFIG]98503[/ATTACH]

That’s him! Hahaha it’s a TC bro’s hardtail kit for the XS. I love his build, and he’s the one that taught me all I know. I want to do something similar to his but different bars, sissy bar, electronic box, headlight and forks.

[RussosRide]

Hey guys, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this but alot of good progress has been made. I got my sissy bar from TC bro’s and mounted that up using a fender brace which turned out really clean and narrow which I like a lot. I fabricated the mounts for the two tail lights I put on the sissy bar which I love the look of, as well as I welded the license plate mount onto the sissy bar. I also got the first half of the seat pan done since I decided to build my own by shaping and bending 16 gauge steel to sit flush on the fender. I plan on taking another piece of steel and bending a back rest on the seat pan, then finally cutting my own foam and glueing it on and sending it out to upholstered. I also got a super narrow sporty tank that I mocked up, all I’m waiting for are these metric bungs to come in the mail and I can’t mount that. Lastly I figured out the bars and the angle they need to be at, now I need to weld a cross member piece to keep them that way. Let me know what you all think, thanks for all the help and feedback

[RussosRide]

Hey guys! It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve updated this, but I’ve gotten a lot accomplished and it feels like the bike is almost there. As of recently I glued down the foam on the seat pan using 3M spray adhesive. Mounted the headlights, slapped on a set of tcbros xs650 forward controls, mounted the tank, fully fabricated a look alike HD oil bag which I use as my battery tray and mounted my regulator to the back side, built brackets for the coil to mount onto the down tube of the frame, welded together the bars giving the bike a narrow look I love. I also got some grips, a new throttle tube, and clutch perch. I also bought a set of pipes off a dude to cut and use a builders kit to build my own exhaust but realized the pipes were baffled so now I’m going to buy a set of straight pipes and run that, or build my own.
The only part I’m struggling with now and can’t figure out is that I bought a ‘79 Xs650 rear disc wheel to use since I won’t be running front brakes, and bought a ‘79 rear axle for the proper spaces. But when I put on the caliper also from a ‘79 it appears the caliper holder is rubbing against the disc causing the wheel not to spin at all. I don’t believe the disc is warped, and I tried every possible way to make it work except grinding down the caliper holder to make it not rub. I’m wondering if anyone has had the same problem and could help out, or give me any ideas on what to do.
-Russo

[TriNortchopz]

the caliper holder is rubbing against the disc causing the wheel not to spin at all.

Gonna guess, without seeing what spacers are on the other side, that the wheel is over too far to the disc side.

Did you confirm the caliper mount is straight, not bent?

Remove spacers from axle, re-install wheel with brake caliper to see where the wheel needs to sit to allow the caliper to have the proper alignment on the disc. Then determine spacers and sprocket alignment.

It a hardtail, so gonna guess that the spacing between the axle plates is not the same as a factory swingarm for disc brake. Did you measure and compare?

Could also be the hardtail is tweaked...squeezed in at the axle plate...confirm the hardtail frame rails are parallel from axle area up to the bend behind the seatpost, both top and bottom rails, and they are straight.

Oh, looking good by the way!

On another note, you still have the stock front fork legs and wheel...I would recommend you install that front brake, at least until you get a few miles on it and get used to riding your new chopper...you know, stay alive.

[Hatchet54]

Wow, this is a sweet build. I love the bars and I'm a fan of the way the fender just starts to flatten out above the tire.

I like your garage too. More importantly, did you make sheriff?