95 savage chop

[mrsteveg]

Here's my chop in progress,.
It started life as a bone stock 95 suzuki savage 650 I picked up for $200. It was the first bike I ever bought, and I was just happy to be riding! Well I quickly outgrew the big single and moved on to some other bikes and put the little thumper in the shed where it sat for a few years. I tried to sell it for a while but got no interest in it whatsoever so I figured I'd try to make something cool out of it. I regret that I haven't really taken any progress pictures but I still have a ways to go so I can start snapping some now. I honestly don't have the fabrication skills to make everything from scratch so everything is bought and I tweak them a little and put them on. I hope to be able completely build a bike myself one day. Anyway parts list so far-

Voodoo vintage full frame (model 4)
95 vs800 front end with 21" wheel
Cognito moto custom top clamp that I modified to accept standard harley bars.
Zombie performance 12" stainless squid bars, no brow headlight mount and plate mount
Lowbrow dished wassell mid tunnel peanut tank that I massaged a little bit.
Bison motorsports sissy bar
Tc bros rear fender (cut down a little), universal forward controls (with brackets I made) , rear brake pivot, battery box and electronics box
Ryca header (will probably not end up using it)
I did make the seat pan and will upholster it myself and pieced together a chain conversion.
I've changed the styling on it a few times. Different bars, solo seat, mid controls etc, but I think I'm where I want to be now.
I've been working on the harness, got half of it done( fuses, main realy, ignition box wires and hidden in electronics box. I need to permanently mount the starter solenoid, rectifier, ignition switch and starter button. Then I'll finish up the harness and run it inside the frame. I need to at least fab up the rest of the exhaust (I'll probably just start from scratch), finish the seat, make a throttle cable and tear it down to finish welding up everything. Then figure out paint. I. Sure I'm forgetting some things.
Trying to make it as bare bones as I can too, no front brake and no turn signals







I appreciate any feedback, good and bad. If I'm doing something wrong or you see something that I might need to change let me know. This is my first "build"
Thanks!

Edit: I did have another project years ago that was going to be my first build but I never did anything with it. So long ago I apparently posted about it here and completely forgot about it. Haha

[TriNortchopz]

looks good.
you will get better rear brake leverage with the brake arm on the drum, at 90 degrees to the brake rod.

can you run the exhaust down and sneak it between the slanted engine cover and the forward control plate?

[mrsteveg]

Thanks, I can run exhaust through there and I actually have a pipe that was made to do that but the diameter is too big and it interferes with the bolts on the frame for the engine mounts. I'll probably make another one smaller in diameter and run it that way with an upswept muffler.

[bob138]

Thanks, I can run exhaust through there and I actually have a pipe that was made to do that but the diameter is too big and it interferes with the bolts on the frame for the engine mounts. I'll probably make another one smaller in diameter and run it that way with an upswept muffler.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]102631[/ATTACH]

If the diameter at a certain point is too wide you can probably just oval the pipe with no noticeable loss in performance. Frieburger from Hot Rod magazine did a video showing that denting pipes doesn't really lead to significant loss.

[TriNortchopz]

factory oem panhead pipe for when running sidecar:

[bob138]

By the way here is the vid I was talking about for more info.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mt768

[mrsteveg]

Cool, I'll have to check if I can do that. I have the bike torn down to run all my internal wiring.

[ThatOneDad]

That is coming together nice. Thought about lacing up a 16inch rear. I think the spokes and rim for a xs650 should work if I remember correctly.