78 XS750 chop first bike build

[SARGENTO]

Aren't you using a gabarit to build the frame?

[TriNortchopz]

Aren't you using a gabarit to build the frame?

I had to look that one up:

Definition of gabarit
plural -s
1 : an outline on a drawing of an object (as a machine part) intended to move showing the space necessary to permit its motion
2 : an outline on a drawing of a stationary object showing the space that must be kept clear for necessary access to it
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gabarit

English translation of 'gabarit'
masculine noun
1. (= dimension, taille) size
2. (= valeur) calibre
du même gabarit (= type) of the same type ⧫ of that ilk
3. (Technical) template

I think you mean a jig, a frame jig.

[SARGENTO]

Sorry because my english is not so good. Yep, I would like to say frame jig.

[Rjcinelli]

So my buddy welded the frame today, and sent me these pictures. How do you guys feel about the welds? If they're no good, I'll be bringing it somewhere to be welded by someone who is a welder by trade. I haven't been by there to check the neck and frame as TriNortchopz recommended...its been a rough week and weekend with school and work. Hopefully this week I can do that (and if the welds suck and need to be redone I will have the adjustments made professionally as well). Thanks for the heads up guys




Then I asked for picture of the welds on the neck:

[Rjcinelli]

[Frost]

oh man, the neck is ugly af, was it his first time welding something?

[Rjcinelli]

oh man, the neck is ugly af, was it his first time welding something?

Second time welding a bike frame, we did my brat bike last summer nothing this extensive, just a rear main hoop and new shock mounts on that one. Besides that he's done his 3 jeep frames where the TJ's always rot out (welded in replacement pieces) and those have been wheeled hard with no cracks or anything

The neck looks awful in pictures, I swung by this morning before class to look, it does look a lot better in person, it's not actually globs on top of the metal. I removed the frontend, and neck sleeve to check the inside of neck for penetration and it did penetrate through all where he welded.

[TriNortchopz]

That neck went from bad to worse - he really made a mess of it now. Seriously: what do you think of the neck weld? Are you satisfied with it? Think about what the weld looked like on the stock frame. Seriously, you shouldn't be needing to ask if it is okay - because there no way that it is even close to okay. Guessin' he did not grind down the old blobbed on 'weld tacks' on the neck and just burned through them.
It's time to take it to a professional welder - but grind all that shit off first. You should check alignment of the frame now, so when the professional welder is repairing it, it can be heated and straightened.

Here is a list of custom bike builders in the Boston area from bostonbiker.com; one of the must have a frame jig and a competent frame builder:

Custom Bike Builders

Enhanced Listings:
American Motorcycle Service - New England's top shop for repairs, performance work, and custom bikes. Tires & batteries to full custom builds. Fast turn arounds so you are riding rather than waiting! Award winning, reliable, daily riders. Don't settle, get exactly what you want.
769 Waverly Street - Framingham, MA - (508) 872-6676
Ol' School Custom Fabrication
P.O. Box 1401 - Manchester MA - (508) 284-7311
We specialize at customizing any motorcycle. One off handmade parts. Paint in candies ,flake, pearls, pinstriping, powdercoat. Our bikes win shows.
Get an Enhanced Listing. Your 20 word listing will be used to describe your publication to our readers. Your publication will stand out from the rest. Click here to get started!

Basic Listings:
American British Cycles
30 Huntoon Memorial Hwy (route56) - Leicester, MA - 508-892-1011
American Motorcycle Service
769 Waverly St. (Rt 135) - Framingham, MA - (508) 872-6676
Backyard Kustoms
16 Kirkland Avenue - Ludlow, MA 413-883-4562
Barnstorm Cycles
24 Wall Street - Spencer, MA - 774-364-1408
Biker's Outfitter
1039 Broadway - Revere, MA - (781) 289-6466
Boston Harley-Davidson
649 Squire Road - Revere, MA (877) 427-5391
Boyd Cycles
25 Walnut Street - Peabody, MA 978-744-7449
Break Lites
127 Newbury Street (Route 1, North) - Peabody, MA - (978) 535-5388
Captain Ken Pinstriping
57 Bridge St. - Salem, MA - 978-239-0855
Choppers Of New England
50 Bridge Street Unit D - Nashua, NH - 603-809-4391
Crossroads Custom Cycles
366 (rear) Washington St. - Malden, MA 781-321-5150
Cycle Fabrications - Custom bikes by Dave Perewitz - 909 N Main Street - Brockton, MA 02301 (508) 586-2511
Cycle Performance and Auto Body
271 East High St. - Avon, MA - 508-580-8555
Deranged Choppers
Athol, MA - 617-279-6172
Dube's Custom Street Machines
4 Christine Drive - Hudson, NH - (603) 882-8617
Explicit Airbrush
45 Railroad Ave. - Southington, CT - 860-582-6038
Fatboy Cycles
11 Caller Street - Peabody, MA - 1-978-531-1776
FTF Cycles
535 S. Main St. - Randolph, MA - (781) 961-9100
FO Customs
64 Thompson St - East Haven, CT - 203-859-2330
Full Throttle Fabrication
189 Auburn st - Auburn, MA - 978-424-5050
Website: Myspace/Fullthrottlefabrication
Full Throttle Performance Cycles
Holcomb Street – Fairhaven, MA - 508-542-5147
Gypsy Cycles
289 Newburyport Turnpike - Route 1 - Rowley, MA - (978) 948-5010
Hawg Doctor
94R Summer St. - Arlington, MA 617-943-2914
HD Cycles
29 Messina Drive - Braintree, MA 781-849-1245
Imperial Auto LLC
845 Woburn street - Wilmington, MA - 978-988-1101
Last Chance Repair and Restoration
1240 Myers Road - Shaftsbury, VT - 802-447-7040
M1M Motorsports
195 Central St - Mansfield, MA 508 339-9099
Master-Cycles
5 Garden Rd. - Plaistow, NH - 603-38 CYCLE
McCann's Custom's Dracut, MA (978) 458-2545
Mad Man Cycles
240 Shrewsbury St. - Worcester, MA - 508-755-0900
Murray's Cycles
1727 Pleasant St - Fall River, MA - 508-673-2702
Nasty Dog Motorcycles
Methuen, MA 978-360-6205
Northeast Custom Cycles LLC
71 Main St, Unit 1- Woburn, MA - 781-608-9123
Ol' School Custom Fabrication
P.O. Box 1401 - Manchester MA - (508) 284-7311
Power Performance Customs
92 Concord Street, North Reading, MA - (978) 664-3087
RM's Performance V-Twin
620 Broadway - Raynham, MA (508) 880-6115
Rob's Dyno Service
268 Coleman Street - Gardner, MA 978-895-0441
Rock Solid Choppers
128 Long Pond Road - Plymouth, MA - 508-747-1774
Shadley Brothers
1125 Bedford Street - Whitman, MA - (781) 447-4454
Spadafora Choppers
69 Canal Street - Malden, MA - 781-324-1912
Steve's Custom Cycles
700 Main St - Dighton, MA 508 669 9922
Stewy's Custom Cycles
19 New Salem Street - Wakefield, MA (781) 224-5600
Stone's Motorcycle Company Inc.
89 Main Street - Northboro, MA (508) 393-6816
STS Custom Cycles
3 Charlton St. - Everett, MA - 617-294-2561
The Hawg Shop LTD
123 Allen St. Clinton, MA 508-826-6185
TNR Motorcycle Customizers
29 Chance Pond Rd - Franklin, NH 603-738-5707
Tordan Parts
75 1st Street Unit # 9 - Bridgewater MA - 508-523-5866
Trilogy Cycles, LLC
37 Main Street, Unit 3B - Kingston, MA - 781-585-9700
Twin City Custom Cycles
236 Lunenburg St., Fitchburg, MA (978) 348-1840
Ultimate Cycles
822 Mt. Pleasant St. - New Bedford, Ma - 508-995-0080
Unique Image Airbrush Custom Painting
577 Detroit st - Fall River, Ma - 508-558-5968
Vintage Custom Cycles
41 Hawkewood Road - Sandown, NH - (603) 887-2529

http://www.bostonbiker.com/customs.htm

[shovel625]

did he stick weld the neck? Im not a pro welder just at home enthusiast but it looks like cold fusion, but you said it penetrated so it may just be ugly

[SARGENTO]

A bobber is cool if it's made by you, if it's for others to do, then buy one ready. in my opinion if it's strong it's done, if no, so or learn more about soldering. and test well before. It's only one opinion.

[datadavid]

did he stick weld the neck? Im not a pro welder just at home enthusiast but it looks like cold fusion, but you said it penetrated so it may just be ugly

Its 100% been welded with a cheap 110v mig welder. Looks like 10-15 passes too much on there, and the neck part is probably oval and useless by now. Way too much heat and filler in there. The rest of the welds look kind of alright but the neck part should really be done with one pass and a lot better fitment of the parts, to avoid overheating and weld distortion. I would cut everything off and start over.

[Rjcinelli]

Its 100% been welded with a cheap 110v mig welder. Looks like 10-15 passes too much on there, and the neck part is probably oval and useless by now. Way too much heat and filler in there. The rest of the welds look kind of alright but the neck part should really be done with one pass and a lot better fitment of the parts, to avoid overheating and weld distortion. I would cut everything off and start over.

Sorry guys been busy with classes, too many tests each week recently. Anyways, he used his 180 Lincoln electric to weld it. I'm going to call up a few places the TriNortchopz posted from that list and figure out who to bring it to. Hopefully the neck is not useless, when I pulled the cups and neck sleeve out to check for penetration the sleeve and cups went back in just fine so I'm assuming it's not ovaled but I'll let whoever I bring it to decide that.

Once that's done, I'll be working on the wiring which I've kind of taken a look at and I understand it to a point. I wanted to create a simplified bare bones harness, been trying to find other thread about how people have gone about this. I spent last night going over the harness checking for PO repairs and to track down what everything goes to. Wiring is definitely overwhelming but I'm trying to take it one component at a time.

[Rjcinelli]

So I started working on the wiring for the bike, figure before I bring it to a shop to have frame done up right I want to get the bike running so that when I get it back from the shop I can put it back together and be ready to ride.

I'm using the stock harness and as of right now I thought I had everything hooked up like I did over the winter when I got the bike running. Well, I have no spark, and can't find much info on the ignition timing.

I have a few questions: when I removed the covers to paint them, obviously the stator and ignition pickup plate were removed. I had tried to not crank the bike over but when I reinstalled the stator I ended up turning the motor over some. Lost the positioning and now I'm lost. To my understanding I have an electronic ignition, but where the pickup plate screws in I have no adjustment slots. How do I set the timing with that? I'll post the picture of it. I have power to the starter and leading up to the coils, but none at the coils. I lost my key before I got my bike running so I had jumped the ignition plug using three wires into each prong of the plug and was able to press the starter button and start the bike (back in the winter). Now when I do that, I blow a fuse and the starter button does not work. The fuse blowing (15a fuse) is the one on the fuse panel next to the empty slot.

I've been going over the wiring diagram for my bike over and over again, researching for the past four or five days and still have no found where to start. Can anyone chime in?

[TriNortchopz]

You got one of these?

xs750, xs850 service manual:
http://biobug.org/motorcycle/xs850/Y...ice-Manual.pdf

Blowing fuses, or breakers clicking, after engine installation is typically caused by a pinched hot wire grounding out, or a hot wire bared and touching ground. Identify which circuit the problem fuse is intended to protect, then trace and closely inspect all of the wires and electrical connections that are connected to the fuse.

[Rjcinelli]

You got one of these?

xs750, xs850 service manual:
http://biobug.org/motorcycle/xs850/Y...ice-Manual.pdf

Blowing fuses, or breakers clicking, after engine installation is typically caused by a pinched hot wire grounding out, or a hot wire bared and touching ground. Identify which circuit the problem fuse is intended to protect, then trace and closely inspect all of the wires and electrical connections that are connected to the fuse.

Downloaded one the other night, I'll figure out what circuit that fuse is for and do what you recommended, thanks


Right now this is what I have figured out.

[Rjcinelli]

Well after chasing wires, staring at diagrams and searching the internet for four days coming up with really not anything wrong. Had everything hooked up right, okay so why wasn't it sparking? Why didn't I have power to the coils, why was I blowing a fuse when I jumped my ignition switch? The answer was right in front of me the whole time, I was jumping the switch through all three of those wires at the ignition and I was so confident that's how it HAD to be done or else it wouldn't start. My buddy came by and said no you only jump these two, the other wire is unnecessary for what you're doing. Did that, and bam she fired up. Then I started getting rid of things I wanted to delete from the harness while it was running to determine if it would be mandatory or not. Glad to hear it run, still a long rode ahead of me though

[BruceKoukalaka]

Any updates?

[bobberadam]

A bobber is cool if it's made by you, if it's for others to do, then buy one ready. in my opinion if it's strong it's done, if no, so or learn more about soldering. and test well before. It's only one opinion.

^^^^^ This is exactly whats wrong with people these days, the shittier it is the cooler it is.... A lot of people don't give a fuck anymore about fit, finish or quality. "like wow dude, did a big bird shit those welds on your neck"? "It looks so dangerous, that is ssssooooo cool bro"..... Ya, going to be real cool when you are rolling down the freeway and one bump makes the neck snap off and you die.

If you don't have time or patience to do it right the first time, you certainly wont want to do it a second time... I only say this because i don't want to hear about you on the news, Please take the advice from guys like me who have done it wrong a thousand times and had to re-do shit, It is not worth it.

[Luky]

Before you take photos of a weld, at least brush it with a stainless tooth brush and get it clean.
You cannot visually check a weld until it is clean. You should not make a weld on oily tubing.
A 110V mig welder is fine for welding the frame but not the frame tubes to neck joint.
The steering head is usually much thicker material. When welding that joint connection the thicker material should be favored during the welding.

You always want to measure the tubing thickness so that you can select the appropriate voltage and wire speed.
You should not grind a structural weld. The profile of the weld shape is what gives the joint strength.

[TriNortchopz]

now for sale on fb:




guy said his welder cut the neck off and started over and strengthened it.