Thread: bobber project, take 2: '79 XS650

front fender from the CB750 is way too skinny for the harley wheel/tire that is on the rear of this bike. gotta find a new fender for the rear and start looking at mounting options.

also checked out the speedo situation while i was playing around yesterday for a few minutes. the drive is still there on the front wheel so i really just need to come up with a way of mounting the speedo somewhere and then i need to buy a cable for it and i should be able to get that on the bike. not completely necessary, but it's kinda nice to know how fast i'm going.

also looked at the foot pegs and they seem like i'm going to need to do a little bit of custom work to get a set to work on it. the ones that are on it right now look like they are a set that were flipped upside down, rubber removed, and welded so they no longer flipped up. they kinda suck.

front forks still have the mounts for the front fender that were not shaved, that's a good thing. i'll have a place to mount a front fork brace. the front fender on these bikes is dual purpose, one of them being to stiffen the front forks so they don't wobble all over the place on their own. going to order a brace when i order the exhaust. was thinking about picking that up in the next few weeks to start collecting parts.

got the new throttle assembly, but the new straight bars are still in the mail somewhere so that little project has to wait.

tail light still needs to get installed, too. was just out in the garage yesterday lining stuff up yesterday seeing what i could and could not do with what i have.

also, going to need to order some different gearing for this bike. probably gonna go down teeth in the front sprocket. right now it's geared all sorts of wrong because of the rear harley wheel and it just revs to high.

the benefits: they are a cheap way of going to a wider wheel/tire combo.

the downfalls: they force you to regear the bike or it'll rev higher because the sprockets on harleys are always a dumb size. more torque on them allows them to gear them much lower without issues.

your resource must own a crotch rocket. bigger rear tires decrease handling because you've gotta push harder to get it to turn farther.

however, who the hell buys one of these bikes and then tries to drag knees? tell your resource he's stupid.

I can drag the foot pegs on my old Honda

well, i COULD, but i don't.

in fact, my pegs are welded so they no longer fold up so me dragging the peg would be bag news bears.

Yeah I've only done it a few times and luckily for me my foot peg folded up. Scared the **** out of me though

noticed i said the gearing comment backwards. i need to go up teeth up front and/or down teeth in the rear.

biggest i can run up front is an 18T (stock is 17T) and that requires being careful since it end up being close to the shift fork. meh, pass.

looked at the rear wheel this morning and it's the stock 34T 6 bolt unit, not a harley sprocket. time to figure out how everyone is gearing their bikes so i can get some top end back.

What are you revving at around 60? On my bike I'm running about 5500 @60

no tach so i have no idea.

Well with no pipes it gonna sound like you're revving to 10K all the time anyway lol

tail light is on, straight bars on. broke the clutch handle screw so i put the sport bike lever on, but the clutch cable is all sorts of wrong. the throttle cable is wrong for what i have as well. gotta wait on the new cables to arrive sometime next week to ride...damn.

one picture for now.

Looks so much better

can't get the clutch cable to adjust correctly with your new levers? add in a "spacer".



got i back out and it's good to go for now. i can't install the new throttle assembly until i get the new throttle cable that's in the mail and i don't feel like installing the brake lever because i'll have to bleed the front brakes. that'll be best for another time. pictures:

So much win.

This makes me want to build one so bad.

ordering exhaust and a front fork brace whenever i get emailed the bill.

What kind of exhaust?