Author Topic: XS650 project thread - April 2011 - Getting set for 2nd season :) (Read 69519 times)

bill440cars · « **Reply #200 on:** March 23, 2008, 12:22:44 PM »

Tintin, that is one MIGHTY FINE LOOKING BIKE alright!

Can't wait to see it finished, bet you can't wait either.

Take care, Bill

jevfro · « **Reply #201 on:** March 23, 2008, 12:39:22 PM »

WOW!

THAT IS LOOKING NICE!!!

DME · « **Reply #202 on:** March 23, 2008, 01:26:25 PM »

Congrats on your rolling chassis, looks mighty fine

Got to love pushing a bike outside on its wheels for the first time, take a few steps back and just look at it.... Such a good feeling

Cheers
Dan

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #203 on:** March 23, 2008, 03:45:05 PM »

That looks magnificent Tinny, well done!

Tim. · « **Reply #204 on:** March 23, 2008, 03:56:45 PM »

I'd forgotten how skinny this thing is. I went from my middle of the road CB550F to the wideload BMW R75 and now to this. Feels like sitting on a bicycle.

Tim. · « **Reply #205 on:** March 23, 2008, 03:58:43 PM »

For the full-size pic go here:

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a275/CB550F/XS650/

The forum resizes pics down on its own resulting in lower quality.

neil young · « **Reply #206 on:** March 23, 2008, 04:01:27 PM »

wow

Tim .
bike is looking really good.

cben750f0 · « **Reply #207 on:** March 23, 2008, 08:51:55 PM »

i in love....

awesome work M8..

peace

Tim. · « **Reply #208 on:** March 23, 2008, 09:11:38 PM »

Thanks for the kind words - it's really nice to see it back on two wheels. There's a long long way to go, but the days are getting warmer and longer

I'm in the middle of a bathroom reno too - but I'm farming that work out so it's mostly me acting as contractor to keep costs down. I never knew how much electricians made! I paid a licensed electrician $35 cash an hour for two full days to do some work for me, and that was considered a major bargain.

So as long as I keep momentum up on that project, the wife won't mind me spending more time in the garage on this one.

bill440cars · « **Reply #209 on:** March 24, 2008, 05:42:55 AM »

Hey tintin, I used that link you provided, so that we could see laeger and better quality photos. And, after looking at that gastank, all I can say is "MY EYESS.......MY EYES"!

You have really done yourself proud on this one.

I can well imagine that it feels so much different that your 550 did.

Take care, Bill

Sam Green Racing · « **Reply #210 on:** March 24, 2008, 05:43:33 PM »

Lookin good tintin, keep it going.

Sam.

dagersh · « **Reply #211 on:** March 25, 2008, 11:23:00 AM »

Tinny - you are making us Drool!

Great looking, can't wait to see more progress!

Gersh

Tim. · « **Reply #212 on:** March 29, 2008, 04:16:16 PM »

Well, it's turning into a weekend kind of project - not a lot of time during the week, and only an hour or two on weekends to fiddle. But it will get done.

Not exactly sure how, and perhaps scrutiny of some photos will tell me my error, but dropping the rear wheel off to put the sprocket on and putting it back on seems to have solved my off-center problem - DOH! Weird.

Sprockets are in place (loose) and a quick wrap of my very long chain confirms a) things are lined up PERFECTLY and most importantly, the extra bracing I had added to the frame clears the chain with room to spare. That has been keeping me up at night since last May.

Got my new lift yesterday and put it together today - looks good. Totally useless for a BMW Airhead for obvious reasons, but very useful for the other bikes. Works like a charm. Just need to sort out how to stash it away in my garage.

Tim. · « **Reply #213 on:** March 29, 2008, 04:19:28 PM »

That's a 520 x-ring chain on 520 conversion sprockets that are available for the XS650. Stock is a 530. The chain is chrome, which will look nice once I get the packing grease off it. The marks you see on the frame in the close up of the swingarm pivot area is left over polish. I polished the frame a while back after it was powdercoated.

No dustcaps on the swingarm yet - the bronze bushings are too big for stock dustcaps. Need to sort that out.

bill440cars · « **Reply #214 on:** March 29, 2008, 04:57:11 PM »

Just keeps looking BETTER and BETTER all the time!

Not to distract from the bike, but (when you have time) could you give some photos and info on that lift?

Appreciate it, Bill

Tim. · « **Reply #215 on:** April 12, 2008, 09:24:15 AM »

Sorry for the late response. I got the lift from Princess Auto here in Canada. It's similar to the more typical jack people have that lifts from the frame rails, but in this case it obviously leaves the area under the bike open.

The platform is a square of rectangular tubing and is quite robust. Just cantilevers up using a bottle jack. It's quite stable, and of course I use straps to hold the bike in place. Can lift up to about 30 inches making it nice to work on the bike.

The jack allows for some pretty fine movement, allowing me to just relieve pressure off the wheels to pull axles out without having to hold the wheels up.

With a little finessing it should be easy to add adaptors to reach up to the frame rails around exhaust etc. That's the big downfall of all these sorts of jacks.

Stores pretty easily in my garage - I have the bike parked over the lift and actually strapped to it to hold the bike upright and off the sidestand. Makes parking the bike nice and easy.

Cost me $200. Not cheap, but way less than a table lift and I have no room for one anyhow. I still want to get a freestanding wheel chock for the BMW so I can just ride into the garage and not worry about centre/side stands.

bill440cars · « **Reply #216 on:** April 12, 2008, 07:00:02 PM »

That lift IS a pretty cool item there tintin, thanks for the bit of info on it too!

Didn't want to distract from that Awesome bike you're building, just wanted to know something about that lift. Keep up the great work on the 650.

Take care, Bill

DarkRider · « **Reply #217 on:** April 12, 2008, 07:18:06 PM »

That looks like a great lift to use man. Theres a good chance that the S&M Customs shop may see the addition of one of the table lifts from there. (S&M Customs is the shop that my roommate and myself are trying to get started up.)

Tim. · « **Reply #218 on:** April 12, 2008, 09:30:32 PM »

I'll get back on the bike project once I finish with the bathroom reno we started last Wed. Total gut job of an 8x10 foot four piece bathroom. Should be out of the woods next week. About 10-14 days start to finish. Nothing like gutting an 80 year old room. Found the remnants of a 60 year old kitchen. Newspaper used as vapor barrier - June 29 1950 vintage.

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #219 on:** April 13, 2008, 04:52:07 AM »

Interesting story breaking here in Oz, a young couple bought a house and started to renovate it, and have just dug up two human legs, that have been in the ground about 30 years, the cops think?

That'd make me think twice about renovating, ha ha! Get back on that bike Tinny, you never know what you're gonna dig up!

Tim. · « **Reply #220 on:** April 15, 2008, 08:34:45 PM »

So today while installing the shower unit, as my friend and I were lowering the walls into place, I heard this awful ripping sound as my fingers lost all strength and dropped the shower (thankfully no damage).

I tore a good chunk of the muscles in my upper and forearm. This was a lingering injury from hardwood flooring installation work I did on my 3rd floor a number of years ago. Just got sore back then. Today was the last straw and the muscle tissue gave way.

Needless to say it was painful! Sort of stumbled through the rest of the installation (had to get it done - drywalling completes tomorrow and goes over the nailing flange of the shower) and then went to the clinic afterwards.

On a diet of ibuprofen, compression and ice for the next few weeks. It's my right hand of course, so hauling down on a brake lever is a bit out of the question. Going to 20 degrees (Celcius) this week too.

But the bathroom is well on its way. Drywall gets the first coat of mud tomorrow and will be done by Friday. Then Saturday my tiler arives to begin the thinset on the heated floor, followed up by installing the tile. We're at 7 days in tomorrow. Not too bad. Probably will take till mid/late next week to complete.

Tim. · « **Reply #221 on:** June 08, 2008, 04:25:43 PM »

Shoot - 2 months go by and nothing.

Arm is back in service and riding thankfully with not much lasting effect, although it does get sore when it rains

A bit of progress with the bike. Front and rear ends are buttoned up (saving new rear brake pads) and the chain is mounted for good. Headlight is mounted, and today I got the tank sorted out which felt good.

I call the tank mounting toggle the 'nard shredder'.

I'm doing my wiring from scratch and have done up Version 1.0 of the wiring diagram. Still some stuff like the kill switch to sort out, but for the most part it's cooked. Buying a bunch of 16awg marine wire, connectors and something for the loom this week.

Tim. · « **Reply #222 on:** June 08, 2008, 04:40:22 PM »

Oh, and here are some pics of the still unfinished bathroom. Two defective sinks and a set of defective shower doors are still waiting replacement.

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #223 on:** June 08, 2008, 05:42:03 PM »

That's one fine looking dunny mate, looks like it could support some heavy duty assses!

cben750f0 · « **Reply #224 on:** June 09, 2008, 02:01:56 AM »

M8 that bike is a sexy SEXY thing of wander.... looking forward to getting some more pics of that beast!!!!

you have done a brilliant thing there keep up the good work!!!!

Hope you are feeling better M8, and hope you have a speed recovery..

peace

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Author Topic: XS650 project thread - April 2011 - Getting set for 2nd season :) (Read 69519 times)