Although she didn't look respectable, her heart was in a good place. I was surprised to find on the ride over to my place that the engine seemed to be pulling pretty damn well, wasn't leaking oil, or making funky noises. Here she is when I brought her back to my two-wheeled stable. Oh yeah, and the battery was fastened underneath the wooden seat with a screw hook and zip ties. The seat pan was made of two pieces of wood stapled together, there were no brake lights, and I found a rag stuffed into the electrical harness when I did the tear down. This is what we started out with: A hackjob of a cafe racer.
After a few meetings and discussions with him I was starting to get a solid grasp on the style he was going for and said, "Let's do this!"
He had found my build over at and asked me if I could help him out. Another XS650 sacrificed to the chopper Gods! Muahahhaha!Īll joking aside, this thread is to document my first contracted motorcycle build for a local chap here in San Jose, CA.