Purple Rain XS650 Part 5 Ozark Mountain Run or Bust

We have done the service work to make this XS650 that has been slumbering in a barn since 1986 road ready. It is 100% road legal. I have my pack that we did a Product Review in a post last fall mounted up and ready to go.  All that is left is load purple Rain on the Truck to trek 1100 miles to the Ozark Mountain Scramble for 4 days of mountain riding and hopefully not much wrenching.

Purple Rain XS650 Part 4 Final Shakedown

We rode the Purple Rain XS650 to a bike night in Buffalo NY. This is 60 miles each way from my place. I wanted to do a final shakedown to prove to myself this bike will stay together for 600 miles of mountain riding in the Ozarks. This was the first time that I rode the beast at night. It was cool on the ride home 52 degrees and the motor ran flawless. The standard incandescent lighting leaves a little to be desired but useable. It makes me think how far we have come with modern Halogen lighting and now HID units make the Halogens look like a candle flame.

In retrospect with this project I had a bunch of chopper and custom ideas but after we worked all the bugs out to make the bike reliable it did not leave much cash for customization. All told I came in at $65 under budget the way the bike sits today. It is funny on how much little items like gaskets and spark plugs and fuel system parts add up when you only have a couple of hundred bucks to spend. What you end up with is a 33 year old stock looking bike that is hopefully reliable.

 

Purple Rain XS650 Part 3

Well we did the whole DMV dance last week and made Purple Rain legal for the road.  The last time this bike had any road duty was 1986.  I wanted to do a few hundred miles on it to make sure it will stay running and together on the OzarkMountain Scramble. I did 250 miles over the weekend on country roads with many different elevations and terrain.  The sample roads ranged from small village 30 mph streets to 5 mile long uphill pulls and hills with 70 mile per hour down hill sweepers. 

What we found out is the engineers that designed and built this motor knew how to build the reliability in. Once I worked out the fuel issues with leaking petcocks and dry rotted fuel lines we were able to keep the motor running on 2 cylinders.  Knock on wood the electrical is all stock and has never been played around with.  Everything electrical works with the exception of the horn and the back light for the tachometer. 

We need to address a few item that are not show stoppers but in the name of safety should be repaired.  The list is as follows: 

1)      Replace the rear swing arm bushings. When you apply the rear brake it shifts the swingarm and changes the direction you are travelling.

2)      Replace the fork seals as they are weeping and spraying down the front of the bike with oil.

3)      Replace the front brake pads as they were oil soaked at one time and it takes a country mile to stop.  I have ridden drum brake bikes with more front brake stopping power than this bike.

4)      Replace the high-low beam switch on the handlebars I looked down one moment it was there then the next moment is was gone.

       5)  Wash it up and get it ready for the 1100 mile truck ride From NY to Arkansas.

Shovelhead Project Bolt on Part 10

We are coming near the end of this build and will be firing it soon.  One of the defining items of any bike is the exhaust system.  I always run 2 into 1 pipes on all of my bikes.  However, it is hard to make them look tidy and not like huge Superbike Cans hanging off the side of the bike.  I enlisted my buddy Jay Roche from Special 79 Fabrication again for the fabrication of this part that I had in my head. I wanted to chop up an Evolution Thunderheader to make it work on a Shovelhead.  At first he did not like the idea and to be honest I did not like the first round mock up either.  After much discussion working together we came up with what you see here.  I am totally stoked with this thing.  I cant wait to hear what the shovel will sound like through it. Thanks again Jay!

Shovelhead Project Bolt on Part 9

The progress is down to the smaller details now so it does not look like much is getting done but it all needs to be there in order to go down the road.

Hooked up the linkage for the shifter to the ratchet top.  You know the drill nothing fits and you have to rework most of the parts to get them to work correctly.

Running hard lines for the rear juice brake.  I will fab a bracket to retain the hose and the hard line and use the rear peg mounts to bolt it on.

Cut and Flared the hard brake line for the junction at the front of the motor with the pressure switch to activete the stop lights.

 We will be using a Stock Harley CV on the Shovel.  We made up an adapter bracket to mount this to the standard 2 bolt Rubberband intake manifold.

A little dress up to get rid of the plastic CV top.  We installed a Biltwell Stainless Ripple CV Top.

Shovelhead Project Bolt On Part 8

We have not posted on this project in awhile.  However we have been busy collecting parts and building the motor.  What we started out with is a pile of random Shovelhead part that I have been collecting for a few years waiting for the rest of the bike to come together.

Many hours in the shop welding and machining bad breather holes, stripped bolt holes and rebuilding the heads and crank. Finally we have this lump of 1976 74" Shovelhead Ready to install.

Keep in mind the original intent of this project was to use all the used parts with their original paint or polish to keep it looking old even though everything under the skin is fresh and new.  I have had comments from friends that this is the most beat up looking fresh motor that they have ever seen.

We dropped The motor into the waiting roller to see what we have. Bang!  We are getting there! I can see the end in sight.  I am getting excited now to wrap this thing up and get my knees in the breeze!

Project Bolt On Part 7

One of my good friends in Mass. is Jay Roche of Special 79 Fabrication he built this one off Frisco Sporty tank for me. I know this is technically not a bolt on part however it is a bolt on to me. This thank was built from raw tank parts that were never assembled. The best part of this tank is the bottom has been modified to clear all of the stock Fatbob tank mounts and a custom mounting bracket was built to rubber mount the tank to the back bone of any shovel frame without cutting or welding anything. So if I feel the need to install a set of Fatbobs I can just unbolt this tank and bolt them up. See all bolt on! 

Bottom side view of the mucho time and fab work Jay is known for.  Give Jay a call for all you bike fabrication needs.  Bars, Tanks, Custom exhaust or anything you can sketch and show him.  He is really easy to work with and you will be pleased with the results.

Side view of the tank bolted on Project Bolt on.

In this view you can see how skinny this tank really is.  I am digging the tank with the narrowglide front end with the tall narrow bars.  West Coast Lane Spitter style.

I primed the tank to keep Jay's exceptional work from rusting in the North East humid weather.  I also added some vintage style tank badges to break up the slab sides of the Sporty tank.

The over all look is coming together I am going to leave the rear fender as is for now and concentrate on getting the motor together.  We have 74 inches of Shovelhead goodness to work on to get this thing moving under its own power.  In this photo you can see the ribbed kicker cover and long arm kick start lever.

Purple Rain Part 2

Purple Rain has been sitting for a couple of months while we decided where we wanted to take the modifications. I tossed around hard-tailing this or a Brat Style bike. But all of that has been done to death. I figured we would De-Special it. Back in the early 80's the all the Japanese motorcycle manufactures wanted to capture the American buyer and in the good ol USA we like choppers. The Japanese "Manufactured Custom" of the day consisted of a stepped king and queen seat, Shorty exhaust, Pull back handlebars, a teardrop gas tank and a sissy bar. Some of the models had mag wheels and 16 rear wheels to run the Harleyesque rubber.



 The reason for playing around with this XS650 is we plan on heading to Arkansas to the Ozark Mountains in June for the “Ozark Mountain Scramble”  This is a grass roots style event that you show up and ride with like minded people.  I am sick of the rolling shopping malls that most of the rallies and large bike events have become.  The premise of the run is the bike cannot be newer than 1980, not larger than 750cc and not cost more than $1000.00 inclusive of purchase price and getting it ready for the run.

We added a tank from a 1976 XS650 that is a little rounder with the filler in center of the top.

 The pullback bars had to go. We replaced them with a set of Vintage Style Motocross bars.

A before photo of the seat and the Sissy bar. with the new tank installed.

 The rear 3/4 shot with the sissy removed new bars and the '76 Fuel tank.

 Right side view with the changes so far.  I am starting to like this little bike.  We will see what other parts we can dig up or modify to get this thing completed within budget.

Project Bolt On Part 6

 We rolled the bike outside to get a perspective if we were on the right track.  We added the Ratchet top 4-speed transmission, battery tray, and foot controls.

I did not like the low rise drag bars on the risers so we switched up to some Biltwell "Windows" Bars and Slimline risers.  I am not sold on the Fatbob Tanks with the skinny bars.  We will see what other tank options we can come up with.

In this view you can see the Nickel plated Chain with a 26 tooth front sprocket so the Shovel will live on the expressways at 70 plus MPH.  I plan on riding this thing rather than looking at it in parts in the garage someday.

Project Bolt on Part 5

I was not happy with the look of the Wide Glide front end on Project Bolt On so I decided to raid the parts stash once again and come up with an alternative. We decided on a set of GMA Triple trees and a pair of fork legs scavenged from a 2003 Dyna Glide. I added a caliper from a 2004 and later Sportster with a 21" inch front wheel. I originally had a set of mini apes on this front end it did not feel right with the slim seat. I settled on some low drag bars and dog bones for now. I will leave it like this for a little while to see if the style grows on me.

Project Bolt on Part 4

In this installment we cut off the the rear fender and added some primer to keep it form rusting.  I wanted the fender to come out straight from the struts similar to mounting a FL front fender on the rear.

 Drilling the mounting holes and bolting on the fender struts.

I did not like the way the heavy front fender and 16 inch wheel looked so I tried a 21" Star hub that I had in my stash.  I like the looks better this way.  This thing is starting to take shape.

Project Bolt On #3

This installment we added the lower fork tubes and a 16 inch front wheel with a Dresser front fender.

 4 gallon Fatbobs were mounted up to try to get the "flow" of the bike correct.

A set of Panhead Dresser bars were tried with the stock risers. Also a Superglide Gauge cluster with a chrome tank panel were mocked up.

A Goodyear Replica whitewall tire was mounted on the stock star hub rear wheel and the transmission was bolted into the frame. In this photo you can see how low the rear of the bike will be.

Project Purple Rain

I went for a bike ride and found this gem at a local yard sale. All I could think of when I saw it was Purple Rain, Puuuurple Raaaaiiiiiiiin! So with all its gayness I decided the price was right so I picked it up.  It is a 1979 Yamaha XS650 Special.  Back in the day when this bike was new I never gave these little machines a second look.  All I wanted to do was go fast and if it did not have a 3 cylinder 2-stroke or an inline 4 cylinder UJM I was not interested.  I have been noticing a few of the XS's Modified and I am impressed with the results.  The plan for right now is to get it running and mechanicly sound to make sure we have a solid foundation to chop from.  I will leave it a swing arm bike as Western NY roads are pothole riddled and the only way to ride fast is with a suspension. I plan on doing the entire build myself just like when I was younger and a lot more broke and had no choice in the matter.  We will see where this takes us Stay tuned.

Barn Fresh

Dirty, Rusty and Bone Stock

Ultra Gay

Washed Up! Ready for a new Look!