XJ Bobber Hardtail Project - ('81 XJ650)

Hey Everyone! My brother and I have embarked on a bobber project with his '81 XJ650. He recently picked it up for free from a friend and did some basic maintenace to get it up and running. It's a great bike in stock form but we've both dreamed of a hardtail bobber and started researching the conversion with the help of google. We came across crath's thread and were hooked from the get go!! This site is a wealth of information and the pictures in that thread gave us the confidence to move forward. We started teardown and fabrication at 8:30 this morning (3/21) and made some great progress. Here are the pics from todays work hope you enjoy...

































Made some custom pieces on a CNC Plasma...

 

this is very inspiring! keep those pics coming of ever step.how much time have you put into it so far ??

 

I love everything but the handlebars, and please ditch the gauges!!!

 

thanks for the input guages will be changed in the future what is your idea for the handlebars just wondering ?

so far we have 8 hours in on this project with two of us working

 

Holy crap, you guys did all that in 8 hours?!?

 

it seems to me, that if you get 2 people working on a project who know what they are doing and are working in unison, you get 3 the work done

what do you guys do for a living that you get your own plasman cnc machine, thats awesome, i'd love to have a garage and setup like yours once i get out of highschool and college.

one idea for the brass knuckes, used the finder loops to house some switches, that way you can clean p your handle bars and have some switches in a neat area.
take the blinkers off too..

 

Looks good, I'm in the same spot on mine at the moment.

 

im a machanic and my brother works at a desk during the day but hes pretty crafty with a welder and grinder on his off time the cnc plasma is at his welding school he attends for fun

the switch idea is awsome ill consider that in the near future thanks for the welcome to the forums and all the compliments

 

ah, i wa goign to say, our local steel shop which is pretty big, just bought a plasma cnc machine within the last yearish.

and welcome to the forums, your biek is awesome

 

Good to see another chop inspired. It seems there has been a lot of guys chopping these up lately here. Keep up the good work. It's crazy how fast you can chop these up, eh?

That's awesome that you have access to a CNC plasma..... lucky!!!!

You guys ever do any other playing around with the plasma. I have some images for my company's logos if you'd like to give them a shot. ....not sure how easy it is for you to create programs from a JPEG file....?

Anyways, keep the pics/info/work coming

 

BTW, Chacal is your go to guy if you need any replacement parts. He has it all, new and used.

 

Looking great. I can't wait to see more progress.

 

thanks crath your bike is a great inspiration to us in this build ill have to talk to my brother about the logos for you well see what we can do

 

Clearanced the driveshaft, ordered a nice tan leather seat and some K&N style pod filters. I still need to make the plate bracket which will be a bolt on one mounted in the same place as the frame on the left side (lower shock mount) and pick up a tail light. I'm also still trying to decide what master cylinder setup to purchase for the front brakes. I'd like to find a maching clutch lever and brake assembly so it doesn't look too out of place...

Crath - got your email and I'll get back to you on Friday...

 

Niiiiceeee-
i am too jealous of the workshop you guys are playin with
i wouldnt mind seein a pic of the whole thing as it stands so far.. i cant judge the handle bars till i see it hahah

 

Looks like it's coming along nice. Where at in jersey are you? Would you be down for a ride this summer? It'd be friggin' cool to get a group of XJ's together on a ride. NJ, PA, DE STAND UP!

 

my brother lives in montville nj and i live in wilkes-barre pa this bike will be mine next is his build unsure if were going to build him a xj or xs650special

-Tony

 

If you haven't figured out already we both use this screenname so I'll make sure we put our respective names at the end of each post

-Nick

 

Maybe if Raceway Park gets off thier a$$e$ and puts together the yamaha festival this year. In '06 it was an awesome time. You could run down the track and everything.

 

I had no clue such a thing existed!! We're usually down at raceway park a few times a year for the VW shows. 8)

-Nick

 

Fab'd up the plate bracket last night...

-Nick

 

just picked up new rear fender to mod, tailight, and vintage twist throttle and grips today. More fabbing to come soon + paint then it's time to ride!

-Tony

 

Seat and Pod Filters came in the mail!

-Nick

 

got the new rear fender and the new seat installed tonight will get pics up tommoro when i get home pretty happy will the build so far alot of help on these forums i appreciate it alot thanks

-tony

 

One quick shot from today...



Better & more detailed pics to follow tonight...

-Nick

 

heres some better pics from today also cleaned the carbs good and put them on to see how it runs now throttle response is awsome

_ tony








enjoy

 

Yup, the last one was in 2006. I think the problem was that not enough people knew about it and the turnout was crappy. I think we should get the local yamaha shops to bring it up to yamaha for another shot. For $50 we had unlimited beverages (no alchohol), lunch, and got to run down the 1/8 mile track and the 1/4 mile track as much as we wanted to. It was friggin' awesome. I smoked the hell out of a Vstar 650 and got a trophy for it. I live over an hour away from there now but would do it again in a minute. We came in a group of about 70-80 yamahas'. I had the only maxim on the scene.

 

Did you get that seat with the cover on it like that? Is that leather? looks good!

 

yeah bought it on ebay 66 bucks shipped with mounts and springs its going to the leather shop to get tooled with a surprise

 

Looks awesome guys! Very clean look, great job, and in very little time... ready for the riding season.

 

I'm likin' it! Keeps me inspired to get mine done in a few weeks!

 

got alot done lately on the bike all the wiring is done fully assembled and ready to take apart for the last time before paint took it for a quick ride today and its so much fun i cant wait till its painted and assembled to ride will post some pics on monday when i go to the garage

_ tony

 

looks great guys. I am just starting to get a few parts together to start mine. I love seein all these guys takin pics of there chops. Its really helping the first timer like myself. Keep up the good work and thanx for all the info.

Bugz

 

P.s. you guys should check out QuarterHorses build. You guys seem to be at the same point. By the way the brass knuckels are AWESOME!!! Love it when people add a little flavor to there S@#T.

 

DUDE! this is awesome. You guys covered a lot of ground quickly. This is super inspirational for me as I'm doing an 81 XJ550. I wish I had your metal working skills!

Please keep me posted on the progress of this. I'm wicked excited - hopefully you don't mind if I steal an idea or two!

 

Yeah QH's build is fantastic and we're definitely following it! The brass knuckles were a crazy idea then someone here (sorry I forgot your s/n) suggested that we use one as a switch panel so we made a backing plate for one side...

My meager welding/fabrication skills are thanks to a fantastic teacher at the local technical H.S. He lets me run with my ideas while keeping the technical aspects in check. I always promote the local technical schools as a great option to learn how to weld. Oh don't worry - there will be plenty of progress posted soon and please feel free to "steal" anything for your build. We used Crath's build as the blueprint for ours! That's what we're all here for right? 8)

-Nick

 

hhahaha!!!! can't wait to see your tooled seat!

 

sweet man looks good how low does it set

 

Just got the bike back from paint...



More pics to come this week...

 

You are a tease!!!! :lol:

Looking great so far. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

yeah bike is lookn good!

 

thanks i will get better pix tommoro that one was taken on my cellphone (if u cant tell)the tank and handle bars just came back from paint last night i will start reasembly this week sometime

 

Looks great! I'll take the Shelby behind the bike too.

 

love the black brass knuckles!

 

looking sweet

 

had some more progress today still trying to get a camera to get some good pics my camera vanished

started removing the cases for cleaning and broke the alternator brush by accident but new ones already ordered just another 25 bucks

will hopefully get pics up soon

_tony

 

Can't wait to see pics of this thing!

 

It's looking very good, sofar, really want to see the bike when it's ready 8)

Start thinking if I should rebuilt mine in the same way??? sure looks cool.

 

heres some pics from today i still have to paint some covers and clean more but its getting there enjoy

 

Those bikes with a stock tank look so sweet with a rigid rear and solo seat. Nice job. I like the black on the fork tubes.