my 1981 xj650 true hardtail project

You are an artist... Love your work... Look forward to seeing the finished result

 

thanks guys!
Had to disapear for a while, been pretty busy.
I did get rid of the tripple backbone, and when i'm done with that, i'll post up some pics.

 

I think every one would agree with me when I say CAN'T WAIT T SEE THE PICS.

 

I gotta say this build absolutely blows my mind, the quality of this work/ the commitment and time theres just so much thought into something like this your doing a really good job man keep the pics coming!

 

yes we have a fabricator in the house. Great jub keep it up

 

Yes, great jub! LOL

 

Beautiful work man. Love thinkin outside the box with the addition of the wood fixtures and what not. Keep it up!

 

that bike is bad ass!! I dont think it gets any better. Keep up the good work!!

 

Thanks guys! I'm hoping to get back to work on it in a few weeks after i get some stuff out of the way. I'm itching to ride, it's been so hot out lately.

 

Hot? I am in Florida... And it hasn't been nice here. Still cold! Nice to hear someone is warm.

 

yea, it's been in the 80's and even the 90's for a while now here in San Diego, CA.
I don't like rubbing that in at all
I grew up in CT, so i have respect for the cold.

 

weather sounds very nice for this time of year

 

i wish i had the skills you did man, that bike looks amazing so far. i like the speedometer "hold on" XD

 

Update? I have a feeling this is going to be an awesome piece of work.

 

Nice looking build so far, glad to see you decided to salvage that bullet-proof shaft drive. I've seen lots of pictures of xjs that have had the shaft exposed to accommodate a wider tire, but what you've done looks nicer and is much more likely to help keep your drive shaft in good shape. I'm in the process of finishing a bolt-on hard tail conversion on my xj750 maxim that I have fabricated out of a piece of 5/8 " thick by 1.25" diameter perforated titanium box tubing I cut to fit shape/location of existing rear shock mounts. I lowered the tail 4" from stock with my newly attached (via a combo of spot weld to existing mounts, insertion of steel spacing sleeves inside of mounting locations, generously applied 5 ton hold steel 2 part epoxy) "hobo struts" as I have dubbed them. They look a bit out of place at present, but once I have my new tail lights mounted to them and have fabricated something to cap the tops with, they are going to be filled in solid with either a bronze or iron pour and the permanently affixed.

 

wow, you ^ need to shorten your signature

 

+1

 

bike is looking real great man! I found this thread and had to join the forum, I am also working on an 81xj650, and am in the process of rebuilding the engine and hardtailing it... but here in chicago, the harsh winter weather and record snowfall is dampening the progress at my garage home shop untill spring.

your craftsmanship is excellent and i have no doubt that your build will be a diamond in the ruff and something for all xj owners to be proud of!

so here's some shop talk.

i also intended to stretch the bike out so i bought a driveshaft and ujoint off of a mid 80's vmax12. when i saw your modified driveshaft I immediately had concerns with the integrity of the shaft, but i'm somewhat of a noob myself, and i'm sure you know what your doing.
should give it a few inches extension after i have the ujoint rebuilt.
i love what you did with the swingarm driveshaft cover, I was gonna leave mine uncovered, but that looks great!

good luck with the build! can't wait to see more progress.

 

thanks!
There will be no problems with the driveshaft, it'll be plenty strong and it runs very true between centers.
As for your driveshaft, you can probably just pop the shaft out of the u-joint and put the xj650 one one the end. It's splined, and you can generally pop it out with a screwdriver.
You might already know that, but i wasnt sure if you were going to rebuild the joint to put the xj flange on, or or only because it's worn out.

 

yeah, i know, ha. I just put them together for the pucture, to show the difference in size. the driveshaft is a bit too large for the yolk on the u-joint. it fits the final drive perfectly. I need to frankenstein a u-joint that consists of a xj flange and v-max yolk to make it work.