Prized XJ650 Bobber 82'

Because this site was so helpful during this build.. I am posting the Bobber that has become my prized possesion. I am going to post the whole build process here.

 

thats a mean lookin hardtail man. well done! please post more pics if you can... build pics are like porn to many of us here on this site!

 

Sure there are many of my ideas here that will be re-used by others, But to get to this point it was ideas by others that inspired me to create.

 

This bike is re-engineered, every part is still removable including the swingarm.

 

If you want to hear it running it's on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC3kdYNHDVU there are no baffles and I made the exhaust out of EMT conduit, It sounds straight mean and throaty, just like you would expect from the looks of the bike.

 

More pics! and the whole build process coming up!

 

very clean and simple. i would have to say the only thing i dont like is that you went with black... it seems to be a very popular choice amongst the xj bobber club though so i guess its just a matter of taste. im personally waiting on my tank to come back from the painter. i decided to go with satin white and some old school pin striping in black and red. good work though man. i look forward to seein more of the litttle details

 

Color was a very difficult choice, there were at least 20 different options I test drove with ms paint to get a rough idea of final product ... flat and satin white were choices I weighed heavily, especially a satin white stripe through the bike. ended up with a flat black frame and satin black tank, fenders and under seat pan, I guess the simplicity of it really makes it pop. When I post build pics you will see how the paint waited, and waited . ... and waited until very last. Besides It's not like I "murdered" it out or spray and prayed, every piece is individually painted and there is alot of bare metal and chrome that really needed to stand out here.

 

Really NICE!!!

skillet

 

With Up-sized jets, pod filters and free flow exhaust, This is the view most people get. Unless I stop and when I stop (especially at gas stations) the bike gets swarmed by people with questions. It's a real head turner.

 

Before I post the build pics it is only fair to show the $280.00 bike this thing started out as.

 

It had big dents in the tank, bent handle bars, a ripped off exhaust pipe on the right side, ran like total crap with horrible flat spots in acceleration, and every part was in poor shape. But the bike only had 14,500 miles and so the project was born.

 

More before pics (I wish the horrible gas tank dents showed better) Pic was deleted due to upload restrictions

 

I am a 16 year veteran Auto Mechanic but this was my very 1st bike. Tear-down begins in a humble 1 stall garage. every part is removed and bagged, I took tons of pics just in case I needed to refer to them during reassembly. I had already visited this site dozens of times and was planning to do only few small modifications over the long Minnesota winter here.

 

Here are those nasty carbs that give so many people trouble.. I hope to shed some light on perfecting these bad boys as I was able to make this bike run perfectly on the 1st try.

 

I was trying to remove those carb boots and SNAP! one of the bolts snapped off into the cylinder head So off to the shop the engine went to get that bolt drilled out and re-tapped.

 

And on second thought, why not just bring the whole bike down to the shop while I'm at it

 

Here I am using some wood blocks to determine stance and ride height with the suspension removed.

 

More pics and the whole build on the way !!!

 

I was just going to modify the original seat because seats out there are so spendy! Until I came across this bad boy on the web for $60 brand new! Here we go.... now that i have a springer seat I guess it's hard tail time