The Barzu Bike - XJ750

This has been an awesome thread to read. Thanks for making my afternoon, and don't give up on us XJ guys with all your new toys!

 

I've gotta be honest and telll you, Schnuffy, that I was concerned about whether or not getting a new bike with no work required would change or somehow cheapen the way I feel about my XJ.

It's been pleasantly quite the opposite. Each one of my bikes has things about them that are completely bad ass, and I'm not able to compare the two against each other.

I guess officially that now makes me a true biker. I have the bug and enjoy the shit out of both my bikes.

The dudes on here are top notch and if I turned my back on the Barzu bike, I would also be turning my back on everyone here who's helped me a great deal with the wealth of information they all provide to get my build to where it is so far.

When I started here not too long ago, I didn' even own a bike. Thanks everybody!

Enough with the sap. I'm going to eat and then having my kids help me take the drive shaft off

 

Great!

Nothing like free child labour.

 

I don't know Shnuffy, it's not really free labor. They're always whining about being hungry, or needing shoes, or wanting to go places and crap. They cost a small fortune

On to the business end of things. Found a dude that will machine a new drive shaft for me with the 6" stretch that I'm looking for. All I have to worry about is getting some square and round tubing to stretch both the shaft and support sides of the swing arm. Pics are coming, but I've not finished taking the shaft drive apart yet.

Since I've got a dude that can machine any gears/housings, I'm also entertaning the idea of throwing a 220/240 tire on the back...but that would take away from the bobber and add to the chopper, not so sure I want that.

More good news is that Home Depot here rents welders for $35/day. Granted it's your standard wire feed Lincoln Electric, BUT it's definetly good for welding the steel on the frame, swing arm, and the new pipes.

I also scored a seat from a dude on Ebay. Pic's attached. I've looked at a crapload of seats. A friggin crapload! But finally found the one for the bike. It's right on. Should be here in a couple of days.

More awesomeness to follow for sure...

 

NICE! How much did the La Rosa cost?

 

$120 w shipping. It list for like $139 plus $12 or $20 to ship. I sent the dude a couple of nice emails and he agreed.

 

Barzu, Wow, you're going all out. Nice warrior BTW.
I can't wait to see what you're going to do with the XJ.
I sorta did the same thing. I wanted to chop something or modify a bike, but wanted to keep on riding. Soooo. I bought a 1973 TX650 (same as an xs650 just that year they were called tx)
This is it so far,

Once I get this one back together, then I will start on my Seca.

 

I think if you stretch and hard tail it you should do it the right way and cut the whole swing arm and everything out. My opinion, it just doesnt look right with all that left in and serving no purpose, it would take more work sure, but the result would be so much cleaner.

 

XULF!!!!! Dude, that thing looks sweet. Chain drive and all. I absolutely love the wheels, and kick start. Where'd you score that?

That thing is just begging for a drop seat, IMO. (sorry for the crappy photoshop, just a concept)

Brawler: Agreed. I'm a do it once and do it right kind of guy, so this project will most certainly play heavily into my OCD about clean lines and minimalist look.

 

Cool I am anxious to see I have been wanting to stretch and hard tail a shafty for a while now, just don't want to do it to mine, I like my shocks. But if I sell this one and get another I will definately.

Can't wait to see the progress.

 

Hey Barzu, I scored that off craigslist. I'm turning it into another cafe racer. This one is more period correct and it's a lighter bike.
I would like to pick up another xs650 and do a bob and stretch it a bit. But this one is almost finished now.

Any progress on your xj?

 

Cafe's are cool, but I think that would be more suited as something like this....

http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/mcy/1691951177.html

I just went and hung out with the guy that built this bike and he's going to help me hardtail the XJ. I can't wait to get started.

I'm going to post up better pics of this bike in a new thread and I'll link to it in my thread.

 

Heeellllooooo! BARZU ARE U THERE? I've read thru the entire thread and left us all hangin. More updates!

 

nice to see your back at that bike barzu...

-james

 

Hey Barzu, just an idea for cleaning up the look of those header pipes, get some safety wire like us racing guys use and a pair of safety wire pliers and put a couple of turns around near the hose clamp. Then just tighten up the wire and snip off the end, remove the clamps and you should be good to go. Just hide the twisted end by folding it up under the pipe. It will be almost invisible.
Here's the link to an article about safety wiring a race bike, gives you an idea of what the wire and pliers look like, but you don't need everything just to do the headers.
http://www.bostonmoto.com/blog/bid/3714 ... -your-bike

 

Forgive no updates as I'm in Cancun on "business"...I know, poor me.

Thanks for the wire idea. The hose clamps are very temporary. I've decided to go 4 into 2...running each 2.5 inch pipe along the length of the bike and stopping at the end of the rear tire. I'm still going to wrap them because I like the look.

I've taken the back wheel off as well as the final drive, OmniGear Machine Corp in Joliet is crafting me a brand new final drive shaft with a 6 inch stretch. I've considered going past six inches, even as far as 10, but 6 seems to be right on.

When I get back to Chicago, Ill post some pics of how the chop looks with the back tire mocked up 6 inches back. Id expect yall to chime in with thoughts afterward.

Be safe out there!

 

The Shaft!

So I took the final drive apart and pulled the old drive shaft. Sent it to these guys and they pulverized it to find out the exact material needed to make a new drive shaft.

Why, you ask? Why would I take a perfectly good drive shaft and pulverize it? Simply put, the Barzu bike needs to be stretched

I finally got it back! So here's a picture of my large shaft, a whole 6" longer...and according to the ladies, it's got all kinds of extra reach.

I'm kicking the unique factor up a bunch, because you don't really see a shaft drive, stretched bobber...until now. (Well, not right now, but when it's done)

 

Holy Cheese Whiz! That must have set you back a few hundred dollars at least. Hope it is worth the effort, I'm curious to see the finished product. Welcome back!

 

$1612.22. And yeah, that's a bit much. However, part of that fee was to send it to the metallurgy dudes to see what it was made up of. Also, this is a bike that I'm planning on passing down to my son, so the price of the build is not really much of an issue...and judging from the lack of recent updates on my part, neither is time Good to be back!

 

Hate to admit it in public......but I must say that seeing that has given me "Shaft" envy! 8O
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