Swapping the xs650 charging system

The xs charging system never worked properly, so I opted to do the yamaha banshee swap (permanent magnet), both for reliability and the option to go batteryless in the future. Not to mention being able to kickstart the bike on a dead battery. I had to fabricate an adaptor plate on the lathe (to attach the banshee timing plate to the crankcase), but other than trimming some of the timing plate, thats all the fabrication that was required. Instead of buying used parts, I opted for brand new ones from rmstator.com, a fantastic Canadian company. Parts required: homemade adaptor plate, Banshee timing plate, Banshee upgraded flywheel, and a Honda Hurricane stator.
It looks stock, and it went together super easy. At least once I got the stock rotor pulled it did! I didnt have the proper puller, or even the right sized die or bolt to make one, so after a lot of swearing and failed attempts with various 2 and 3 jaw pullers, I finally got it off with a straight leg puller from Princess Auto. First time Ive ever seen or used one!

Fresh paint

Just finishing the clear coat on my tank. Im pretty damn happy about how it turned out. Credit for the concept goes my bro Csik (airbrush artist extraordinaire). Basically, I spraybombed a ton of different coloured layers on the tank, then carefully used sandpaper to remove layers to make the spots.

Sissybar!

Made a nice looooong sissybar, and found some sweet handlebars. Length of the bike is now 11 ft! Mounted the internal throttle, which promptly shredded a bearing. It was shit machined and was far from smooth anyways. Cheap chinese crap! Back to regular throttle, which with one cable looks pretty clean anyways.

Forward controls

Finished making and mounting the forward controls. Im stoked as fuck about how they turned out. Used some old sporty levers modified to work on some extensions I made out of brass on the lathe. The pegs (and levers) are used, found upstairs at R&L. The rear brake is gonna have to use a cable, and the shifter should work with a rod, but it'll have to be a reverse shift pattern.

Spraypaint makes me happy

Mounted the coils, did up plug wires,  and the rear fender is almost done being bondoed and rattlecanned.

Bastards 5th

The Bastards celebrated our 5th anniversary on Sat. A huge rented van, and a load of shitty bars, including the Blue Diamond (otherwise known as the Blue Barry, in tribute to Stoons infamous and now closed Barry Hotel). Hella good time.

Progress...

Finished and mounted the exhaust. Im fucking stoked about how well it turned out. Got the carbs mounted, fender bondoed. Comin along.

Exhausted

Gonna be a week of late nights, Canada day and my birthday are coming up, and Id at least like most of the chopper fabbed up and running. Setting arbitrary deadlines for myself seems to be the only way I get my ass to the garage to work instead of playing video games. Summer is wasting away, and I thought Id be far more along by now. Thank god for the streetfighter. Reliable as fuck.
Heres some pix of the sweet four into one exhaust Rich Bastard gave me. I modified it tonight to fit the obnoxious chrome tip that I found at R&L. Not sure yet how I feel about the "cast iron" coloured high heat exhaust paint yet, but I couldnt resist. Flat black paint just seemed so boring in comparison.

Any given sunday

It dont get better than this.

Narrowed and mounted the fender, oil bag, and gas tank. Things are a-movin!

Someone always breaks down. Brian at 50's Haze this time!

Finally got some work done on the bike. Making a sweet sphere electrical box, made a battery box, and plumbed in some oil lines

Compressed air bikes fascinate me.

New magazine day! I would've picked up Heavy Duty from Australia, but it's $15 at the news stand here!!! I still mourn the loss of AWoL. The Horse is still my fav, but you guys need titties dammit!

Check out this pic set on Flickr. Great shit.

The Old Firm Casuals - "Apocalypse Coming"

Thanks, Trent, for featuring one of my bikes on your blog, Bikermetric! If you love metric choppers, it's the blog to read! Have fun on your Pimp and Ho tour, man!

Great ride on the weekend, I don't wanna jinx it, but summer may have finally come.

A few random inspirational pics. Love that bicycle hub!

Fuckin sweet. Minibikes rock. Most of us begged for one when we were kids, and I'd guess most of us would secretly love an excuse to buy one in adulthood and pimp that motherfucker out like it was 1977!