Sneeky peeky of my newest whip. 1979 XS650. My first points bike, and my first runner!! (thank god..) She runs good, is super clean and already has a sporty tank on her. Finally a bike too clean to chop. Just might end up being my first Street tracker.. I get bored...We'll see... Thanks Kevin!!!

So here's a couple sneak peeks of my 1983 XS650. Not quite a classic, but only a year off..lol.. I bought it from my bud in Sandpoint ID for $200 and I plan on making a gem out of her..

 I had it torn down within an hour and the choppin soon begin. I Bratt'd her out matching the stock backbone, just like a hardtail. A bit different than my last frame, but I think the lines flow a lot more and the only challenge is keeping the same low stance which will be handled with a set of Burley 10.5" sporty shocks.

 All in all, the frisco'd sporty tank and the Biltwell tuck and roll seat outta make this bike stand out from the crowd of duds. The motor has 8000 original miles and will be treated to a Mikes XS carb kit, a PMA kit and of course Pamco Ignition to make it a super reliable freeway flyer. stay tuned for more tips and tricks for the home builder!

1981 XS650 Update kinda..

Got my 650 all prettied up, resealed and ready to roll. New carbs/spacers from Mikes XS outta make her run like a top. Raw polished the cases out, stripped the block and repainted with a high temp paint. I had some leaks from a shitty seal kit, so I got a hold of a NOS Yamaha kit and so far seems to be a MUCH better quality than the prior kit. Pamco ignition is in place and I deleted the starter via Mikes $16.00 kit.

do it yerself.

Sammy P's XJ Chop

So got an email form Sammy P outta Upstate NY. He is boys with Reez, May and the rest of the Outlaw crew, so I know he is good peeps! He sent me some pics of his sweet 1981 Yamaha XJ650 chop hes got goin on. $300.00 initial buy in will make this shaft driven beast a cheap build.

  Hardtailing the rear end looks to be a little different than doing a standard chain bike, but Sam's got the stance just right. All in all, looks like she's going to be a sweet looking smooth running ride.. Keep us posted Sammy!

Slugging!! bout damn time..

First off, sorry for the d-lay!! I've been working on the road non-stop the last month so I haven't had a ton of time to work on my toys. But... I've had a couple semi drunken, productive weekends so here's a little diddy on slugging. you can use this for frames, bars and pretty much anything that needs to be joined..

So first off, I have one half of the puzzle shown. The frame's upright tube is on the left, and the slug is on the right. The slug is a piece of stock that will slip tightly in the piece being joined. It allows a nice tight fit and extra weld points resulting in a much stronger joint.

Here is the Slug inserted into the upright. Notice the drilled hole. I drilled completely through the upright before inserting the Slug.

 

TACK IT UP!!!

 Here's the upright and slug in place ready to tack weld. Notice the hole in the frame. Just like before, drilled all the way through. I have already welded and grinded/sanded down the upright prior to install.

 And here it is all in place. A little finish grinding on the weld hole will make it disappear.

Here's 50 cents!.. I like to cut my pieces around the seam with a grinder at about 45-50 degrees as you can see in the pics. This allows for a much deeper, wider weld that you can keep low on the surface for finishing, but achieve maximum penetration for a strong joint..

All in all, grab an old handle bar, cut it in half and rejoin it for fun before attempting to do a frame or swing arm.. GOOD LUCK!!

How to shave your XS650 forks.

So, I'm sure we can all agree that nothing looks better than a sweet ass shaved.....set of FORKS! Shaving your forks is cheap, easy and really cleans the lines of your bike up by removing unused fender and brake caliper mounts. While your forks are apart its also a good time to replace those 30 year old fork seals and lower your forks as well!

So if you have never had your forks apart before, or are a bit timid to go hacking into the "unknown" there is a great tutorial on fork disassembly and proper lowering provided by Mulligan Machine and the boys at xs650chopper.com. The pic above shows what you should have after complete fork disassembly.

Here's a pic of the fork lower tube prior to cutting. I use my favorite tool, a Porta-band saw to cut off the useless brake caliper and fender mounts. A bench vise also comes in real handy. Be sure when cutting off the mounts to leave plenty of excess material. The last thing you want to do is cut into your fork tubes.

This is what remains of the left fork lower after cutting. Being that your lower tubes are made out of aluminum they will grind down very, very quickly, so don't be afraid to leave more material behind for safety's sake. My brake caliper mounts on the right tube, so this left tube gets shaved clean.

Here I am grinding down the remaining material. For this task I use a 4 1/2" grinder with a 80 grit flap wheel. This method will remove aluminum material fast, but slower and safer than a standard grinding wheel. The key here is keeping your grinder as close to 90 degrees as possible to prevent "dishing" the fork which is very easy to do. I prefer to leave about 1/16" of material remaining which will be removed in the next step.

Here I use a orbital palm sander to do the fine sanding and smooth/level out the remaining material. I start with 60 grit and finish off with 150 grit. You will go through quite a bit of sandpaper as the aluminum clogs it up quickly. Keep the sander moving across the workpiece to prevent flat spots. This method is pretty painless. I noticed in the past that disc sanders make it very easy to dish the piece, which looks like shit. No one likes shit except for fecalphiliacs..

Now for the fine cleanup. I use a piece of 220 grit emery cloth (available at your local hardware store) to get ride of all the fine lines left behind from the palm sander. This takes a bit of time, but the results are priceless! This method will give your forks a nice fine round finish that you can later polish or powder coat.

Here's the finished product! Super smooth and looking so minimal, just how I like it!

And as you can see, no dishing or "speed bumps" as I like to call them. This tube is now ready for powder coating. After I get them back from my powder coater, I will install new fork seals, re-assemble, add fork oil and be lookin' damn fine!

I urge you to do this yourself, but if this looks like too much for you to tackle, hit me up! A basic XS fork shave with new seals, fork oil and powder coated will set ya back $150.00 for the pair plus shipping. For another $25.00, I will lower your forks 2 inches. Other "racey" options such as progressive springs are available, feel free to ask! 

Custom Battery Boxes. Built to your specs.

 A lot of guys these days are running mini batteries on their choppers and cafe bikes. I run them on my bikes as well. With a kick start only bike, mini batteries are the only way to fly. Easy to hide under your brats swing arm, or down low on your hard tail, we can build steel boxes in any configuration you might need.

 We're currently taking orders for custom built, one off, battery boxes starting at $60.00!! Built to your specs. Solid steel or speed holes, steel battery hold down or bungee style as shown, we can build them all. Available raw or powder coated in any color you can imagine. Turnaround time is approx 2 weeks for a powder coated box, quicker for a raw box. Email me at dirtygursmetric@gmail.com or shoot me a call at 208-818-9231 to place your order.

raw finished, speed holed, bungee style, under swing arm mount box for XS650's shown.