Well I'm half way there, because I just bought the XS650 you see pictured here. It is a '77 as the title of the post implies, It was a second owner bike, the guy I bought it from purchased it from his cousin back in '83 and has owned it ever since.
It only has 6,035 original miles on it, it is in pretty good shape for a thirty two year old bike, but it won't be winning any vintage bike shows. It has a few rough edges here and there. But it makes for a great starting point.
If I go down the street tracker route, this is the look I would be looking to achieve.
If I go the bobber way, this one makes the hair on my arms stand up. UPDATE: the bobber pictured above sold for $5,355.00. I will probably ride the bike like it is for a bit while I make my decision. The tracker offers racy good looks and the comfort of having rear shocks. The bobber looks bitchin' but the hard tail will have you pissing blood. Decisions, Decisions.
Till Next Time.................
7 comments:
I say keep it stock or Street Tracker.
Great Article on the texting below, Gymi.
I hate that shit.
Hey Unk,
After careful consideration, I'm doing the Street Tracker. I just can't get around the hard tail on the bobber and I think the brat style bobbers with the rear end cut off and the shocks left on look unfinished. Plus if I want to go back to stock, it's an easy switch back.
After the cops and firemen, you see the first hand results of these assholes who can't seem to operate a motor vehicle without doing some sort of activity that more than distracts them from the task at hand. Worst of all is, a lot of the accidents they cause they aren't directly involved in, other than starting the chain reaction and motoring on their merry way. I just wish there was some way to get them to concentrate on driving, and leave all that other shit for when they are not behind the wheel.
That 1977 was such a classic year. I had a new one and rode it for 87,000 miles before I bought a 1982 GPz750. I took that bike on two cross country trips of 10,000 and 13,000 miles. I vote (just kidding) to keep it stock. Its one of the prettiest bikes yamaha ever mad. Cheers
Anyone know where he get that hardtail on the Bobber from?
Any progress on this?
I have the exact same bike, a 1977 XS650D in Bountiful Blue. Picked it up for $300, 2nd owner, 27,000 miles, aluminum rims, new cables, and maintenance receipts going back to the warranty period. Only needs new exhaust, tires, and upholstery to be in decent stock condition, but I'm going to do a low-budget tracker conversion. Not all-out, just seat, bobbed fenders, headers and custom paint, plus a lot of aluminum polishing.
I wound up selling it to a collector. I just couldn't bring myself to chopping up a bike with such low miles and in the condition this one was in. Sounds like you have a decent plan, a bit of customizing, just not too much. Good luck with your project.
I am in the middle of a cafe conversion on a '78 XS500 that I picked up for free. It was in pretty bad shape and it needs a ton of work. I am about half way done, but have a long way to go. Every part needs to be either replaced or refinished. I'm lucky, it runs like new despite being stored under a tarp outside for about ten years. There was very little info on these bikes and it was scattered everywhere on the net. So I started a TX/XS500 Forum with a couple other guys. You can check it out here. http://xs500.proboards.com/
You can get the hardtail here.
http://www.tcbroschoppers.com/index.php/yamaha-xs650-weld-on-hardtail.html
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