xs400 boardtacker by MOTORLOU

motorlou

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hey guys I wanted to introduce myself. my name is Lou (Motorlou) and i build bikes for a living. i hang out in a couple other forums such as "CHOPCULT" and "THE HORSE BACKSTREET CHOPPERS". i really like building small displacement japanese bikes (they're the funnest to ride!!) but i do bigger displacement bikes as well as Harleys. in general i don't discriminate against anything with two wheels ha ha ha. As you all know, there was a big hoopla about a bike on here called "SERVI-CYCLE" which is an xs400 boardtracker i made for a customer a few months ago. apparently there was confusion as to who built the bike and what not. i want to apologize for any confusion that might have occrured and let me rest assure you that the magic happens right here in my humble garage after it spills out of my head. i was asked to do a write up on the build by Travis the forum administrator. i also wanted to ask my fellow members to please not bring up the original post about this project up as i will not be responding to those questions unless it is related to something technical about the bike. i want this thread to be for the viewing pleasure of my fellow members as well as future members. I will be posting pics in the order i took them with a brief description. i have a bit of pictures so i will do this over the next couple days. thankyou in advance, Lou


this bike started as a frame and engine I bought from my friend Justin (local to me). i am currently into boardtrackers and super skinny bikes. i was looking at bikes called servi-cycles and thought it would be kinda neat to make a bike which incorporated features from both this bike as well as a boardtracker. i had recently purchased a tubing bender and decided to make a loop frame of sorts for this project. i made two of the same frames basically, one for this one and one for my personal ironhead project. i was thinking "BIG/LITTLE SISTER" type deal. here are the first couple pics of the project........

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Welcome to the forum! Your work in known very well here can't wait to see more.
 
thanks fellas, i wish i would have known about this site when i was building the bike. i would have definately had a build thread here:banghead: anyhow, i wanted to run some 21" wheels on the bike so i bought a front harley wideglide dual flange for the back and a 21" narrowglide for the front. i would be using harley disk brakes (the rear brake is actually a front brake off a sportster). i make my own sprockets for these bikes by buying a blank one from "SURPLUS CENTER" online. they sell them in 50 pitch or 60 pitch with a center bore of 2" which is the hub diameter of a harley wheel (84-99). all you have to do is choose how many teeth you want and drill out the harley bolt pattern. i did this using an old harley rotor and center punching the holes after lining up the bores. back on the frame, i saved the neck off the original frame to save me the hassle of registration ect. i grafted the neck to the rake of my liking using the front end to help me figure out the trail. on this bike it ended up being about 2-3 inches of trail with a 32-34 degree rake.

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now that i had the main part of the frame set up it was time to start working on tabs and accessories. this is the part that takes the longest. you have to go adding the parts and tabs to make sure everything fits, tack welding them and then tear it all down at the end for final welding. i love using fatbob tanks from harley's. i usually split each tank and then mate them to make one skinny one. for this bike i wanted to run a split tank on each side to expose the back bone. i added a link of me cutting up and bronze brazing a set of tanks together, check it out! i was too lazy to arch the back bone to match the tank so i was counting on coming up with something to fill the space in. i had a hood ornament off a '56 chevy which i had been trying to put on a project for years, unfortunately it never panned out. this time i found that it would fit the project but i would have to clip the wings. i thought it looked pretty cool so i decided to go ahead and make it work.


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hey guys, i don't mean to highjack my own thread but i am so excited because today i finished and rode another project i had on the back burner. it is a 1978 honda cb400 which i called "sneaky snake".......i kinda thought it fit the tone of this thread! ha ha ha
anyhow, next on the to do list was the front end. i started making a front end for this bike which was going to be a copy of one i had bought for my ironhead project. once i tried out the front end on my ironhead i found that the spring was going to be too weak for that heavy ole bike and i decided to use it for the xs400. i basically cut it down in half and made some new axle plates. i replaced the bushings and rewelded the tab for the spring because it was set up for some major rake. other than that i called it good.

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the snake looks bitch'in Lou! moped front end?

I love that look you have on the xs, i just want to put rear sets on it though and make a brooklands board racer!

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wow that's a beautiful bike drewpy! the front end is actually of a cl175. i had to cut and extend the neck stem 3/4" to make it fit the cb400 neck. i will be starting another project here in the next few weeks. it is a 1981 suzuki gs450. i will be making it in a vintage style again sorta like the xs400 but this one will have "pedal start" like the old harleys had back in the day. super excited, can't wait!
 
yep, same bike but the "story behind the story". well, next up was an electrical box to hold a few electrical items. i wanted to hide the cdi, ignition switch and regulator in there. i would be making a separate box below to run the battery and strap the rectifier to the front of it. i started by making a basic horseshoe styled bag to fit. i thought it was kinda plain so i kept on thinking on how to give the box some dimension or something to liven it up a bit. i had a buddy of mine mill out some finned covers to weld to the sides of the engine covers earlier in the build. i figured since i did the finned covers i could maybe try some fins on the box to match? i marked out the spacing from the top to bottom of the box and then got to it. i took some 1/8 inch round stock and proceeded to bend it. i had to hammer the stock to be able to get the contour of the box.

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Damn! nice work. the bikes are great looking. the workmanship is just amazing keep up the good work. love the exhaust on the cb400
 
well guys, just have to highjack this thread one last time. i made a promo vid for the cb400 sneaky snake bobber. check it out. anyhow, one of the last few pieces left to fabricate was the book rack which i made out of 1/2" solid round stock. nothin too fancy, i think i had enough going on with this bike! just wanted something to be able to strap things down to and also serve as a sissy bar of sorts. next, i wanted to make some mufflers that followed the bottom of the frame rails just like the simplex motorcycles that i was copying so i made some templates out of 1/4 inch rebar and had my friend bend up the pipe on his machine(i didn't have the dies to do it on mine). to flare the ends of the pipes out i just heated the tip up and took a tow hitch ball and hammer to it! now that i pretty much i had the bike all fabricated it was time to start tearing things down and final welding. once i had the bike all tore down and welded the next step will be making it all pretty!


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alright guys, last part of the build, my favorite, makin her pretty. the customer requested a specific color for the bike which is "meteor maroon" by house of colors. i came up with a paint scheme combining the meteor maroon and some off white to make some inlays on the tanks, fender and electric box. i didn't want to make the paint job too flashy or something because there is alot going on with the bike already. the customer also wanted to kick it up a notch and have all the parts that normally get chromed plated in copper. after i layed all the base on the frame and tins, the customer had a friend of his come over to the garage and pintripe everything. the guy later took the tanks to make a stencil for the sides of the tank which said servi-cycle. i thought it was a nice touch. after i got all the pieces back i went ahead and clear coated over everything. here are the pics of the paint job and also the link to the whole build folder on photobucket.......

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v307/motolou/xs400/#!cpZZ3QQtppZZ16

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