2 XS400's for the price of one!

[totalgearhead]

Hey all, I just picked up 2 XS400's for the winter. My kids were bugging me for a project to do with Dad! Anyways the complete bike will be a Cafe for the short term and I will Hardtail the other that was a basket case.

I bought some 7/8" x .120" wall tube for the frame. I am looking for redneck ways of putting some small bends without buying a tubing bender? I also bought some 1.125" for the backbone to fix the lines a bit, but that biatch will need a bender

 

[drewpy]

if you want hardtail

these are your guys for the xs400

 

[Travis]

I've seen a lot of crazy home-built benders on the internet. Here's one of them: http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3532

Nothing works like a real bender with the proper dies though. Dies will cost you about $200 each and they are only good for one size tube and one radius. Of course you also need the bender to put the dies in, but the dies are the key to it all.

I've read about a lot of people using hydraulic pipe benders that you can buy at places like harbor freight or northern tool for a couple hundred bucks.. The problem with those is that the dies are for pipes and not tubes so they can kink the tube rather than make a nice bend. Part of the problem is that there is no follower block to keep the tubing in the die.

There's always the old "put it in a vice, heat it up with a torch, and pull" method.

I've also read a lot about people packing the tubes with sand and capping them before making a bend with either a pipe "kinker" or torch. They seem to have varying degrees of success and it sounds like a lot of work.

I've done the torch method, and was not happy with the results. Now I have a real bender and am very happy with it. It definitely was not cheap though.

 

[totalgearhead]

Thanks Travis and drewpy. I want to do the "backyard" way for my hardtail. I already have the material so the brake shoe idea is spades for me! I was looking for something better than heating the pipe and not as involved as building a hydraulic bender. Love it!

Besides, 4 tubes with pretty minor bends is all I am looking for.


Anyone have luck/experience with offset sprockets? I am looking at making my own from the worn units on there now, I need minimal clearance for the 150/60-16 tire I currently have mounted on the factory rim.

 

[drewpy]

here's another link for a redneck tube bender

don't forget you need to slug the tubes together for strength

 

[Travis]

drewpy, I was looking for that tube bender link last night when I posted. That's not a bad way to do it on the cheap.

I think there is a lot of misinformation in that slugging thread. The one know-it-all seems to be making shit up as he goes!

 

[volcomskater77]

post pics of how you welded up the backbone when the time comes. when its all welded up, can you just use a universal hardtail kit like the TC bros makes? or will that not work?

 

[drewpy]

drewpy,

I think there is a lot of misinformation in that slugging thread. The one know-it-all seems to be making shit up as he goes!

there are a lot of good builders on that forum, wonder why no-one has picked that up?

 

[Travis]

there are a lot of good builders on that forum, wonder why no-one has picked that up?

No they have.. further down in the thread. A certified welders says a couple of things and the first poster corrects him and basically says "you're wrong, I'm right, your certifications don't mean anything". Not really a big deal, but if you just read the first few posts in that thread, you'll have the wrong idea about using slugs to butt two pieces of tubing together. That's just my

 

[totalgearhead]

Thanks guys, I will post pics as the build progresses. Just started a new job, so I am building the items required to get this started.

 

[totalgearhead]

Well, here is the before and after I started cutting the frame. Crappy cell pics. but I am getting into this hardtail now. Still need to bend the tubes, but I will keep working on that!

 

[cturek]

Nice project. The pictures are great, keep them coming!

 

[Travis]

Cool. I think I'm going to like where you're going with the design of the hardtail.

 

[totalgearhead]

I have cut the frame, but left the swing arm braced at ride height. I will do the back bone and upper rear tubes first. I am keeping the axle plates, so after the rear uppers are attached to the axle plates i will cut the swing arm out. Followed by the rear bottom tubes. I will clean up the whole rear engine mount area. I am also going to add a tube for the top motor mount. I am looking for a tank that will look right. Cheers!

 

[78whiteorbs]

any chance you might not need some stock take offs?

 

[hardtailed77]

Looking awesome so far! I will definitely be watching where this build goes!

 

[Travis]

Any updates on this?

 

[totalgearhead]

Sure there is an update, but I have slowed due to work travel and Christmas fast approaching. I have to work in stages as I am using the existing frame/swingarm as the jig to keep everything in alignment. The pic shows the elongated top tube mocked up. I will be adding the rear upper tubes at the same time. I will keep updating as I go, maybe with some holidays I will make some good progress! Cheers....

 

[Travis]

Yeah the holidays sure slow down bike building. The forums slow down too until after the new year, then everything starts picking up again as everyone is looking forward to spring!

Thanks for the update!

 

[totalgearhead]

My Buddy and I went crazy on the bike last night, details of what we did are in post #14. We still have to tear it appart and final weld everything. It all went as planned, the axle plates are not solid as I hoped. Stance is awesome, need a sporty King tank....