RobbyD
XS400 Enthusiast
After building my first bike then selling it last year I've been wanting to do another cafe bike. I had a couple kz400's but lost interest in those then sold. Funny thing is, until I discovered cafe bikes I actually hated motorcycles lol. But since my last build I've come to appreciate a lot of different styles. I love the look of simplicity/bare bones of a well done cafe bike, just a couple wheels, a motor and rider.
As a early Father's Day present my awesome wife bought me a 78 xs400. I have been wanting to cafe a bike with mags ever since I seen a cb550 with lesters and this xs fit the bill perfect. Has a little over 8k miles on it and pretty clean for the most part.
Plans for the bike are just a very simple and clean cafe bike. It will pretty much be a replica of my cb (candy blue frame and black tank and seat). This build will go at a slower pace then my cb did. As some may know it's very easy to throw a sh!t load of money at a bike in no time.
I learned a lot from my cb build both good and bad. This bike will be fully mocked up before I go crazy with powdercoating. Making sure everything is where it needs to be and comfortable (as comfortable as a cafe bike with clip one can be)
Here it is after cleaning it up the day after bringing it home
My old cb550
The xs would run but only on choke and pissed fuel out the petcock so I ordered a new petcock and gaskets from mikexs and rebuilt the carbs. They weren't nearly as bad as I figured they would be. Tops and bowls will eventually be powdercoated black
And clean
Ran pretty good and had great compression, 145 in the left cylinder and 150 in the right.
i started stripping a lot of parts I didn't need and ordered some clip ons and headlight brackets for it.
That is how it sits today, nothing crazy or special....yet!!
I contacted Ian holcott over at caferacerseatandtank/twin line motorcycles with my measurements for my seat. He did the one on my cb550 and have been a fan of his work since.
I'll be taking my top triple tree into work this weekend and do some machining on it and once Ian finishes my seat I'll order up my tires so I can decide on what length shock I want to run. Seems like these bikes sit very low in the back
As a early Father's Day present my awesome wife bought me a 78 xs400. I have been wanting to cafe a bike with mags ever since I seen a cb550 with lesters and this xs fit the bill perfect. Has a little over 8k miles on it and pretty clean for the most part.
Plans for the bike are just a very simple and clean cafe bike. It will pretty much be a replica of my cb (candy blue frame and black tank and seat). This build will go at a slower pace then my cb did. As some may know it's very easy to throw a sh!t load of money at a bike in no time.
I learned a lot from my cb build both good and bad. This bike will be fully mocked up before I go crazy with powdercoating. Making sure everything is where it needs to be and comfortable (as comfortable as a cafe bike with clip one can be)
Here it is after cleaning it up the day after bringing it home
My old cb550
The xs would run but only on choke and pissed fuel out the petcock so I ordered a new petcock and gaskets from mikexs and rebuilt the carbs. They weren't nearly as bad as I figured they would be. Tops and bowls will eventually be powdercoated black
And clean
Ran pretty good and had great compression, 145 in the left cylinder and 150 in the right.
i started stripping a lot of parts I didn't need and ordered some clip ons and headlight brackets for it.
That is how it sits today, nothing crazy or special....yet!!
I contacted Ian holcott over at caferacerseatandtank/twin line motorcycles with my measurements for my seat. He did the one on my cb550 and have been a fan of his work since.
I'll be taking my top triple tree into work this weekend and do some machining on it and once Ian finishes my seat I'll order up my tires so I can decide on what length shock I want to run. Seems like these bikes sit very low in the back
Last edited:
