'81 xs400 chopper project

[Flagg]

so of course, i couldn't stop there! i NEED to see that bike come together!

i used the springer fork as a mock up, with the bent original front wheel (tire still almost new).

but, since i have not ordered the big twin cups for the steering tube, i had to make a mock up to hold the fork in place. decided to use wood and hole saws. a bit of sanding was required to fit perfectly.


and man, this thing is just going to slay.






it feels great, a nice fit. will build a set of mini ape bars, probably 6" to 8" tall, and not wide, as you can see the bike is very narrow.


i needed a money shot of girl on girl...


thanks guys for your interest. the build is coming along great, and such fun. next up is building the narrow springer forks, bars, and buying a front wheel. then tank and fender. then chain and controls... then internal throttle, foot clutch and suicide shifter... then wiring and lights and seat... then... then... then....

BWAHAHAHAHA IT NEVER ENDS

im delirious and need to sleep. till next time!

 

[LUCHO]

really good job what are you using like gas tank ?

 

[Flagg]

thanks lucho!

I haven't posted anything in quite awhile now, as the build has slowed down a lot. been working on other people's bikes, and the holidays always leave me short on money. I need to buy some expensive pieces to continue, but it's getting pretty close.

since my last post, I built the seat pan, hand hammered out of 14 gauge mild steel (spring seat). Also built the fake oil tank, which will house my battery, coils, ignition, etc... built that out of a piece of diesel exhaust... 6" exhaust pipe i think? finishing up my foot controls and the mounts this weekend.

gas tank will most likely be a peanut sportster tank. short and narrow, frisco mount. tc-bros has great tanks. this one probably:
http://www.tcbroschoppers.com/tc-bros-2-5-gal-frisco-mount-sportster-gas-tank.html

soon as my tax return gets here, i will buy my spool hub 21" front wheel, 21" avon speedmaster front tire, and 16" avon rear tire. woof, that's gonna be about $700 for all 3, including the tire mounting cost.

 

[Flagg]

yeah, been quite awhile since i posted anything.... good news tho, the bike is mostly done!

one of these days, i will continue the build pictures, all the parts and steps, etc. it sure is fun. already building a new seat (padded hard mounted, no springs) and new bars.

 

[Flagg]

if anyone could please help me out with my ignition problem, would be great! thanks

here:
http://www.xs400.com/threads/81-xs400-special-ignition.15785/

 

[short1]

Sorry can't help with the ignition problem but that thing is sweet, love the white walls and springer front end. Not a huge fan of white but with this I f'n dig it!

 

[Flagg]

thanks short1! once i finished building the springer, the whitewalls were a firm choice. still undecided on the white paint job tho... it was meant to be temporary hehe.

 

[rshutchinson]

I'm biased since I use white a lot but I love the white.

 

[Flagg]

Thanks @rshutchinson and on that note, I'll be painting hopefully in the next few months. Undecided on the color, but will be dark enough to make the white walls pop. I enjoyed the white, but it's not for me.

TL;DR changing and finishing a bunch of stuff while my electrical parts are shipped.

Tore the wiring out preparing for the new coils, pamco and final harness.

Got a round fender, eBay for $60. A new seat will have to be built (I'm ditching the spring seat, way too bouncy after accelerating).

Ordered a peanut wassel tank with a high tunnel. The sporty frisco just sat too high, made the front of the bike look almost de-raked and cluttered. The new tank will sit very low, maybe inches over the backbone. Makes me sad because it will cover the top motor mount, but I think the lines of the bike will look better. We will see! It arrives tomorrow.

Ditched the peg/brake/shifter mounts. They came out sooo bulky and completely covered the exhaust area that I wanted open and visible. Don't get me wrong, technically they were built nice. Now building new controls, mounted about 5" forward from where they were, smaller footprint and internalizing some of the brake mechanism.

Ditched the fake oil tank/battery ignition switch housing. The giant thing only held the tiny battery and switch, literally 4 times the necessary size. Bulky! Will build a compact battery box and gonna stealth mount the ignition switch.

Building new bars after tank, fender and seat are done. The lines of the bike in that area are really important to me, and these bars work with this tank. So new tank: new bars. Same for the headlight. Internal throttle as well.

And of course... foot clutch with linkage and a jockey shifter.

Anyways, to sum it all up... by the end of the build I wasn't happy with a lot of how it looked, despite being stoked the whole way through. So I went back thru my pictures and found the point in the build where I was happiest. And now getting the bike back closer to that look and feel.

Feelsgoodman

 

[Flagg]

With the fake oil tank and control mounts gone, really shows exhaust coming up between motor and frame. Sadly, top motor mount will be pretty hidden with the new gas tank.

Overall happy with the 2-1 stainless exhaust. The round fender is a lot smaller and tighter fit to the tire shape, should turn out nice.

We (my brother and I) built our bikes to ride to Born Free 8, a show we go to every year in Silverado, CA in June. This pic was snapped at Cook's Corner by the guys from MOONEYES and made it to their web magazine article. We found it a few weeks later. Awesome, considering it's a show dominated by Harleys and Triumphs. Dominated, but not owned... check out one of the award winning bikes built for that year...

Anyways, good to check in guys, have a good night, time to shut shop and head for drinks. Cheers!

 

[LUCHO]

I love the job , with the springer fork cool project.

 

[Flagg]

Thanks @LUCHO

Tank came in yesterday, threw it at the bike, put another set of bars on it... and now I can't decide about the seat.

Problem is that I want the fender to float (no struts going from axle to the fender) with a pretty tight gap between the tire rubber and fender. This makes a hard mounted seat a problem because the rider's weight would push against the fender. And with no struts the fender would push into the tire. Might try stiffer springs on the seat, with padding and upholstery.

Here are some pics from the end of the day:

 

[motoTrooper]

Good on you for coming back from the edge with that sportster tank. No offense meant but I cannot understand the attraction of them on these frames. The rear fender can be an engineering conundrum. Firstly tires are dynamic things and will find a way to rub if proper clearance isn't present. The fender itself, being made from thin metal, needs some kind of structure so it doesn't vibrate and flex and then fatigue crack at the mounting points. Possible stacking of same fenders welded together as one would create enough meaty structure to stand alone, otherwise struts or a spine structure (ala your top engine mount piece) welded in the center would be necessary.

 

[Flagg]

@motoTrooper agreed on the tank! Soon as I got that first tank I realized it wasn't right. The frisco mount really ruins it in my opinion, not so bad if the tunnel were deeper. And thanks for the tip of doubling the fender, I've never thought of that one! Great idea, catalogued.

I think the first plan for the fender is to pre-bend 1/4" rod into the fender shape, weld it to the top, then fill in the corners with silicon bronze weld, creating a kind of dish effect (we've used bondo before, but the weld comes out nicer, and is permanent). I'm going to try everything I can to avoid using struts. We've done the rod-around-the-fender trick before, on seat pans too, and it's very strong - I've just never used it to float a fender. We will see!

 

[motoTrooper]

We should go for a ride on our wildly divergent builds when you're done.

 

[Flagg]

I'm down for that! @motoTrooper

 

[Blu]

Very nice, fab work is outstanding. Really love the frame and the pipes, skinny and really clean. I know what ya mean about the tank, I have a frisco sporty on my chop right now just cuz it was laying around the garage. It will be changed to a skinny mustang or something similar in the future for sure.