New Yamaha Project???

Hellgate said:
Oh Fred from the FZ6 site totally hooked me up! He made brake adapters for FZ1 calipers!!!! I found the drawing on the XS650 site, and he totally reworked them by cutting the webbing into them.

He has only made one so far as we wanted to make sure it was correct with the right offset. It fits PERFECT!
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Gotta love those FZ6 guys ;)
 
Here's a comparison of the new saddle to the old saddle. I think it really changes the over all look and feel of the bike.

I took her out for about an hour ride today and the new saddle is SO much better. My rear end doesn't sink to the pan over time.

The saddle guy was really concerned that the foam would be too firm. Then I told him my track bike had 1/2 inch neoprene and I was happy with that.

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Okay Pete, I just got back from the garage and after tearing through everything, I couldn't find the V&H Can. I'm so sorry bud. I did find the V&H Headers but no can in sight. I can't for the life of me remember where it went. I never throw out original parts. I may have shipped it to someone else who needed one prior but I'm not positive. Sorry my friend. I was hoping I'd be able to help you out. :frown:
 
Today I'm using paint stripper to remove the OEM paint/stuff from the OEM rearsets. It's flaked off over the years and looks like poo.

I test fitted the Raask rearsets last night and I really don't care for them. The quality is so-so and the fit is very odd.

For now I'll clean up, repaint and add some drillium to the OEM rearsets.

Something along these lines, but I'll paint the entire bracket black. Kinda of difficult to see.

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Hellgate said:
Here's a comparison of the new saddle to the old saddle. I think it really changes the over all look and feel of the bike.

I took her out for about an hour ride today and the new saddle is SO much better. My rear end doesn't sink to the pan over time.

The saddle guy was really concerned that the foam would be too firm. Then I told him my track bike had 1/2 inch neoprene and I was happy with that.

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Dude! So much more complimentary to the style of the bike. That is excellent.
 
YZFRiderNY said:
I like that "Scrambler" type exhaust. Hey Pete, do they make a rear cowling for that bike? It would look Killer with just a solo seat!
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Yes and no. I've seen bikes with a traditional cafe solo seat, but that requires a new subframe that is flat. This one raises up a little so the cafe see would be nose down. The new subframe would require a lot of modding, and welding.

Because there are so few of these bike vs. and XS650, there isn't any aftermarket at all. Pretty much everything has had to be fabbed up, with the exception of the few old NOS parts that I've managed to find.

I also set a few loose rules for myself. 1) Use only new or used Yamaha parts, 2) Use only used Yamaha parts from the era, 3) Use only NOS parts from the era, 4) only consumable and "safety" parts can be modern (tires, brakes, brakes pads, bearings, seals, suspension, etc.).

I've seen so many "cafe" bikes that are catalog bikes, like the chopper crowd. I really would like to stick with reusing parts if I can. Sometimes I can't. As I said, my rules are pretty loose.

I'd like to keep the bones of the bike stock as there are not too many of them. Not that it is worth anything!
 
I agree, the "Scrambler" pipes look awesome! A solo seat isn't a bad idea, but bikes of that era always had that type of seat, plus the front on that seat looks much lower than I bet the OEM was. Looks great. I love the progress updates, but I don't always comment. :lurking:

Keep it going! I thought I might be able to pick up a 70's CB750, but I was too late. My father-in-law has a Yamaha XS 650 he's working on (not much of a restore as just getting it in functioning, reliable shape for now). He also has a Honda CX 500 that I might get to ride this summer. Not sure if I want to buy it, but it's something to think about.

Not his bike, but a reasonable google image of one...
My1979HondaCX500Custom.jpg
 
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The last two weeks were spend cleaning and polishing.

I decided to clean up the OEM rearsets instead of using the RAASK rearsets.

I started with paint stripper to remove the OEM finish along with a good scrub with a toothbrush. The stripper made very quick work of the finish. Then I cleaned up the casting with file. From there I sanded with 220, then 400. I finished up with metal polish on the face of the rearset.

Today I decided to use the same process on several pieces of the motor. The out come is pretty good.

I started by hand, then I bought a bench polisher, then I ended up using a random orbital polisher to get the nice finish.

You can see the right side, not clean, to the left side, mostly clean.

The work is slow, but I think I figured out a good process. The out come is pretty good.

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I haven't seen the bike since you've done the seat and polishing.
What a difference! The bike looks bad asser and bad asser every time I see it! :cowboy:
 
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