Time for a shave

Most of my favourite XS650 bobbers had shaved front forks, where any unused tabs were removed.

Not having any access to lathes or decent machinery, my only option was grinder, dremel, file and sand paper.

Not too bad considering. Maybe it was my little ranga's helping hand that made the difference?

Get a Grip

With special thanks to my very talented friends Vera Black (formerly Amanda Baker) and her hubby Luke, I was given a Dues Ex Machina gift voucher for my birthday.

I managed to p-up the Posh Brown Gum grips that I'd been eying off.

Some more inspiration

Another one of my inspirations is Slingshot Cycles' beautiful XS650 Bobber.

Like Cassio's beast, the blacked out look is just spot on!

Snip snip!

After my trial fit of the tank, I just new that I had to cut the guts out of it to fit lower upon the backbone.

Out came the dremel and the tin snips.

Exhaust style

One of the things hat I wanted was an exhaust system that had nicely rounded header pipes, leading into a set of big ass flared out trumpets similar to the examples below.

The black bike is from Motoshop Tonouchi whilst the dark brown bike is from Heiwa.

I did want to have a matt ceramic finish, with black header wrap as well.

Old school!

Colours

One of my favourite colours on a classic bike is brown.

The main colour I'd chosen for the front/rear fenders, tank and headlight body is the burnt tan metallic that was available on the 1970 Plymouth Cuda.

I also intend to highlight the backbone of the gas tank, fender ribs and headlight ring with a darker macadamia metallic brown just like the Porsche 911.

Fat boy on his Phat Toy!

I couldn't resist hopping onto the chassis with the new TC Bros drag bar and make some vroom vroom noises.

Ripping it to bits

What better way to spend my birthday than to pull the bike to bits!

As you can see, I had a bit of fun with the iphone instagram app.

Before I get too many comments on the loose assembly of the forward controls, I do know that they were way wrong.

 

At home

Here's some sots of the XS650 back home before I'd started dissasembly.

Vintage Auto Works

I managed to come across a manufacturer of repro classic motorcycle parts in India.

Vintage Auto World's owner Rohan Nino Puri was able to accommodate my custom requests at a very competitive price.

Thanks Rohan!

 

Gas tank

I decided that to set my XS650 bobber apart from the pack, I researched a tank that I felt would work well with the overall feel that I was searching for.

I discovered that the BSA Bantam tank was perfect, due to its tear drop shape and classic lines.

Now where to get my hands on one?

TC Bros parts

I decided that the hard tail offering from TC Bros was going to suit my needs, as well as my budget.

I also ordered their forward controls, brake pivot, linkages, battery /electronic boxes and various other parts.

Talk about great service. I ordered the parts and had them delivered between the US and Oz in only a week!