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!

 

Picked up my baby!

Thanks to Rob whom I'd bought the bike from, it was time to pick her up.

What a journey! We couldn't have chosen a day with crappier weather, with it absolutely bucketing down during the trip between Sydney and the Central Coast where it was stored.

Here it is a strapped up and ready for it's trip home.

My first part!

I always knew I was going to get an open face helmet, however, the last thing I wanted was a face full of bugs and stones.

I picked up this cool brown tinted visor from Bell helmets.

Inspiration

Here are some pics of Cassio Silva's stunning XS650.

His bike actually has a large amount of elements that I am including upon my build.

These include the same weld on hard tail, drag bars, tyres and blacked out look.

(If you are the photographer of these images, please contact me for photo credits)

And so it begins

Well, here it begins.

After doing some research and gaining some valuable advice from friends and those in the know, it was decided that a Yamaha XS650 was the stead of choice for my bobber build.

One of my mates, Rob Pellew was looking to move out of town and happened to have a donor bike looking for a new home.

Thanks for all of your help in getting it home Rob!

Here she is.