Post by Phantom Phyxer on Apr 10, 2016 15:51:49 GMT -5
So I wanted a 650 Standard. Well, I couldn't find one so I built my own. I started with a 1979 Special half a motorcycle that somebody had started to make a "chopper" out of. They chopped off everything from the vertical post back and gave up. I got what was left for 70 bucks on ebay and it was 40 miles away in Temecula so I went and picked it up. I then found 78 special frame for 40 bucks on ebay in Austin, TX and a buddy of mine who lives there shipped it to me. Next came a rear swing arm and brake linkage from a 77D, ebay again and then 73 wheels from ebay. I bought a 77D style tank from Mike's and found a 77 standard seat on ebay which I recovered. Now I was ready to rebuild the motor and put the bike together. I cut the center post out of the butchered frame, had the piece with the motor mounts welded to a piece of steel that I could then mount to my engine stand. I could then mount the motor to it using the standard motor mounts. Worked great! I could swivel the motor around and get to everything. I re-spoked the 1973 wheels and used the rotor off the front wheel of the 79 for front brakes. I had to modify the rear brake pedal shaft to fit the 79 Special frame and use the brake switch. It was too close to the frame and wouldn't rotate all the way so I had it cut in half and then had the two pieces welded back together (overlapping) to give it an offset. I also took the swing arm nut retainer and had it welded to the end of the brake pedal shaft (wheel side) to use as a mount for the spring which activates the rear brake switch on the 650 Special frame. Remember the Specials had disk brakes on the rear so they are different. To make the seat fit, I had to put metal spacers from those rubber mounts (like the ones used for the voltage regulator) under the hinges and I had to remove the seat stay bracket from the frame. The seat latch/lock wouldn't work so I removed it. I don't need it to lock anyway. Everything went back together relatively easily and believe it or not, the hardest part was getting it registered in California. Although the 78 frame has the original Yamaha sticker with a valid VIN number and even though I used all xs650 parts, they registered it as a 2015 Special (not a Yamaha Special) because I built it myself but used the Yamaha VIN number from the frame sticker! I had to have it inspected by the CHP who verified the VIN number and made sure it was safe. Anyway, its up and running and is a blast to drive.
