Motorcycle Build Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the build. I haven't started any real mechanical, but ideas about how the bike should look and perform when finished have led to the purchase of several parts.

First to the concept of my build. I'm not sure of the correct "technical" term, but I'm calling it a "GT" or "Grand Touring" build, similar to a GT automobile. To that end the bike should be as light as is reasonably possible while retaining all the features of a good "standard" motorcycle. For reference, look at some of the beautiful machines built by the late Les Williams. You can read about Mr. Williams' Triumph Legend here: tomcc.org/Triumph/Model/119 

The fuel tank is a large portion of the bike's looks, and thus a GT should have a fairly large tank. For this build, I chose a tank from a Yamaha XV920R. It holds around 4 gallons of gas, which should give the bike excellent range.

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I chose a front fender from the same bike. It looks sporty enough while providing good tire coverage. Thankfully, it looks like the fender will bolt on to the XS650 forks with little to no modification. 

I ordered a seat from L.P. Williams in England. This is the same seat Mr. Williams used on his Legend builds, and I think it will fit the bike perfectly. The fellows at L.P. Williams (www.triumph-spares.co.uk/legend-road-seat-sam-0002a) got my seat out to me in a couple weeks (it's upholstered to order), and it arrived well packed.

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I've yet to choose a taillight. I'm thinking I might use a Lucas lens as  used on my old Triumph, or perhaps the European XS650 taillight. 

The bike came with spoked wheels, but I'm thinking I want to run wheels that can take a tubeless tire. Spokes look beautiful, and I absolutely love them, but tubes go flat almost instantly when punctured, and cannot be plugged. Of course, plugging a motorcycle tire isn't a great idea, but it can get you home without having to dismantle the bike in the side of the road. To this end, I bought a set of Yamaha RZ350/SRX600 wheels off Ebay. I think they'll look great, but I'll keep the spokes in reserve, "just in case."

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I've also purchased the rear fender "end" from an XS850. I will need to do some modifying to make this work, but it appears the mounts will actually line up with the XS650 rear fender mounts. This will allow me to have painted fenders on both the front and the rear without having to strip the chrome off the original XS650 fender.

That's all for now. If you have any questions of suggestions, feel free to hit the "contact" button at the top of the page and drop me a line or two.

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