Cafe Racer XS 650

[PaviSays]

Well I was browsing craigslist, and this bike came up again today.  It's a cafe racer'd Yamaha XS 650.  I've always had a place in my heart for cafe racers, and I love what this guy's done with his bike.  What do you guys think?  Anyone have a favorite custom cafe racer to post up?





Craigslist Post: http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/1441373564.html
More Pictures: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=436822834&albumId=1075139

[The Buddha]

Its 3 X what its worth and for a stock tail bike try 4 X ... BS ... over priced BS.

Its very nice though, 76 was points ... you really want electronic igntion.

I've had one 3 years ago and a 30K mile 82 (electronic ignition) I sold for $750 quite quickly, maybe my $ was a shade low.

I now have another 82, a 8K mile beauty with tons of powdercoated parts I may turn into a cafe/flat tracker look complete with mono shock yea try that all ye cosmetic modifiers ... katana or R6 monoshock that I would sell for between 800 and 1500 depending on what I have done to it.

The equation is like this :-
Stock 82 runs and runs well as it stands now. Battery box, headlight sleeves, tank and dash get fitted this weekend. Its then test driveable. 800 bucks. You get all the tin in a box or I can fit it on. But its going to be stock ... just yellow colored stock.

The next biggie is making the carrier for the R6/kat shock, dog bones (may have adjustable ones) and fitting DR or RM swingarm. I would like to run the 4.5 wheel out of the 88/89 GSXR if it works and have to sort out disk brakes, carrier and fit the rear sets. I anticipate $1200 with that done.

The tail section I have is a KLR600 tail, seat is to be fabbed, may do omar's style tail but I prefer making my own and that should be $1500.

The 800 price as it stands will include the DR swingarm, a kat shock and the KLR tail. No GSXR wheel or anything else that is to be fabbed. BTW I wont have a title till next month end ... broke scene = no $$ to hand over to DMV = no title for 3-4 weeks. Anticipate a DMV run right after the 1st, so add 3-4 weeks for title. First dec earliest. End dec with all the holidays and my usual luck @ the dmv factored in.

All the removable metal is powdercoated yellow ... frame and motor etc are stock, just like this one.

If you want pics of it 2-3 weeks ago, PM me. I actually am likely to put a 2 into 1 at some point off the stock headers some time. No promises, but it could happen.

The only bad thing - its starter clutch is DOA. May get it swapped, but may not. Its got kick that should work for a crazy young-un like you. I have it in shiny yeller, so you can find it in the dark.

BTW you willing to pay 3g ... I'll build my GR for you into a cafe ... though I am not even touching it for 3-4 months. Count on 3-4 months after that for anything looking 1/2 like a bike.
And I know the XS clowns will throw me to the wolves when they hear me say this ... the GR will wipe the floor with an XS and look hawwwwwtttttter to boot. And its a zook.

Cool.
Buddha.

[The Buddha]

Well not that this crap is worth it ... just better than that other one -

http://frederick.craigslist.org/mcy/1424552250.html

Dayyyyum ... I need to start charging more $$$$ .... yea ... 

They slap on a store bought tail on the ass end of the bike and paint it and its now worth 3 X ... who knew ...

Cool.
Buddha.

[dohabee]

http://www.twowheels.com.au/forums2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20680&start=0

That virago is pretty cool looking but have always liked the looks of old GL1000's converted to cafe/bobber style.

There is a good pic of a gl1000 cafe farther down the page.

[The Buddha]

That not virago. That is XS650 ... virago is XV and the 650 makes it a V star ... total piece of garbage.

Yamaha designed it wiht the underlying philosophy "you need to be buying more parts from us" .. .where by they took the virago, listened to all the complaints the owners had about it very carefully, ignored it all and went on to add new problems.

The XS650 was a parallel twin was made to kill triumph. It did so by being reliable, not leak oil and be easy to work on, find parts for and modify. It did those spectacularly.

The suzuki GR was a better version of the XS, it was short lived and I'd credit it with killing the XS before killing itself.

Cool.
Buddha.

[The Buddha]

I get it, your link had a virago ... K now I get it.
Cool.
Buddha.

[tt_four]

That bike has been on craigslist a number of times. Waaay overpriced. There's constantly decent CB350/500/650s on craigslist for $5-600, for that much you could get one, buy your own tail, get it painted, and still only be around $1000.

By the way, if any cheap cb125/175s come across craigslist, I call them!

[The Buddha]

I will however make the case that only a GR650 trumps a XS and all else is not that good.

Honda's GB is cool as is SR500 yammie. But they are still slower than the GR/XS.

In the world of twins that are UJM's to start with (not cruisers) the GR and XS are the top of the pile.

Cruisers of the 70's of course KZ twins are cool.

The W650 kawi is super cool, but its too much $$$ always.
Triumph bonnie's of 02+ are cool too, but those all are true cruisers ...

UJM's with cafe potential, GR and XS ...

Cool.
Buddha.

[joshr08]

theres nothing wrong with points ignition. you just have to be a bit smarter to work on them to get them set right.

[PaviSays]

Oh, I didn't mean to give the impression that I was actually planning on buying at all, let alone for $3k.  I was just pointing out it looked pretty nice.  These bikes were pretty prolific weren't they?  Kind of like Honda's CB 350/360 in the early 70s.

[The Buddha]

theres nothing wrong with points ignition. you just have to be a bit smarter to work on them to get them set right.

Its fired out of the camshaft on an xs. Pretty inaccurate due to stretching cam chain issues.
But its got a capacitor, it needs that non wasted spark design. Points work OK if timed out of the crank, and its not capacitor fired. CDI.
On an XS they only reason you want a points one is cos there is a electronic conversion kit made by pamco. You can swap to that with a points set up. The newer electronic if it dies, you're stuck with a yamaha replacement.
I however bought a 82 tci pretty cheap too. IMHO, not worth dealing wiht points fired from the cam shaft.
Cool.
Buddha.

[seamax]

Here's a COOL site for some ideas...

http://www.pipeburn.com/

[The Buddha]

The enfields in the himalayas was super cool.

My Brother in law drove up there when he was with Autocar India and he was the official photographer. Some insanely cool places.

Cool.
Buddha.

[newbie]

I have a love/hate relationship with Royal Enfields. I used to assemble ural and enfields about 5 maybe 6 years ago. We would get them in crates and i would install wheels, forks, and ect. Seemed about half of the customers were back in 2 months with problems with the enfields.

I have just gotten in cafes. I got this cafe style 350 i picked up and is for sale. $750 takes it.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50115.0

[newbie]

Ok, i could do 600 on the cb350, im running out of room! Its in the living room right now with the hillclimber!

[tt_four]

"I have just gotten in cafes. I got this cafe style 350 i picked up and is for sale. $750 takes it.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50115.0"


That thing needs a new seat before anyone's gonna buy it. Even if it's the only thing wrong with the bike, it looks like an eyesore and definitely takes away from an otherwise OK looking bike.

[tt_four]

Here's a COOL site for some ideas...

http://www.pipeburn.com/

That CL350 looks awesome. When I get an old Honda I really want to make a little cafe racer out of it, but my intention is to use it solely as a city commuting bike, so any effort to make it look sweet would be paralleled by the chance of getting it stolen.

What's the deal with that video? I know the point was "be safe", but that was clearly the worst way to go about it.

[The Buddha]

For 600 I think it would sell ... if it was any other year ... even 08.
I had people beating me over the XS and it was stuck and had no title ... I have it running and title coming now.
And a bunch of powdercoated parts.
And the price doubled.
I may get it all assembled and decaled etc etc and see how it goes.
Cool.
Buddha.

[newbie]

Its the stock seat with the foam shaved down, at 600 bucks with rebuilt carbs, new points, and condensor im not replacing crap. Have you ever seen a stock seat on one of these? I'd say this seat is less of a eye sore than a nice new stocker. Plus if your the type of person to buy a bike like this your more than gonna put what ever seat you want on it.

Buddha, you have interest in your xs? No one wants that tx i picked up. I even got a title for it! Im about to part it out, but i dont even know anyone how wants parts for these things? I got some super long forks on it too! Let me know if you need anything. I got a xs650 motor from a unknown year also thats not stuck

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50155.0

[The Buddha]

I have a spare motor too. Mine was stuck, but came un stuck and it runs as of last week ... Title ... well NC DMV is awfully slow especially if you show some ratty piece of antique paper that looks like 40 year old news paper from west virginia ... like it has more hand writing than actual print. So I expect to see it in Dec 2020 ... grrrr .... but they looked at it and said OK. BTW its a $75 hit in my wallet, I am waiting for 1 pay cycle to get that done. 3-4 days.

When it was stuck and I had no title I was advertising it for 400 bucks. I had a lot of interest then. However my friend decided to buy it. He paid me for it. Then we wrote to the previous titled owner. That dude responded and sent me the title. Somewhere in the 3-4 weeks in that gap, weather here go cold, my friend had to pay me 200 for powdercoating and he decided to waffle. I got it turned over ~3 weeks ago. Got it running 1 week ago, but I got the $ back to him after we got in an argument.  Of course that was before it was turning over or running.

So I now have a titled running bike (in a month I should ahve NC title) with light re assembly of fresh powdercoated parts before it can be ridden.

I am going to put it on sale when tltle shows up ... BTW I ahve a DR250 swingarm as well as a KLR600 tail section both of which can fit the bike with very little work. Flat tracker baby ... if I am stuck with it past april 2010 I am going that route. However I would sell it as is for 8-900 and It should go easy.

I am really not going the chopper route on this. Its a way to make a bad handling bike down right painful to ride.

So yea I had interest, but it is a slow year. The savage I am selling for 1700 ... is in same condition as one I sold 06 and has 1/3rd the miles. Its even the same color. But has 3500 miles against the 10K of the one in 06. That sold in 1 week. This has been 3 months. Craigslist has a lot of junk on it these days as well. True worthless garbage.

BTW one clown who was trading me a saturn for the savage bought a 99 shadow 600 instead for 1500 cos it was such a screaming deal. I said yea great ... fine. He emailed me a week ago, turns out that 34,000 mile turkey has a head gasket leak and the dealer wanted $2500 to fix it. He was asking me what I'd charge to fix it. I said $2499. I told him lower miles - lower maintenance. On GS'es and many others you can get to the 25K without ever even opening anything up if you've maintained it. People are buying stuff, just that they are buying some of the garbage on craigslist. Its really come to the point where craigslist needs policing. Of course people are stupid.

Cool.
Buddha.