sexy XS650 Street Tracker project

[KZ]

Just came across these pics on the "kneeslider", the second best website on the net. Wanted to share these great pics of a XS650 project - this is a bike that gets my heart to beat a bit faster, unlike most of the newer bikes (like the Gladius!). Guess I'm getting old!
More good read and comments here:
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2010/ ... le-sports/

[photobucket]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/negerkuss/cyclesportsxs650.jpg[/photobucket]
[photobucket]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/negerkuss/cyclesportsxs650-2.jpg[/photobucket]
[photobucket]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/negerkuss/cyclesportsxs650-3.jpg[/photobucket]
[photobucket]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/negerkuss/cyclesportsxs650-4.jpg[/photobucket]
[photobucket]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/negerkuss/cyclesportsxs650-5.jpg[/photobucket]

 

[KZ]

 

[KZ]

 

[KZ]

Don't know if you can see any pics, I sure can't. Posting pics on this site has never been easy but I have been successful before...

 

[KZ]

<img src=""

 

[HTWoodson]

You've got the code 90% correct in your OP. In the brackets surrounding the image links you need to replace the word "Photobucket" with "img".

Here's your pics when I did that.

 

[KZ]

Thanks, HT, for putting those pics up!
Amazing that this bike is 35 years old, seems just like last month I was riding one...
Too bad they don't make them anymore like this, featuring air-cooled engines with carburators and character.
These days it's all FI with sensors everywhere, linked braking, ABS, fly-by-wire and so on. Bikes with 180 hp - who really needs that? I can remember when a car was a rocket with 180 hp! And I'm only 50, not 80 years old. Is progress always good? Soon the youngsters will be riding electric bikes!
The replacement of the XS650, arguably the TDM850/900, is getting old and who knows if Yamaha will build a parallel twin again and how it would look!
A toast to all air-cooled engines of the past which won't be back! No more clicking sounds of the engine cooling off...

 

[monsterman]

I love XS650s
I have built a few over the years using HALCO 850 kits and am at the moment procuring parts for a Thai friends XS650 rebuild

 

[KZ]

Yes, the old XS650 is "Special" and has lots of fans, even though the bike heavy and the engine produced only around 50 horses. But there's more to a bike than horsepower. Lots of bikes came and went but the XS stayed favorably in my memory.
I even remember my first ride when I bought my first used XS, I had a 450 Nighthawk at the time. The XS was massive compared to it and it vibrated like a cement mixer. But I liked it instantly!
It would be a good bike for Thailand where 650cc is almost "big" and cruising the highways at 100 - 120km/h is just the ticket.
How about some pics of that XS650 you've mentioned? Mine all got lost in a flood a few years back, TIT!

 

[nikster]

Stunning beauty, that.

As for the times, yeah, they keep changin'...

 

[Captain Wally]

This thread is making me feel old.
Here's my XS 650 that I bought new in 1973.
The quality isn't too good. It's a scan of a 36 year old Instamatic photo.

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

Captain Wally wrote: This thread is making me feel old.
Here's my XS 650 that I bought new in 1973.
The quality isn't too good. It's a scan of a 36 year old Instamatic photo.

OK; here's mine then. I believe this was about 1972. This bike set 650cc class records at a number of drag strips around the Detroit area, and won it's class at the Canadian National Championship.

Actually it was owned by the Detroit Honda Stores, I just rode it. :crazy:

That project bike sure is a beauty. :clap:

 

[KZ]

The color of the '71 model was "candy orange", so your memory serves you right, it was probaly on the road in 1972. The first model of 1970 was "candy green".

 

[BignTall]

Now that is a gorgeous bit of kit. I can just picture Kenny Roberts flinging that into the corners sideways at the Springfield mile flattrack.

Silverhawk you look quite wll kitted out at the strip. A custom painted helmet and all in '72, living large i tell you!!

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

BignTall wrote: Now that is a gorgeous bit of kit. I can just picture Kenny Roberts flinging that into the corners sideways at the Springfield mile flattrack.

Silverhawk you look quite wll kitted out at the strip. A custom painted helmet and all in '72, living large i tell you!!

I agree about picturing that bike on a flat track. Very well done. As for my "kit"; it actually was for a yellow Triumph Trident I had been riding at the time. Didn't match the Yamaha very well. :wtf: