MINABEAR

1983 YAMAHA XS650 SCRAMBLER

Built to take on the mean streets of Los Angeles, this bare bones brawler can tackle anything from the concrete jungle of LA, to the dusty fire roads of the Southern California mountain ranges.

This bike was an undertaking, starting over from scratch, and creating a completely different motorcycle with a very specific set of guidelines to fall within was no easy task. In the end it was all worth it. The brain child of my best friend, I wanted to perform this build/restoration to the best of my abilities and to bring him the machine of his dreams. The goal was to be a daily rider to work, and weekend ride, camp out/dirt ripper that could handle the fire roads and rough stuff we often found ourselves on. The key focus was to up the performance and reliability of the 30+ year old bike while still maintaining its vintage vibe.

-MODS-

707cc big bore kit, from Hughes Handbuilt

277 degree re-phased crank and camshaft, from Hughes Handbuilt

Pamco Pete dual electronic ignition with dual high output coils

Permanent magnet rotor and stator upgrade

High output regulator-rectifier, from Revival cycles

Port & polished head and lapped valves by hand

Sodablasted and satin blacked the motor before reassembly

Hand built one off dual exhaust system

7 puck performance clutch

Single piece clutch pushrod upgrade

Starter motor delete

Sodablasted, rebuilt & rejetted carbs

UNI highflow filters

All stainless hardware on motor rebuild

1” lowered progressive fork springs

Heavy weight racing fork oil

Powdercoated housings

Progressive rear shocks

16" rim to the front hub, allowing for same rolling diameter tires

Bridgestone Trailwing dual sport tires

Fully de-tabbed frame

Filled  factory weld channel on frame down tubes and polished smooth

Shaved casting lines off triple trees by hand

Powder coated frame, fender, and trees

Custom fender and headlight

Custom under seat battery tray, with flushed in ignition switch and lighting switch

Ballistic Lith-Ion battery

Made complete wire loom from scratch

Hand made fiberglass seat pan

Seat wrapped in TOBACCO Motor Wear Co selvedge denim 

Euro style enduro bars

Late model Suzuki GSXR controls, I made the brake fluid reservoir from 1/4" vinyl tube

Chopped, reshaped, hand sanded factory levers to bare aluminum to emulate a moto GP style

Small diameter stainless brake line to match new master cylinder and reservoir dynamics, from Revival Cycles

Salvaged XS400 Tank with original graphics and paint