My 1979 Yamaha XS650.

I never post anything on forums about what I do or how to do it so I decided this would be a great way to document all that I do on this bike... as long as I can keep myself diligent about updating it. So here's the story:

I started thinking about wanting a project to get me through the winter, and a project car just wasn't going to happen. I then realized what better way to do that then a bike. So I jumped on the computer and after about 5 minutes of googling vintage bikes and Harley's, I learned all about what it means to chop and what a bobber is. First I came across a Honda Shadow chopper project and I was sold! So after a week of stalking craigslist like it was my job, I found what was advertised as a 1984 Yamaha XS650. I emailed the seller to find out that I was second in line for this bike and had to anxiously wait a few days before buyer#1 backed out.

I make an hour drive out to Ohio to check this thing out. Doesn't run, pictures are pretty rusty, but only had 5k miles and was cheap! Cheap was key, so I went for it. The seller was even going to drive it home for me for the cost of gas money.

Now we got it back home and my next goal is to get her running. The seller I bought it from said the original owner drove it to work everyday and one day it just didn't run so he sold it. After lifting the seat and pointing to the fuse panel, he said "well I think the problem is in there". Of the 4 fuses on there, they all had rotten fuse holders and 2 even had rotted off. I set down the first night to get acquainted with the bike, lifted the fuse panel and found the battery box FULL. It would seem that mice had made themselves nice and cozy inside the rubber housing that used to hold the battery.

So that's all cleaned out, I need to throw in a battery and do a temporary fix to the fuses just to see if it will fire up. I want to make sure it runs as-is before the chopping starts. That's all for right now. Coming next is my progress on the new spoked front wheel.