making progress...

It's been a cold and wet Spring so I've mostly been collecting parts before doing all the big work. The Yamaha now has used Koni rear shocks meant for a 70's BMW. They are in great condition with progressive rate springs and the dampers are rebuildable, which I haven't done yet. They are also slightly longer than stock which will make the front end a little more nimble in the corners.

You can also see in this pic the rear drum is a bit larger than the sprocket. I found out that it is from a TX750 not an XS650 which this bike is. That makes me very excited because the XS650 drum is only about the size of the sprocket. This will be a great improvement for the rear end.

Another upgrade on the bike are these carburetors. They come from a Ninja EX500. It seems to be a growing trend to put these on the XS650 for comparably little money because they are so readily available. Some guys on the forums have done most of the leg work figuring out what jets work with these carbs on the Yamaha so I just order the right ones, swap em in, and slap on the carbs. They should run better than any well tuned stock carb.

I also picked up the foot controls that will go on after I make custom rear mounts for them. I might still modify the passenger peg mounts to hold these. I'll give that a shot first and go from there.

Exhaust tubing is here as well. 1.5" and 2" mandrel bent tubing from summit racing. I'll be custom making 2-into-1 headers that run down the front of the engine and along the bottom with the 1.5" tubing, then join together at the rear with the 2" tubing which will exit out the right with a slight upward angle. After thats done I plan will be putting on a reverse cone muffler. This pic also includes new fork springs. They are meant for a Harley and have a linear spring rate slighty higher than the stock springs. This should balance well with the improved rear shocks with the progressive spring rates.

Found a really neat alternative to the usual round dial gauges. This is a Trail Tech Vapor gauge. It is mostly universal and has built in speedo, tachometer, clock, trip odometer, and even coolant temp sensor (which I don't need but might try and make it work for oil temp). I think it will look really good on this bike.

 I didn't really get a clear picture but I am also going to be converting the cable clutch to hydraulic. A basic 'pit bike' kit from eBay can be retrofitted to the bike and should work like a charm for an added bit of reliability and much easier actuation.