My Yamaha XS 400 project bike *with pictures*

[liablemtl]

Drag bars would look sharp on that. Man, you've taken a thing of ugly and turned it into a kick-a$$ ride. I like the single tail light... it's a nice deviation from the old school trick of mounting it down low on the swing arm. I'd say keep it just the way it is. It still holds the tradition for a single side mounted tailight/license plate light, but it puts it in a new place. Personally, I dig it.


If I had time, tools and a place to do it, I'd build something very similar to that... nice job.

[camthepyro]

That is a sweet bike. Good job taking a "crappy" bike, and making it something people can "ooo" and "awww" over, not many people can do that. Anybody can take a brand new Ninja, or an old harley, and make it look cool, but it takes specail talent to make something cool, that would otherwise be thought of as ugly.

[mysta2]

friggin sweet! If I could only finish my current crop I can't wait to do something like that. Did you just gooseneck the stock frame? Did you bolt a bar in place of the shocks or weld a piece in? Is that a wider than stock rear rim?

I love the black barrels... looks very triumph.

[Stratus311]

MintBread: Thanks for that link! I was looking around for some drag bars but couldn't justify spending $90 on an "almost" straight piece of pipe. That's a great price. I think I'll be ordering those this week!

liablemtl: I'm glad you like the taillight. You've reassured me about it.

camthepyro: Thanks for the compliment.

mysta2: What we did was chop out the backbone which was orignally 2 1 inch bars that went from the front of the seat area to the neck. Then put in a new backbone which is "slightly" longer. Then chopped out the tiny downtube to match the backbone and raked the neck out "slightly". I say "slightly" because we didn't use a jig or any "real" measurements. Surprisingly, the bike rolls perfectly straight and is stronger and actually a little lighter than the stock frame. What I did with the rear was I hacked the eyelets of some stock shocks and welded them into a 9 inch piece of steel. Overall, the struts are about 10 inches long. I also used the stock shock bushings. It softens the ride a little. As far as the rear wheel, It's stock but the tire is a little wider. Can't think of the exact size right now though. It does sit VERY close to the chain but never actually rubs.


Thanks again for all the comments.

[Stratus311]

One quick question, anybody know what thickness of steel I should use to make a seat pan?

[dieziege]

How are you going to form it? That'll make a big difference (if it has compound curves it'll be more rigid and can be thinner)... a lot of bikes use plastic seat pans so it doesn't really need to be super strong steel.

[Aggroton]

steal a seat off an exercise bike and use the pan from that...

[Stratus311]

It should actually be very easy to form because there is only 2 small spots that a need to make recesses for(the rear fender brackets). Any idea on guage and what to cut it with to get a somewhat clean edge?

Exercise bike? Not a bad idea.

[Aggroton]

It should actually be very easy to form because there is only 2 small spots that a need to make recesses for(the rear fender brackets). Any idea on guage and what to cut it with to get a somewhat clean edge?

Exercise bike? Not a bad idea.

yeah my buddy made one from one and it came out really nice...

[TechTMW]

You can also make a seat pan out of fiberglass if you want - another TMW member did one a while back - check out some of the posts by ronboskz650sr