XS 650 Cafe Racer

noid IMG 0140 587x412 XS 650 Cafe Racer

I have about 3 years of spare time tinkering to get this bike together. Big, late model brakes with true old school glass helped me get this as close as I could rememeber to a bike I saw when I was younger. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The concept was to blend old with new hence the crossover Yamaha racing paint scheme with the ton up stripe. I wanted the bike to handle and run as good as it could on tube tires and it does. I wanted to be able to look through the bike and see nothing but hard parts (no wiring, bolts or unsightly junk) 3 years of part time work. You judge the finished product.

  • Box section swing arm
  • Needle bearings
  • Shaved, gusseted Powder coated frame with a 65% gloss finish (3mm)
  • Tomaselli clip-on’s
  • Polished lightened hubs
  • Rear hub drilled
  • Front wheel is an 18 inch to quicken steering and allow for slightly wider tires (standard racing trick)
  • Polished shoulder rims with double butted spokes and new nipples
  • New aluminum rear sprocket
  • Oversize brake rotors and calipers with ss lines
  • FZ6 forks with fresh seals and oil (air forks)
  • New rear shocks
  • Fairing and tail was NOS and never mounted
  • Oil cooler with SS lines
  • Custom rear sets
  • Custom built 1 ¾ Shell pipes with tuned port optimizers and exhaust port optimizers
  • Aluminum front fender with aluminum braces
  • Engine was upgraded with;
  • 1 piece clutch pushrod and new seal
  • HD clutch springs
  • New style sump strainer
  • High Performance coil, wires and caps
  • Carbs rebuilt with spot on jetting and custom needles (starts first kick and idles perfectly)
  • Pod filters
  • Starter block off plate
  • New clutch cable, tach cable and throttle cable
  • Brand new tires and tubes

Fairing can be removed in seconds with ¼ turn fasteners and bike can be converted to un faired style with no unsightly brackets to detract from the looks of the bike.

noid IMG 0139 1024x768 587x402 XS 650 Cafe Racer

Fiberglass tanks are prone to leaking so I skinned this one and installed a super sturdy 2 gallon steel tank under the skin along with the battery.

  • All of the body work can be removed in 2-3 minutes with a single Allen key
  • Forks are 36 mm from a 87 FZR 600
  • Rear Swing arm 1988 Radian
  • Front rotor 87 FZR1000
  • Front caliper 98 Suzuki Bandit 600
  • Oil cooler from Ninja 600 r
  • New battery with charging plug for Deltran style charger
  • Just tuned with fresh oil and filters engine had 6000 miles when removed from donor bike
  • Fresh paint Corvette velocity yellow
  • Spare parts (engine and head(s) cams, TCI box, etc

Built by Frank Derris

This XS 650 Cafe Racer is currently for sale!

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11 Responses to XS 650 Cafe Racer

  1. Ted May 19, 2010 at 3:06 pm #

    HI Frank, thanks for sending in the pictures.
    A race between this ride and mk2-from-the-limey would be one badass race for sure.

    http://www.xs650chopper.com/2010/03/xs650-cafe-the-beast-mk2-from-the-limey/

    The attention to detail in this xs is insane. Beautiful. From what I understand about exhaust tuning (not very much) you have the perfect setup.The Custom built 1 ¾ Shell pipes with tuned port optimizers and exhaust port optimizers (from what I’ve read) were the pipe setup to beat.

  2. Rusty Nutz May 19, 2010 at 3:48 pm #

    Nice work.

  3. DANNY May 19, 2010 at 8:24 pm #

    WOW

  4. kenb May 22, 2010 at 12:39 pm #

    Nice work I would sure like to hear it bet it sounds sweet, great job with the front end and the glass, all around just solid looking build.

  5. Freedombiker May 26, 2010 at 6:21 pm #

    Hey there, it’s really great to see the occasional café on this site. Great work on the bike it looks fast as hell. Thanks

  6. Carbon-arc May 27, 2010 at 9:01 pm #

    Sweet, love the view form the rear quarter

  7. Ken Fontenot June 1, 2010 at 8:59 pm #

    Great job, excellent detail work. Looks like something right out of the 60′s. You definalty nailed the Look! Love the Paint scheme.

  8. chevy53 June 14, 2010 at 12:58 am #

    hell yea

  9. REEB! June 30, 2010 at 12:31 pm #

    This puppy’s on eBay right now. Starting at 4500. Would love to have it!

  10. tadd442 November 4, 2010 at 8:24 am #

    One of my fav’s.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Yamaha XS650 Café Racer | Dubai Bikers - June 11, 2010

    [...] We love receiving emails from Ted at XS650chopper.com because he knows we get excited by Yamaha café racers. Frank Derris the owner and builder of this immaculate bike writes: “The concept was to blend old with new hence the crossover Yamaha racing paint scheme with the ton up stripe. I wanted the bike to handle and run as good as it could on tube tires and it does. I wanted to be able to look through the bike and see nothing but hard parts (no wiring, bolts or unsightly junk) 3 years of part time work. You judge the finished product.” The parts come from a variety of bikes but they all work seemlessly together, the forks are from a 87 FZR 600, rear swing arm from a 1988 Radian, front rotor 87 FZR1000 and front caliper from a 98 Suzuki Bandit 600. The 2 gallon steel tank, seat and fairing have been painted in a fresh Corvette velocity yellow with classic black racing stripes. The impressive exhaust is a custom built 1¾ shell pipes with tuned port and exhaust port optimizers. You can read the complete spec list and view some more pics onXS650 Chopper. [...]

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