Serious amount of rake
I thought I’d share some pictures of an unfinished project bike I recently obtained in a trade. I had purchased a Buell on Ebay and had it shipped to me. I could tell before it even came off the trailer it was not even close to what was represented in the ad. The bike was a mess. I was getting ready to start buying a bunch of parts to get the Buell back in shape when I checked Craigslist to see if anything I needed was available locally. As fate would have it the guy who I got the XS from had his bike listed for sale and it happened to be on the top of the column the moment I looked.
click pic to enlarge
I called the number listed in the ad on a whim and went to see the bike that night. I’d pretty much talked myself out of getting the XS until I saw the bike. The XS looked to me like a cross between a chopper and something you see on the salt at Bonneville. Even though my Buell was ugly it did run and that interested the guy who owned the XS. A trade was made and the XS is with me and awaiting some finishing touches.
The bike is based on a ’72 XS,(Yes,it does have the compression release!). The guy I got if from said the bike was put together by Dutch Trash Choppers in Portland OR. I’ve found some contact info for the builder on Myspace but have been unable to contact him to confirm this.
The highlights of the build are a custom single down tube hardtail frame with a serious amount of rake, drilled HD Fatboy wheels with Avon Speedmaster tires, a tail section that appears to be made out of a couple halves of a fuel tank, a headlight that started life as a desk lamp, and a cool center stand that has skateboard wheels so you can roll the bike around when its on the stand.
The big things to finish are the hand & foot controls, plumbing the brakes, wiring, and waking the motor up from it’s long slumber. I’m torn between doing a full wiring harness or keeping it simple. I like keeping both my hands on the bars so I’d at least need turn signals.
I think I’m going to reuse the stock risers and add some narrowed drag bars instead of the clip-on’s. There is some nice work on the bike along with some funky stuff. The fuel shut-off valve on the R side of the tank is a water valve from a toilet!
My current plan is to get the bike up and running in the state it’s in and then fix some of the little thing I don’t like later. I haven’t measured the rake/trail on this thing yet but am hoping,(Praying!), that the bike is at least road worthy w/o too many bad habits.
I’m looking forward to riding the bike but am dreading a verdict that it handles like a nightmare and that I’ve ended up with a cool garage sculpture.
This one will just be a short distance commuter for me. Please feel free to give me some suggestions or opinions, good, bad, or otherwise.
Thanks for looking!
Blake
Keep the Clip-ons!
Bike looks cool man. I going with a fatboy rear wheel myself but I’m having trouble finding a spockit with 34-38 teeth that will fit. I’m planning on just having the stock one drilled or machined. I’d rather just buy one that’ll work. If you or anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.
Rebelgears.com can make make you a xs gearing for a harley wheel. its cheap too
I LOVE IT, and if you re-do the rake it’ll still look great. I’d love to have it.
@JET36- I checked out rebelgears and I may go that route. Thanks for the help.
fatboy wheels look dope.
Yeah!!!….Yeah.
Like it for many reasons!!!
Saw the bike a few month ago, can’t remember on on which blog. DTC is run by Nol who’s from origin Dutch. Like the fatboy wheels, especially the holes.
Hey Blake, I take it your from PDX, saw that bike on craigslist!! Looks like a slick machine!!
Cooter
Wild ride. I’d be worried about that rake too. Maybe it would work better with a springer? I’d lose the toilet valve myself, but obviously that’s up to you. Otherwise I love the look! That pipe makes it look mean.
This bikeis soo sick!
That rake looks really sketchy to me, If I was you I’d put another front end on that bike!! Or if you decide to ride it just make sure your health insurance is paid up!!
Cat Daddy
Thanks for the feedback. I am a little intimidated by the rake but am hoping to try and ride it around the block as-is before I fly off the handle with changes. Changing trees might be a good way to tame this thing.
Hey Cooter,
I am a native Stump-town boy but am living in Salem these days.
I WOULD SAY PUT 10 STEERING STABILIZERS ON IT. Then take it down the QUARTER MILE WIDE ASS OPEN !!! WOOO HOOO : )>
Hey, sweet ass ride man, Love the long and low stance! I totally agree with fanoboss, get your self a good steering stabilizer, should help it from becoming a tank slapper lol. The wheels are boss, love the two into one megaphone, I’d say get her runnin and then drive her hard
Peace
damn thats a sick looking ride. hope it doesnt handle like a brick..
I saw this on craigslist, its cool someone that appreciates it got it and will make it their own. Good luck with the build!
Thanks for the positive vibes, advice, and warnings. Adding a steering stabilizer is a good idea. Maybe I should start with, like, a rear shock from a truck!
Steering stabilizer would probably save you from death on the maiden voyage. Big fan, looks brilliant.
Blake, it looks like there’s plenty of material on that gooseneck to shorten the rake angle, if desired, to something more practical. It almost looks like an experiment that went a little too far. There may be too much stress there for 30+ year old triple clamps to handle for very long. And if you keep the clip-ons, maybe go with rear sets. Or put drag bars on and keep the mids so you’re not folded in half when you ride. Just random babbling, dude, it’s a kickin’, sick ass bike!
Rozz: get a 34t sprocket blank with a 2″ center bore, you can get them online for about $15. You want a #50 sprocket. The center bore of a harley sprocket is 2″, just line up the center bores of an old harley sprocket and the blank, and us the old sprocket holes as a guide to drill your pattern. I’ve used harley wheels on 3 of my XS’s and done it for all 3, never had a problem.
Such a sick looking bike man. That beast is awesome I like wheels on the kick stand. How does it feel to sit on with the foot controls and clip ons where they sit
yes, the steering dampener will help. had to do that to the ForD machine because the rake was a tad farther out than i hoped it would be and it helps keep it up at slow turning speeds.
The seating position will work for me. I’m 6’2″ and have arms so long they’d look at home on an ape so this position dosen’t feel weird to me. I’ve always prefered a crouched riding position anyway. I’m hoping to make some mid-mount controls work on this thing.
diagnosis: “risk for bent fork tubes” i totally dig the bike otherwise
I assume that with what looks like an insane trail (due to the extreme rake) that it’s gonna go like snot in a straight line (handling better the faster you go), but when you’re going slow and wanting to turn it’s gonna want to take a dive to one side or the other. Different front ends won’t help unless you bring the stem back down and get the rake back by raking your triples or running a girder. That said, you can get used to almost anything. Sk8 wheels on the centre stand? Awesome!! I’d love to take it for a spin, good or bad. Good luck!! Let us know what the verdict is.
It’s ART !
I was thinking a set of custom trees might be the ticket to take some rake out and tighten up the trail a bit. It would probably be cheaper to have the neck adjusted. I’d to see a steering stabilizer mounted sideways like some of the Stortz models do.
Fanoboss is right. The bike is pretty to look at. The question I’d like to put to the builder is wether he intended the bike to be ridden or parked on display somewhere. I guess I’ll figure this out in the first couple blocks on the madien voyage. I can’t see any distance riding on this thing and 45/50 mph is as fast as I’d dare to ride around town.
It’s not a motorcycle. It’s a projectile.
So i spent several minutes looking at all the detail, or lack thereof… I LOVE IT. like most xs builders my first (and only at this point) includes the customary weld-on hardtail and peanut tank. But now that it’s about done, i want to “create” something with the next bike. This bike looks like something the average xs shat out…very nice. I would def check that rake, besides that, i wouldn’t change a thing
It is definitely art, the tire and rim combo really look badass. I am really into the light blue and rear section. I_am_10_ninjas and everybody else are right on with the front end. You’ll probably have to redo it a little but it shouldn’t be that big a deal.
Check out some of the bikes from http://www.zero-eng.com/gallery01.php
Are you Frikin crazzy??? I love it! Never seen one like it and it is so on the edge of doing something different than everyone else. Way cool dude,, keep up the good work.
All of that originality and STILL the presence of a sporty tank….just goes to show that those tanks look better on an XS than a sportster.
Just by slapping a protractor against the screen, it looks to have about 50 deg rake .
no tree rake and about 2.2 inches offset. maybe roughly a 28-30 fork length with a 25.5 dia tire. puts your trail at 12 inches.
this kinda prooves out if you draw a line the length of your forks to the ground. that point is about half the width of your tire. Throw in 5 deg raked trees and it reduces your trail to maybe 7.5. stock is usually about 4-6.
real sketchy
http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/rakeandtrail.html
a little gusseting in the neck would go a long ways too.
but you’ve got a real good starting point.
oh yea, personally I’d paint it canary yellow with a few black racing stripes but thats just me.
and just imagine, zero engineering is getting $25k for their builds.but really radical stuff
Man !! That is seriously cool !! I can’t see it handling all that bad at slo speed, but like Ninjs said, if you like to go balls out, your gold !!!
Oh man! Do what ya need to do to make her ride sweet for you. There’s so much there to work with, so much beautiful custom work all ready done. Fat score for sure.
I agree with Teebo, draw in the rake. Slide the fork tubes up in the trees and you could put the clipons above the top triple clamp to keep some of that Boniville look. That baby is a keeper. Keep us posted for sure!
*mimicking voice* It’s not a motorcycle. It’s a projectile.
rake seems like it would be hard to ride but I like that low chopper look instead of the hi raked out chops
Those wheels look better on this then the Harley. I would get it running asap with minimal work and take it for a lap. It looks awsome but might not ride worth a damn? Better to find out sooner. Hotwire that motor and fire it up NOW.