What was done to get this look?

[mharrington]

Random pic of a CB Honda I found on images- 1000cc I believe. I love the look of this bike. Seems like it was not a big project to make it this way but can any of you tell me how the person achieved the lowered stance? How about the seat- Doesnt quite look like what Omars and others sell.

[mharrington]

By the way this is my pride and joy 1980 XS650 special. I love this bike almost as much as my children. HOWEVER- it suuuuuuuuuuure would be nice to have a sexy looking type bike with the acceleration of a big metric inline 4 cyl- thus my admiration for the Honda I am inquiring about.

[spyug]

Lovely XS you have there sir. I miss mine now a lot and was foolish to sell it in a fit of pique. The seat had caused me to end up with sciatic nerve damage and I suffered agony for nearly 2 years. I couldn't stand to look at it in the garage.



Well you can't cry over spilled milk so maybe some day in the future I'll have another one but I'll keep it stock......at least the seat.

I think your bike is nicer than the one you posted by the way. Inline fours don't look right when done as a tracker IMHO.

Enjoy that ride.

[Big T]

Random pic of a CB Honda I found on images- 1000cc I believe. I love the look of this bike. Seems like it was not a big project to make it this way but can any of you tell me how the person achieved the lowered stance? How about the seat- Doesnt quite look like what Omars and others sell.

Shortened fork tubes and shorter shocks

This leads to a lack of handling and ground clearance

[tkent02]

I like your bike a lot better. At least it can be ridden around corners.

[eddie21]

Shortened fork tubes and shorter shocks

This leads to a lack of handling and ground clearance

[mharrington]

Lovely XS you have there sir. I miss mine now a lot and was foolish to sell it in a fit of pique. The seat had caused me to end up with sciatic nerve damage and I suffered agony for nearly 2 years. I couldn't stand to look at it in the garage.



Well you can't cry over spilled milk so maybe some day in the future I'll have another one but I'll keep it stock......at least the seat.

I think your bike is nicer than the one you posted by the way. Inline fours don't look right when done as a tracker IMHO.

Enjoy that ride.

Thanks spyug. Thats a nice 650 you had there. I understand once you go with a tracker seat/fender the bike is simply an around town short stint fun bike. I plan to replace my seat pad with one from Omars- His is thicker and firmer. (And pricier!)

[jwhelan65]

By the way this is my pride and joy 1980 XS650 special. I love this bike almost as much as my children. HOWEVER- it suuuuuuuuuuure would be nice to have a sexy looking type bike with the acceleration of a big metric inline 4 cyl- thus my admiration for the Honda I am inquiring about.

Very nice!!

[Big T]

He won't feel very good the first time hee tries to corner at speed, drags everything and crashes!

Hopefully, he'll look good as he hits the pavement

[oldgrumpy]

By the way this is my pride and joy 1980 XS650 special. I love this bike almost as much as my children. HOWEVER- it suuuuuuuuuuure would be nice to have a sexy looking type bike with the acceleration of a big metric inline 4 cyl- thus my admiration for the Honda I am inquiring about.

................hi i luv your xs650.... its sweet,,, but i do luv xs650 yam ...i,ve got 1 in my garage with a bunch of spare parts as well regards oldgrumpy

[tkent02]

Hopefully, he'll look good as he hits the pavement

That always looks good, unless it's me.

[bwringer]

Short shocks, lowered forks, doofy Model T tires... not at all hard to do, but I'm not sure why you'd want to.

Maybe I'm too much of a utilitarian. Things that obviously don't work very well just look stupid to me.

That said, perhaps you could come up with some sort of system that lowers the bike whilst parked to obtain those much-coveted curbside kudos from the mechanically ignorant.

Then, when you're ready to actually ride the thing, the suspension returns to a workable height.

Air suspension, perhaps? Electric preload adjusters in the forks? Or maybe some subtle arrangement of levers and straps to pull the bike earthwards by a couple of inches.

I've seen custom choppers that use some sort of air suspension to lower the bike when parked until it's actually resting on the pavement -- no kickstand needed. Flip the key on, the bike pumps up enough to be carefully rolled to its trailer.

[mharrington]

Definately do not want to destroy a bikes handling. I can live without the lowering. What I like about the Honda is how the seat really changes the appearance of the bike. Same with my Blue XS650- The only big alteration from stock is the seat and the Harley sportster mufflers. I wanna do up another bike like my blue 650 but I want more power. The kawasaki KZ750 twin is 100cc bigger but actually less powerfull than the XS650. The aftermarket cafe and tracker seats truely only look good/correct on bikes with thinner/slender fuel tanks. Ive seen a GS750E with the same tracker seat that I run (Gopher Glass) and the tank just looked to big and the seat/fender too short and small.(Probably because trackers were generally 650 twins and smaller!)

The Suzuki GS1000L gets a bum rap because of its smallish capacity gas tank? Maybe its tank is narrow enough to flow and look great with an a cafe or tracker seat. Im not into full blown cafes or trackers- I the appearance the seat creates. Omars has great stuff but they are pricey.

I like that this cafe seat is for "wider" tanks.

[Mark Harrop]

Lovely XS you have there sir. I miss mine now a lot and was foolish to sell it in a fit of pique. The seat had caused me to end up with sciatic nerve damage and I suffered agony for nearly 2 years. I couldn't stand to look at it in the garage.



Well you can't cry over spilled milk so maybe some day in the future I'll have another one but I'll keep it stock......at least the seat.

I think your bike is nicer than the one you posted by the way. Inline fours don't look right when done as a tracker IMHO.

Enjoy that ride.

I beg to differ...