First build need some help and ideas and just to say hi to the new guy

[Gibby330]

I'm new to the forum and new to the xs400 world doing my first build got bike yesterday have a idea of what I want to do with it. Going for the rat bobber look I want it to look like a guy built it from parts in his garage in 1950's the thing holding me back right now is the extending of the swing arm or whatever it is because I've seen that most 400 bobbers are extended in the rear end and was wondering how that was done if someone could help that'd be great thanks

 

[Norman1950]

Actually "a lot" of bobbers are not extended. The just cut the seat frame rails to right behind the rear shocks to obtain that look. I don't recommend this, but to each their own. Garage builds are always fun.

Good luck and show pictures along the way.

 

[Gibby330]

This is the point I'm at now just stripping everything that I'm not keeping off it just got it yesterday

 

[xschris]

Look at the photo album in the forum for ideas. It is also a good idea to make sure the bike is running good and everything works before tearing it apart Welcome to the forum.

 

[Gibby330]

Runs awesome drove it around the yard today

 

[xschris]

I would get it out on the road to make sure it runs well. Take it up to 60mph for a while type riding

 

[Gibby330]

Coming along good have cut and wrapped the exshast knocked out the baffle.....are working on the seat and stripping down and cleaning up engine and frame to get ready for paint. Got new shocks I beleive they are 11.5 inchs dropped it very low is looking good so far

 

[xschris]

Why did you take out the baffles? Where they bad?

 

[Gibby330]

No because I'm making a bobber ad you can't make it sound like a bobber with baffles in it

 

[Wolfe_11B]

That's not good logic me thinks

 

[xschris]

It will hurt it's performance and make tuning a pain. If they where good pipes you could have sold them for good money and got some cheap emgo's for your "bobbed" sound.

 

[Flagg]

I did the same thing, and yes could have sold them for 100-200$.

but, live and learn. i support and/or endorse this.

#loudpipessavelives

 

[scifiredneck]

nice looking bike so far. keep up the good work and keep the pics comming. btw where in ny ya from? upstate is pretty big

 

[xschris]

I did the same thing, and yes could have sold them for 100-200$.

but, live and learn. i support and/or endorse this.

#loudpipessavelives

If that was true you would never see a Harley get into any accidents I had an xs650 with very load pipes and all it did was piss off the neighbors, distract others around me and cause me not to be able to hear other vehicles while riding.

 

[Flagg]

all it did was piss off the neighbors, distract others around me and cause me not to be able to hear other vehicles while riding.

that's not all chris! you are still alive! haha

While I believe and understand that straight pipes are not the only way to achieve the desired sound quality, they are by far the easiest route as far as time and money. well, aside from jetting and tuning of course, but if you are removing the air intake in trade for velocity stacks like I am, this is happening anyways.

personally i just don't like baffled pipes on a chopper or (and I hate using this word) bobber, unless the motor is naturally deep sounding, and has the right combo for the exhaust.

maybe the better hashtag is:

#loudpipeslookrad

since it's all about personal taste!

 

[Flagg]

...the thing holding me back right now is the extending of the swing arm or whatever it is because I've seen that most 400 bobbers are extended in the rear end and was wondering how that was done if someone could help that'd be great thanks

are you sure the bikes you are talking about aren't hard tail frames? can you provide a picture of what you want?

stretched hard tail is simple, especially if you are just buying a kit instead of fabricating it yourself. voodoovintage.com is an awesome manufacturer for hard tail kits, among other things.

if you are planning to fab from scratch, you can build swing arms, they aren't too hard. trickier to stretch them, as this changes the travel distance of the wheel.