1981XJ 550 BOBBER

I posted my bike before in the thread titled Frankenstein I just thought I would post a couple showing the current status of my rat bike that I have bobbed spending dang near nothing. It is however always a work in progress.

 

I can tell how it "cost nothing" 2 build! :wink: Looks good as 4 that "Rat bobber" look...

 

ya Im poor I did however just put a Highway blaster horn on it which is super loud and pretty rediculous for a bike of its size. makes my friends laugh a bit.

 

Im also about to drop a tooth in the front and gain two in the back for a little extra punch.

 

Do u want that "Rat bobber" look!?! If so, do a search on the "WWW". N it'll give u some badass ideas. So it'll fit the "rat bobber" build alil better.. I'm in the process of making my "Rat bobber" build 2 do list..

 

I am in the USMC and they have lots of motorcycle rules. I get out in 2 months and then I will strip it down beyond belief.

 

Nice!

 

ya gonna remove anything I dont need. do you know of any cheap ways to replace the air filter assembly this one is so bulky.

 

strippin blinkers, mirror. any other ideas on what would make it look more "finished" that is cheap. I want to spend as little as possible.

 

hahahahaha
In the first pick there's a trash can laying behind the handlebars.
I couldn't figure out what it was, at first I thought it was the highway blaster horn mounted to the bars.
hehehe

 

get pods for the carbs or build an intake out of pvc and use one filter.
Take off the front fender, take off the yamaha logo on the forks. Take off the gauge cluster, take off the side covers. Heat wrap the pipes, paint the engine

 

ya i have done all those things xcept paint the engine and wrap the pipes. no front fender no yamaha in front Im waiting on the heat wrap now as you can see in my earlier posts the fenders are things I toy with, meaning i take them on and off often. is it legal to ride without the gauge cluster? I also removed my blinkers. and lowered my bike untill I pretty much couldnt go any lower by hacking my springs


my bike before

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6 ... stein.html

 

haha ya damn neighbors haha thats so funny I never realized how much that looks like a part of my bike. the highway blaster is small and mounted on the side of the engine.

 

another tip if you are going for the bobber look in my opinion... get rid of anything thats shiny

 

Heres some more updated pictures

 

how did you go about painting the engine and what not??

 

how come the carbs ain't black, they stand out like a nickle up a sweeps a--

 

looks much better now... i think if you take a grinder or some coarse sand paper to some of the engine bits it will give you a nice contrast, even just a couple bolt heads or something.


get some pinstripes on that sucka!!!

 

Hi GreaseMonkey,
Nice looking rat! I too am in the process of "improving" my XJ550 although I am doing it the other way round, trying to change the pod air fliters and putting back the stock airbox. The big problem I had over the weekend was getting the box in! I took off the carbs but still no room... I think it's likely that the frame has been shortened. I don't want to muck about with re-jetting and once I get the box in (I may have to cut it and then glue it back together once it's in) I'm planning to put an ammo box on the side to hold the electrics and have the rear light and number plate on. At the moment it's loking like this, minus the bumper which I removed:

 

thats cool. How I went about painting the tank was well. I just cleaned it a little bit and just started painting.

 

I wasnt sure if painting the carb was a good idea so I just painted around it. But if it wont hurt anything I will paint it too.

 

here is some more pictures

 

nope they are too big have to post them later

 

ya man that bike is pretty danged cool. I decided to keep my stock airbox on. I like your headlight placement thats crazy.

 

Cheers mister!
That's the English chop look from the 70s and 80s - it's partly what attracted me to getting the bike. Did you try removing the airbox at all? I'm just a little concerned about the lack of space with the frame being tight and all.

 

no I did not. I just decided not to mess with it for now and it doesnt look to bad now that everything is black.

 

I'm digging the bronze and flat black...the wheels are perfect for all black

 

marko has posted pictures on how to get the air box in & out with the engine in place, I couldn't do it, I think Marko is in the magic circle :twisted:

 

Chopper,

Where did you get the fork gaitors? Did you buy them somewhere or did you make them? Could we get a closeup pic of them?

Thanks and great looking bike!
Dean

 

What did you do to paint your engine, what paints, what process?

 

Where those your stock cables with the apes?