81 651 Fighter project

Well as the title says it is an 81 650 this is my first ever build of this magnitude. I used to flip Lawnmowers in High School for extra coin and I am a huge car and truck guy. I have never touched the mechanical side of a bike before this. This is my first and only bike, I bought it 4 years ago and learned to ride on it. I pulled it in 2 years ago to do a "simple" winter freshen up. Well 3 jobs a Marriage and a new baby later, it is bare frame. Sorry for the picture quality all I have when I am working on it is my phone. The swingarm is an 01 GSXR 750 the rear wheel is a late 90s zx11 with a 180 tire. I plan to use a set of 01ish GSXR 1000 front forks. I like the looks of the USDs and if I remember correctly they are almost bolt in with a tappered bearing upgrade (correct me if I am wrong please)








Feedback appreciated! I enjoy constructive critisism!

I'm not a critic but I do like to comment.

Looks like you have a great start. and by doing it from the ground up I think you miss
a few pitfalls. couple things to remember

for avery action there is an equal and oppisite reaction. meaning everything you cut off had a purpose

and maybe even more of a purpose than the obvious.

for instance cutting the brake boss to fit my swingarm meant relocating my pegs I wanted rearsets anyway. focusing on the brake side easy swap, but when I got to the otherside shortening the shifter linkage was obvious. relocating my kickstand total oppisite reaction that hit me in the face
after the welding and purchases were made.

little stuff like that.

Reasearch all the threads on shock mounting if you use the monoshock there are several different ways to do it. all have merrit.

and lastly post lots of pictures and ask the knowledge on here is real world and there are a 1000 ways to skin a cat.

I'm definately gonna follow your build and if I can help please ask

Be careful you may find yourself in the garage on your wifes birthday putting the new handlebars you got her on your nike

Thanks Ramtough_63! Yea luckily this was a perfectly functioning bike before I tore it down and it is in various corners and totes of my garage! Hahaha. Believe it or not this all started with a set of drag bars that my now wife bought me for my birthday. Hahaha The bike still had the factory pullback "crusier" style bars.... Made for a 12 yr old. I am very broad (6'1" 260) and my wrists were always bent at a super uncomfortable angle. When I went to put them on there were a couple issues I tried to work around and then it snowballed with ratchet set on loosen hahaha.

hahaha, i saw that nasty looking frame and then the next picture was it all clean with a new swingarm that was quick.

Looking good. Your 180 tire looks better on your 650 than my 200 on my 81 1000. Sometimes I wish I had started with a 750. I really like the direction you are heading. I have been a car, jeep guy forever but I really like the creativity these bikes give you. Nothing to criticize, you are doing a great.

Kitten Tooth, I actually havn't cleaned anything up on the frame. I want to get as much mocked up as possible so I can do a big clean up in one shot.

Jydog, Thanks! A lot of reasearch went into picking that size tire. Hours upon hours lurking thru forums reading build threads. Yea my wife knew I was serious about this when my truck got taken out of the garage the other day! It actually saw frost for the first time this year 3 days ago! Hahaha. I agree with you tho there is a totally different level of creativity that these bikes let you have than cars/trucks do. It is super refreshing to play around with something different!

Looks like you are off to a good start.

If you need some ideas, look in my build thread. You can click the link in my signature line to get there. My bike is generally the same formula, albeit a KZ1000, but you will get the idea by looking at what I did. It's certainly not the only way, but my bike does actually work.

Keep up the good work. I'll be watching.

Testarossa- Thanks! I have actually had your build thread bookmarked for a little over a year. Your bike has provided a lot of the inspiration for mine. I remember on your first page you said you are/were a machinist by trade, I might need your assistance later on in my build if it is available that is. I love the way your bike came out the mix of old and new is spot on.

I'm not a critic either and I really like the look of what you're doing, but one thing I would doublecheck with that wide a tire is chain-to-frame clearance.

With the wheel centered in the swingarm try laying a straightedge along the rear sprocket to check if the chain will clear the frame around the swingarm pivot area - I could be wrong, but I suspect there might be an issue there.

OnkelB- With all of the research I have done that wheel just makes it with the chain and 12mm offset front sprocket. I am still crossing my fingers tho! I really don't want to notch those uprights on the frame (mostly for fit and finish) I want this build to look almost factory. If have too Ohh well this frame will recieve a lot of reworking thru the build anyways. Thanks for the concern tho!

So this is kind of a thread from the dead, but I am finally getting back on this project. I have a set of 99' GSXR 1000 forks on the way. Hopefully I can finally get this thing in a roller. It has remained untouched since my last update. I need to have the bushings/reducers made for the swingarm still. Sadly I do not know of any machine shops in my area. So if any body could help with that it would be appreciated!!! I will be posting pics as soon as my forks get here!

Black Banshee and less holt were my go to guys Leon narrowed and made awesome bushings for the swingarm and the triples from Les are Beautiful IMO