Carburetor Size

This is a measurement of the carb from head flange to carb filter end this is a common measurement on all XS 650’s at 7.5 inches, the measurement was taken from an older motor and frame but in general I have found the length from flange to filter end to be the same on all XS650’s

Tight Fit

This is the measurement I worked with, on the shop built frame 2 inches left for the filter. which luckily I was able to source through the shop that built the frame. I used the unifilter foam filter and cut it back 3/4 of an inch to make it fit.There was a mistake I did make, I was supposed to put some spacers that were supplied by the shop to lower the oil tank but that only rendered another 1/2 an inch.

Rear Caliper

Rear brake Caliper mounted fore of the rear fender mount.

Finished bike

This is the finished bike still have some gremlins to work out but she sounds very nice.

This was one of other issues I had with the rear fender mount, the rear caliper has no free movement back and forth with the rear wheel. As you can see in this Pic it has no free travel. I always have tried to use different positioning of the rear components to see if there is any options.

Cut The Fender Mount

Rear Caliper aft of fender bracket

This is another pic of what I have tried, what I don’t have is a pic of the caliper mounted on the bottom, the issue with this is leaning into corners and road debris hitting and getting wedged into the caliper. The outcome was I removed the mount and will remount it to the very rear of the axle mount.

The Final answer

I don’t think I will ever get someone else to build me a frame
It just never looks the way you want and why pay the money you could have built it faster yourself ………… think about it !
For those of you trying to follow a trend like Bobbers,brat style,choppers think about how comfortable you want to be or how cool you will look because they are far apart unless…… you think it out !

May 2 update this bike is now finished