Gyrobob
Serious Thumper
Offline
Posers ain't motorcyclists
Posts: 2571
Newnan, GA
Gender:
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Great response!
I agree with just about all of it. I have 130 miles on mine. I am still tweaking it here and there.
To toss in my toosentz,...
The rear sets are NOT cheaply made. They are premium stuff, and they work really well for cafe racer duty.
The rear brake linkage/rearset, installed CORRECTLY, works perfectly. Mine has about 1/2" travel before the brakes start to engage. The rear brake works very cleanly,.. positive engagement and release. That said, the LS650 rear brake is not a very manly brake. I have adjusted the rear brake light switch to come on at 1/4", so I can tap the brake pedal as a signal without actually braking. The one thing I did NOT like about the RYCA set up was the way the brake light switch cable was installed. I spent way too much time coming up with a more solid way to actuate the brake light switch. See the Double RYCA build thread. The rearsets are not cumbersome at all. They work as well as any other rearsets or stock crotchrocket linkages I have used.
The tank works fine. True, it does not look have an aggressive racer look, but it works. My main bellyache with the tank was the amount of work it took to get it ready to paint. I shudder to think how much work it would be to get a tank from some other bike to work.
Forget about the stock setup for the decomp solenoid. Too heavy, too much electrical crap,.. too much space used. The RYCA decomp linkage works fine, once you get it adjusted to just barely lift the exhaust valve. Much lighter, and quite a conversation starter. I am intrigued with the idea of even scrapping the RYCA linkage and using a tiny lever mounted directly on the exhaust valve lifter.
The triple tree modification is unnecessary. The RYCA spacer trick for the front forks works great. I got the upgraded springs. Handling is good, but man, what a rough ride.
The muffler is too loud, and the packing it comes with is about as durable as toilet paper. I'm working on a modified crumb cup mod.
"everyone (including Oldfellow) and all my neighbors are trying to talk me out of converting my bike to a Cafe racer." Tell them to buzz off. You'll have huge fun building and riding this thing. You can always get another stock LS650 later.
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