XS650 'The Hornet'
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 
There are some people that wack a bump seat and some ace bars on a bike and call it a cafe racér. And then there are people like Chris AKA ‘The Limey’ who build inspiring cafe racérs like this beautiful XS650. Chris used to own a bike shop in London and wanted to bring the true meaning of a cafe racer to the Amercian shores. Chris migrated to Texas from London around 7 years ago because "he loved the weather in texas" and it's better weather for riding. As you can see there's been a lot of work on this bike and this is what Chris told the guys on the outstanding XS650 Chopper site:
"It has Excel 18 inch rims, stainless spokes, fork damper valves, progressive springs, alloy swingarm, Brembo brakes (except for the front caliper… incidentally, the rear brake is a work of art from Banke Racing), 750 kit, Shell No.1 race cam, titanium valve tops, serious gas flowing, stainless valves, race clutch, Mikuni RS36 smoothbores (what a bitch to link up… it’s so tight that I can’t use intake gaskets), a gorgeous megaphone from Apollo Cones welded to 1.75 inch stainless pipes (thanks Matt), Yoshi rearsets, all electrics are under the seat (and it even has blinkers built into the headlight), Scitsu race tach…. blah blah blah… the list goes on and on. As you can all see, the bike is sporting some extreme stopping power with a 320mm Brembo front rotor, Tokico caliper, the rear is completely Brembo, Aluminum rear sprocket, X-ring chain, the lovely aluminum rear swingarm, S&W shocks (I used to deal in those back in the 80’s), Integrated turn signals front and rear (yes, the front ones are built into the headlight), Stainless 2 into 1 exhaust (thanks Apollo Cones and Matt for sticking it together)… and last, but not least… the paintwork is back from Full Custom Fab".
Blimey Limey that is one killer cafe racér package! Check out the full interview with more pics of this beast on XS650 Chopper. Chris also has a thorough build log on his site Limeybikes where he can also be contacted if you want him to build you a bike of this calibre. [Thanks to John for the tip]
Reader Comments (6)
simply stunning
very nice. the eyes love it. not sure my balls would on the road.
Ha ha... yes, as it happens, I now have 1/2 inch high density foam on that seat for the very reason you mention. It's a lot kinder to my bits now.
Sweet! Very clean and well sorted. A perfect example of where less is more. Simply sophisticated.
a mutual friend here in austin hooked me up with chris and i've spoken to him on the phone a couple of times. the first time we blabbed for about 45 minutes. he knows his stuff and is an incredibly nice man. he's offered his wide knowledge as i begin my first custom build of an xs650, as well as his expertise in tweaking the motor when the bike is done. i couldn't say nicer things about the man, but i'm sure to some day soon.
simply wow !