1980 Yamaha XS850 Special
This is what happens when you get a cool idea and don't really know now to execute it. After cutting my moto teeth on an '81 Kawi KZ550, I moved on to bigger and more neglected things. I bought this one from my mechanic at the time for $400. In hindsight, $250 would have been about right. All I knew was that I wanted to put "those cool gold sportbike forks" on it. Everything else would figure itself out. After some head scratching, a few hours on eBay and a visit to the machine shop, I had all I needed to do the swap — in this case an '05 Yamaha R6-R setup. Some 6K miles later, everything is still in great working order, although I've completely changed my methods for swapping front ends. It should be noted that I built this bike before I learned to weld. Therefore, nary a chop was made. I see some things begging to be lopped off, though. Just you wait. (Photos: Cindy Hicks)
