Featured Bike: The Busch Brothers XS 650 Chopper

This the 1979 Yamaha XS 650 chopper built by Danny and Lance Busch, AKA, “Busch&Busch.” When they picked this bike up in late 2009, it was a rusty pile of junk in need of serious help. After some rebuilding, and countless hours of hand fabrication, this is the result, a stunning, one-off custom chopper.

yamaha xs 650 rigid chopper — B&B Yamaha XS 650 Chopper

Almost every part was tossed except for the engine, engine mounts, and steering neck. The 650 motor was completely rebuilt, and now runs strong. In the best of hot rod tradition, the twin Mikuni carbs are capped off by screened velocity stacks made by Danny Busch.

yamaha xs 650 custom engine front right view — XS 650 Engine

All controls and foot pegs are by Busch&Busch. The “Scrambler” style exhaust was fabricated by Lance Busch.

yamaha xs 650 custom exhaust — XS 650 Custom Exhaust

The rigid frame is a custom by Danny Busch, with the stock steering neck being retained just for the VIN numbers.

yamaha xs 650 custom rear view — Rear view with “Gull Wing” bars.

Up front a DNA springer modified to fit the Yamaha neck, and is capped off by Busch Brothers “Gull Wing” handlebars. The clutch lever is a standard Harley-Davidson item, with adaptations made to run the Yamaha cable.

yamaha xs 650 custom front right view — DNA Springer, Harley laced front wheel.

Both front and rear are Harley big twin laced wheels, the rear runs a Sportster sprocket with an adaptor machined to fit the hub. Braking chores are handled by a single caliper off of a Yamaha SR 500, with a stainless steel rotor machined down to fit.

yamaha xs 650 custom front left side view — Left side view.

The gas tank is a custom fabrication by Danny and Lance, with notches in the tank top to accommodate the handlebars at full lock. The rear fender and seat pan were made by Danny. One of the more unique items on the bike is the head light, the basic parts came from a home improvement store, with substantial modification, it was made roadworthy.

yamaha xs 650 custom head light — XS Custom head light.

In addition to fabricating the seat pan, Danny also hand tooled the seat cover in leather, carved to simulate the classic “Diamond” pattern that’s popular on solo seats today.

yamaha xs 650 custom seat — Custom leather seat.

Danny says the hard work he and Lance put in on the project has been worth it. To quote Danny, “The bike rides like a dream, I fit it perfectly, and it is one of the few things we have built that actually turned out how we envisioned it from the start.”

This feature is not the end for Danny’s XS 650, he is already making more changes, (seems he can’t leave well enough alone) for the latest on his project, visit the Busch&Busch website.

Images By: The Busch Brothers

Words By: Terry Cavender