Entries by Hugh Owings

Happenings within Hugh’s HandBuilt

Well folks, we’ve been SLAMMED this spring – and we aren’t complaining.  We’ve been working out hind ends off to make sure your parts and services happen in a timely fashion.  A few things are behind schedule, mostly complete engine builds and other labor intensive jobs such as fork shaving and rebuilding.  I apologize for […]

XS650 Hydraulic Clutch Conversion – Install Instructions

WE NO LONGER SELL COMPONENTS FOR THIS SWAP – Read carefully the instructions below on how to install this system on your XS650 *If you search Ebay for a ” Pitbike Hydraulic Clutch” – you should be able to find a setup similar to what is pictured below.  You’ll want about 50″ of Hose, or […]

How NOT to ship an engine…

Got this engine in today from a third party.   The new owner purchased it from Ebay, and had it shipped here…  Poor packaging at it’s finest.. Just an FYI, a Cardboard Box is NOT enough protection against shipping damages.  Even though this engine was completely gutted, it was still damaged badly…   Finding all the […]

XL250 Pipe? Sure, why not!

So we had a feller come in here a week ago or so, who has been rebuilding a very nice looking XL250.  Yeah, you know the one with the 23″ front wheel?  Yeah, that one! He had the bike pretty close to finished, minus that one hard to find item that most all older enduro/dual […]

CBR600RR Trees Modded to Fit XS650

Did a little custom machining today.  Modified a set of OEM XS650 Trees and Steering Stem to accept the CBR600RR Upper and Lower Fork Clamps.  Complete with Tapered Bearings, this will bolt up and fit like OEM, with no need for shims, adapters, etc.. You’ll have to forgive the ugly headtube, I use it for […]

Rubber Tank Mount

Alot of Japanese, British and French bikes have those funny little rubber mounts under the tank.  I wanted to reuse the OEM tank mounts on my Motobecane tank, but I had to get a bit creative making that happen. Here is what I am describing.  You can see the half cup mounts, that typically ride […]

February weather in Asheville.

Pretty lame winter so far.  I rode my wife’s Hot Rod Rebel to work on February 1st, if that tells ya anything. It has been hard to get into the “winter build” groove when the weather is soo nice outside.  So we started taking Friday’s off from customer work in the shop, so we can […]