There’s a reason the custom scene keeps circling back to the Honda XR650L. It’s the last of the big, air-cooled dinosaurs, a bike so stubbornly simple and bulletproof that Honda has barely bothered to update it for decades. But hand it to the right builder and suddenly you’re staring at something that looks like it rolled straight out of a forgotten R&D skunkworks from 1978. That’s exactly what Spencer Parr of Parr Motorcycles in Indiana has pulled off here: a brand-new 2024 XR650L reimagined as a golden-era Honda scrambler, built with full creative freedom and executed with the kind of quiet, deadly precision that’s become his signature style.
The foundation of the transformation started with the customer buying a fresh XR650L from a local dealership. Parr picked it up, stripped it down, and immediately committed to the one rule that would guide the entire project: make it look factory… but 50 years in the past. First up came the most sacrilegious cut of any XR build, lopping off the rear subframe. With that gone, the hunt was on for a tank worthy of the retro vision. Parr reached into his proven parts arsenal and grabbed a Honda XL500S tank he’s used on multiple scrambler builds. It needed modification to land correctly on the newer frame, but once he massaged it into place, the whole bike suddenly began speaking the same classic language.
With the tank sitting pretty, Parr built the new subframe using the original XR mounting points, a deliberate decision to preserve seat height, geometry, and stock rear brake master placement. No fancy swoops or unnecessary curves here. The mandate was clean, strong, and period-correct. Between the new rails he fabricated a tidy electronics box, tightly packing the battery and wiring so the silhouette stayed lean. The result is a rear triangle that looks like Honda themselves might’ve welded it in 1979.
Attention then turned to the front end. Parr and the customer briefly entertained a CRF fork swap, but in the end decided the stock XR forks kept more of the bike’s rugged, old-school charm. With that choice settled, he rang up Warp 9, who supplied a 19/17 wheel combo wrapped in Shinko 705s, the ideal balance of dirt-road bite and pavement civility. Up top, the front fender is a reworked aluminum SL fender, massaged until it fit the XR650L fork brace like it belonged there all along. Lighting duties fall to a monster 9-inch Hella off-road lamp, LED-converted for modern punch but visually pure ’70s aggression.
The exhaust system is pure Parr Motorcycles practicality. Instead of fabricating a full header, notoriously time-consuming on these big singles, he sourced a Big Gun header and built a custom tailpipe from scratch. This not only saves hours of fabrication but also pairs flawlessly with the Lectron carb, making tuning far less painful. It’s the kind of smart, efficient decision-making that only comes from builders who actually ride the bikes they build, not just photograph them.
Out back, Parr shaped a new aluminum rear fender, similar to the one he created for his well-known 680R project. The seat pan came next, built in-house and fitted with his clever hood-latch mechanism hidden beneath the electronics box, a system that allows the seat to pop off instantly for battery or wiring access without disturbing the aesthetics. Dane from @Plzbseated handled the upholstery, delivering a period-correct finish that looks straight off a Honda brochure from the disco era.
Electronics remain mostly Honda OEM, a nod to the XR650L’s reputation for reliability. Parr kept the stock wiring harness and controls, then added Motogadget Blaze pin indicators front and rear. At the tail are integrated units providing brake, running, and turn functions, mounted just ahead of the license plate bracket for a sleek, minimalist finish. The end result is a fully functional electrical system that’s as discreet as it is dependable.
Finally, the paint, and this is where the whole build snaps into focus. Parr refused to build yet another red-and-blue Honda, so instead he aimed straight at one of the company’s greatest hits: Flake Sunrise Orange. Sprayed by the talented crew at Hired Guns Paint, the tank explodes with ’70s warmth and metallic shimmer, inspired by his favorite CB lineup of the era. In the sun, the flake dances just enough to make you stop and stare, but never drifts into modern overkill. It’s period-perfect, and Parr proudly calls it his favorite element of the bike.
Taken as a whole, this XR650L scrambler nails its brief with uncanny accuracy. It feels like Honda themselves might have prototyped a factory scrambler back in the day, locked it in a vault, and Parr Motorcycles somehow got the keys. It’s clean, intentional, robust, and dripping with heritage without copying anything outright. As Spencer says, the goal was to build a bike that looks like it rolled off a 1970s assembly line. And honestly? He absolutely nailed it.
[ Parr Motorcycles ]