BS34 Carb Choke Question

bhodge

XS650 Member
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I have a 1980 xs650 that I got for a $100.00. It was a basket case when I got it, so I have been working out the bugs. When I got it, it had a valve that stuck and knocked a hole in the left piston. I had to replace the top end, machine the heads and split the cased to get all of the metal out! I hard tailed it using the TC bros kit and got it about 95% complete. I am waiting on a new sporty tank and forward controls to finish up the welding, so that I can blow it back apart for paint and powder coat.

Now to the question:
My bike did not have a choke cable, nor did it have the thumb switch on the bars like I have seen on later models. Have any of you rigged any time of short cable to hold the choke open? I got a cable off of a Roadstar and I am gonna try and make that work. Any ideas? Thanks and sorry for such a long post. Here is a pic of what I have so far (sorry pics are bad, all I had at work)>>>


IMG00245.jpg


IMG00244.jpg
 
- wasnt aware that BS34s had a choke cable...mine have a black round knobbed pull choke on the carbs themselves
 
I have the stock bs34 that came on the bike. I read that the specials had a thumb choke lever under the horn button, but mine didn't. Can you take a picture of how the choke knob attaches to the carb? I have looked all over for a week and have not found anything. Thanks for the help!
 
My 81 Special has a carb rack mounted choke knob, whereas my 82 Heritage Special has a cable operated, handlebar mounted choke lever. You can see the choke knob in the picture of the 81 motor. This is not how I keep my bikes (this bike is a prime illustration of the term "barn fresh"), but I had to take a "before" picture! "After" picture to follow ...
 

Attachments

  • 650 motor.jpg
    650 motor.jpg
    46.3 KB · Views: 454
I feel obligated to help since I have at least 4 sets of these carbs in my garage.. :D The cable operated one needs the bracket that mounts to the top of the carb and the one that mounts on the rod. They also don't have the half choke and full choke detents. The ones operated by a knob have a detent on the rod which uses a small spring and ball in the hole in the last picture to keep the rod in the half and full positions. Don't judge me by the condition of these carbs! :eek:
 

Attachments

  • carbs01.jpg
    carbs01.jpg
    124 KB · Views: 450
  • carbs02.jpg
    carbs02.jpg
    125.4 KB · Views: 643
  • carbs03.jpg
    carbs03.jpg
    124.4 KB · Views: 591
  • carbs04.jpg
    carbs04.jpg
    129.1 KB · Views: 807
Travis,

You are right, mine has the cable set-up! I assume the carbs are the same, so could I source a new rod with detent, spring and ball, and it work?

You guys are awesome! I have looked and blown up every picture I could find on the web and I was getting frustrated. The detail in the service manual was not clear either.
 
Travis,

You are right, mine has the cable set-up! I assume the carbs are the same, so could I source a new rod with detent, spring and ball, and it work?

You guys are awesome! I have looked and blown up every picture I could find on the web and I was getting frustrated. The detail in the service manual was not clear either.

I hereby nominate Travis as site moderator of the universe!!! Just one of many reasons why people feel so welcome here. Keep it up, T, and you'll never get rid of us!
 
Danno,
I second that motion! My middle name is Travis, so I figured he had to be a pretty good guy! LOL!
 
- kool, ive just woken up to start my day and learn something new without having to try :laugh:...be interesting to see if the pull knob can be swapped in, the casting looks the same from the outside

P5080053.jpg


P5130007.jpg
 
bhodge it can be done with the parts you mentioned, but I'm more intrigued by your shortened cable idea. Some Hardleys run a short cable choke. If you use the rod xsjohn had good tip.
Drill extra indents in it so you can have full,3/4,1/2,1/4 choke postions
 
I will work on the adapting the cable that I have this weekend and update you all on the progress. Because it is from a Roadstar, it has like 4 or 5 different indents for choke settings.
 
Glad I could help!

I figured that since I had the carbs in both styles and two sets without rods, that it would be easy for me to show the differences. I probably should have taken some better pictures like inxs :shrug: but I just took them quick in my kitchen.

One note about hooking up the choke cable. Just like leaving a little play in the throttle cable, you want to leave a little play in the choke cable when you tighten down the clamp to hold the cable housing so that when you turn left or right it doesn't slightly actuate the choke. If you are using a method of pulling the cable and that doesn't mount to the steering in any way, you won't have to worry about it.
 
I'm pretty late to this thread, but I thought I'd ask my question in this thread since it's semi relevant.

I have the carbs that require the cable pull. Like everyone building a bobber (it seems), I'd like to have as little clutter as possible on my handlebars, and so I'd rather not use the big, bulky left-hand stock control set (with horn, blinkers, and choke). Are there any simple clutch housings out there that bolt onto the handlebars where the old bulky unit would go, and that don't have controls for the horn, blinkers, etc? I've searched and they have to be out there, I just don't think I'm using proper search terms.
 
It might. For the left side maybe just turn it over?
Are you familiar with the old push/pull choke cables?
I thought of fashioning a bracket to hold one off the left carb.
I converted it to the rod style of the 80/81's instead.
 
Last edited:
Try clutch perch in your search term it resulted in 4200 returns when I just tried, many dirt bikes and some road bikes use a separate clutch perch. old british mc's use a small separate choke lever. and there are a bunch of them on fleabay also.
 
Thanks, Gary. I tried looking for 'clutch perch' on eBay, but that seems to be (from what I can tell) the entire clutch lever. Am I missing something? I really just need the choke lever -- is this somehow included on that lever and I'm missing something?
 
It might. For the left side maybe just turn it over?
Are you familiar with the old push/pull choke cables?
I thought of fashioning a bracket to hold one off the left carb.
I converted it to the rod style of the 80/81's instead.

How did you do the rod conversion, if you don't mind me asking?
 
Back
Top