long trips on your xs's

Many years ago, in the mid eighties, I did a trip from Aberdeen Scotland to Koblenze in Germany with my then girlfriend, now my wife, on my XS0650. Not sure on the total amout of miles we did, but it must have been around 2000 there and back.
 
I will also add to RG's comment. I have a 77' that I chopped up and hardtailed. If I could go back...i'd UNDO everything and leave it stock! It was a beautiful bike and I was so caught up in the idea of a hardtail that I failed to recognize how awesome it actually was in it's stock configuration.

I have been riding my hardtail xs for a few years now and i'll tell you. There's a reason i'm building my XT500 into something with suspension....and lots of it!

I used to be one of the hard tail nutz...then mine went numb so I converted to a suspension supporter lol....I'm 22 and in good health..still ride the hardtail all the time...but cannot wait to get my XT build finished so I won't HAVE to ride the hardtail if I want to ride.
 
Back in the `60s and `70s, there was an explosion of interstate highways down here. They were engineered to handle the perceived/predicted 95+ mph traffic of the future. Much of the country, except the central hill country, is quite flat, and we had no shortage of asphalt.

Our highways were quite glass smooth. Hardtailing was not punishing. We were spoilt.

Fast forward to the last two decades, with stories of degrading infrastructure, and the overabundance of heavy rigs, our highways now have a few bumps. In the north, east, northeast, you've got more concrete, expansion strips, heavier trucking, and now, massive reports of severe winter road damage.

The members up in your area are giving you sound advise based on their current experiences. I've hardtail toured through those areas, and even back then, some of those roads were challenging...
 
did san diego to san felipe MX, ensenada MX and back to san diego last summer. Also denver to sturgis. same bike as before.
 
Thanks for all the input everybody! Unfortunatley, I'm young, dumb, and full of..ambition. I've always wanted a hardtail motorcycle and this bike happened to almost fall right into my lap.
so I think I'll stick to the plan and finish what I've started; I've got the bike stripped to the frame and the hardtail sitting next to it, just waiting to be welded on. I'm also not really looking for a nice, comfortable, summer time cruise, I'm on the hunt for adventure! I'll probably be leaving CNY within a month or two, depending on how pretty I want my bike, with just a bag of clothes, a tent, and some spending money.
Like I said, I'm not looking for a cozy cruise, I've always wanted to travel the country and have a hardtail bike..might as well do both while I'm still young enough to handle the abuse and not have much to worry about losing. I'm also not concerned with making good time or only being able to ride for so long, I Want to get off my bike and look around, see what's out there.

oh, and don't think I totally ignored all your input, but I'm not a man worried about money and I didn't get any mechanical reason Not to chop the bike which is why I'm doing it anyway.
 
Thanks for all the input everybody! Unfortunatley, I'm young, dumb, and full of..ambition. I've always wanted a hardtail motorcycle and this bike happened to almost fall right into my lap.
so I think I'll stick to the plan and finish what I've started; I've got the bike stripped to the frame and the hardtail sitting next to it, just waiting to be welded on. I'm also not really looking for a nice, comfortable, summer time cruise, I'm on the hunt for adventure! I'll probably be leaving CNY within a month or two, depending on how pretty I want my bike, with just a bag of clothes, a tent, and some spending money.
Like I said, I'm not looking for a cozy cruise, I've always wanted to travel the country and have a hardtail bike..might as well do both while I'm still young enough to handle the abuse and not have much to worry about losing. I'm also not concerned with making good time or only being able to ride for so long, I Want to get off my bike and look around, see what's out there.

oh, and don't think I totally ignored all your input, but I'm not a man worried about money and I didn't get any mechanical reason Not to chop the bike which is why I'm doing it anyway.

I can tell you had your mind made up before you even asked the first question about hardtails. You're young and ready for adventure, then build your dream hardtail and go out and see the country. Its OK to disagree with us middle aged (old?) conservative types.

Have a good safe trip, and come back and post some pictures:thumbsup:
 
At the request of the club, I wrote an article for the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) about my "Tour de Midwest" last summer on my '77 XS650D. Here it is below:


When I was 16 years old in the summer of 1970, my friend Jeff got access to a Fox mini-bike for us to ride in the local gravel pits and trails. Never previously having considered two wheeled motoring, I was completely hooked by the fun and adventure. Two weeks later, used some of my accumulated supermarket wages to buy a Yamaha trail bike and started reading the magazines and riding the road. Then I saw my first “dream” bike: Triumph Bonneville in candy apple red, with rubber knee pads on the tank, and twin chrome sausage pipes. Stunning!

Three years later was working in my summer college break as the parts man at the Yamaha shop. Drooled over the Bonneville clone that was the XS650, but felt that the RD350 was more my size. Ended up putting many thousands of miles on that little rocket, doing some drag racing and five years of club road racing (Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside Raceway, and Willow Springs) when I moved out to California after grad school. This performance focus inexorably lead up the ladder to a ’78 GS750 and ’82 GS1100E, before taking a dip back towards maneuverability with an ’86 VF500F Interceptor, then getting it all with a ’99 R1, on which I continue to sport tour.

Then I retired and got the bug to revisit my teenage icons. First off, bought a Factory Five Roadster kit and built a ’65 Shelby AC Cobra 427SC replica, then spent three months and 16,000 miles lapping the USA last summer, thus satisfying my car guy bucket list item. This winter, it was time to do the same for the motorcycle list. So, after perusing Craig’s List for several weeks, finally found a relatively clean XS650. It was owned by a woman detective in Washington D.C. and had been recently painted in Robin’s Egg Blue. I drove down from Baltimore in my pickup truck, went for a test ride, and swallowed any residual masculine pride by purchasing my first “pretty blue” motorcycle.



It took about a month to wire brush and buff all the corrosion off the bike, then do a simple tune up (change oil and filters, adjust cam chain, adjust valves, clean and adjust the points). Also installed new chrome headlight ears, LED mini turn signals and associated flasher relay, and bar end mirrors.


At that point the bike was ready for a first ride, so off to the reservoir we went:


While my buddy PJ was painting his own Cobra replica, he offered to do my tank and side panels, so I ended up with this black beauty-hardly a full restoration but rather a functional clean-up:

Without further ado, and with only about 100 miles on the bike since I purchased it, it was time for a summer journey from Baltimore. Waypoints were to include the annual VJMC Rally at Spring Mill Park in Mitchell, Indiana; my friends Thomas and Chris in Philo, Illinois (husband and wife “stars” of a wonderful garage journal forum thread involving the restoration of a 1930’s garage http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&highlight=philo+illinois); 4th of July at my in-laws at their lake house in Lawrence, Kansas where I would meet up with my wife Constance and 20 year old son Chris; friends Mark and Gloria, who recently moved from Baltimore to Joplin, Missouri; the AMA Vintage Motorcycle weekend at Mid-Ohio Raceway; and finally the return leg to Baltimore. So, my bags were packed and I was ready to go:

One of my trip goals was to avoid boring interstates when possible, so the first leg of the journey required a transit to Winchester Virginia in order to pick up the gorgeous route 50 West. This great road traverses the Appalachians and meanders through diverse settings of small towns, forests, large towns, mountain switchbacks, and farmland, before becoming the interstate like “Appalachian Highway”. During this first day, I noticed that oil was starting to cover the bottom of the engine and frame, the inside of the megaphone exhausts, and laying a stripe on the left edge of the rear tire. So, I purchased a quart of motorcycle friendly oil at one of the NAPA stores, and topped up at every gas stop (about a 120 mile range for 3 gallons of gas, leaving a comfortable reserve and only a semi-painful butt). Searching for a Yamaha dealer for a replacement countershaft seal (my own diagnosis), ended up in Chillicothe, Ohio for the evening. The next morning, headed for Cincinnati where I eventually found an old school dealership with architectural character and a good supply of new old parts (Western Hills). Got the countershaft seal replaced while I waited, and was on my way to Mitchell in just a few hours. There still appeared to be leak coming from a missing tachometer cable securing bolt, so purchased some RTV with which to plug it up later in the day, which appeared to stop that leak.
The VJMC rally at Spring Mill Park was a blast. Tons of bikes, and since this was my first vintage bike rally, saw many of my 60s and 70s icons for the first time since back in the day. Great people, nice rides in the country, good food and drink at the dinners and after dinner hang-outs on the lodge’s back patio.

Sunday morning involved a 200 mile back country ride up to Philo Illinois. Thomas is a recently retired international airline pilot, who over the last decade restored a 1930’s country garage that he used to frequent as a child. I can’t recommend his previously referenced garage journal thread too highly. It’s one of the neatest web threads I’ve had the pleasure to read. Thomas and Chris hosted me for an afternoon during last summer’s “Tour de USA” in my Cobra, and we met up again a month later at the Road America Vintage Car races. During my morning ride to their house I noticed some low frequency vibration when I stopped for gas, and upon riding from house to shop upon arrival in Philo, heard some ominous squealing (metal on metal like a failed bearing surface?). Uh oh! I normally ride with ear buds playing iPhone music and narrated map directions, so have no idea how long that squealing had been going on. In the end, I just kept riding the bike, the squealing continued to varying degrees, and the bike got me home just fine. Will have to tear the bike down in the fall (always the plan) and see what I see.

Thomas and I drove up to Champaign Illinois to check out the final day of the annual Bloomington Gold Corvette gathering. It was slightly interesting to be able to see all the generations of the corvette at one venue. It appears that the availability of the new C7 has killed the resale value of the prior generation C6, as tons of them were available at fire sale prices. Got a short test ride in a C7, sampling the outstanding performance, but was a little claustrophobic regarding the lack of visibility from the driver’s seat. After spending the late afternoon chatting on the porch and visiting the shop, had a nice sleep in a 100+ year old house.

Woke up to rain. We looked at the radar weather map and waited until it looked like there was a window wherein I could miss the oncoming storm by shooting 50 miles south to route 70 for a 450 mile run out to Kansas. Wrong! About two minutes after leaving Thomas and Chris, the skies opened up. The worst storm I’ve ever ridden through. Torrential downpour and constant lightning strikes all around me. Flat farmland, limited visibility, and the cars and trucks were running 4-way flashers. I didn’t want to risk pulling over and getting rear ended, but just wanted to ride south into some sunshine. About an hour and a half later I got my wish and exited out from under the front into light overcast and then bright sunshine. My outer surfaces dried off in minutes, and even the wet socks within my boots were dry within an hour. Then came the most uncomfortable 8 hours of the trip, droning across route 70 in 95 degree heat, stopping periodically for gas, hydration, and oil top off.
It was great to arrive at the lake house and be welcomed by my wife, son, and myriads of in-laws. The dive into the cool lake after hours of vibration and baking as I rode into the sun was one of life’s singular pleasures!
I spent the week replacing the dead battery, visiting the hardware store for various missing bolts (that I had neglected to notice during my mini-restoration), adjusting the chain, and cleaning the bike of dead bugs and accumulated surface oil. As a family, we boated, water skied, watched fireworks, spent a day at a water park, and did our annual bonding.




Then it was off for another short 200 mile ride down to Joplin, to visit a fellow Cobra owner who had moved there from Baltimore. Mark and Gloria found a great home in a golf course community for a very reasonable price, compared to back home. Turns out that Missouri is a far more retiree friendly Place than Maryland (big surprise, that-not!).

PICs:
1. The bike after mini restoration
2. "My bags are packed and I'm ready to go..."
3. Back home and ready to get comfy!




Cleaned Up and Painted.jpg

My Bags are Packed and I'm Ready to Go.jpg

Home at Last.jpg
 
Last edited:
Conclusion: Tour de Midwest part deux:

After a nice one night visit it was time for a two day ride up to Mid-Ohio for the vintage bike show. Loved the countryside cruise along route 60 east of Springfield through some scenic Ozark byways ending up at Central City for the evening, then connected through several highways to skirt Louisville and Cincinatti before arriving at Mansfield the following evening. The Mid Ohio show was outstanding. Attendance was huge, the thousands of vintage bikes onsite were a fantastic nostalgic blast from the past, the racing was great, and the VJMC tents were well attended by both member bikes and visiting show goers, many of whom signed up for club membership. During the show, I made several visits to the neighboring Bridgestone Owners Club tent (fantastic display of bikes and engines), suggesting that they join the VJMC, but the patrons appear to feel slighted by perceived lack of acceptance or care by the VJMC in the past. We should somehow share the love and get these guys involved with us. They look to be great “guardians” of their marque. Saturday night at dusk, there was a free outdoor showing of the fantastic new limited release movie about “John Penton”. Great movie from a great book about a great man. Look it up on the web and try and see it in a local showing.

Took off on Sunday morning for the ride home. The weather report indicated a significant probability of rain on the way to Baltimore, but only ran into a few sprinkles and had a generally quite comfortable 430 mile freeway ride home. In the end, I covered a little over 3000 miles over 19 days and had a blast! Long motorcycle tour on an old school bike bucket list item: CHECK 
 
3796584992_ac2a456c74_z.jpg


This is not really a long XS ride. Only about 2000 miles in less than a week. Long rides are more than that.

This was on a borrowed 1977 model XS650.

In November 1976 I had an assignment to put miles on some accessory pannier mounts that were in development for Yamaha Parts Distributors, Inc. On the morning in southern California that I left on "some sort of trip" I didn't know where I was going, only that I had to put miles on the test bike. One option was heading for Baja. If a better idea didn't pop into my head before I reached the interstate, then southbound it would be.

In those days it was pretty easy to get a bike into and out of Baja and even Mexico mainland even if you did not have a tourist card and proof of ownership. Those days have gone, mostly. But I crossed into Baja with no issues and went past Ensenada and on to the document control point at what I seem to recall was called Maneadero. There was some sort of parade going on and so I took a dirt-road back street to avoid the parade and sure enough, that road easily took me right around the immigration and vehicle control point. So I got into the "controlled" part of Baja with no documents.

It was late in the afternoon and I crossed the river at Rosario and headed into the desert. It was dark by the time I was into boojum country and the headlight faintly illuminating those gave the scenery a rather spooky appearance. Just before Rancho Santa Ines Cataviña the road dipped into a vado and I was unpleasantly surprised by running water and a bit of a sand bank so I determined that I should find a place to stay rather than risking crashing somewhere in the immense darkness. And I soon came to some parked trucks and what turned out to be a cheap truckers' sleeping camp. I paid something like fifty cents to get a little dirt floor room, a cot with good thick blankets, and plywood door that in theory would keep the rattlesnakes out. When I heard the first diesel engines start just before dawn, I got up and ready to go. There was gas at Cataviña and aviation fuel at the little airstrip at Santa Ines to bring the octane up to something decent.

It was a splendid day of riding, sunny but cool. I did a little sightseeing off the main road near Guerrero Negro, and sampled turtle soup out on the old and now disused salt-loading wharf.

But when heading south from that town I felt a bit of wiggle in the rear end of the bike and discovered that the famous XSive vibration had loosened all of the bolts holding the right saddlebag to the mount. I had tools but no spare hardware. I cannibalized some nuts and bolts from other bike parts and jerry-rigged a solution to get me going. Then a couple of hours down the road, at San Ignacio I think it was, I found a "taller mecánico" of sorts and he let me strip some nuts and bolts from the wreck of an old VW. Then I got back to the main road and ended up that night in Santa Rosalía on the Sea of Cortez. The old wooden building looked like something out of a Butch Cassidy film and it turned out to be, according to the local rumor, one of the buildings constructed by a French mining company many years earlier. The rumor turned out to be palatable when I discovered later that the town had been founded by a French company in the 1880s.

I pressed on and eventually made it to Cabo San Lucas which in those days was still very much just a small town. I stayed long enough for some pictures and then headed back in the direction of La Paz. But it got too dark too soon and rather than risk running into the occasional loose cow along the road, I pulled into a small town just off the highway, only to be greeted with roads covered with sand from the effects of a recent hurricane. When I reached the main plaza I was in for another time machine scene. It looked like what I imagined 1880s Baja to have been like. I found a cheap but reasonably secure room and went back to the plaza to inquire about a restaurant. they must have thought I was from Mars and said there was no restaurant here, but if I wanted to eat, there was a family that made meals for travelers.

I went there - it was a private home in an old building that was quite dark. A blanket covering a small dining room was pulled aside and I was ushered in and asked to take a place alongside the others eating together at a common table. There was a stew and some of the best tortillas I had ever tried. But you know what they say about being hungry: el mejor aliño es el hambre.

The next day I went to La Paz to inquire about the ferry to Mazatlan, across the Gulf. I didn't have a tourist card and that was required. Nor even a document that showed that I owned the bike, which in fact I did not: the bike belonged to Yamaha International. But some papers were forged and I was able to board that night for the crossing. I had no cabin and ended up sleeping on the hard deck.

Years earlier I had been in Mazatlan, on my way to a summer session when I was an undergraduate. But for now I was just passing through, northbound again. The first day, as suggested in the attached photo, there was a good deal of rain. I made it as car as Ciudad Obregón that night. The following day there was a drug checkpoint that was run by what seemed to be punk police, mostly with no uniforms, who were convinced that my anti-vibration knee pads taped to the XS tank were really filled with drugs. After a while they relented and let me go. That evening I crossed back into the US and made it home. For the most part, the XS had performed very well, and had proven itself very economical in fuel consumption. The following year I would choose another XS650 for a ride to Argentina, but that is another story.
 
Last edited:
This is not really a long XS ride. Only about 2000 miles in less than a week. Long rides are more than that.

Hi Patiperro,
a long ride is one that's further than I'd want to go in a day, eh?
At my age, that's anything over ~100 miles.
But back in 1986 my NOS Heritage Special was still shiny new and I was just shy of my 50th birthday.
Having just married off my eldest daughter I was up the ying-yang with family and arrangements so I strapped minimal camping gear on the bike's pillion and took off.
Toured all around Lake Superior. Stopped at every viewpoint along the way.
Said nothing to nobody except restaurant staff and gas pump attendants for two straight weeks.
Bike ran perfectly although it wasn't happy cruising over 60mph.
I did wonder why that was so I checked the bike against the information in my newly bought Clymers.
Found out that the bike had left the factory with 17T/36T drive sprockets and I'd circumnavigated Superior on sidecar gearing.
After getting home I switched to 17T/33T sprockets and built a luggage rack.
 
I am very glad that you are posting all of these 'old trips" Patiperro! I'm really enjoying them.I also saw your post last night about Chile touring and am starting to dream ;-)
 
I did a 260km trip from Toronto to Kingston last summer. Left right after work at 3pm, hit all the traffic going east with a tired clutch hand, eventually splitting lanes. 401 was terribly boring and I ended up singing to myself and having imaginary conversations in my head with passing cars.

Of course there's long empty stretches of highway where I decided to find out how fast my bike will really go, I have an american 81 with the fantastical american idea of 55mph speedlimit so I still have no idea how fast she can safetly sprint at. I cruised at a pretty consistent 60mph/100kmh, I'd like for a little more in the department, 110 would be great, 120 comfortably cruising I'd be beautiful.

I stopped twice to check gas, chain, sprockets, oil levels, sanity, and do a quick once around.

It was pretty good, I took highway 2 back which is a fast 2 lane 80kmh highway that follows the lake, I liked that much better and so did the bike.






I'll leave out the part about leaving with a dead battery, having my charging system fail and being stuck on the express lane of the 401 in a rainstorm outside Scarborough.
 
Nothing as legendary as what others have posted, but what a great read this morning from riders doing miles. Mine, was last week, my biggest issue was gas, or the lack of places to get it. So, I had a bottle (.21 US gallon / 800 ml) for "just in case" recorded my consumption as I went, and had a ride of 304 miles (490 kilometres) each way.
Out to a meeting with geotechnical engineers, then beers, sleep, ride home. Learn't a few things, fuel consumption being foremost, my rear tyre vibration, dodging skippies (kangaroos), a sore butt.

Back Story....this is my 1975 XS 650B model, imported from USA last year, re built top end engine this year (valves reseated / re faced, 0.50mm oversize, pins, rings, cam chain and tensioner. Replaced the chain, and sprockets new tyres this year too.

XS%20650%20Dingo%201_1.jpg


GAS..... The book tells me that you get 100 kilometres from 5000ml or 62.13 miles / 1.32 US gallons (hope my conversion is correct) The longest leg was 153k or 95 miles, so it should have burnt 7.6 litres or 2.02 gallons of gas. What I found was it burnt more, probably due to me sitting on 70 Mph for that leg between gas stops. Actual gas burn was 9.6 litres / 2.53 gallons. You might ask why I sat on 70 Mph? Well the bike has an uncanny vibration at 65 and it gets better the faster you go, so 70 is good, 60 is too slow down a road we call "The Beef Road".

Beef Road
Rest stop for 5 minutes note: Tanker is empty diesel road train.
image_3.jpeg


The road is pretty good now, years ago it was a single strip of bitumen with dirt shoulders, cattle road trains use the road to transport "Beef" to other paddocks along its (235k / 146 miles) length.
The road is long, hot, dry, and not much traffic, so after my first leg, in which I started out through fog, watched the sun come up as I went along (very cool) I knew I had enough gas to get me through the longest leg. on return with a headwind I burnt more 10.12litres / 2.67 gallons, so I had some to spare (1/3 of a tank)

Broken bit

image_2.jpeg


The only issue I had was the stand broke, I did media blast it and painted when I did the engine, but missed the hairline crack it had 1/2 way around.

Overnight stop & ready to hit the road the following day

image_4.jpeg


Vibration
When I was coming back, the long stretches of nothing give you time to think, the vibration was really bugging me and I thought that when I replaced the rear tyre 10 weeks ago the wheel weights might be wrong or there was something wrong in the back end. So.....I had a mate follow me through the speed zones it was vibrating the worst. He pulled me up and said, "mate, your rear tyre is skipping nearly completely off the road". So I went to the workshop the following day, pulled the tyre off, set the rim up and checked it for "true" (which it was). The old rubber had a flat spot on it, I am the only person who rides the bike and told my mechanic friend that it had not been flat spotted due to braking....he looked at the bead line and you could clearly see that the tyre had not been fitted properly in the first place and the bead was out. This is what caused the excessive vibration! It also killed a shock absorber, so thats next on the list of replacements bits.
So now I am a happy camper, have new tyre fitted, no vibration at all, an engine that goes really well, I know how much gas it burns and I am looking forward to the next long ride.....

Mick
 
In about 79 or 80 I took my 77 XS650D from Mpls to El Paso and back on 2 lane roads all the way. Hit whatever places sounded interesting so kind of wandered around with no real direct way getting anywhere. Rode to the top of Pikes Peak, when it was still gravel much of the way up. Never had a problem with the bike, just oiled the chain and adjusted it. Me and a couple buddies had a great time doing it. Sold the bike a few years later, but found out I really missed the XS. So a few years ago I found another 77 D rebuilt it and love it as much as my first one. These old bikes will take you anywhere you want to go.
 
I'm certainly no ironbut and I try at least one day a WE to do 150mi run. The Destination means a turnaround point. It's the ride that matters to me. I also think its time to get my seat rebuilt.
 
In about 79 or 80 I took my 77 XS650D from Mpls to El Paso and back on 2 lane roads all the way. Hit whatever places sounded interesting so kind of wandered around with no real direct way getting anywhere. Rode to the top of Pikes Peak, when it was still gravel much of the way up. Never had a problem with the bike, just oiled the chain and adjusted it. Me and a couple buddies had a great time doing it. Sold the bike a few years later, but found out I really missed the XS. So a few years ago I found another 77 D rebuilt it and love it as much as my first one. These old bikes will take you anywhere you want to go.

That's a bloody long ride, I take it "Mpls" is Minneapolis? I did the google map on your distance, very impressive Garbln....:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Yes Minneapolis was the start and end point. Took about 10-12 days, some long riding days and some just messing about. The worst day was riding across white sands proving grounds (New Mexico) on July fourth in the middle of the day, 115 F in the shade but no shade anywhere. The old XS just hummed along but the tar road was softer than the tires. Makes you appreciate a cold beer or two.
 
Back
Top