What have you done to your XS today?

Polished the '76 saturday and took it down to Groton, NY, to see what nice bikes were on display at the Old Home Days Motorcycle Show. Parked across the street, and while getting it up on the center stand, the event organizer walked over and invited me to join the competition, extending the deadline by 2 hours. Nice guy. Ended up taking First in class.

76xs650 005.80%.jpg
 
Thanks to all for the congrats.
This was my first build a few years ago, a frame-off, take-it-down-to-the-bare-metal, total DYI.
Sprayed the tank and covers with rattle cans, just to prove to my neighbor that it can come out well.
 
Dang Dude - you do good work!

OK, dammit, I'm comin' over. Just two questions:
  1. Do you have polishing rags?
  2. Do you have BEvERages - or should I bring some?
  3. I thought Syracuse was in Greece - is it really in NY?
OK - that was three.

Sorry ;)
 
Congrats Dude ! couldn't have gone to a better machine ! you did a fantastic job on that !
.....
Bob..........
 
Rolled another project into the garage last weekend. My brother had texted me that one of his buddies just wanted it out of his shed..."You like old bikes right?"

Not sure what I'll do with it yet, just get it running I suppose. Last ran two years ago before he bought a newer bike. Tank is spotless inside & the tires hold air...so hopefully its an easy one.

1980 Special II

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pckopp, I agree. You always end up spending quite a bit in getting them just right!

..........Today I decided to upgrade my Rototiller bars so I filled them with some homemade lead bar (18mm OD). Removed the grips and pushed in a 200mm length on each side. Did a test ride at 60mph and the vibrations were dampened down a lot - much nicer to ride. Just another idea I got from this forum!

- Thank you.
 
must be a really late '80 with that oil level window. Or a later rt cover.
 
Looks exactly like mine and it's and 82'
Man I wish I had that thing ! does it have a title ?
......
Bob......
 
For some reason THE SG blew 2, 10 amp fuses for the lighting. Did this on the way to breakfast. When we got home I opened up the headlight, checked the fuse holder(yes it's upgraded to modern fuses). Nothing jumping out thats wrong. Giggled & repositioned wires. Put it all back together. Checked it all out and works again without blowing the fuse. Now I need to get some more 10 amp fuses.
 
Odd...I had a sudden spate of blown 20 amp fuses on Lucille a few months back ('76s only have one fuse) - and then it stopped and I haven't blown any fuses since.

I put it down to a bad batch of el-cheapo 20 amp Chinois fuses - perhaps they were out of spec...?
 
Or Pete, you've got a wire in your harness where the insulation has worn through and dead shorts 'occasionally' BTDT.
 
More than likely the short's will return.... intermittent shorts are the hardest to find of any electrical problems However there is good and bad places to look for these rascals ! .....
Turn signal shorts are usually in the hot wire going from the bulb about 2" into the tube but the short there only happens with the turn sigs on !
... Next would be Tail light wire from the battery back that wire lays on the fender and can be bare in 2 or 3 spots....
UNDER the Tank is another good place to look as lot's of wires go under there and rub the frame ... the worst culprit of them all is where the wires go into the headlight bucket....the rubber grommet goes away and cuts the wire easily on the metal of the headlight bucket
even if you have good grommets the head light bucket is still a good place to look because those wires are rubbed constantly and will be hard to spot the rubbed places on some wire colors..... just a single thread of the wire needs to touch to blow the fuse. so the bare spot on the wire may not even show as being rubbed through but if you get a magnifying glass and look close you can see a tiny hole where one wire has touched
.....
when I find a area that is almost rubbed through on my wiring I wrap it in black tape , giving it 4 or 5 wraps to build up the insulation again.
.... another area is the wires coming out of the Alternator go along the engine then to the frame.... they are liable to be tore up from things like bits of wire that get caught in the chain when your riding although you gott'a pull the alternator cover to see those wires it'a always a good practice to check them any time you have the cover off.
.....
Plastic wraps of wires to the frame are also a goop place to look take the plastic wrap off and check the wires under side...then put the plastic wrap back in a different spot not the same place to distribute the ware.
.....
intermittent shorts are a bitch because they only short every once in a while.... if they would short and stay shorted you could find it fairly easily.... but they don't .
....the cure is take everything off the bike that comes off easy, like seat, tank side plates and maybe air filter boxes ( although they are not very easy).... and start Looking for Rubbed wires.... that means grab the wire bundle and twist it so you can see the underside where it touches the frame.... do that with every wire on the bike..... you'll find it eventually .... nobody said it was easy or fast ! hang in there !!!!!
.....
if it were me I'ed look at the tail light wires first then go to the headlight bucket...and go from there to everything till ya find it !
......

Bob......
 
I got lucky on that one years ago Pete. Burned out my spare fuses on the road. Called one of my boys to bring me some spares from the shop.

Luckily it started again and I turned for home. Hit the bump at the bottom of the driveway and it blew again. Got it in the shop, doors closed, lights off, nice and dark. New fuse, turned the key on, saw the spark on the harness, fixed the harness.
 
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