That explains why they equipped the XS with such weedy fork legs - parts bin availability, as other makers did.From cross referencing the part numbers it turns out that pretty much the whole front end: fork tubes, brake disks, calipers etc for the Euro 447 models was lifted from the RD350A
From cross referencing the part numbers it turns out that pretty much the whole front end: fork tubes, brake disks, calipers etc for the Euro 447 models was lifted from the RD350A, they also cross reference with the early TX/XS 500's. But for some odd reason the fender and stays for the Euro 447's are unique.
How do we do that search trick where you have a part number and then can find all the bikes it was common to? I have seen it mentioned on this forum but cannot find the link.
Thank you
Guess I missed this build somehow. Just went back and read up to present. Looking forward to seeing it come together.
Hand made OE pipes...wOw!
Why the difference? Why would Europe demand 360mm and the US 335mm? Silly me, I know the reason, Europe and the US had forks with different bolt hole positions. Yes, that must be it??? Life's a mystery to me sometimes.
Anyway, well done with all the XS work and of course that Engineering Degree.
Yes. I’ll put a face on the bike, and a better picture of the number plate.May Update
Alrighty then, its been a long time since the last update, we went into lockdown here in Ireland back in March, stranding me 70 miles away from the XS. This wasn’t all bad as I managed to complete my studies and hopefully (results dependant) will be walking away with my BEng in Mechanical Engineering in October, (just have to finish my project over the summer). I think @MaxPete will be proud!
In that time, I’ve been keeping an eye out in the classifieds and managed to purchase a job lot of old parts from the UK which were posted for sale on one of the facebook groups. Those who have been following know that I needed an original master cylinder, and this guy had both that and what looked like an original Euro spec front fender along with some other stuff.
The fender was very rough, but I thought if I could bag the parts for cheap then it would be worth a punt just to satisfy my own curiosity. So, after some “over and back” with the seller, we agreed a price that I thought was quite reasonable.
Fast forward a few weeks and I managed to sneak home once the lockdown was eased slightly here. I head out to the shed to unpack my goodies.
First up and upon first inspection of the fender there was a bit of a surprise. In addition to the two horizontal holes where the front stay mounts, there were also two holes drilled longitudinally on the fender in an asymmetric pattern.
Turning the fender over revealed what appeared to be a washer underneath one of these holes. So, I grabbed a brass brush and cleaned the area to see if I could remove it when I noticed that it wasn’t actually a washer, there were three little spot welds on it and it looked very much like a factory fitted reinforcement on the guard.
This seemed odd especially when compared to the lower hole which looked like it was just drilled straight through.
This piqued my interest, I know that up until August 1975 it was a legal requirement to display a front registration plate in the UK, and there is actually a diagram of this in the Euro parts manuals. However, of all the XS650 groups that I am part of I have never actually seen one that has survived to this day. The only one I ever remember seeing was this one of an XS-2 posted on the UK owners facebook group.
Going back to the parts book seemingly made things even muddier, not only do the drawings depict a U.S type guard (albeit with the proper Euro part numbers) but it also shows the lower most hole drilled in front of the stay rather than behind it where it is drilled on my one.
After thinking about it for a while, I am reasonably convinced that what I have is indeed a 75 UK spec guard and there is an inaccuracy in the drawings. My theory is that there wasn’t a standard size of front registration plate in use, requiring the second hole to be drilled upon fitting. I am obviously open to correction on this but it seems the most likely to me anyway.
After some more digging around I finally found this picture which seems to depict the registration plate mounted behind the stay which seems to agree with my theory and at the very least proves that there were some 75’s that came with a front registration plate fitted.
Mystery seemingly solved, it was time to get the measuring tape out and finally document the differences between the two (measurements are of course approximate)
This is for @650Skull and the other anorak xs650 archivists, I think you will enjoy this post more than the others. Hope it helps someone out in the future.
Front fender U.S part number – 447-21511-00-93
Front fender Euro part number – 533-21511-00-93
You were told correctly. Bloody lethal things, and to top it all, you could be fined for not having it in the correct position, where it would do the most harm.but as I understand it, they were banned many years ago because they pose such a hazard to pedestrians. That may not be correct - but so I’ve been told.
May Update
Alrighty then, its been a long time since the last update, we went into lockdown here in Ireland back in March, stranding me 70 miles away from the XS. This wasn’t all bad as I managed to complete my studies and hopefully (results dependant) will be walking away with my BEng in Mechanical Engineering in October, (just have to finish my project over the summer). I think @MaxPete will be proud!
In that time, I’ve been keeping an eye out in the classifieds and managed to purchase a job lot of old parts from the UK which were posted for sale on one of the facebook groups. Those who have been following know that I needed an original master cylinder, and this guy had both that and what looked like an original Euro spec front fender along with some other stuff.
The fender was very rough, but I thought if I could bag the parts for cheap then it would be worth a punt just to satisfy my own curiosity. So, after some “over and back” with the seller, we agreed a price that I thought was quite reasonable.
Fast forward a few weeks and I managed to sneak home once the lockdown was eased slightly here. I head out to the shed to unpack my goodies.
First up and upon first inspection of the fender there was a bit of a surprise. In addition to the two horizontal holes where the front stay mounts, there were also two holes drilled longitudinally on the fender in an asymmetric pattern.
Turning the fender over revealed what appeared to be a washer underneath one of these holes. So, I grabbed a brass brush and cleaned the area to see if I could remove it when I noticed that it wasn’t actually a washer, there were three little spot welds on it and it looked very much like a factory fitted reinforcement on the guard.
This seemed odd especially when compared to the lower hole which looked like it was just drilled straight through.
This piqued my interest, I know that up until August 1975 it was a legal requirement to display a front registration plate in the UK, and there is actually a diagram of this in the Euro parts manuals. However, of all the XS650 groups that I am part of I have never actually seen one that has survived to this day. The only one I ever remember seeing was this one of an XS-2 posted on the UK owners facebook group.
Going back to the parts book seemingly made things even muddier, not only do the drawings depict a U.S type guard (albeit with the proper Euro part numbers) but it also shows the lower most hole drilled in front of the stay rather than behind it where it is drilled on my one.
After thinking about it for a while, I am reasonably convinced that what I have is indeed a 75 UK spec guard and there is an inaccuracy in the drawings. My theory is that there wasn’t a standard size of front registration plate in use, requiring the second hole to be drilled upon fitting. I am obviously open to correction on this but it seems the most likely to me anyway.
After some more digging around I finally found this picture which seems to depict the registration plate mounted behind the stay which seems to agree with my theory and at the very least proves that there were some 75’s that came with a front registration plate fitted.
Mystery seemingly solved, it was time to get the measuring tape out and finally document the differences between the two (measurements are of course approximate)
This is for @650Skull and the other anorak xs650 archivists, I think you will enjoy this post more than the others. Hope it helps someone out in the future.
Front fender U.S part number – 447-21511-00-93
Front fender Euro part number – 533-21511-00-93