Miss November XS2 tribute

Invested in one of these:

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Will make much better battery charger connection than crocodile clips. Are those called gator clips in the US of A?
 
All of my bikes have one of those SAE connectors and yes, in Canada and the US, those are called alligator clips.

why don’t we switch genus and agree that they should be called “Doberman” clips everywhere?

In Britain, we already have Bulldog clips . . .

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We get real confusion with pavement - in Britain it's where you walk, in US where you drive. Americans go along the sidewalk in their pants, but Brits would need to pull their trousers up first. Bonnet/hood, boot/trunk, spanner/wrench, indicators/turn signals. And so it goes.
 
When in NYC Mrs and I sowed confusion by asking for 'white coffee'. Puzzled faces, 'Uhm, what's white kawfee?' Coffee with milk. 'Oh, yes, I see, uhm . . .'
 
Britain in lock-down? Well, until they say I can't go out on me bike . . .

Couple of short trips today, adds up to about 35 miles mebbe. The first run, headed for the the B6400. I love that little road because over a distance of about seven miles, it manages to have nearly every type of bend.

Being a B road, it's a fairly narrow country lane. But wide enough for two cars to pass though. There's a few straights, the odd kink, uphill bends, downhill, off camber, some longer ones where you're leaned for a while and just about every combination - esses where you can see all the way through, faster bends leading into slower ones, slow bends opening out into faster ones, bends on hill crests where you can't see the road till you're on it.

And it's quiet. Mostly empty except for the odd farmer's wife in a hurry in the Volvo. Or a tractor with a huge trailer. Or a large aggregate lorry - you always meet them coming towards you, on a bend, using all the road.

So I suppose this was about assessing the Orange Peril's handling. For me, that's not about trying to break some fastest time. It's more about riding a road I know at a nice steady pace that feels, uhm, comfortable. If a bike keeps making me feel uncomfortable, so I have to back off even further, that gets my attention. So today I rode the B6400 at a comfortable pace and the good news is that the XS behaved itself.

Because the gearing is lower than the Kawasaki W800, I was probably travelling slower. I didn't ever feel the tyres were scrabbling for grip. I didn't feel the bike might do something unexpected. In a couple of places where on the W800 I would have to go down to 2nd, the XS was perfectly happy in 3rd gear.

Mrs assesses a bike on the width of my grin when I get home. 'You enjoyed that, didn't you?'
 
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Yes, these bikes do OK for being so old. They ride and handle nice enough, and have adequate power. Not a modern superbike by any means but quite at home and fun to drive on secondary roads. They're not "freeway flyers" but I don't think they were designed with that in mind. I think they make the perfect back road and around town machine. And there's just so much you can do to them, so many little tweaks and upgrades to make them better. They're a "tinkerer's delight", lol.
 
... They're not "freeway flyers" but I don't think they were designed with that in mind...

Sign of the times, I guess.
Old shop daze reminiscing.

Back in 1969-1970, a lot of us were travelling all over on 160s, 250s, 305s, 350s, 450s. When a customer asked "What size bike should I buy?", the Honda sales pitch programmed response was to buy one at least 2x your weight for comfortable all-around riding, and at least 3x for highway riding. For the young-set boomers of around 140lbs, something around 250-350cc was good for the all-around riding. The CB450 and XS650 fit well into the minimums of the highway cruiser class, the 500lb CB750 being the zenith.

To test the claimed rock-solid endurance of the XS650, some magazine, maybe Cycle World, conducted a 24-hour, closed course, balls-out endurance test on some California race track. Rotating thru 3 riders, they hammered on that bike at speeds well above 100mph, stopping only for fuel, oil changes, rider swapout.

The XS650 passed like a champion.

I'm still trying to find a copy of that publication...
 
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TRANSLATION: a big dump truck loaded with gravel.

Thank you, Pete, yes, something like this for example:


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Enough of a reason not to over-commit to a bend.

Sounds like some very pleasurable riding over there !
Must be rewarding :thumbsup:

Oh yes, indeed. Forgot to mention that the B6400 passes through a very picturesque rural area - rolling hills, farmland, woods, occasional distant views. Some of the farmland belongs to large landed estates - rich families who have owned the land for centuries and have laid out parkland, meadows with solitary trees for the sheep to huddle under, hedges and rows of trees to mark the boundaries and small deciduous woods where the pheasants can shelter.

Not even very cold. And after yesterday's rain, much of the salt has been washed off the roads.

Heck, the sun even came to join the party at times.
 
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The vertical twin engine design really isn't that suited to sustained high speed, high RPM running, unless maybe you load it up with counter-balancers. Our old motor has none of them and so it vibrates quite a bit. It's more suited to running up and down through the RPMs and gears, which is what you do on those secondary and back roads. The 650 is wonderful for this type of riding and running.
 
It's more suited to running up and down through the RPMs and gears, which is what you do on those secondary and back roads. The 650 is wonderful for this type of riding and running.

Thank you, 5T. That's my style for handling assessment. On a familiar road with an assortment of bends, just keeping a moderate pace, approaching a bend roll off the throttle, perhaps a change of gear, gently power through and get back to 5th on the straight. Only need the brakes for junctions or really tight bends. Or those OMG moments which I try not to have too often. Revs today rarely down to 2000 and I don't think they got to 5000.

Yes, wonderful for this type of riding.
 
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