Old Okie
XS650 Enthusiast
You may need to replace your charging system to properly charge a lithium battery.??
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What have you done to your XS today?
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Tiesco
XS650 Addict
Replacing the entire charging system to justify a fancy battery seems like a waste of money and the unnecessary sacrilege of hacking up a perfectly fine survivor of a bike. The reg/rec can and should be replaced, check the brushes and your rotor, but you are going to spend (waste) more money building a new charging system that will probably be less dependable than the stock system than you will spend checking and maintaining the stock system. The guys here in the forum saved me from ruining mine when I was ready to blow 350.00 on a PMA. If you’re building a chop from the ground up, or that is missing parts thats one thing, but if you have a mostly stock bike like yours, please please do yourself and the world of XS650 enthusiasts a favor and preserve what stock bikes are left, and work with what you’ve got.
Old Okie
XS650 Enthusiast
Also, it seems to be commonly believed that lithium batteries re a fire hazard.
I don’t know what thread is appropriate for a small rant, so I’ll just put it here. Moderator, feel
Free to move this post to wherever it should go if there is a more appropriate thread.
I worked out at the local PF gym before work this morning, and about an hour ago I got an email from Planet Fitness informing me they are closed until further notice. The state of Iowa is now officially under a state of emergency. All Schools are closed until at least April. Same with Universities. All bars, restaurants, and theaters are ordered to close. Only drive thru and takeout is allowed. The public library was shut down yesterday. Gatherings of more than 10 people are strongly discouraged. This means my next paying gig coming up on the 27th is cancelled. As they say these days, Shit’s gettin’ real. Life is about to change drastically for all of us for who knows how long. But you know what’s safe? Motorcycling. Riding your bike down the highway is a great social distancing recreational activity. You can pay at the pump when you gas up. And if you do need to go inside, you can keep your helmet on. All is not lost gentlemen. Get those trusty steel horses dusted off and wake ‘em up for spring. Gear up; your gloves and helmet will protect you not just from a fall, but from the filth of all the public surfaces contaminated by the scourge of the Covid outbreak. Most importantly, riding will keep you sane and grounded during this surreal experience, which may be one of the most important benefits in such a time as now.
I Most Sincerely wish Good health and the best wishes to everyone here on the forum. Our shared passion and the community built around it in this forum is a truly great thing, and I am thankful to be a part of it. Take care of yourselves and take it easy, and keep the rubber to the road. We’ll ride this out!!!
Free to move this post to wherever it should go if there is a more appropriate thread.
I worked out at the local PF gym before work this morning, and about an hour ago I got an email from Planet Fitness informing me they are closed until further notice. The state of Iowa is now officially under a state of emergency. All Schools are closed until at least April. Same with Universities. All bars, restaurants, and theaters are ordered to close. Only drive thru and takeout is allowed. The public library was shut down yesterday. Gatherings of more than 10 people are strongly discouraged. This means my next paying gig coming up on the 27th is cancelled. As they say these days, Shit’s gettin’ real. Life is about to change drastically for all of us for who knows how long. But you know what’s safe? Motorcycling. Riding your bike down the highway is a great social distancing recreational activity. You can pay at the pump when you gas up. And if you do need to go inside, you can keep your helmet on. All is not lost gentlemen. Get those trusty steel horses dusted off and wake ‘em up for spring. Gear up; your gloves and helmet will protect you not just from a fall, but from the filth of all the public surfaces contaminated by the scourge of the Covid outbreak. Most importantly, riding will keep you sane and grounded during this surreal experience, which may be one of the most important benefits in such a time as now.
I Most Sincerely wish Good health and the best wishes to everyone here on the forum. Our shared passion and the community built around it in this forum is a truly great thing, and I am thankful to be a part of it. Take care of yourselves and take it easy, and keep the rubber to the road. We’ll ride this out!!!
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I'm build up a set of carbs for THE SG. The old ones need shaft seals and I'm not ready to tackle that. I have spares and after some stuck screws and cleaning I'm well on the way.
TZ, I'm with you. I hear of 7 cases in my county alone. Last week we had none. I'm riding this out too. Pun intended.
UPDATE: Got stuck screw and Idle mixture screw out. The screw was the small one that holds the float valve fork in place. A small extended nose vice grips got it out. The mangled idle mix screw was a bit more trouble. hacksawed off the barrel around the screw. Drilled and easy outed the said screw. Cleaned the carb bodies and started assembly. Almost ready to frame them together.
TZ, I'm with you. I hear of 7 cases in my county alone. Last week we had none. I'm riding this out too. Pun intended.
UPDATE: Got stuck screw and Idle mixture screw out. The screw was the small one that holds the float valve fork in place. A small extended nose vice grips got it out. The mangled idle mix screw was a bit more trouble. hacksawed off the barrel around the screw. Drilled and easy outed the said screw. Cleaned the carb bodies and started assembly. Almost ready to frame them together.
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Tiesco
XS650 Addict
Shes hardly a survivor. It's kinda of a mix match or other XS650s at this point. It's more or less been resurrected to resemble its former self. Here's some pictures from the ad when I first bought it. I never took any picture of it when i brought it to my shop because i was looking any reason to crack it open. And broken dog on the 4th to 5th gear was broken. And here we are now.
And I got the clutch to work today and holy crap this thing rips! I was going down the road and realized I forgot to fix the front brake because it wasn't on the bike so I was left with the extremely worn shoes in the rear. Glad I had plenty of room to stop on a road that's never busy.
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Story checks out. Seems legit
Old Okie
XS650 Enthusiast
Very nice. Mine will never look like that.
File this in the "$2 Bling" category, lol. I mentioned this little part a while back but just finally got around to purchasing a couple and installing one. This is a wingnut style adjusting nut for the rear drum brake rod, as used on the Virago and many dirt bike models. Nice cheap little upgrade that makes tool-less rear brake adjustments a simple matter, and it looks cool too, lol .....
My old BMWs all had this style of adjusting nut and I thought it was a wonderful feature. My thinking was and is all bikes should have this. Nice to be able to implement the change using a genuine Yamaha part and at a cost of about $2. This will fit all '74 and newer 650 rear brake rods .....
https://www.partzilla.com/product/yamaha/90175-06019-00?ref=e934ff3d8d15db209969eb15eb04b1fda4ccb7dd
My old BMWs all had this style of adjusting nut and I thought it was a wonderful feature. My thinking was and is all bikes should have this. Nice to be able to implement the change using a genuine Yamaha part and at a cost of about $2. This will fit all '74 and newer 650 rear brake rods .....
https://www.partzilla.com/product/yamaha/90175-06019-00?ref=e934ff3d8d15db209969eb15eb04b1fda4ccb7dd
Tiesco
XS650 Addict
Might have to go the even cheaper route and just weld two tabs on the nut for my bike. That's a nice little mod there.
File this in the "$2 Bling" category, lol. I mentioned this little part a while back but just finally got around to purchasing a couple and installing one. This is a wingnut style adjusting nut for the rear drum brake rod, as used on the Virago and many dirt bike models. Nice cheap little upgrade that makes tool-less rear brake adjustments a simple matter, and it looks cool too, lol .....
My old BMWs all had this style of adjusting nut and I thought it was a wonderful feature. My thinking was and is all bikes should have this. Nice to be able to implement the change using a genuine Yamaha part and at a cost of about $2. This will fit all '74 and newer 650 rear brake rods .....
https://www.partzilla.com/product/yamaha/90175-06019-00?ref=e934ff3d8d15db209969eb15eb04b1fda4ccb7dd
Oooh! I like those. Dang! Something else to order!
More cool bling is if you can find older undersize reflectors such as this pair off an old Honda I just started polishing up. Undersize reflectors on the frame tabs and also rear tail light don't really catch your eye immediately but help make the 70's vintage look happen discretely
Sure cleanup nice. Should a took a before pic
Sure cleanup nice. Should a took a before pic
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If yours is older than 74 2M has a fix.
77 Comin' Outta Storage!
Seems like it was only a little while there, but what a crazy ride since October!
This will go on Kijiji and we will see if the virus has killed the vintage bike market too.
Hope that fine 77 gets good interest? I think that would sell on the West Coast pretty easily anyday when spring hits full on.
Our XS's should be more worthy than in the past.
-R
What are you going to ask for it?
I'm a little superstitious about real numbers on a public forum......
I’m asking because a beautiful xs just popped up locally and it’s been burning a hole in my mind all day. The price seems really good. I’m weighing the costs of spending my pandemic stimulus before it’s even announced. I could try to play it off as intending it for her to ride, but she has basically shut down most suggestions to learn how to ride. Most likely scenario would be the girlfriend breaks up with me, but then she’d have to buy me out to make me move out so I’d be gettin even more money. But then I’d be up a bike and down a garage....the gears are a turnin. I was never good at math
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