When my friend bought it last year I fell in love with it. He decided to sell it this spring so I had to jump on the opportunity. It has a few bugs to get rid of but is beginning to be a fun ride. It’s a 1976.

Lovely, such a clean and thought out looking bike!
 
OK, another 76 added to the club...glad to hear it. My love of the 76 has been documented on this forum.
 

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Hey everyone - brand new XS650 owner here! For the last four or five years I've been riding a 1980 XS650 Maxim, but for a couple reasons I decided it was time to part ways with that bike so on Saturday I sold it and last night came home with a 1980 XS650SG! Seems to have been well taken care of, the bike is in great shape, previous owner recently cleaned the carbs, put in new clutch plates, oil change and a couple other things. We chatted for a good while and I feel like I can trust him but... still going to do a oil change right away.

Only taken the bike for a half hour ride so far to get it from his place to mine and I'm undecided how I'll feel about it. The handlebars on this thing are so godawful that it's hard to get a feel for it. Felt so unsure of myself holding them that it was hard to really trust the bike, but I knew they were bad going into it so I already ordered new bars and grips. Hopefully they get here by the weekend, but I'm sure I'll adjust to the current ones in the meantime.

I'm sure I'll have questions right away but off the hop, would you guys recommend the MikesXS oil cooler and upgraded sump filter? I know the cooling aspect of the oil is debated a bit and leaning towards being useless, but is it worth it to use the Honda filters?

*quick edit:* Oh, and does anybody have a source on the lower right side cover? Not seeing anything on any of the parts sites or eBay but would love to be able to use that little tool box.
 

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Hey everyone - brand new XS650 owner here! For the last four or five years I've been riding a 1980 XS650 Maxim, but for a couple reasons I decided it was time to part ways with that bike so on Saturday I sold it and last night came home with a 1980 XS650SG! Seems to have been well taken care of, the bike is in great shape, previous owner recently cleaned the carbs, put in new clutch plates, oil change and a couple other things. We chatted for a good while and I feel like I can trust him but... still going to do a oil change right away.

Only taken the bike for a half hour ride so far to get it from his place to mine and I'm undecided how I'll feel about it. The handlebars on this thing are so godawful that it's hard to get a feel for it. Felt so unsure of myself holding them that it was hard to really trust the bike, but I knew they were bad going into it so I already ordered new bars and grips. Hopefully they get here by the weekend, but I'm sure I'll adjust to the current ones in the meantime.

I'm sure I'll have questions right away but off the hop, would you guys recommend the MikesXS oil cooler and upgraded sump filter? I know the cooling aspect of the oil is debated a bit and leaning towards being useless, but is it worth it to use the Honda filters?

*quick edit:* Oh, and does anybody have a source on the lower right side cover? Not seeing anything on any of the parts sites or eBay but would love to be able to use that little tool box.
Welcome aboard! Yup many/most of us trash those bars quickly.
I think I have an extra chain lock box/lid in the stash but mebby we'll see if anyone your side of the wall has one first, LOL
I have One XS with a fancy oil cooler set up but really don't see the need. Check out the sump filter thread. Repaired stock filters are often the preferred route to go.
Check your steering bearings? They may be contributing to the odd handlebar feel.
 
Welcome aboard! Yup many/most of us trash those bars quickly.
I think I have an extra chain lock box/lid in the stash but mebby we'll see if anyone your side of the wall has one first, LOL
I have One XS with a fancy oil cooler set up but really don't see the need. Check out the sump filter thread. Repaired stock filters are often the preferred route to go.
Check your steering bearings? They may be contributing to the odd handlebar feel.
I'm not in a big hurry so I'll save your comment, look around for a bit and send you a message if I don't find anything up north!

Haven't checked steering bearings or really anything yet, but I'll see what I can do. Ive got a two month old at home so my time is limited. The bike passed a safety inspection and runs so outside of the bar swap and oil change I plan on doing as little wrenching and as much riding as possible until snow falls, then I'll get down to dialing the bike in.

Just popped on my saddle bags, don't really love the positioning of them but also don't have much room without hitting the shocks. Again, fine for now, will fiddle later.
 

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Hey everyone - brand new XS650 owner here! For the last four or five years I've been riding a 1980 XS650 Maxim, but for a couple reasons I decided it was time to part ways with that bike so on Saturday I sold it and last night came home with a 1980 XS650SG!
Everything I can see on your bike tells me it is a 1981 XS650SH. The evidence list is plenty long.
When you change the oil, pull the sump and check the screen. If it isn't torn, clean it and reinstall. If you don't goose the throttle with cold oil, you may never have that problem. The Mike's sump screen isn't so much an upgrade, but an available and suitable replacement. The term "upgrade" is thrown around here pretty loosely. Even, the replacement tapered roller bearings for the steering isn't necessarily an upgrade, just different and depends upon the results you're looking for.
BTW, that's an awfully nice looking bike. I have one, myself.
 
Everything I can see on your bike tells me it is a 1981 XS650SH. The evidence list is plenty long.
Yep. Have a look in the Tech section. At the bottom of the page is a listing of VIN's. My 80SG was originally titled as a 79 because it was sold in Oct 79. I suspect your 81 was the same.... titled in late 80.
 
Everything I can see on your bike tells me it is a 1981 XS650SH. The evidence list is plenty long.
When you change the oil, pull the sump and check the screen. If it isn't torn, clean it and reinstall. If you don't goose the throttle with cold oil, you may never have that problem. The Mike's sump screen isn't so much an upgrade, but an available and suitable replacement. The term "upgrade" is thrown around here pretty loosely. Even, the replacement tapered roller bearings for the steering isn't necessarily an upgrade, just different and depends upon the results you're looking for.
BTW, that's an awfully nice looking bike. I have one, myself.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a look this weekend. Yes, you're right - it's a Canadian SH - not sure if I fat fingered that on my phone or just got mixed up.


Yep. Have a look in the Tech section. At the bottom of the page is a listing of VIN's. My 80SG was originally titled as a 79 because it was sold in Oct 79. I suspect your 81 was the same.... titled in late 80.

That's funny you say that, it's a 1980 but registered as 79. Previous owner gave me a heads up before I went to register it in case there was an issue, but it was all good.

I don't really want to clog up this thread, but in other news I just got back from another ride. Not sure if I didn't notice yesterday or what, but the bike bogs down at right around 4k rpm, then once it gets to 5k comes absolutely roaring to life. Just did a search and came across a bunch of threads, so looks like I've got more things to look at. Might end up just taking it somewhere to get sorted due to time constraints, but we'll see how the week/weekend goes.
 
Just popped on my saddle bags, don't really love the positioning of them but also don't have much room without hitting the shocks. Again, fine for now, will fiddle later.
37231C23-108C-45D0-B841-8F621BE0CF2A.jpeg

It’s an Eleven Special, but the bags mount just about the same as the 650 Special, 1980 and later.
 
View attachment 172988
It’s an Eleven Special, but the bags mount just about the same as the 650 Special, 1980 and later.
Do you have a bracket behind there or do the bags just rub up against the shocks? If the latter, is that not an issue? My XS400 Maxim was my first bike - with the monoshock I didn't need to worry about that, just zip tied the bags to the frame to keep them away from the wheel. So, I assumed I want to keep the bags away from the shocks but don't actually know.
 
Thanks for the info, I'll give it a look this weekend. Yes, you're right - it's a Canadian SH - not sure if I fat fingered that on my phone or just got mixed up.




That's funny you say that, it's a 1980 but registered as 79. Previous owner gave me a heads up before I went to register it in case there was an issue, but it was all good.

I don't really want to clog up this thread, but in other news I just got back from another ride. Not sure if I didn't notice yesterday or what, but the bike bogs down at right around 4k rpm, then once it gets to 5k comes absolutely roaring to life. Just did a search and came across a bunch of threads, so looks like I've got more things to look at. Might end up just taking it somewhere to get sorted due to time constraints, but we'll see how the week/weekend goes.
The needle washer mod is a big help with that 4K bog. Bonus, fairly simple install, and cheap to try.
 
Do you have a bracket behind there or do the bags just rub up against the shocks? If the latter, is that not an issue? My XS400 Maxim was my first bike - with the monoshock I didn't need to worry about that, just zip tied the bags to the frame to keep them away from the wheel. So, I assumed I want to keep the bags away from the shocks but don't actually know.
There is a frame behind the bags. It's made from 1/4" round stock steel. They are bolted to the front shock mounts and again behind and below the rear turn signals at the fender mount. So, no, the bags don't rub the shocks.
 
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