Recent content by 1974jh5

Bada bump

Yeah, same bike as my earlier ad. Asking $2795. Might go back on eBay soon. Short list: rebuilt engine with Mikes stock bore big fin kit, 650Central Mikunis, 2 into 1 megaphone, hydraulic clutch conversion with heavy duty springs and plates, 18" rear wheel from XS500, new steel JT sprockets and...

It's on eBay at the moment: http://www.ebay.com/itm/131269633009?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

In keeping with the normal operation of my usual old man memory, a few things I forgot I did: tapered steering neck bearings, bronze swingarm bushings, rewired with ATC fuses. I'm sure there will be MORE stuff I forgot. The side number plates are .080 aluminum sheet, brushed finish with...

Nice bike, guys! All the hard dirty work has been done!

Damn pictures went away, I'll fix that. The bike is still for sale, health problems dictate that I need to move it sooner than later. $2950 or reasonable near offer.

I don't do Harleys at all and I dislike the manufactured controversy those shows are built around. So I spend the time when I could be watching that crap working on the race car instead.

Have a 1980 Yamaha XS650 which is set up as a cafe bike but can easily be converted to a street tracker, I have the bars etc and they go with the bike. Current registration and license, not a 'ran when parked' thing. List of goodies: Mikes XS stock bore big fin cylinder and new pistons, new cam...

I like the racing heritage and the sound. They are also a lot like the Brit vertical twins only a lot more reliable. On styling: I like the early bikes but the later 'Specials' leave me sorta cold. The great thing is they can look like the earlier bikes without a massive amount of work. I think...

'Popeye' could only be played at night. A 'popeye' was a car with only one headlight. The first one to see it and holler 'popeye' could slug the other one on the shoulder. Origin of 'popeye': Come to think of it, today's kids don't have any real idea of who he and Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy...

Not sure about Bitcoin. Maybe it's not tied to any one nation etc but its value obviously floats so it's inflation prone just like any other. So far I have not seen any real value in jumping ship from US dollars. About that: official exchange rates rise and fall, but it's still the world's...

Those machines in stores that would test radio and TV tubes. Tubes? 'Popeye' and 'Slug Bug' on road trips instead of iPods etc. What the 'way back' meant in a car. Adjusting points. Laying on the rear deck inside the back glass, looking up at the stars. Not having to wear a seat belt...

20w40 is what Yamaha recommended but it's not exactly easy to find so I run regular 20w50 (no synthetics) and change it every 1500 miles or so. No unusual noise from mine at all. As far as the noise, without hearing it it's very difficult to say what's causing it.

http://vimeo.com/66753575

Yep, it depends. Last engine I rebuilt was an MGB, after getting stuff to/from the machine shop etc, six weeks of sourcing parts and various other tasks the final assembly took me about 8 or 9 hours. That's an engine I'm very familiar with though. The one before that was a 13B rotary, after...