Recent content by pdedse

This is my own '83 Heritage Special, runs and looks great, only 8900 miles. No rust. Portland, Oregon area. https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/5324353064.html

I ended up using the 10mm x 1.25 the hardware store had which I believe is just a hair longer and requires 14mm socket to tighten as opposed to a 12mm one for stock. I put a washer on it and it tightened down nice and firm. Anyone who notices the difference between the two is waayyy too close...

Funny, I just went to the hardware store today to buy one that was missing--confirm on the 10mm x 1.25 but the hardware store had one w/ head that takes a 14mm socket but I believe the stock bolt takes a 12mm.

Rode the bike over 40 miles today with no incident, regaining confidence. Tomorrow I'll stretch its legs even more and if there's no more issues, I'll consider it fixed.

It does have one vacuum operated petcock that controls both carbs...the previous owner installed the new petcock to get the bike running again. Interesting comment about the vacuum hose. The hose looks to be new, as if installed at the time the PO did the petcock. But the vacuum hose is quite...

Rode it 50 miles yesterday and today, varying distances from 2 mile to 8 mile rides, left it sit for 10 minutes, a couple of hours between some stops, seems to run just fine. I had planned to seal it either with Red Kote, Por 5 or Caswell, but a few forum members here and others I've talked...

Apparently it wasn't the gas cap after all...I was able to ride it 4 miles 2x with no issues, then another 2, made a stop, then after less than a mile it died again going about 30mph. No sputtering, just shut down quick like. Left the bike on the side of the road and came back a few hours...

I was trying to explain to a friend why it could be the fuel cap and this explanation works better than what I was trying to say! Rode another 8 miles w/out incident so maybe that's all it was...

Could it be that easy? Pulled the gas cap off, removed the 3 screws, removed the rubber seal which does probably need replacing due to cracked condition, used a thin wire to run through the vent holes, blew it all out with air and put back together. There didn't appear to be much blockage, but...

Thanks for the link, I think it's probable that the issue will be with petcock / carb. I'm getting there.

I like trying the easiest things first...so I added about 3-4 oz of Sea Foam to the gas. I opened the gas cap and started the bike, it started fine, ran...I let it run for 5, 10 minutes, rode it around in circles around the cul-de-sac with gas cap open and it died once but I think because I...

I have a very clean 1983 xs650 with 7400 miles. Purchased it early July of this year. Bike had sat for a number of years unused and the carbs were synced and cleaned by an independent mechanic right after I purchased it. It has run 1200 miles flawlessly until today. Started bike fine as...

Got the new bulb in, checked it to make sure it lit before putting it all back together, used the photos and tips posted here, so thanks for all your feedback!

Thanks so much for the pics, they help a lot. Question on those rubber dampers...they are for the 8mm bolts and not for the 10mm? When I pulled the speedo off, I could have sworn that the rubber dampers came from the lower (to the ground) positioned bolts, which on my '83 are the 10mm. But...

OK, I see that now. I looked right past the rubber holder that you refer because I had it my mind that the speedo face had to separate some how from the housing...what's that they say about assumptions? I needed the obvious pointed out to me.