What have you done to your XS today?

Decided this morning to check out my impression of the substantiality of the HV (HondasVintage) product..

In fact, I found with the Fowler that my spare HV cover for '75 - '77 seats is .55mm thick,

seat 007.JPG


...while the old OEM '80 seat is thinner, at .53mm. Shrinkage possibly having occurred due to aging/shrinkage, the impact of solar radiation.

seat 009.JPG


The OEM seat has an integrated pad in the butt contact area:

seat 008.JPG


...as does the HV seat:

seat 005.JPG


seat 006.JPG


and the HV rear lettering is rather well done.

seat 001.JPG
 
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Overall, I’d say that’s a pretty good product - would you Dude?
Yes, I would say so, especially for the price, given that other covers run $75 - $125.
They come with additional advice re installation, the latter which I regard to be a fairly easy process, now that I've done a few.
Much easier when you heat the cover up in the dryer; it is transformed into something like the stretch-tight denim pants the young girls are wearing these days.

58d38e56694afb56a9e3906a-12-large.jpg
 
Excellent - glad you’ve gotten this problem sorted out.

Pete
 
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Looks great Chet. Hey, what product did you use to paint your wheels, fork and headlight bucket. I tried a plast dip type on mine, but it just rolled off - the mag wheels that is.
 
Looks great Chet. Hey, what product did you use to paint your wheels, fork and headlight bucket. I tried a plast dip type on mine, but it just rolled off - the mag wheels that is.

Thanks......Everything was blasted with glass bead and is powder coated with Prismatic gloss black USS-2603. The exhaust is a Cerakote ceramic coating (air cure).
 
Nice job Chet. Seeing those forks makes me think about making mine black as well.
Is the rear brake rotor the same size as the front? My Special has the smaller rear rotor and I am considering upgrading.
 
Nice job Chet. Seeing those forks makes me think about making mine black as well.
Is the rear brake rotor the same size as the front? My Special has the smaller rear rotor and I am considering upgrading.

Thanks, I really like the look. I shaved the brake bosses on the left leg as well as cleaned up the triple trees..... milton mod for the fork dampers, new seals, oil, HHB fork brace, stainless hardware kit, etc...

The rear rotor is indeed smaller than the front. I have yet to ride the bike, but the calipers have been rebuilt (black PC too) as well as new pads, stainless lines, rebuilt rear MC and new front MC with smaller bore dia..... hopefully it stops well enough
 
Well today on the 1978 that has not been on road since the late 1990's I reinstalled the batter box assembly that i had glass beaded the rust off and repainted earlier this week. Then mounted some of the various electrical components that are attached to it.

Next step was to begin figuring out the routing of the new wiring harness that I got from Mike's XS back in 2008! Life, work and other things seemed to stall this project for a few years! Glade I have a 1982 sitting in the barn and lots of pictures from this site and an official Yamaha service manual as figuring the right way to route that harness is going to be a challenge!

Last week I did remove disassemble clean and reassemble forks with new seals. Just need to get some oil to finish them up.

Once wiring seems to be squared away I really need to attack the carbs I have a feeling what is left of the twenty year old gas in them might not be the best thing to have in there when it comes time to attempt the first start in around two decades.

If I ever do get it to run again I don't think the tires should be a problem as the cracks in the sidewalls are big enough so I can see there is lots of good old air in them!:rolleyes:
 
Chainguard decided to snap off as soon as I hit downtown. Was making a god awful noise. I thought it was gonna be.worse .like.something wrong with engine.or.something. Ended up taking the rear right shock off to shimmy that guard off. It was a.bear. Right in front of.Buckingham Fountain haha

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I know the sound!...mine came adrift tonight...shocking noise!
 
Finished polishing the clutch side cover and installed. Fresh oil. Got the tank and side covers from the painter and installed. Adjusted the chain. Trimmed the throttle sleeve and installed some weighted bar ends. Gassed it up and went for a spin!
Sorry, no pics. Will post a pic tomorrow.
 
Heading out for a Poker Run in the land Downunder!.
Sunny skies and XS650 is in fine form.
Pix to follow....

Ok pix as promised, a good turnout, rode to Advancetown Pub then down through Numinbah valley to Chillingham over to Tyalgum Pub where the run truck had the lunch set up for us.
The we rode to Tyalgum Pub on the river and finished by drawing the last card back at Kirra Sports Club.
Two Aces of Spades and two fives Hearts and Clubs and a Queen of Hearts had me already spending the $200 for best hand on a new Night Dragon for the back of the Victory but I was pipped at the post by the last card.
3 Aces wouldve won.
A top day riding in the Aussie sun with a great bunch of blokes and sheilas on all sorts of bikes.
Oh yeah the pix ...
 

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