Build Thread...Special to Cafe Bike

Ah, I shouldn't have gone to bed so early , I missed the second half! Nice write up Pete.
Was this the gear that came off of your bike?
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If so, you can really see how worn that gear was. Also you were satisfied with the quality of the spring that came with the replacement gear from Mikes correct? And you kept the NOS spring just for a spare. The idea of tipping the bike makes good sense also.
Well done.
Bob,
I hope that manky, greasy looking gear is not on the lounge room carpet!!!

You will be in trouble from the "Leader of the Opposition" if it is.

GW
 
Oh yeah - one more thing I did while dealing with the hairpin repair was to install a new kick start shaft seal. It was surprisingly difficult to remove the old seal - it almost seemed to have been "glued" in there.

Anyhow, all done and sealing nicely now.

Pete
 
Pete, I was looking at some NOS starter gear clips for sale on eBay and there were some rather startling differences in appearance of some of the different clips offered for sale. Like so many things on EBay you just can't take people at their word. You really kind of have to know the product you are looking for.
 
Starter Gear #4 Hairpin - the Sequel
Here is a photo of a real Yamaha hairpin (I think) and the light duty aftermarket one which I had removed from the Cafe donor bike the other day. The OEM hairpin is the lower one in the photo. The differences in spring stiffness and wire diameter are very obvious as is the fact that the lighter one has already been pinched at least once. Also, I have some measurement data on the two hairpins.
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HAIRPIN WIRE DIA.
NOS OEM: 2.95 mm (BEST: does NOT slip and does not need the squeeze)
MikesXS: 2.99 mm. (BETTER: DOES slip - but stops if you do the squeeze)
"Old" hairpin: 2.61 mm (BAD: this one had been squeezed but was still slipping badly)

Here is a photo of two gear #4s - the upper one is the "old" gear that I removed from the donor bike last week on which I have installed another NOS OEM hairpin. Note the slightly chewed surface of the rubber facing of the old gear. The lower one is a brand new MikesXS / XS650 Direct gear with the MikesXS hairpin installled - BUT - not yet squeezed in a vise.
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HAIRPIN SLIP FORCE DATA
"Old" gear w. NOS hairpin: 12+ lb (this is a good one that is suitable for installation)
New MikesXS gear w. MikesXS hairpin: approx. 2-3 lb. (so this one is absolutely certain to NOT work).

As you may recall, I had another new MikesXS gear and hairpin and it displayed similarly low slip force measurements. I did the pinch in my vise - and the slip force jumped up to 12+lb - just like the NOS OEM hairpin. That MikesXS unit with a pinched MikesXS hairpin is the one I installed in the Cafe donor bike. I will keep tabs and report if it begins to slip.

CONCLUSIONS
1) It appears to me that some aftermarket hairpins are out there that are made of a lighter gauge wire (~2.61mm dia.). These units can be squeezed and may work OK - for a while, but my guess is that they will fail sooner or later as the wire relaxes. Once that happens, the starter will grind like a champ.
2) The hairpins supplied by MikesXS / XS650 Direct are made of wire that seems very similar to that of the NOS OEM hairpins. The only problem is that MikesXS hairpin is not wound in a shape that is dimensionally correct to grip the groove on gear #4 tightly enough. However, if these hairpins are squeezed in a vise, they do provide a high value of slip force - and are thus OK to use in our bikes if an NOS OEM hairpin is not available.

I also took a photo of the "old" gear #4 which is fairly chewed up. If you do some research on this matter, it appears that even the damaged teeth don't affect the function of the gear - as long as the hairpin grips the gear tightly enough.
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Incidentally, I have told the folks at XS650 Direct about all of this and showed them how to measure the slip force and how to do the squeeze / pinch. They committed to speak to MikesXS who actually work with the machine shop that supplies these parts about revising the dimensions. I do hope that they follow-through.

Cheers,

Pete
 
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Might as well stick this in here.
The pre-76 wishbone spring was the thinner variant, and fitted into the original C-shaped case casting slot.


Ok that makes sense, that's the discrepancy I was seeing in the different looking NOS wishbone springs!
 
Yes, don't even consider getting the older clip. It was discontinued because it was too weak. It's possible that's what Pete found stuck in his. Obviously, from the looks of the clutch basket screws, someone had been in there before.
 
Yes, don't even consider getting the older clip. It was discontinued because it was too weak. It's possible that's what Pete found stuck in his. Obviously, from the looks of the clutch basket screws, someone had been in there before.

Ooooohhhh yes. This bike has definitely been "previously enjoyed". However, it now starts reliably and seems to run OK.

In fact, i am about to suit-up and take it out for its first ride....I'll be back to y'all.

Cheers,

Pete
 
Hi All:
I got tired of messing around with the coil mount for Lucille's Pamco install and so I went for a ride on the Cafe donor bike and its not bad at all!

I put the seat on (its an '81 Heritage Special so the seat is a lift-off) and she started right up. The LH carb float bowl immediately overflowed so I cuffed it with a screwdriver handle and the leak stopped. I went around the block a few times and she ran OK, everything worked and I thought I was in good shape. Then a cylinder dropped out and I realised that she had lost so much fuel that she was nearly out. I went on reserve and she came right back. I headed for a gas station and put 10 litres in (these Special tanks only hold about 12-13 litres I think). When I re-started the bike - the leak started again, so another swat with the screwdriver handle and I was off. If that leak persists, I'll have to get back into that carb I guess.

She isn't as smooth as Lucille, but she does start and run reliably, and that's what I was after. I'd say that she seems to run better at the end of my little 5 mile ride than at the beginning and the leak hasn't re-appeared, so maybe I'm OK on that score too. I do definitely recall that Lucille ran very poorly at the beginning - and she got better daily as well. One thing I did notice - the handling of the Special with the smaller fatter rear tire is quite different from Lucille. The Special feels slower and "lazier" than the Standard - really noticeably so, especially around the block at low speeds. Brassneck had said the same thing about his '79 Special donor bike and now I can really see what he meant.

I'm glad that I have the 18" rim to replace the 16 incher. I got the kit with the proper number of holes and the correct spokes to suit the "zillion spoke" Heritage Special rear drum hub. I'll spoke that puppy up some cold day this coming winter.

Anyhow - victory on a couple of fronts this afternoon!

Pete
 
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It's odd that that carb is leaking. The viton tipped float needles usually seal quite well unless ..... wait for it ..... did you happen to use MikesXS rebuild kits? My buddy is going through this right now. His carbs belch fuel like crazy pretty much any time he forgets to turn his manual petcocks off. And it doesn't take long either, maybe 5 or 10 minutes of sitting. We just got him some new O.E.M. ones from Boats.net. At about $18 a set, they may seem expensive, but they include the filter screen which sells for about $9 on it's own. That makes the needle and seat assembly only about $9, quite the bargain really. And I doubt he'll ever need replacements again. It was nice to get a look at a new O.E.M. o-ring for the seat, so I could verify the size (1.5 x 7.5). I had only seen aftermarket kit ones before.
 
Nope - not Mikes kits. My carb guru friend did these for me and he has run 650s for years. Well, I'll track it down.
 
Well, hello there folks!! It has been a heck of a long time since I posted on my build thread and I do apologize for that hiatus. Life has intervened, the Disaster Central Workshop (DCW) got overfilled, my knee has gone completely crappy and well....you know how it goes.

TODAY however, I made some big progress! I finally got my new shed done which means that I can move some bikes and equipment out of the DCW and get at some of the things that I should have been doing all this time. First on the list is getting my beloved Lucille running properly again. She has been surrounded by stuff since last Sept. when her float bowls started leaking and between my hobbling around and the crowded workshop, I simply couldn’t get at her.

Anyhow, while the new shed isn’t direct progress on the Special-to-Cafe build, it will make progress possible on that front too and so that is why I am posting here. My knee is still bad so I am moving slowly, but forward motion, however slow, is better than stopped and the photos below do show forward motion.

Cheers,

Pete

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Millie the dog is wearing a cone because we had a cyst removed from her tail a couple of weeks ago and we didn’t need want her to chew the incision. She is nearly done that whole thing so the cone will come off this week. She doesn’t seem to notice it much - she bounds around like a puppy with that thing flopping around her neck.
 
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Ah the joys of a dedicated workspace. I’m convinced had the Ms. and I not moved to place with a 20x20 garage, my ‘76 would still be in tatters.

Btw, need any spare parts? I have a slew, happy to send if I have what you need. Thanks Pete, for all your help. -g
 
he he thats really funny .....when I opened this post on my little 10" netbook (on holiday ), All I saw was the words 'new shed' and the top of the roof of that huge house in the background !.....#

I thought ............................f*ck me.... thats a big shed ....f*ck me...:yikes:

Very sorry to hear about your knee Pete..I know just how frustrating it can be when you have lots of jobs piling up and ones knee,hip, back.etc ... craps out for weeks and months..

Last year I had very painful arthritus type pain in my wrists and ankles and restless legs which stopped me sleeping and working. Endless pain killers did little to help and I went 14 weeks sitting in an armchair all night with hardly 2x hours sleep a night. I was completely wrecked and sucidal.

After no help from Doctors or the Hospital I did some research online and I started to take high supplements of VitD3 (5000IU a day) and Magnesium (250mg daily) and within 10 days the symptoms completely disappeared . Since that day I have not had a single reoccurance . I do not completely understand the mechanism of how this worked but it has and I now recommend these 2x supplements to everyone that have any kind of joint pain or issues.

My Brother IL mentioned that he suffered badly with pain in his knee joint which made it painful to walk and standing up was very difficult for him. I told him about the results I got from taking VitD3 and Magnesium and when I next saw him some 3 weeks later he said he had tried the supplements and his knee pain had almost completely gone !... you can imagine I was gobsmacked and also very pleased that I had been able to help. He is now able to go metal detecting twice a week for 4-6 hours without a pain and he is over the moon to get his hobby back.

Why not give it a try for 2x weeks Pete ......you've nothing to lose but a few dollars ;)





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Thanks peanut - that is a very good suggestion indeed. I do take VitD but the recent x-rays clearly show that my issues are caused by severe arthritis and a total lack of cartilage tissue between the bones of my right knee, which I fractured in a fall when I was about 15. It has been painful ever since then and 5-6 years of competitive bicycle racing combined with 45 years of extensive business travel plus several surgeries and endless physiotherapy later, my docs have determined that its time to turn me into The $600 Man with a total knee replacement. I am holding the quacks off until riding season ends this fall or winter. One side effect of all this sloth has been weight gain - and that should disappear along with the pain once I am able to move around more again.

On the house / shed thing - that IS very funny indeed! I can just imagine seeing my neighbour's big-roofed house and not noticing that cute little 12'6" x 8' shed when viewing the first photo.

Next-up for me is the annual spring motorcycle trip (Quebec City this year - undoubtedly in the rain - AGAIN!! :wtf:) with my riding buddies from Peterborough starting this Thursday (on the ST1300) and then a massive clean-up of the DCW in preparation for getting Lucille back in commission. That shouldn't take too long I hope and THEN I will swap Lucille into the shed for a bit and bring the '81 Special back into the DCW for the re-start of that project. Having five motorcycles in a 3-bike garage is like running the air wing on an aircraft carrier: you must carefully plan each movement so that you have enough space for operating machines, being-repaired/modified machines and stored machines. Last winter, I had bought a welder (I needed one and it was on-sale ya know!!) and some other shop gear, and it simply became grid-lock in there (hence the new shed).

My plan for the '81 Special-to-cafe bike is to do all of the conversion tasks (seat, brakes, XS750 fuel tank, lights, controls etc.) and then have a shake-down period of debugging the electrical and other systems to make sure that all is well in a technical sense and then do a strip-down, re-paint and re-assemble. I believe that I have settled on a colour scheme of British Racing Green with silver trim (including those beautiful XS650 logos from Resto in Winnipeg). I will likely have a batch of Mazda Paint Code "HU" mixed up for the BRG colour and may even try hand-painting the trim myself using some silver paint that I have for touch-ups on the Honda ST1300. My old '94 Miata was a Canada-only BRG model and used that "HU" paint code. It is not a modern looking metallic, but a sort of flat 50's-era colour that shines up nicely and should make the silver trim really "pop". Oh yeah, I also have that very nice MAC Performance 2-into-2 exhaust system that I won a couple of years ago to install on her - what a lucky b@stard, eh?

Well everyone, its a crisp cool Victoria Day (the Monday nearest Queen Victoria's May 24th 1819 birthday is celebrated in Canada as a holiday Monday) and I've got a large consulting job beckoning, so I'll get back at it. On that note, I'll close by observing to all of my good friends abroad that Canada was supposed to be the optimal combination of British culture and American know-how - but for some reason, we wound up with American culture and British know-how....combined with a love of Australian scatological humour and German beer.

Besides, who else would make a holiday weekend out of the birth, 199 years ago, of a British monarch who mostly spoke German and whose grandsons were Kaiser Wilhelm (started WW-I) and Czar Nicholas (died in the Russian Revolution)....gotta love Canada!

older-victoria-5.jpg


Cheers and ride safely all!

Pete
 
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