ZACKLEY!
The point is that, in contrast to some
other vertical twins of the day, the 1970s-80s Yamaha XS650 was, in its day, one of the most reliable, dependable,
you-CAN’T-break-it bikes - and a really well sort-out XS650 in 2019 would be
just as good.
In about April 1978 while I was a student, I bought a well-used 1975 XS650B that had more than 15,000 miles on it for $900. I rode the wheels off that thing for three years and put nearly 75,000 MORE miles on it (I LIVED on that bike). During that time, I had a series of exciting and fun issues with alternator brushes and I did a valve job on it, plus it broke a drive chain master link (
possibly my fault) and as a result, I had to have a cracked case welded - but otherwise, that thing was a reliable as a chunk of concrete. It was certainly MUCH better than any car I could have afforded and more dependable than any of the British, German or Japanese bikes most of my riding buddies were on.
I had no (and I mean ZERO) problems with carbs, petcocks, alternator rotors or stators, voltage regulators or rectifiers, timing chain guides, ignition systems, brake hydraulic systems, steering head or swing arm bearings, starter gear #4 or fuel tank rust. In my view, the reasons that many of us now have to occasionally wrench on our XS650s to keep them going in 2019 are:
- many of the original (chiefly electrical) parts are old and getting a bit worn out;
- many of the “modern” replacement parts are not made correctly and this is affecting the present-day reliability of the bikes;
- some people are doing things to the bikes now that these machines were not designed to do - and this is likely affecting reliability.
The outcome of those three factors is that many of the bikes - which are now around 40+ years old - require a bit of TLC if you want to ride them on a regular basis. I ride my present 1976 XS650C Standard
all the time (more than 8,800 miles or about 14,000+ km, in three years) and I spend maybe 5-20 minutes/week cleaning, tightening and wiping. I have done a couple of repairs - but none of these took more than a few hours or cost more than a few dollars with the exception of a top-end job on the engine which I farmed-out to a shop because I was desperately short of time.
BTW - my present bike (the infamous Lucille
) was a barn-find that I got in
very rough shape. My restoration to-date has been somewhat ....superficial, as I really like riding rather than working on it and so she has never been COMPLETELY apart as some other bikes on this forum have. I’ll get there with nice new paint and factory decals on the tins and polished engine cases etc. - but for now, I’m happy to ride and occasionally fix as necessary.
My main point is that a
really well-restored XS650 would likely be pretty darned near as reliable as a “modern” bike, particularly with innovations like roller bearing steering heads and solid state electronic voltage regulator-rectifier units etc. In addition, it will be a heck of a lot more satisfying to own (because YOU built it) and just as much fun to ride as anything you’ll find today on showroom floors for 5-10 times as much money.
Just my $0.02...
Pete
