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No front brake = death! About 35 years ago I was passed on a local street by a biker riding a chopper with no front brake, and no helmet. He was probably doing 35-40 mph when the truck pulled out in front of him about two blocks ahead of me. He did not hit the truck, but the bike went down...

Thank you for your future efforts to get more XS 650s on the road! When I saw that add on Craigslist, I hoped someone on this site would seize the opportunity to save those bikes from the scrap heap. Mostly I am using this site to get an 80 Special back on the road - I am not a mechanic...

Saw this on Graigslist, Wichita KS yamaha xs 650's - $2500 (south, wichita) Date: 2011-05-06, 8:41AM CDT Reply to: sale-psxuc-2365568669@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?] I have twelve sx 650 twin's, in various stage's of completion's, some have ks, title's, these are very...

Wrestled on my first set of tires recently. Really made me appreciate my brother changing combine and tractor tires by hand! To warm my tires, I propped them up for a few hours in a south facing window with the curtains closed behind them ("solar" tire warmer!). For rim protectors, a scrap...

I was going to take a leap of faith and place an order with Mikes, but when I went to checkout, I received an "Untrusted Connection" message. Unwilling to put our family computer's health at risk, I immediately left the website. I sent an e-mail about the situation to Mikes, along with telling...

I need a new front brake master cylinder for my 80 Special. With the apparent snags in ordering from Mikes XS right now, I am reluctant to order from them. There is a large motorcycle salvage yard (Oz Powersports, in Ottawa, KS) two miles from my home, so does anyone have any suggestions of...

Valentines Day post from another site - "What Really Matters" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vksdBSVAM6g

About thirty years ago, I was the first person to get to a guy who had just passed me, riding a chopper without a front brake. It was not a pretty sight. It was the first (and hopefully the last) fatality I actually witnessed. His death was instantantaneous. Do not ride without a decent...

Other than the "cool" appearance of opening up the space behind the engine, what are the advantages of running "pod" type air filters? (What are the disadvantages also?) jmcadoo

Just remembered something. I seem to recall reading somewhere about the factory recommendations for oil levels / quantity changing fairly early in XS production - maybe around 73-74??? The dimensions for earlier dipsticks might be different than the one from a 79 used in this thread. Jeff

It looks like the copper tubing thing should work. 1. Found a piece of old copper tubing that had been used to run water to an icemaker in a refigerator. 2. Straightened it out and slipped it over the dipstick metal shaft. 3. While it was on the shaft and slid as high as it would go...

Thank you all. If my copper tubing idea works, I will let you know. If it does not work, Travis, I will be taking you up on your offer. Thanks again, Jeff

Pandorasglocks, From looking at your second photo, it looks like it is 8 1/4" from the bottom of the threads to the first mark on the flat part, and 8 15/16" to the second mark. Is that correct? Jeff

Wow! You guys are quick responders! What I really need are the measurements from the bottom of the plastic threads (where the dipstick rests when checking oil level) to the min / max marks. (Mine is broken 8 3/16" from the bottom of the plastic threads. There is no flat part remaining.)...

New guy - recently reintroduced to the XS650 world. I had a 75 XS650, back in 75. Recently bought an 80 that had been garaged for 20years. I am not a mechanic, so I followed advice from many on this site and got it running. I had forgotten how sweet sounding these bikes are! My problem...