‘74 TX650A - on the road again

[TheMonkey]

I suddenly wanted to get an XS650 this Summer and blindly bought the first project I found. I knew nothing. 74 TX650A. Advertisement said abandoned project and it only needed a seat and taillight, it had new flat slide carbs and electronic ignition:

Simple enough? I was out of town at the time and told my son to go get it. When I got home, I was happy with what I saw, but I could see this bike needed a lot of help. Bike was mine now in any event so I got right at it.

Combustion was caked with carbon and valves weren’t shutting(ish) so it made a scene. The old cam chain was super worn and the pamco ignition couldn’t adjust enough. Rebuilt the whole top end.

While motor was out: cut bunches off the frame, swap in hydraulic clutch, counter balance seat, new exhaust, flight controls, wiring, earthx battery, brake lines, tires, chain, the whole 9 yards. Several things gave me a hard time, but overall this bike is a pleasure to work on.

The original clutch was gonz’d, brakes frozen, new carbs were junk, forks blown out, swing arm was a loose tooth. Had my work cut out for me.

So this was my Summer project. I had it ready for the Oyster Run in WA which got canceled but I made the route anyway and now have snuck in a few hundred miles.

On the road now again. Big big smiles with it. This bike was out of service for about 20 years; feels great to free it in the wild again.

What a fun bike, thank you to those that provided help!

 

[TheMonkey]

Hydraulic clutch conversion:

When I first got the bike, the clutch was a mess. I could sorta adjust the cables and worm, but everything was worn out and had to shim a bolt on the cable and the lever felt wonky. After adjustment, it was a brutal pull and the cable would rise up like a popped boner.

Suppose I could have just replaced parts, but I liked what I saw here with the hydraulic conversions (slave on the rod). Would have been nice to machine one of those hidden ones like the cool kids, but with only a drill press at hand, I did a standard setup. Went for the VTR1000 slave and 14mm master. I read on here it’s a good match. Found a used slave with the 8mm rod was $13 shipped on EBay. Rebuilt it with new seals.

It is super buttery, works great. Sometimes 1-N says no, but tap down 2-N gets it every time so that’s what I do.

I measured .047” travel at the plates. According to the knowledge base here (I think) that travel is on the small end of even stock travel. Seems people are most stoked over .060” up to even .100”. But I haven’t fought for neutral at all, so this works for me.

I believe one of the advantages of hydraulic is that it has a fixed throw amount and and as things warm up and expand it automatically adjusts to it. Clutch is definitely consistent now. Nice thing about shorter throw is a super easy pull.

Got matching levers with brake, also 14mm master. MC feels a little soft on brake because it’s not rock hard but no chance of bottoming out on the bar and I’ve had a couple hard stops that I was actually impressed with front braking. The caliper is a new replacement from TC Bro’s. Direct SS braided brake line -3 with adapter fittings.