2016 Smoky Mountain Dogwood Rally

Gordon I'm sorry you missed it. I was there for Saturday's ride and except for an ill-advised trip through Helen (damn tourists) it was a GREAT ride.
I had only ridden my 650 on short test jaunts around town since I have owned it so I was a little apprehensive about an all day ride. No need to worry because except for a loose mirror and my turn signals quitting it ran flawlessly. What a fun bike on these roads!
I learned a couple of things: The exhaust is too quiet. I need to do something about my front forks. They are too short. I also need to address the rear brake (non-existent) and I need to get better pads on the front (already ordered). Other than that just keep tweaking it until I end up with something that looks more like Dave's café bike and less like a rat bike.

Thanks to Marty for setting it up and to Dave and Bruce for the after-ride beers. I enjoyed meeting and talking with everyone. Hope to see you at the next XS ride in September.
Jim

367CC738-AC02-40A2-A9AF-26C2A24F3013_zpsbqxnplbp.jpg
 
Thanks to Marty who led 5 rides to two of the best BBQ restaurants in the world!! Those who did not attend missed out!
 
Marty, I can't describe how disappointed I was to miss the ride. I was running away from so many things that were needing done around the house (I'm working 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week) I figured it was best for me to head home and get some of them done.

Looks like a good time was had by all. The weather couldn't have been any better (IMO) and there was a GREAT group of fellows attending.

Your a good man for going to the trouble to put on an event like this and we're lucky to have you around.

You haven't seen the last of me.....I'm working on the XS as we speak and with 2M's help through his clutch threads and by PM.....I'll have the clutch sorted in no time. Not sure if the clutch action had anything to do with the cable failure but I'm shooting for it to be a bit softer next time around......and from now on I'm carrying a repair kit and a spare.

TWoS is a WONDERFUL venue.....right up there with Iron Horse....we're lucky to have those kind of places so close to us.

Take care, thank you again for putting this on and sharing the photos.....made me feel like I was actually there.

Your friend in NC........Gordon
 
It looked like a perfect day weather wise. There were some really nice bikes there. I was looking for a picture of grizld1 bike with the carb setup. I would love to see it. It looked like a good time was had by all who attended. Wish I could have been there.
 
scabber said:
It looked like a perfect day weather wise. There were some really nice bikes there. I was looking for a picture of grizld1 bike with the carb setup. I would love to see it. It looked like a good time was had by all who attended. Wish I could have been there.
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My goal for next year is 16 XS650's! You can help me reach it. :thumbsup:

Mr. Russell has a very fine bike. Too many tricks to list. He gave me grief about my unsprung weight. That's to be expected. :laugh:

We had a great time! :bike:
 
Surprised you didn't get a picture of it perhaps grizld has one. I know the specs. from his posts over the years just don't recall seeing a picture of it.
 
If I could figure out how to move pics onto a post I'd satisfy your curiosity, scabber! I can get them into my public profile, and I'll try to put some up.

Edit: Figured it out; here ya go.
 

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Nice bike grizld. Those carbs look good on it. Like the SS exhaust. Nothing beats the classic look of the 650 Yamaha and yours is a fine example. Thanks :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the kind words, scabber. I've learned not to cringe too visibly when the cheapest, high production, 650 cc. bike ever to hit the market is called a "classic," though; guess it just doesn't seem so long ago that the things were new. I think of mine as a sleeper, with just enough attention to cosmetics to avoid out-and-out ugliness, and most of the performance tweaks invisible.

As far as classic styling goes, I think Yamaha hit their highest note with the 1978 Standard, and Joe Hardy's bike is a beautiful sample. Joe, please don't tempt me by leaving your forks unlocked when I'm around with a trailer!
 
The V Strom got me back to Canada yesterday, the worst traffic in the whole trip was, of course, the ride through the top of Toronto on the 401.
 
Glad you made it back safe and sound lakeview.....:thumbsup:

I don't want to hijack this thread anymore than I already have (can you tell I'm kinda windy?) but I wanted to share some good news. For those of you that have followed my antics you know I'm very new to the XS world and have never considered myself a mechanic....I don't even qualify as shade tree. When I got this bike (XS650B) it was a mess and I focused on getting it running safely down the road. I had read about others having "heavy/stiff" clutch action and even though I tried....by lubing the cable, cleaning and lubing the worm mech and careful routing of the cable, my clutch action was nothing to brag about. So much so I can't put 100% of the blame on the cable that failed....it only had 5000 miles or so on it but my left arm/hand had grown a couple of sizes during that time.

Well..............this time around I did a lot of research (thanks to 2M and others) and focused on the clutch. I finally got everything back together tonight and all the swaps and upgrades have completely changed the action...... like NIGHT and DAY. It's hard to believe it's the same bike. :)

I'm as happy as a little girl that just got a new puppy.........Gordon in NC
 

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