First post and a question please.

[adrian7886]

Hello all

Bit of a long shot but does anyone recognise this XS650 ? Picked it up from a dealer of older Japanese bikes who didn’t have a lot of info about it apart from it had been off the road for years. It’s a 1979 US import first reg in the UK 1993. At the price I thought it was worth a punt. It’s obviously had some money spent on it and is pretty much up together and perfectly rideable. I just need to do a little tweaking here and there to my own taste.

 

[Downeaster]

Can't help you with the provenance of that particular bike, but Welcome to the Fount of Knowledge of All Things XS.

 

[fredintoon]

View attachment 133351 Hello all
Bit of a long shot but does anyone recognise this XS650 ? Picked it up from a dealer of older Japanese bikes who didn’t have a lot of info about it apart from it had been off the road for years. It’s a 1979 US import first reg in the UK 1993. At the price I thought it was worth a punt. It’s obviously had some money spent on it and is pretty much up together and perfectly rideable. I just need to do a little tweaking here and there to my own taste.

Hi adrian and welcome,
nice bike. Registerable? Runs nice? Looks to have 2 hoses on the front brake lever but only 1 front caliper, what's going on there?
What I'd do before I rode it in the rain or leaned it hard over on corners is check the age stamp on it's tyres.
Old tyres get as hard as wood and loose most of their grip.

 

[xjwmx]

It's far from stock but it looks great, imho, maybe better than stock which is rare. I just see one front brake line myself.

 

[GLJ]

Looks like 2 to me also.

 

[xjwmx]

Ah! I was looking at the wheel...

 

[gggGary]

I'm guessing linked brakes which is a very deep subject, let's just say lots of wrong ways to do that, so you need to find out if it's done well.

 

[adrian7886]

All registered and all paperwork matches up. It’s got a dual pot nissin on the front, which I agree is weird and something I may change but it goes ok...and stops.

Im in the process of just checking everything at the moment and doing all the necessary major service points and sticking baffles in the exhaust, way way too noisy for my liking. It has great compression and starts on the kick first time.

 

[adrian7886]

Hi adrian and welcome,
nice bike. Registerable? Runs nice? Looks to have 2 hoses on the front brake lever but only 1 front caliper, what's going on there?
What I'd do before I rode it in the rain or leaned it hard over on corners is check the age stamp on it's tyres.
Old tyres get as hard as wood and loose most of their grip.

It’s got some old Avon’s on the front so totally agree on those needing a change. Will search the forums for recommendations.

 

[nighthog]

Adrian, that's a really nice looking bike. And seems pretty well sorted out too - looks like you picked a good one.
I put Bridgstone BT45s on mine, no regrets, and then I went to a CRMC meet at Cadwell and saw just about everybody racing on Avon Roadriders, in mixed weather, so those must better than I thought.

I'm in Chippenham, Wiltshire, whereabouts are you?

 

[adrian7886]

Thank you. That’s the exact same tyre I’m looking at.

I’m in Hampshire near Petersfield so not too far away

 

[nighthog]

Excellent, let's find an excuse to meet later in the year. Thruxton, maybe ....

 

[FLEA]

Hi adrian and welcome,
nice bike. Registerable? Runs nice? Looks to have 2 hoses on the front brake lever but only 1 front caliper, what's going on there?
What I'd do before I rode it in the rain or leaned it hard over on corners is check the age stamp on it's tyres.
Old tyres get as hard as wood and loose most of their grip.

1 brake line , 1 speedo cable??