throwback
Halco 840
You mean there are other people who like these bikes?
I saw my first XS650 in the 70s, when a few Satan's Slaves rode down from Bradford to Southport for the "Run to the Sun" custom show. My best mate had just passed his driving test and we clanked our way over there in his dad's Mk1 Cortina, through the Mersey tunnel from the Wirral.
Well, it was all sunny and lovely with the custom cars crobbing and model jets fwooshing when suddenly a roar of thunder and a whoop announced the arrival of a series of black things; Nortons, Triumphs, and amongst them a marqueless vision in matt black with western bars and a duct-taped seat (no indicators). I got my mate to take a photo, and three weeks later when the prints came back in the post, there was the bike that hooked me. I hawked it around the Birkenhead bike breakers until one of them called out the old guy from the back, who squinted, then smiled, "Oh yeah - it's an XS650. Classic bike, that is!".
That tatty, folded photo followed me through Hondas, AJSs, Yamahas, Triumphs, Suzukis, more Triumphs, until fifteen years later I thought I had decided on my ideal combination - reliability of Jap with character of Brit; and looking for the Holy Grail of everything in one bike, I picked up the first XS of my own - an import from Japan, brought over by BAT motorcycles in London. It had plenty of "patina", and had been standing against a wall for many years, so was quite one-sided in its rust, but underneath all the nuts and bolt were undisturbed, so it was a Yes Please.
After pinning my old photo to the garage wall and doing the bike up I bombed around on it for a few years, grinning, until the old demons appeared on my shoulders:
"Wouldn't it be good if it would cruise at this speed but at lower revs?" said one,
"It's a cheap reliable bike - don't start spending money on it", said the other.
"But a little more mid-range torque would be nice".
"What's the point of improving one bit of the bike unless you're going to bring everything else up to the same standard?"
"My thoughts exactly!"
So with my demons in agreement I headed off to HALCO for some 840cc bits as a start.
Well, pretty soon we had four kids under five years old (fantastic, but a black hole for cash) and moving job meant no workshop for a while. So as my XS840 was languishing under a tarp, I did the obvious thing - bought another XS! This one was so cheap that the rusty patina extended around both sides of the bike, and all nuts and bolts were methodically chewed in equal measure - very thorough. But it was a runner for a year.
My wife triked her 1100 Guzzi so that we could take the kids out on the back and away we blapped along the Shropshire lanes grinning once more.
Our next move meant that all the bikes were stored up in East Yorkshire for a while. This was in 2007, when it rained. And rained, and rained. 16000 homes flooded, and the call came through from my father-in-law, "All your bikes are under two and a half feet of water." When we managed to get through a week later, it all looked very calm and picturesque, the rainbow patterns of engine oil mixing with the raw sewage that had risen from the drains. So we flogged the trike and the Triumph, but I couldn't bear to part with my XS650s. My youngest daughter stood in her wellies, clutching my tatty folded XS picture, as a tear rolled gently down her cheek . . . (I made that last bit up - she thought it was all a great laugh). Poor old XSs - under a tarp again in all weathers, despite 12 cans of WD40, filling with oil and regular turning over on the kickstarter. Luckily all the HALCO bits were up in the attic!
So here we are today. I've just finished building my new workshop, my Myford lathe (also flooded) is up and running again, and there is an XS650 sans engine in the middle of the floor. The engine is on the bench. Yesterday I took off the head and barrels. Oh, the horror, the horror! New types of metal have grown inside the head. Parts have reduced to their component elements and reconstituted themselves into new life forms.
But they will live again! One bike will be a 650 testbed and all-round blapper, going up to 840 in due course. Then a 277 rephased crank at 650cc, then rephased at 840cc. All it needs is a bit of paraffin and a pad of scotchbrite.
Oh, and another twelve years.
Wish me luck!
I saw my first XS650 in the 70s, when a few Satan's Slaves rode down from Bradford to Southport for the "Run to the Sun" custom show. My best mate had just passed his driving test and we clanked our way over there in his dad's Mk1 Cortina, through the Mersey tunnel from the Wirral.
Well, it was all sunny and lovely with the custom cars crobbing and model jets fwooshing when suddenly a roar of thunder and a whoop announced the arrival of a series of black things; Nortons, Triumphs, and amongst them a marqueless vision in matt black with western bars and a duct-taped seat (no indicators). I got my mate to take a photo, and three weeks later when the prints came back in the post, there was the bike that hooked me. I hawked it around the Birkenhead bike breakers until one of them called out the old guy from the back, who squinted, then smiled, "Oh yeah - it's an XS650. Classic bike, that is!".
That tatty, folded photo followed me through Hondas, AJSs, Yamahas, Triumphs, Suzukis, more Triumphs, until fifteen years later I thought I had decided on my ideal combination - reliability of Jap with character of Brit; and looking for the Holy Grail of everything in one bike, I picked up the first XS of my own - an import from Japan, brought over by BAT motorcycles in London. It had plenty of "patina", and had been standing against a wall for many years, so was quite one-sided in its rust, but underneath all the nuts and bolt were undisturbed, so it was a Yes Please.
After pinning my old photo to the garage wall and doing the bike up I bombed around on it for a few years, grinning, until the old demons appeared on my shoulders:
"Wouldn't it be good if it would cruise at this speed but at lower revs?" said one,
"It's a cheap reliable bike - don't start spending money on it", said the other.
"But a little more mid-range torque would be nice".
"What's the point of improving one bit of the bike unless you're going to bring everything else up to the same standard?"
"My thoughts exactly!"
So with my demons in agreement I headed off to HALCO for some 840cc bits as a start.
Well, pretty soon we had four kids under five years old (fantastic, but a black hole for cash) and moving job meant no workshop for a while. So as my XS840 was languishing under a tarp, I did the obvious thing - bought another XS! This one was so cheap that the rusty patina extended around both sides of the bike, and all nuts and bolts were methodically chewed in equal measure - very thorough. But it was a runner for a year.
My wife triked her 1100 Guzzi so that we could take the kids out on the back and away we blapped along the Shropshire lanes grinning once more.
Our next move meant that all the bikes were stored up in East Yorkshire for a while. This was in 2007, when it rained. And rained, and rained. 16000 homes flooded, and the call came through from my father-in-law, "All your bikes are under two and a half feet of water." When we managed to get through a week later, it all looked very calm and picturesque, the rainbow patterns of engine oil mixing with the raw sewage that had risen from the drains. So we flogged the trike and the Triumph, but I couldn't bear to part with my XS650s. My youngest daughter stood in her wellies, clutching my tatty folded XS picture, as a tear rolled gently down her cheek . . . (I made that last bit up - she thought it was all a great laugh). Poor old XSs - under a tarp again in all weathers, despite 12 cans of WD40, filling with oil and regular turning over on the kickstarter. Luckily all the HALCO bits were up in the attic!
So here we are today. I've just finished building my new workshop, my Myford lathe (also flooded) is up and running again, and there is an XS650 sans engine in the middle of the floor. The engine is on the bench. Yesterday I took off the head and barrels. Oh, the horror, the horror! New types of metal have grown inside the head. Parts have reduced to their component elements and reconstituted themselves into new life forms.
But they will live again! One bike will be a 650 testbed and all-round blapper, going up to 840 in due course. Then a 277 rephased crank at 650cc, then rephased at 840cc. All it needs is a bit of paraffin and a pad of scotchbrite.
Oh, and another twelve years.
Wish me luck!
Welcome! 
