Let’s hear it run

Welcome to the funny farm.
Have a read here. Good a place as any to start.
What's your plans for the bike? Ditchin' the seat would be a good start. I think Gary's lookin for one.

 

Suggestion. Use this thread to document your progress and ask questions. Some new guys throw out new question threads like a scatter gun. Just keep it all here in one place. It'll make it much easier to keep track of where you're at.

 

Street tracker is a good choice for a build. Lots of parts and options. This site has a lot of good tracker build threads too. Good luck with your XS650 endeavours.

 

Looks like a nice XS which has not suffered too much.

If the seat is going, you'll probably want new bars as well? I'd recommend the low euro style. But each to his or her own. Your plan of get it going and enjoy the warm weather sounds good - once you have a little bit more time with the bike, your plans for changes will evolve naturally. (Or maybe intelligent design will happen?)

 

Actually, TJZ, intelligent design was a joke . . .

But definitely looking forward to what you decide to do with your bike and how that goes. Cheers, Raymond

 

Great first bike. Agreed the seat and bars need to go but as far as getting it running it should be fairly simple. Fresh gas and a fresh battery may be all it takes, check to see that you have good spark. If it does start you will still want to give the carbs a thorough ccleaning. As the bike has been sitting jets and passages can gum up so even if it runs it can run very lean/ hot, no good. Lots of good videos out there on the subject. As for charging, thes bikes are notorious for weak charging systems .if the alternator is bad , a fully charged battery will keep it running for couple of hours but it will eventually die and not restart. A good multimeter will be helpfull here. Lots of good info on this forum about charging issues and just about everything else for that matter. Good luck and have fun

 

I must caution you about trying to start or run the bike before looking into the carbs. If they're all gummed up, starting will suck that crap up into them and plug things up worse than they already may be. Take a float bowl off and examine it inside. That will quickly show you how bad the carbs are.

Yes, unfortunately, charging issues are pretty common. But they are usually pretty easy to diagnose and fix, although not always cheap, lol.

 

Yes, another common issue. Yes, re-torque the head bolts and that will often cure the leaking. The four outside studs drain oil back down into the crankcase from the rocker area. The nuts on top of those studs need to be sealed. Yamaha used a rubber/metal washer on them and while good for sealing, it's too soft to hold the nuts tight. I can tell you with near 100% confidence that you will find those outer four head nuts loose. Most of us change those washers out for copper or brass ones. These are soft enough to seal but hard enough to keep the nuts tight .....

 

Welcome. That '78 looks to be in better shape than the '79 I started with but it's about as Fugly
Get it running, grow a porn 'stache, tie a bandanna around your noggin, and ride it as is. I actually took mine to Bike Night as it was. It was surprisingly fun...

 

I agree with XS650Guy.
Keep the seat !
Be one of the very few (the Only one ?) Special owners who doesn't toss the King and Queen into the dumpster.
Make it work, somehow.
Following the crowd isn't always the ticket to fame.

 

LOL. Mine didn't last very long. I performed surgery on the "queen" part of it and had it recovered. Much better but I eventually went full cafe'.

 

I'm sure many will agree that one of the best courses of action would be to get the bike running mostly as is so you can ride it a bit, get a feel for it, and sort it's issues. Yes, I would recommend changing the bars. As mentioned, the Euro bar bend is a very good choice. Besides being very comfortable, the way they droop down on the ends will allow your stock Special angled MC to mount almost level .....



The lower more normal height bars will literally transform the look and feel of the bike.