New Member here, my new XS650 brought me here.

[BeetsnGreens]

I just learned to ride this November on my dad's '83 XS650 Heritage Special, which is clean and beautiful, and with under 2,000 original miles. I had my fun on that bike, but he wanted me to get my own before I put thousands of miles on it.

So, I just got a 1980 XS650 for $750. It has about 16,000 miles. It fired up but won't stay running. I have a lot of work ahead. Carbs (BS38's) are cleaned, now I need two new petcocks (I'm gonna go with the manual ones), a gas cap, and to clean the rust out of the gas tank, then change the oil. It should run after that!

(I thought they did away with two petcocks by 1980, and went to a single one, but this must not be the original tank.)

After that, it has some electrical issues, so that will be fun. I might have to do brake work. I need to make up a new seat or buy one. It's a daunting task to get this roadworthy, but I know I can do what needs to be done. My Clymer manual shows up within a week, so that should help.

Oh, I also need fork tubes. Anybody have a spare set?

Thanks! You guys will be helping me a lot this winter.

 

[Mailman]

Welcome to the forum B+G! Looks like you’ve got a good starting point there. This forum is a treasure trove of useful info. There is a ton of good technical references in the tech section , also using the forum search feature can find most anything you’re curious about. Have fun with your new ride!

 

[Jim]

Yeah... welcome to the forum. Looks like an 80SG....ish Should have chrome front fender, single petcock and BS34 carbs. I have a Special seat that's in fair to pretty good condition. Send me a PM if you're interested.
Here's a manual that covers the SG, Parts manual and colorized wiring diagram.
In case ya haven't guessed, I have an SG also.

 

[Jim]

Oops.... forgot the SG supplement....

 

[BeetsnGreens]

Thanks for the welcome.

Jim D thanks for the files! Yup i got the SG. So my suspicions are correct, the original tank and carbs are not on this bike, as I have two petcocks and BS38's. I'll keep you in mind when I'm shopping for a seat.. thanks!

 

[5twins]

If your BS38s are one of the later linked sets ('76-'77 or '78-'79), then you should be fine with them. They're pretty good carbs. Just one thing though, match carb jetting to the year of the carb set, not the year of the bike.

 

[BeetsnGreens]

5twins.. these are a linked set, and good point.. I'll keep that in mind when jetting and tuning them.

 

[59Tebo]

Hey Beets! Welcome to the party! That looks like a fun project you got there! She'll fire in no time, I'm sure! It's kinda hard to tell by the picture, but are your fork tubes pitted (above the dust seals) or tweaked, that you need to replace them? And a lot of the bright-work on these was clear-coated, which tends to yellow with age. Those parts can be stripped (chemically), polished, and re-cleared (see any of the restorations on this site - especially 'Mailman's' thread. He does a lot of polishing! ). But if you're just looking for a runner/survivor, don't sweat the small stuff, and concentrate on functional/reliable/safety items. Speaking of which, don't forget to check the dates on the tires! No matter WHAT they look like, if they're over 5 years old, they gotta go!

 

[willis]

If you are looking for an aftermarket seat, I’ve seen some nice ones on eBay by a company called Texavina. The are in Vietnam Nam but have heard several good reports of quality and fitment. Welcome, and good luck.

 

[Superjet]

Welcome and nice to see someone else learned to ride and wrench on an XS 650 other than me! lol Great people here that are willing to help and give you sound experienced advice. Search around and use the Tech section above for your first search of any problems. Good chance you will find answers there. Post plenty of pics we love to see the XS's!!

 

[5twins]

In order to properly jet the carbs, you will first need to positively identify the year of the carb set. There were several different sets with different jetting specs used during the production run. Here's a chart listing the different sets and the stock jetting used in them. Notice the 2 linked sets of BS38s ('76-'77 and '78-'79) are jetted very differently .....

We can help with I.D.ing the carb set if you show us some pics. There are some physical external difference that the "trained" eye will spot. Show us the bottoms of the float bowls and the intake bell where the air filter attaches, filter removed.

 

[BeetsnGreens]

Willis- ill check that company out. I think I'm going to try my hand at crafting my own seat with the current seat pan.
59Tebo- yes my fork tubes have pitting corrosion pretty bad.. I plan to replace those. I need new tires, too, since theyre 10 years old. I think i'm just gonna have this bike in good enough condition for safe riding fun. I'll inherit my father's XS one day, which is in pristine condition. Ill post pics of it later.
5twins- i'll post an ID thread later for my carbs.

Thanks guys!

 

[BeetsnGreens]

Jim D,

These manuals are great! Lots of information and very detailed. Thank you.

 

[5twins]

They are the factory manuals, which most of us consider to be the best.

 

[650Skull]

Check out this site........All XS stuff and some good info.........you'll find it interesting.
https://thexscafedotcom.wordpress.com/

 

[fredintoon]

- - - I just got a 1980 XS650 for $750. It has about 16,000 miles. It fired up but won't stay running. I have a lot of work ahead. Carbs (BS38's) are cleaned, now I need two new petcocks (I'm gonna go with the manual ones), a gas cap, and to clean the rust out of the gas tank, then change the oil. It should run after that!
(I thought they did away with two petcocks by 1980, and went to a single one, but this must not be the original tank.)
After that, it has some electrical issues, so that will be fun. I might have to do brake work. I need to make up a new seat or buy one. It's a daunting task to get this roadworthy, but I know I can do what needs to be done. My Clymer manual shows up within a week, so that should help.
Oh, I also need fork tubes. Anybody have a spare set?
Thanks! You guys will be helping me a lot this winter.View attachment 133262

Hi BnG and welcome,
thing is, XS650 parts swap like LEGO so even if the frame ID & papers sez 1980 the rest of it could be from other years.
Certainly the carbs should be 34s not 38s from an unknown year. Me, I'd swap 'em for the 34s rather than fight with them.
Dunno when the 2-hole Special gas tank became a 1-holer but WTF, I put the larger Standard tank on my '84 Heritage Special.
The cast aluminum grab rail & snap-down seat start in 1980 and that year should have TCI sparks, too and that's a good thing.
Good that you have a seat base, you can get a foam & cover to fit it from Saddlemens.
For sure the brakes will need work. Bad fork tubes lead to torn fork seals, fork oil leakage & oil-soaked brake pads and you can't
clean them, no matter what. Even boiling them up on the kitchen stove in a strong detergent solution don't work. I tried.
What I'd do to improve the front brake feel
(besides the usual disk drilling, replacing time-expired brake lines with stainless wire braided lines, & a clean'n'bleed)
is fit a front brake lever that has a piston half the area of the stocker.
Or of course, fit the additional leftside disk & caliper the stocker was also meant to operate.

 

[5twins]

The single petcock tanks came along in 1980 with the BS34 carbs. Those carbs use a single fuel line run into a "T".

 

[xjwmx]

That golden color on his fork lowers, is that discolored clear coating? I kinda like it actually

 

[5twins]

My guess would be paint, probably done to go along with the black fender. I've never seen the clear coat yellow that badly (or that dark) and that uniformly.

 

[xjwmx]

Maybe anodizing. I think we could anodize our aluminum parts to about any color we wanted.