Thanks for your welcome here Gents. The story begins with me NEEDING another bike. My last was a 2005 HD FXD Superglide I bought new. Great bike, put 42k miles on it. Last year of the carburetor 5 speed big twin dynas. Lots of great memories, one ride to Sturgis rode straight through other than gas and water stops from West Bend WI to the campground in Sturgis by the drag strip. Left at 530am, there at 930pm Sturgis time. I sold that dyna 5 or so years ago.
See, I've always had a bike in the garage. Trouble with a HD is expensive parts, etc. Prior to the dyna I had a '94 Road King that went away when mamma said we were going to be parents. Prior to that I had Metrics that I was comfortable with doing home grown mods to that allowed me to putz with the bike.
From there to here, I've always liked the look and possibilities of the XS650. Years back I traded a CL360 for a '69 triumph T120R in a basket. I never did anything with that bike, traded to a cousin for an Evinrude outboard & $$$. I figure the XS is miles ahead of the T120 an engineering reliability, and new manufacture parts are available (like MikesXS and other sources I've found here). So, my search for an XS began.
Found a couple local to WI on craigslist. Nope. Went to an auction at Mach4 in Appleton WI October 10 this year. There was a pretty corroded '75 and a couple '72s that looked good in the online photos. The '72s had rust crawling out of the gas tanks, like a fungus attack. The '75 was way worse.....wow, that one sold for $900+ to an online bidder. Anyhow, in my back pocket were 2 XS650's on an Ebay RawHide Boys Ranch (Bart Star of the Packers & Jane & John Gilespie organization). One was a '80 XS650SG, the other a '82 XS650 Special II (wire wheels with 100 or spokes on the front, well, maybe not a 100, but lots). I quit biding on the '82 at $915. Went for $935. Next up 5 minutes later auction time was the '80. I won that one, $510 + the Governors cut and title fee. 20k miles on it, description said sold as non-runner due to gas running from carbs when the RawHide wrenches tried to start it.
It's mine now, with no real plan on what it will look like. I will be bobbing the seat shorter, simple round tail light, scrambler bars, changes to have the XS feel the way I want it. I plan to retire in ~3 years or so, and this XS will be part of that future for me to change it as I see fit. Local rides around the kettle hills, laid back and easy.
So far new bars are in place, backrest gone, cleaning up all the oil, repairing the battery cables, removed & jumper the reserve light module (blue/black & blue/yellow wires). Changed oil & filters. Squirt diluted w/gas 2 stroke oil in cylinders and stroked engine through to wet the cylinders. Checked for spark (got spark!!). Mothers polish on the alloy wheels. PO must have loved lubing the chain, real oil mess on swingarm and area. I'll take a close look at the trans output shaft seal to see if this is oiling the chain. Just been putzing with it to get to know whats where. I'll probably keep the stock air filter/box setup. Filter elements are in great shape. Do a compression check, set cam chain I rocker clearance, go around the head bolts to validate torque. Clean & freshen carbs w/float valves, etc. Maybe fire it soon. I know I'll need a cam chain guide 'cause of small chunk found in side filter. That will be spring time fun because it's gotten to be frozen tundra season here in WI.
Photos are form the Ebay ad. No sense in posting pics of what the bike looks like with new bars & backrest removed. That will come with time I suppose.
Again, Thanks for the welcome here!
Pat
