New XS650 in Central Texas

[aldo5468]

It's yours to do whatever you want. Here's a couple pic's showing that just a few simple changes can transform an "ugly duckling" late model Special into a very smooth bike with nicely flowing lines. (You can tell by my signature that it's not my bike, but I've always admired this look.)

 

[fredintoon]

Actually, what I have in mind can be seen in the inserted image.

Hi NDSinTX,
OK, so long as you fit a fork brace to replace the front fender in order to keep the forks from flexing, lose that daft-looking gas tank sight glass and use a bigger headlight so you can see where you are going at night.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

I think you guys dodged a bullet.

East Texas is under water...

 

[theDQG]

Not any more it doesn't...

Thought so. The dog probably just needed to be grounded!

 

[buzzword]

Parts of Austin area are flooded too, yeah? My buddies out there are talking about building an ark.

 

[NDSinTX]

Thank you all for the welcome and interest.

I am going to follow the advice of my neighbour in Dripping Springs and just take the thing down piece by piece to acquire familiarity with it, and to build basic confidence in my limited skills. I'll put it back together more or less intact just to ensure that I can get it running - at that point I'll have already taken it "down and back again" and should be able to do a better job of the custom plan I have in mind - at my leisure.

I will use this forum to obtain advice and guidance. Also, if I get stuck, I notice that several of you are within driving distance of Wimberley, so if you agree I might ask to draw more directly on your expertise.

I'm a 68 year old retiree doing this for the first time. I have a garage, basic tools, bike lift, air compressor, water hose, LOTS of cleaning stuff (I had a show-grade HD once upon a time, and you never get over that). I don't weld or do machining, but I have access to people who do.

My first question is where to take this as a follow-up thread from Intro. Do I start a thread under Build, or do I take the questions/pix/comments to the subject matter topics?

I'm ready to ask my first questions about wheels and tires (the front is now off), so tell me where to take them so that I'll be in line with forum conventions.

Also, are there on-line schematics and part number lists? Where would I find that? I have located the information on Biker.net, but it specifies that it covers bikes up to 1981. Naturally, mine is an '82, both according to the paperwork I have and according to the serial number on biker.net - it is for sure an XS650 SJ in New Yamaha Black.

I'm assuming that I could use most of the information available there, but if there are '82-specific docs, I'd like to get them. Unless otherwise advised, I'll use the torque settings from the biker.net information.

Tell me where (politely) to take the first round of questions: Build, or Wheels and Tires?

S.

 

[5twins]

There really aren't any separate areas to post in based on topic. You just start a new thread on whatever you happen to be working on in this main "Garage" section. In your case now, that would be on wheel and tire questions.

Your '82 probably isn't much different than an '81 but there is an '82 manual available. You can get it here .....

https://thexscafedotcom.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/xs650-xs650sj-service-manual/

It's best to have several you can cross-reference between. This is particularly true when it comes to torque values. Some changed over the years, some are misprinted or converted to English values incorrectly. If you're not sure on any, ask here. Recently, a member stripped a fastener because he used a misprinted torque value that was too high.

For on-line parts diagrams, many of us use this place, Boats.net. It's easy to navigate and has nice exploded parts diagrams. Here's the start page, go to any year from there .....

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/parts.html

 

[Ranger]

Welcome! I'm about an hour south of Houston now, but will be moving to Liberty Hill just north of Austin at the beginning of June.

Always good to see more Texas folks on the forum.

 

[cycleranger]

I'd go ahead and start a build thread. You can ask questions and post pictures there.
That way you'll have all your reference in one place.
here's a link for more manuals: (some of the same, some others.)
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41

You might consider picking up a hard copy of the shop manual or Clymer/haynes from Amazon, ebay, etc. The images in the PDF's are pretty poor.
http://www.cmsnl.com has pretty images of the parts list.

 

[NDSinTX]

Welcome! I'm about an hour south of Houston now, but will be moving to Liberty Hill just north of Austin at the beginning of June.

Always good to see more Texas folks on the forum.

Cool. I'll be in Liberty Hill tomorrow for the area track meet, in which my niece will be participating. You'll be close to the Hill Country and great riding.

Cheers,

S.

 

[NDSinTX]

Last message on this thread.

Thanks for your advice, I am taking the discussion on this new bike/project to the Build section of the forum.

Thanks again for the nice welcome you've given me.