ohc 650 electric

[FLEA]

picked up a set of 1975 side covers in good condition which got me thinking. the transfer on them says ohc 650 electric.anyone know the story behind it.presume overhead cam electric start BUT ?? been electric start since the xs2 ,were they that hard up for decoration

 

[650Skull]

Guess it was a marketing thing. 73TX was the first to sport OHC650 electric on the side-covers, The OHC650 was a badge with an Electric decal underneath.

74/75 had decals but the US 75B black had a different side-cover decal to the Euro one. Check out my ID thread and look HEREor HERE

 

[FLEA]

thanks skull ,those links will come in handy as after a couple of tank badges for some spare tanks iv got , was mainly poking fun at Yamaha in orginal post but on thinking about it maybe marketing / poking fun at trumpy etc by the elec start as british bikes were still kick start ..by the way how did you enjoy all the cops on the week end ,heard was big police rd block just to bury someone

 

[650Skull]

Hey Flea, Didn't see a cop and never heard of the road block, Guess i don't get out enough.

How is the bike going and how do you find the set up with the racing primaries, what sprocket ratio you running.

 

[FLEA]

according to cairns and tablelands recreational site ( in the comments ) there was a big police operation between cairns and Townsville ..operation maxima.. with a rd block at the mission beach turn off all day ,as for the bike ..rapped.. fully run in now ,did first major service the other day ,oil beautiful ,1 loose tappet and that was it ,running 17/38 combo ,the hi ratio ok but thinking about taking off and putting it on my 650 motor as 2 noisy for my liking (like to hear the sound of the motor ) will do it next chain sprocket change.. realised this time of my life rather have the quicker acceleration rather than top speed,also would be better able to use the hotter cam area more (BUT with the hi ratio and rephrase keeps the vibrations way down (lower rd rpm ) so with the dodgy legs (nerve pain which the vibs play hell with )can now go longer distances with less trouble ,have hyd clutch which will be putting on over next couple of weeks ..almost time to get stuck in to the project bike which once finished the750 motor I'm now running will go into

 

[cycleranger]

Back in the day Yamaha caught a lot of grief from reviewers for releasing a new "big twin" bike without an electric start.
So they scrambled to retrofit a starter into the later models.
Their first attempt at a electric start left a lot to be desired in the reliability department so they went back and did some more work and eventually produced a reliable electric starting system.

After all that, imho, the "electric" badging was added to make damn sure that everyone knew that the XS650 was now equipped with Super Best Electric Start!

(Well, that and to obfuscate the fact they were selling what was essentially the exact same bike as the previous years model..)

 

[FLEA]

well wont exsactly say a reliable elect start ,that mongrel spring causes a lot of grief ,none of my previous xs,s had a working e/start (wonder why ) but never worried because easy to kick start (and real bikers always jumped on the kick starter ) but now have to use e/start found why so much trouble ,and yes new gear and spring as well as tried to tighten old one before replacing ,next time cover comes off will try to tighten mikes new spring ..also got a couple of decompression levers which thinking of fitting to make starting easier and kick starting possible if necersary