Petcha2
XS650 Enthusiast
I am new to the forum. Proud to say I recently purchased a 1977 Yamaha XS650 (shown above). Real clean, 33K miles, runs pretty well, but needs some work. That’s the fun part. Among other things, previous owner got rid of the starter and it is kickstart only. It starts OK with a couple of kicks, but my knees aren’t what the used to be and I’d like to install an electric starter. How difficult is this? I am a newbie with limited mechanical experience, but, now that I am retired, I have the time and motivation and would really love to learn to do some wrenching on my XS650. I have workbench, a reasonable collection of tools, and a nice garage space. Would love hear your thoughts about what’s involved to replace the electric starter, e.g. time, expense, level of difficulty.
Thank you in advance for any words of wisdom you might offer.