To those whining about mikes xs

Man- that is one of the best rants I have ever read! Seriously :D

It is a bummer to see our beloved XS go from affordable assrattler with some old school charm to become the wet dream of every budding fabricator with a hacksaw. Who is to blame? Yamaha! They never should have stopped making them in the first place. :thumbsup:

grizld1 said:
Whine? That's an open invitation to rant if there ever was one! I don't whine about Mike Lalonde, I just hate his business practices and what he's done and make no bones about it. I was doing performance mods on XS650 suspensions and motors when it was the most despised motorcycle on the road, and I could pick up parts bikes for $50 and runners for $250 (challenged) to $500 (in nice shape). Then Lalonde came along with his Walparts act, a bunch of newbs went "Ooo, me too!", and what's followed has been high prices, butchery, and bad boy posturing from a bunch of people who are long on hours watching OCC and very short on dues. Rant over.
Click to expand...
 
Or better, are they Kleenex or some crazy Chinese copy? I guess we'll order them and find out!
 
I agree with you guys %100 about the chop. Griz the last 650 I bought cost me $150. Last time I made a comment I was attacked by every jesse james wanna be in here,actually one of those lame brains I think his name was Fong bros actually started a thread to pat himself on the back and attack me because I said a lot of the chops on here look like acute triangles with wheels(They still have not figured out what an acute triangle is according to his comeback). Don't get me wrong their bikes are cute and would be good for your girlfriend to bop around town or if you had a midget friend who needed a bike to borrow,but other than that their not practical for anything else and trust me guys you don't look good riding them. ANother thing, your wrong! just because we don't buy weld on hard tails,wassel tanks,and whitewalls doesn't mean we ride stock bikes. Part of the fun of messing with the xs is to get as much horsepower as you can and improve overall performance.
 
With 3 articles in 3 different magazines on the XS 650 this month
Click to expand...

Which 3 magazines? I'm keen to see some present day articles.

The abundance of chopped and bobbed bikes reminds me of an old car modifiers saying "You know you've grown up when you stop modifying and start restoring." These highly modified XSs, are they really any good for riding to work and back or going on country rides with your mates? I like my B because its highly modified engine lives in an essentially stock bike. Here in Australia there are always a number of cafe and bobbed for sale in the classifieds but they take forever to sell, i don't see the appeal.

Just my 2c worth.

I.
 
As a newish owner of an XS, and having only made one purchase from MIKES, I feel it is time for my 2 cents... I purchased a set of OE style rear brake shoes, and springs from MIKESXS about 2 weeks ago. My only two complaints are not even any of MIKES doing.. 1) had to pay over $8.00 for UPS shipping for a package that weighed 1.4 pounds
2) the new brake shoes occasionally squal loudly when applied ( but in my haste to get back up and riding, I did not do a very good job of cleaning out the wheel and hub so the old brake dust is probably to blame)

I am takeing the bike down to the bare frame in a month or so, and will begin a bit more of the transformation.... man I hope I score that girder front end.... so the brakes and all will be completely and thuroughly gone through over the winter...

All in all, I will most likely be continuing to use MIKES as a resource for my new addiction.. guess he is one of the pushers..
 
xstwin said:
Last time I made a comment I was attacked by every jesse james wanna be in here,actually one of those lame brains I think his name was Fong bros actually started a thread to pat himself on the back and attack me because I said a lot of the chops on here look like acute triangles with wheels(They still have not figured out what an acute triangle is according to his comeback).
Click to expand...

Forward to enlighten....http://www.mathsisfun.com/triangle.html

Very scalene of you xstwin. Too dificult to be a cute at our ages. Blue
 
blue how the hell did you find that????? And yes math is fun especially when it comes to the cam lobes
 
I told you before that they were obtuse triangles if you want to call it a triangle.. They actually have 4 sides so they are not triangles at all!
 
Some years back, I had the misfortune of having to deal with someone who had developed a rather severe case of what was explained to me as "Hostility Dependency".
Kind of a master -slave situation where hostility-animosity develops towards the person providing. Even well beyond that which could be considered usual/normal.

Has to do with not having alternatives... not feeling able to choose among variety and having of necessity to deal with a source one has come to dislike for reasons both real and or imagined. Perhaps other aspects of the relationship which have soured as well.
Some of the animosity makes sense, some does not.

Trying to accomplish that which we wish with vintage machines likely does not decrease in frustration with time, being dependent on a vanishing few choices and while grateful in some ways.....hostile for what is being proferred and how the matter is handled. Being held responsible for quality without the ability execute control must also
breed some anger and frustration. That's long line of supply for the tail to try to way the dog!

Blue










Food for thought!
 
You guys do know that besides the cb750, Z1, and the Kawasaki triples, the xs650 is the only vintage Japanese bike that has any aftermarket support right?

If I need something for my kz440 then it's either fighting over used parts on ebay or paying through the nose for a dwindling supply of NOS parts. It was the same when I needed parts for my cb400fs, DOHC cb750s, or cm200t.

It's true some of Mike's parts are substandard, but we've still got it pretty good compared to most Japanese bikes.

It depends on your perspective I guess. :shrug:
 
A wide range of opinions... I am a Mikes customer and found some items worked as they should and the prices are fair. Even though a few parts were pretty bad to almost useless I will still be giving him money in the future, I am sure. The support his business provides to all of us is a great asset to the XS. I think the idea of letting us, and him, know what parts are good and bad can help everyone. I also work on boats and come from a background of aircraft maintenance. After buying stuff for them everything XS seems priced right.

I am not a restorer but more of a rebuilder or repairer. I think the XS in stock form is a great looking and sounding machine. Cutting well worn ones up is no sin in my book as long as it is done with taste and allows the bike to be ridden with minimal rides home on the trailer. If it is really nice then sell it to a collector and chop up a beater. I do have a few stock or near that I want to keep that way. The later Specials don't get my attention as much but I do have a stock 79 Special that is the last of the sporty styled bikes, in my opinion of course. As far as costs rising, bring it on. I am sitting on 15 at this time. If they go high enough I can sell them all and buy one Harley! Hmmm?
 
^ It's actually a quadrilateral..

According to wikipedia, people sometimes call it a quadrangle.
 
grizld1 said:
Whine? That's an open invitation to rant if there ever was one! I don't whine about Mike Lalonde, I just hate his business practices and what he's done and make no bones about it. I was doing performance mods on XS650 suspensions and motors when it was the most despised motorcycle on the road, and I could pick up parts bikes for $50 and runners for $250 (challenged) to $500 (in nice shape). Then Lalonde came along with his Walparts act, a bunch of newbs went "Ooo, me too!", and what's followed has been high prices, butchery, and bad boy posturing from a bunch of people who are long on hours watching OCC and very short on dues. Rant over.
Click to expand...

I am a bit lost here. Whilst not a newb to riding or bikes in general I am a newb to the XS650 and its intricacies and foibles so to say. I was just wondering while I have my checkbook out who I make out my 'dues' check to?

I make payment to MikesXS and other parts vendors for parts or services. So far I have not had a problem. If I do I shall complain and give them an opportunity to make right.
If they do not then they will lose my patronage. Its like trying a new restaraunt if you dont like the food or service you just dont go back and dont reccomend it to friends.

When someone else finds and scources better quality parts and gets together a business better than MikesXS and others I shall be dealing with them.

I love the butchery advice I recieve here. I may even have a chance at a bone stock XS1 here very shortly so may need to ask a few more questions.

Not that I look upon it as dues but can anyone tell me how I can make a donation to XS650.com? I shall whilst writing the check wear my new assless chaps and posture in a bad boy fashion.
 
I think the list/database idea is a good one. Earz made a great prototype. Rather than whine and bitch, just post it on the list and CHECK the list before you go shopping for a part. Then you can decide whether it makes sense to buy it from Mike or Merc or Mabel.

Mike's a smart guy. He built a business around our niche. So is Merc. I believe they will monitor the list and when someone starts getting panned because his butt plugs are wearing out after three months he will take that into consideration next time he orders a batch from rice land.

So, let's quit belly aching and start loading the database. Any rationale against that?

Earz are you ready with your spreadsheet?
 

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