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What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
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- maintenance
Spent the evening on my cute baby lathe making a new spacer to allow me to better align the front wheel spindle pin holes with the castellated nut. This will allow me to set the correct torque without the cotter pin slipping out of place.
Special exhaust on a 76 Standard with balance tube installation:
As the sun set over the flat corn fields of Kent County, the old hobbyist snugged up the last bolt on the fresh exhaust system installation. Wiping the greasy finger prints off of the already patina'd chrome, he hoped that this would sound better than the left overs from his last Harley. That chuffing noise and the poor fit at the tailpipe connection had to go. Plus it was dam near impossible to find the side stand while sitting on the seat after a ride.
Taking the time to slip on his stiff riding boot, (the previous owner having deleted the starter), he turned on the gas, set the choke and pushed the kicker through a couple revolutions. Ignition on and once again one kick started it up. Pleased that the occasional kick back had not happened, the old guy blipped the throttle, turned off the choke and turned the idle down to 1200. Now that was how this bike was supposed to sound!
Tossing his cap in the corner of the garage, he wheeled it out to the paved concession road and thought, no gear tonight, it will just be a couple hundred yards. The engine picked up the revs smoothly and he was up the road. Turning around, he gave it a bit more juice and felt the front end lift just a bit, wow, this system with no leaks front to back really works well!
All it took was a piece of strap to connect one of the muffler mounts to one of the mounts on the standard's foot peg.
Looking at it side view, the short megaphone reminded him of that 550 Matchless from so long ago and realized that was why he had put the Special system on rather than the new repop commando system still in the box.
As he put the bike he had named "red hammer" back in the garage, he thought why not write something fancy for the Forum?
As the sun set over the flat corn fields of Kent County, the old hobbyist snugged up the last bolt on the fresh exhaust system installation. Wiping the greasy finger prints off of the already patina'd chrome, he hoped that this would sound better than the left overs from his last Harley. That chuffing noise and the poor fit at the tailpipe connection had to go. Plus it was dam near impossible to find the side stand while sitting on the seat after a ride.
Taking the time to slip on his stiff riding boot, (the previous owner having deleted the starter), he turned on the gas, set the choke and pushed the kicker through a couple revolutions. Ignition on and once again one kick started it up. Pleased that the occasional kick back had not happened, the old guy blipped the throttle, turned off the choke and turned the idle down to 1200. Now that was how this bike was supposed to sound!
Tossing his cap in the corner of the garage, he wheeled it out to the paved concession road and thought, no gear tonight, it will just be a couple hundred yards. The engine picked up the revs smoothly and he was up the road. Turning around, he gave it a bit more juice and felt the front end lift just a bit, wow, this system with no leaks front to back really works well!
All it took was a piece of strap to connect one of the muffler mounts to one of the mounts on the standard's foot peg.
Looking at it side view, the short megaphone reminded him of that 550 Matchless from so long ago and realized that was why he had put the Special system on rather than the new repop commando system still in the box.
As he put the bike he had named "red hammer" back in the garage, he thought why not write something fancy for the Forum?
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well the bike has sat unused most of the Summer and now needs an MOT so I primed the fuel lines and filters and kicked and kicked and kicked ......then sitting astride the bike collapsed over the tank and bars trying to get my breath back there was an almighty bang from the exhaust !. and a cloud of smoke and crap shot out the exhaust .
I finally got it going and eventually it settled down to a nice even tickover when warmed through.
My air compressor has packed up so more sweating whilst I used a footpump to pump up the flat tyres .
By the time I'd finished I was too knackered to ride
I finally got it going and eventually it settled down to a nice even tickover when warmed through.
My air compressor has packed up so more sweating whilst I used a footpump to pump up the flat tyres .
By the time I'd finished I was too knackered to ride
I set out for a ride on Tuesday morning but Lucille (my '76 Standard) decided against it and a cylinder dropped out about 100 meters from home. She backfired a couple times but would only run on one - so I turned around and swapped her for the Honda ST1300. Dammit. It turned out that the left cylinder was totally cold - the fire was definitely out.
I have a full PAMCO kit for her, including the E-Advancer - and so I figured, this would be the day for the install... So, I pulled her tank and removed the stock coils....but then I thought hmmmm. I wonder why the cylinder dropped out? So, I removed the high tension lead retaining nut from the left hand coil and....the wire came off with the nut. It wasn't actually attached to the HT "wood screw" style terminal at all! No wonder she had been running rough and backfiring occasionally.
I simply screwed it back on, hooked up the coils and yup - two good cylinders again. Then I reassembled the bike and she runs better than ever. I gave each of the exhaust header studs a little snug-up (I just installed new header gaskets last week) and sure enough, the backfiring is gone, the idle is steady and all is right with the world.
I celebrated by installing the shiny new NOS EMCO Model 95326 luggage rack and it really completes the bike in my view. The rack is easy to install - it definitely is intended for an XS650 Standard. It even has an arrangement on the left side to accommodate the centrestand lift handle under the seat (see the 2nd photo). This is the same rack that Mailman found on the web a couple of weeks ago - and I snagged one too. I'll need it for my planned trip to the southern US in Sept. for the XS650 and Vintage Yamaha rallies.
All in all, a very good day in the Disaster Central Workshop as I prepare for my road trip up to London on Saturday where I will meet RobinC - a charter member of the Engine Room Gang.
Cheers,
Pete
I have a full PAMCO kit for her, including the E-Advancer - and so I figured, this would be the day for the install... So, I pulled her tank and removed the stock coils....but then I thought hmmmm. I wonder why the cylinder dropped out? So, I removed the high tension lead retaining nut from the left hand coil and....the wire came off with the nut. It wasn't actually attached to the HT "wood screw" style terminal at all! No wonder she had been running rough and backfiring occasionally.
I simply screwed it back on, hooked up the coils and yup - two good cylinders again. Then I reassembled the bike and she runs better than ever. I gave each of the exhaust header studs a little snug-up (I just installed new header gaskets last week) and sure enough, the backfiring is gone, the idle is steady and all is right with the world.
I celebrated by installing the shiny new NOS EMCO Model 95326 luggage rack and it really completes the bike in my view. The rack is easy to install - it definitely is intended for an XS650 Standard. It even has an arrangement on the left side to accommodate the centrestand lift handle under the seat (see the 2nd photo). This is the same rack that Mailman found on the web a couple of weeks ago - and I snagged one too. I'll need it for my planned trip to the southern US in Sept. for the XS650 and Vintage Yamaha rallies.
All in all, a very good day in the Disaster Central Workshop as I prepare for my road trip up to London on Saturday where I will meet RobinC - a charter member of the Engine Room Gang.
Cheers,
Pete
DanielBlack
XS650 Junkie
Pete, I know this has been said before, but I'll be the first to be lame enough to repeat it. Nice rack.
Another book to be written, "The Tale of the Engine Room Gang. ERG"
Another book to be written, "The Tale of the Engine Room Gang. ERG"
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Pete, a splendid day for you there! Lucille is looking great! But I did notice one little mistake. That luggage rack they sent you looks just a little bit shinier than the one they sent me! Haha
Hmmmm....odd isn't it? 
you certainly get a lot of rack for your money out there in OT
Denisesewa
XS650 Addict
Took er out for a shakedown ride , St Judes childrens hospital charity ride up in the rockies , smallest and oldest bike out of a hundred or so
and it hung with the big bikes even at 9000 ft ( although pretty rich up there)
A rose among the thorns
Yesterday, Lucille & I left the DCW at about 6:30 AM and headed up the superslab to meet Lakeview at his place 45 minutes away. We then took off again for a classic bike show where the plan was to meet RobinC in a hotel parking lot 130 km (about 85 miles) away at about 8:45 AM. Should have been an easy trip - as Lakeview was on his modern FJ09 and seems to have "no trouble" keeping up with Lucille and I 
My old gal is quite happy belting along at....well, modesty prevents, but 5000+ RPM in fifth is just fine.
That was the plan anyway.
After a few minutes we stopped for fuel (Lucille is a bit of a lush at those speeds and I wanted to avoid walking because my knee is sore and it was a hot day already). After the fuel stop, we resumed our way and suddenly she started missing and f@rting - dammit - a sure sign that my coil HT lead repair of several days ago had pooped out. I putt-putted along the shoulder of the VERY busy freeway about 2 miles to the next exit while Lakeview patiently followed. We wound up in an OPP (Ont. Prov. Police) station parking lot. There was nobody there - many of these stations are unmanned day to day. I pulled off the tank bag and tail bag and extracted my OEM toolkit and found...no pliers - sh!t - and no pliers or cutters in the tail bag either. Damn and double-damn. All I had was the (greasy and pretty wonky) stock Yamaha underseat toolkit plus some extra cotter pins and a feeler gauge set that had fallen apart. PERHAPS the little nut on the set had vibrated off because the big nut riding the motorcycle had failed to Loctite it in place.
Oooooo-kkkkkk - I pulled the fuel tank off and removed the two 10mm nuts holding the stock coil on and then undid the HT terminal nut. Sure enough, the lead was loose in there. To make a long story short, I had it running again in a few minutes - but the repair was poor because I couldn't trim the end of the HT lead (no cutters and I didn't even have my &@&##%^*# jack knife). This same GD sequence was repeated TWICE more on the way to meet RobinC in Ingersoll at the bike meet. The second time we got to a farm house with two Harley's and three nice folks at it - and the chap loaned me a pair of pliers and a set of sidecutters - so that repair more or less held up for the remainder of the trip. I coasted for a while on the shoulder once more late in the day, when I was nearly back home, but she perked up and we made eventually made it. BTW - after the bike show we stopped at a Canadian Tire store in London and I bought a good set of piers, cutters and a couple of pocket knives.
We did get to meet RobinC at the show - about an hour late - and had a great visit (photos below). He has a beautiful '78 Standard (actually, he has TWO of them) and the three Yamahas looked great parked together. The bikes were remarkable: ranging from a tricked out H1 triple, a very pretty Suzuki GT380 Sebring and a couple of very hot RD350 ring-dings to some really nice British & Asian street and dirt bikes, to a wild looking TWIN-engined (holy cow!!) Norton (how in heck does he keep two of those things running at once??!!) drag bike - and the London CVMG folks put on a really good swap meet and show!
I found a couple of better pictures! LtoR you have Lakeview, RobinC and Maximum Pete (the CoilMeister). Check out the 1951(?) Nash station wagon and matching bike hauler trailer.
A highlight for me was seeing a couple of Ariel Square-Four engines in pieces on a bench. This 1000cc British bike from the 40s-50s was an amazing machine. It had two of their 500cc crankshaft-piston assemblies geared together to form a 4-cylinder vertical cylinder power unit that was as smooth and quiet as a Gold Wing. If you do all the math, the primary and secondary forces and couples are all perfectly balanced by the two geared 180 degree cranks and parallel-axis 250cc cylinders. Back in the mid-70s, I knew an old chap in Kingston, ON who had a Square-Four that he rode every day - and he used to kickstart it with his hand.
So, all-in-all, it was a good day:
- Lakeview & I had a good ride and we finally met RobinC;
- We saw a great classic bike show including some unique British technology;
- I got to test out my luggage on Lucille for my safari in September;
- I now have a more complete understanding of the limitations of the factory underseat toolkit;
- I had the opportunity to buy some more tools;
- Lakeview MAY have learned some colourful new words....
That's it from me for now. I'll close by saying thanks to RobinC and Lakeview for their patience with my old gal and I yesterday.
Cheers,
Pete
easy trip - as Lakeview was on his modern FJ09 and seems to have "no trouble" keeping up with Lucille and I My old gal is quite happy belting along at....well, modesty prevents, but 5000+ RPM in fifth is just fine.That was the plan anyway.
After a few minutes we stopped for fuel (Lucille is a bit of a lush at those speeds and I wanted to avoid walking because my knee is sore and it was a hot day already). After the fuel stop, we resumed our way and suddenly she started missing and f@rting - dammit - a sure sign that my coil HT lead repair of several days ago had pooped out. I putt-putted along the shoulder of the VERY busy freeway about 2 miles to the next exit while Lakeview patiently followed. We wound up in an OPP (Ont. Prov. Police) station parking lot. There was nobody there - many of these stations are unmanned day to day. I pulled off the tank bag and tail bag and extracted my OEM toolkit and found...no pliers - sh!t - and no pliers or cutters in the tail bag either. Damn and double-damn. All I had was the (greasy and pretty wonky) stock Yamaha underseat toolkit plus some extra cotter pins and a feeler gauge set that had fallen apart. PERHAPS the little nut on the set had vibrated off because the big nut riding the motorcycle had failed to Loctite it in place.
Oooooo-kkkkkk - I pulled the fuel tank off and removed the two 10mm nuts holding the stock coil on and then undid the HT terminal nut. Sure enough, the lead was loose in there. To make a long story short, I had it running again in a few minutes - but the repair was poor because I couldn't trim the end of the HT lead (no cutters and I didn't even have my &@&##%^*# jack knife). This same GD sequence was repeated TWICE more on the way to meet RobinC in Ingersoll at the bike meet. The second time we got to a farm house with two Harley's and three nice folks at it - and the chap loaned me a pair of pliers and a set of sidecutters - so that repair more or less held up for the remainder of the trip. I coasted for a while on the shoulder once more late in the day, when I was nearly back home, but she perked up and we made eventually made it. BTW - after the bike show we stopped at a Canadian Tire store in London and I bought a good set of piers, cutters and a couple of pocket knives.
We did get to meet RobinC at the show - about an hour late - and had a great visit (photos below). He has a beautiful '78 Standard (actually, he has TWO of them) and the three Yamahas looked great parked together. The bikes were remarkable: ranging from a tricked out H1 triple, a very pretty Suzuki GT380 Sebring and a couple of very hot RD350 ring-dings to some really nice British & Asian street and dirt bikes, to a wild looking TWIN-engined (holy cow!!) Norton (how in heck does he keep two of those things running at once??!!) drag bike - and the London CVMG folks put on a really good swap meet and show!
I found a couple of better pictures! LtoR you have Lakeview, RobinC and Maximum Pete (the CoilMeister). Check out the 1951(?) Nash station wagon and matching bike hauler trailer.
A highlight for me was seeing a couple of Ariel Square-Four engines in pieces on a bench. This 1000cc British bike from the 40s-50s was an amazing machine. It had two of their 500cc crankshaft-piston assemblies geared together to form a 4-cylinder vertical cylinder power unit that was as smooth and quiet as a Gold Wing. If you do all the math, the primary and secondary forces and couples are all perfectly balanced by the two geared 180 degree cranks and parallel-axis 250cc cylinders. Back in the mid-70s, I knew an old chap in Kingston, ON who had a Square-Four that he rode every day - and he used to kickstart it with his hand.
So, all-in-all, it was a good day:
- Lakeview & I had a good ride and we finally met RobinC;
- We saw a great classic bike show including some unique British technology;
- I got to test out my luggage on Lucille for my safari in September;
- I now have a more complete understanding of the limitations of the factory underseat toolkit;
- I had the opportunity to buy some more tools;
- Lakeview MAY have learned some colourful new words....
That's it from me for now. I'll close by saying thanks to RobinC and Lakeview for their patience with my old gal and I yesterday.
Cheers,
Pete
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Well I guess I should post some comments about yesterday in addition to Petes. 'What I did to my XS today' was ride er.
Had a great time at the rally and finally got to meet our esteemed forum bothers MaxPete and Lakeview.
What a treat and a couple of Great Guys!. Wish we had had more time but then we really would have needed our rubber boots.
Considering my bike needs internal surgery and ignition system doctoring, I was amazed at how well she ran.
Here she is waiting for the boys to arrive.
When we arrived at the show Pete said, you know you've really got that bike running great why don't you ride it for the summer and wait till fall to do your engine job. Hmmmmm.
Leaving the show got a touch of 'lackanavigationitis' and got lost.
Took another 2 ½+ hours on the highway to get home. Tough one.
These hotter plugs gggGary suggested running seem to be doing the trick, not fouling as bad, a few more days will tell for sure.
Pete suggested getting new advance springs, so I'm thinking I'll pull the advance springs and if necessary the bob weights off my other bike, and swap them in and see if that settles down my slow to return sometimes advance weights.
Also heard some rear wheel noise when backing into the shop. Mechanics stethoscope indicates some rear wheel bearing grinding. I hate taking the rear wheel off!
It's funny, parts shipping to Canada seems to be slower in the nice summer months, so I may be FORCED to take "Da Professors" advice and wait a little longer to pull that engine. If that be my fate, I'll just have to deal with it I guess.
Had a great time at the rally and finally got to meet our esteemed forum bothers MaxPete and Lakeview.
What a treat and a couple of Great Guys!. Wish we had had more time but then we really would have needed our rubber boots.
Considering my bike needs internal surgery and ignition system doctoring, I was amazed at how well she ran.
Here she is waiting for the boys to arrive.
When we arrived at the show Pete said, you know you've really got that bike running great why don't you ride it for the summer and wait till fall to do your engine job. Hmmmmm.
Leaving the show got a touch of 'lackanavigationitis' and got lost.
Took another 2 ½+ hours on the highway to get home. Tough one.
These hotter plugs gggGary suggested running seem to be doing the trick, not fouling as bad, a few more days will tell for sure.
Pete suggested getting new advance springs, so I'm thinking I'll pull the advance springs and if necessary the bob weights off my other bike, and swap them in and see if that settles down my slow to return sometimes advance weights.
Also heard some rear wheel noise when backing into the shop. Mechanics stethoscope indicates some rear wheel bearing grinding. I hate taking the rear wheel off!
It's funny, parts shipping to Canada seems to be slower in the nice summer months, so I may be FORCED to take "Da Professors" advice and wait a little longer to pull that engine. If that be my fate, I'll just have to deal with it I guess.
This should maybe go under "What have you done 'with' your XStoday.
You guys are so right about the comments you get wherever you park one of these bikes anywhere.
Conversation goes kinda like this:
“Wow, nice bike.”
“Thank you”
“What year is it?”
“77”
“Wow, what can you tell me about it?”
“How much time ya got?”
Couple of cool sidebar stories from yesterday’s CVMG rally.
While waiting for MaxPete and Lakeview, I met the nicest young fellow 'Ted’, (who is the Inn’s where we were meeting up to then go to the show) maintenance guy. He services, tears down and repairs all the equipment and is familiar with 2 stroke dirt bikes from when he was a kid. So, he is no stranger to twisting a wrench.
He said he is looking for a 'real motorcycle’ and was thinking about one of these.
The hour I was waiting for the guys was a mere fleeting moment.
Ted and I are going shopping soon.
Pete and Lakeview had to hit the road early, so I hung around chattin’ it up with some real cool folk.
Met ‘Kevin’, he's having some carb issues.
Told him I’m no expert, he said “I know nothing, sounds like you know a bit more than me, would you pop by sometime?”
Sure, I'd be happy to come have a look, and see if I can help, here's my card, give me a call.
Gotta start taking more business cards to these bike shows.
BTW Pete, may have sold Larry’s bike for him. “Yamaholly” said she just ‘Might’ be looking for a 6th Yamaha to preserve.
You guys are so right about the comments you get wherever you park one of these bikes anywhere.
Conversation goes kinda like this:
“Wow, nice bike.”
“Thank you”
“What year is it?”
“77”
“Wow, what can you tell me about it?”
“How much time ya got?”
Couple of cool sidebar stories from yesterday’s CVMG rally.
While waiting for MaxPete and Lakeview, I met the nicest young fellow 'Ted’, (who is the Inn’s where we were meeting up to then go to the show) maintenance guy. He services, tears down and repairs all the equipment and is familiar with 2 stroke dirt bikes from when he was a kid. So, he is no stranger to twisting a wrench.
He said he is looking for a 'real motorcycle’ and was thinking about one of these.
The hour I was waiting for the guys was a mere fleeting moment.
Ted and I are going shopping soon.
Pete and Lakeview had to hit the road early, so I hung around chattin’ it up with some real cool folk.
Met ‘Kevin’, he's having some carb issues.
Told him I’m no expert, he said “I know nothing, sounds like you know a bit more than me, would you pop by sometime?”
Sure, I'd be happy to come have a look, and see if I can help, here's my card, give me a call.
Gotta start taking more business cards to these bike shows.
BTW Pete, may have sold Larry’s bike for him. “Yamaholly” said she just ‘Might’ be looking for a 6th Yamaha to preserve.
Robin I think you need to get yourself a barn and start collecting these old Yamahas, and it looks like you could start a new side business as a carburetor Guru!
You guys are awesome. I am so nervous to take my bike more than 30 miles from home and you guys just hop on and ride for hours , fix your bikes on the side of the road, and have a great time. You guys have a fearless, I'll figure it out attitude that I love. Good for you! I gotta get me some of that attitude!
You guys are awesome. I am so nervous to take my bike more than 30 miles from home and you guys just hop on and ride for hours , fix your bikes on the side of the road, and have a great time. You guys have a fearless, I'll figure it out attitude that I love. Good for you! I gotta get me some of that attitude!
Well, I must admit that when the first cylinder drop-out occurred yesterday, I thought for a moment about turning back. But when I realized that I could fix the problem and moreover that I had forgotten my &@$#%%# tools and even my pocket knife, I thought 
I want to go to the classic bike show and THAT is what I am going to do - and Lucille can just handle it.
So, she and I had a 310 mile (500+ km) day yesterday and she still runs well and I am still able to walk up and down the stairs - so, it worked out OK.
I want to go to the classic bike show and THAT is what I am going to do - and Lucille can just handle it. So, she and I had a 310 mile (500+ km) day yesterday and she still runs well and I am still able to walk up and down the stairs - so, it worked out OK.
Well, I must admit that when the first cylinder drop-out occurred yesterday, I thought for a moment about turning back. But when I realized that I could fix the problem and moreover that I had forgotten my &@$#%%# tools and even my pocket knife, I thought
So, she and I had a 310 mile (500+ km) day yesterday and she still runs well and I am still able to walk up and down the stairs - so, it worked out OK.
Haha! I love the last line, " I am still able to walk up and down the stairs"
That is so me, my knees aren't what they used to be!
One other thing, at freeway speeds, my bike vibrates so much, I am afraid of grenading the motor.
That's where she seems to settle down and enjoy herself Bob.....lol.
