What have you done to your XS today?

Morris Sheppard Damn, 2M! Good thing you weren't under it! It didn't happen in town, or at a rally, so there probably weren't many (if any) witnesses, and the injury to your pride will be minimal. Dang it, this is just another reason why my mother-in-law keeps telling me motorcycles are dangerous!
 
Got the frame taken apart with my father and put it in the "trunk" of a Ford Focus to have the vin verification done Monday and then have a shop quote for welding on the hardtail on Tuesday. Too bad I don't have a street legal trailer lol.
 
Had a huge weekend! Got a 130.00 ticket for my blacked out window tint on the cage, so I spent a couple hours scraping that off. Played my first paying gig Friday night and made out with 200.00. Just enough to cover the ticket and a couple tanks of gas. Today was 60 amd sunny here, so I called up a buddy, the organizer of the local DGR who happens to live just 4 blocks away and we went for a good 2 hour ride. He was on his 02 Triumph scrambler 900. Bike ran good, new tires feel great. Going to have to get used to the sensitivity of the new steering neck bearings; it is VERY responsive now. Went for another quick ride later on, had my girlfriend snap a few pics for you guys. So ready for summer. Next weekend is supposed to be warmer than this weekend was, and Sunday is daylight savings. Won’t be long now. I’m on the sidewalk because our driveway is a 45 degree angle out of the single stall garage, which doesn't have a door to the inside of the house, so When our cars are on the lower driveway, I can’t roll straight out and I have to roll the bike down to the sidewalk, run back into the house and close the garage door with the single push open/close button, then run back down to the bike and ride up the sidewalk to the alley and pull out into the street.
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tzimmerm said:
Had a huge weekend! Got a 130.00 ticket for my blacked out window tint on the cage, so I spent a couple hours scraping that off. Played my first paying gig Friday night and made out with 200.00. Just enough to cover the ticket and a couple tanks of gas. Today was 60 amd sunny here, so I called up a buddy, the organizer of the local DGR who happens to live just 4 blocks away and we went for a good 2 hour ride. He was on his 02 Triumph scrambler 900. Bike ran good, new tires feel great. Going to have to get used to the sensitivity of the new steering neck bearings; it is VERY responsive now. Went for another quick ride later on, had my girlfriend snap a few pics for you guys. So ready for summer. Next weekend is supposed to be warmer than this weekend was, and Sunday is daylight savings. Won’t be long now. I’m on the sidewalk because our driveway is a 45 degree angle out of the single stall garage, which doesn't have a door to the inside of the house, so When our cars are on the lower driveway, I can’t roll straight out and I have to roll the bike down to the sidewalk, run back into the house and close the garage door with the single push open/close button, then run back down to the bike and ride up the sidewalk to the alley and pull out into the street. View attachment 161090
View attachment 161091
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I think you've got the makings for a cool reality TV show, "The Wild Adventures of Tzimmerm" :)
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Thanks guys. One trip down, left puyallup WA at 7am pacific time saturday, got to OKC at 6pm sunday pacific time. 2000 miles, plenty of gas stops and 1 short hotel stop. Not looking forward to making the drive again in a week, in a big uhaul.
 
TwoManyXS1Bs said:
Not enuff Wheaties this morning.

Thank God for tractors.

No damage. She went down slow and easy onto soft dirt.
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Ooh - it's horrible when that happens. Bike can only lean away from you a minimal amount, maybe 5°, it get's to 6° and there's that helpless feeling, everything goes into slow motion and down she goes. Then you replay the moment and think you could have saved it. Bit pointless. Then you make a mental note to avoid the situation in future. Those Victories are heavy. One reason Mrs suggested I sell the Victory Hammer was she said you don't look fully at ease pushing it around 'cause it's so big and heavy. She was right.

If there's nobody around you have to say it yourself - Now you didn't really want to do that!

At least no harm done.
 
I was on a trip several years ago and saw an XS650 and some parts sittting on a lawn with a for-sale sign leaning against them and so I unwisely tried a u-turn on my ST1300 to have a look. Unfortunately, I had to intrude onto the shoulder of the road a few inches to make the turn and while it looked OK - the entire shoulder was very soft sand and holy cow, what a nasty feeling as the front wheel started sliding sideways across the sand and sinking deeper into it.

Fortunately, there were three big dudes sitting enjoying a cool BEvERage on a farmhouse porch within earshot and they came jogging over and helped me out. Otherwise, I think I would still have been there to this day.
 
Raymondo said:
I'm sure you are aware of need to align dot on clutch drum with maker hole on the pressure plate?
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It looks like I'll be reading up on this subject. I havent seen this bike run or drive yet. I'm in no hurry(which you shouldnt be regardless). I must of skipped over this in my manual. I guess this will also give me the opportunity to replace the friction plates because they are out of spec. Might even replace the screws with the allen head bolts that XS Direct sells.
 
Tiesco said:
I wouldn't be surprised if missed something when I reassembled my clutch but for now I'll start with checking the cable and the arm on the left side cover as well as the pushrod
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The other common clutch actuation issue is to lose the small ball bearing that lives INSIDE the clutch actuator (aka the worm) which is mounted in the left hand engine case cover.

That ball bearing is usually staked in there by the little mounting cup - but they can get loose after a while and if it falls out when you remove the cover - the clutch will not work properly.

Pete
 
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Tiesco said:
It looks like I'll be reading up on this subject. I havent seen this bike run or drive yet. I'm in no hurry(which you shouldnt be regardless). I must of skipped over this in my manual. I guess this will also give me the opportunity to replace the friction plates because they are out of spec. Might even replace the screws with the allen head bolts that XS Direct sells.
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Shop around for the allen bolt retainers; they are plentiful these days. I bought some off amazon, and folks are making them and selling them on ebay. Most of these places have free shipping and possibly lower prices than mikes or xsdirect. I strongly recommend them; I have a set myself. Makes getting in/out the clutch plates a lot easier. New friction plates, retainers, springs, and a proper adjustment to your worm gear should leave you with a Solid, dependable clutch, assuming you have the basket assembled properly.
 
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I've been trying to find vendors for parts other than websites specifically dedicated to the xs650 like Mikexs and xsdirect lately.
 

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