Got the rig entered in an antique bike display this Sunday and as that's coincidentally my birthday I thought I'd better clean the thing.
Just as well I didn't wait until tomorrow.
Checking the rear tire squeak that I heard when I pushed the rig outside I found it's rubbing on the right side of the swingarm.
A mere adjustment will fix that.
Slacking off the rear axle put my eyes close enough to the chainguard to see it's rear attachment bolt had gone AWOL and the bolt holes didn't line up any more.
Now, a good thing! With the rear wheel removed I can see the shiny patch on the swingarm that verifies where the tire squeak came from.
And a bad thing! Pulling the rear wheel to access the chainguard led me to heave on the swingarm to see that the swingarm pivot has movement.
If the throughbolt needs to be tightened, no problem. If the bushings are worn the re-bushing job can wait until winter.
(It's only 15 years ago I replaced the plastic bushings with bronze ones, too! Things don't last as long as they used to, eh?)
And the chainguard is binding against the alternator cover casting.
Had to remove the leftside footpeg and the gearshift lever to slacken off the cover screws to pull the cover out just a tad to get the chainguard back into line.
Pulling the shift lever showed me it'd gone all wobbly on it's spline again. Did my rollpin fix not work? Yes, but only until the rollpin fell out. I got another one though! Re-drill deeper, pound in harder, I WILL prevail!
Conclusions:-
It's amazing how well an XS650 will survive shoddy maintenance.
If you clean it more frequently you'll notice problems sooner.
And if I get the thing back together today perhaps I'll clean it tomorrow.
[Later]
Got it all back together just in time to fling a pizza in the oven for supper.
Took the evening off. Son dropped the dog off muttering about his wife's effin' relatives proving incapable of getting a family supper organized on time. Gave him the left over pizza to tide him over.
Chainguard re-bolted, rear wheel re-installed and not rubbing the swingarm any more, shift pedal rollpin hole drilled right through and a replacement rollpin installed. Tightened the swingarm throughbolt's nut until I ran out of grunt (perhaps a full turn) which did fix the swingarm's movement problem.
If it don't rain tomorrow afternoon it's still got a chance of being cleaned for Sunday's show.