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Thank you Jim! That was it. Unplugging the relay prevented the bike from stopping when shifting into gear. I was so focused on the Starter Safety Relay I had just been working on, that I didn't think it through. I'll probably fix that kickstand switch, as I had a friend catapult himself...

Hello, pulled the boys 83 XS650 out to get it ready for the season. Key on, press start button, nothing. Not even a click. Jump across the starter solenoid, rur-rur-rur! Ok, starter is fine. Check the trigger wires on the solenoid. Blue/white shows continuity to ground when start...

Hmm. Interesting. This is the motor I swapped in over the winter, after the boy bent the crank on the original one. The neutral switch in the replacement motor one was always on, so I swapped it for the one out of the original motor. Currently the neutral switch is functioning correctly...

Thanks Jim. I bypassed it for now, but I'd like to have it working correctly. Perhaps its the clutch relay that's bad? It broke at the lever, so we removed all of it a few years ago. It was easy enough to hold the choke rack in with one hand for a few seconds while starting on cold mornings...

Hi Jim, thank you for the reply. I seem to be confusing things here. I thought the clutch and side stand interlock worked together. From your diagram maybe they are a little more separate than I thought. So what would make me need to pull the clutch in order to start, even though the bike...

Can someone walk me thru how the Kickstand interlock works? Bike used to start in neutral on the kickstand. Now it won't; have to pull the clutch in for the starter to spin. (worked fine for years; then intermittent this spring, and now not working at all. I tested the kickstand switch...

No experience on an XS but Trispark Gen 3 is awesome on my '72 Norton. The model is known hard to start due to high compression, but with the Trispark it occasionally fires up while just rolling the engine over to find TDC. (kickstart only on the '72) Trispark went thru some teething pains...

Update. Since I didn't feel like tearing this motor apart, I picked up a used motor from a gentleman in Utica. Snow-mageddon (or was it SnowPocalypse?) happened on Friday, and the boy was home from school, so he and I swapped the motor in the Breakfast Room. Garage was much too cold...

Two thoughts. If you don't have a set of safety wire pliers, they are only $15 at Harbor Fright. They are very useful. I have put entire car front bumper assemblies back on with nothing more than lock wire and these pliers, from some of my sons mishaps. Airdams on the front of my wife's...

The notion of going out to the shop and whacking on the end of that crank with a brass hammer right now is somewhat appealing... I do have a dial indicator! Tack welding the crank is common practice in some cranks I have worked with, notably the Robin (Fuji) 2 stroke cranks as fitted to...

Try it again, I changed it to "not made for kids". Or email me at delagemb at gmail and I can forward it to you. I'm just amazed this happened. I wasn't riding it, but it wasn't under any large load (sidecar has been off he bike for a year). Son weighs 140 lbs, claims he was just driving...

Ugh. I was REALLY hoping it was anything else. [video] So, who rebuilds cranks?

Sons '83 XS650 is making a turbocharger whine. My first thought was cam chain tensioner has shed its rubber or something. Short video below. I'd love a 2nd opinion! What does it sound like? What's the fix? I seem to recall there's 2 sliders in there, one is easy to change, one difficult...

Bill, can you elaborate on this? We have an 83 and certainly didn't have to remove the engine to swap the sump filter. I too tried to get an adapter plate from Muddergirl, she did get back to me but it took long enough that I decided to purchase one thru XS650Shop.de before she did. Very...

While I appreciate tips like these, I absolutely despise Partzilla. I bought a bunch of parts for the XS650 project, paid for expedited shipping, and 2 weeks later still didn't have my parts. So I looked into it. They held up the entire order over a stupid paper gasket, without telling me...

Standard advice from any tire guy at the race track. That'll get max grip. If you want longer tire life, you'll have to forego some of that grip, and raise the pressure a bit.

I wanted to keep the stock fuse box (low profile fit under the Counterbalance Cycles seat nicely) and mine had the broken fuse tabs as well, so I made a 3/8" spade crimp connector into a fuse holder. Just took a few minutes with a pair of pliers and a dental pick.

If it were mine, I'd put a honkin' big screwdriver in there, and pry that brace away about 1/4". I'd put a piece of cut pipe or something to pry against, to prevent flattening/damaging the swingarm or brace. And put a block on the other side while prying, to keep the entire brace on the far...

I was the friend on an incident like you described in the first post, back in 1992. Ever since then, every bike toolkit I have, has a spare master link in it, even though I have riveted my chains since I started racing in 1996. I think they're good luck charms, I haven't needed one yet!

Well, you guys were right! The car with no one in it, or just the 70 lb dog, is fine. Put a full-size adult in it, however, and it becomes a handful! Still reasonable when going straight, but definitely an arm-wrestling match on a twisty road, or with a lot of turns around town. If the car...