maintenance

Last October my 78'SE was heavily rear ended by another bike. My buddy following me on a 3rd Generation Honda Magna failed to notice me slowing for a turn and hit me squarely in the rear tire with his front tire. Naturally this put us both down hard. The XS went down on its right side and...

Ok. So I followed the advice from the board and re-torqued my head. It runs great but I have oil seeping/streaming from my base gasket. I may have screwed up when I took the head nuts off because I took the opportunity to replace the old rubber washers with brass washers and also to replace the...

Just wanted to thank you all who contributed to my threads about restoring my whole brake system. And of course you all who wrote older threads which I've been reading witg great interest. It's been a small but interesting journey. Did some mistakes but learnt a lot. And yes, the brakes are not...

Hi everyone, so I finally was able to get a hole of a bore gauge and micrometer to measure my cylinder/pistons. Cylinder is in spec and almost perfectly round. Pistons however, not so much. pistons are about 0.015" sloppy... So I'm going to replace the pistons and rings and get her back up...

Hi guys, I'm in Vancouver and am looking to do a week through the rockies in summer. I was wondering about my 78 XS and altitude. Does anyone have any experience changing the fuel/air mix going from 0m to 1500m altitude? What should I expect to happen and what should I need to do to fix...

got one wheel together today and a set of bearings for another rear hub are on the way so it was time to clean up the rear drum. I buy sitters and barn bikes often as not watter has gotten in the rear hub. sometimes the shoes have fallen off the carriers usually there is rust on the surface of...

I've been wanting to monitor the top end oiling of my XS1B for a long time. So, I added an oil pressure gauge to monitor the oil pressures delivered through the front oil pipe to the top end. Back in 1974, I had plumbed an oil pressure gauge to the main oil gallery, front of the right side...

Hey guys, Got on my 650 after a month or so and realized that it started wobbling pretty badly above 15mph or so.. Last time I rode there was no issue. Does anyone know what might be the problem? Anything I can check? It was a little scary to ride so I only got up to about 30 mph before I...

Hi Everyone, I have a 1978 XS650 that I just brought back to live after being stored away for 31 years. It was stored away after the owner ran the bike low in oil, and then heard a knocking noise the next day. What a surprise, I have a strange tick/knocking noise. I'm afraid it could be a rod...

Hey guys. This is my first post. Wish it was under better circumstances but I'm chasin a problem I can't figure out. I picked up my 81 last summer and rode it a bit but it never ran right and I had to kick the living hell out of it to get it to start. Electric start is intermittent??? Least...

I installed these on my 1981 XS650H today. I'm still fooling around with the adjustment, but it works. The master cylinder is made for level handlebars, so on my stock bars I had to slide it forward until it was level to fill it and bleed it. Then I put the cover on and slid it back into its...

Several years ago, I set my XS1B ignition timing a bit retarded to improve my idle stability, reduce vibrations, and give a smoother and more docile power output to match my sedate 'old man' riding style. Then, after building my LED Ignition Timing Light, I reset my retarded ignition timing...

Just recently got to test ride my bike before I tear it apart for powder coating. I'm getting some gas in my old and I checked my carbs after sitting for a couple days and they seemed a little to wet for a bike that hasn't been ran for awhile. I'm assuming it's my float needle. When the bike is...

hey guys. I need some help. I have a 1980 XS650 and I have been doing a lot of work on it over the winter. I replaced the clutch bearing, friction plates, clutch plates, clutch springs, and stews to the allen key type. basically the whole clutch set-up. When I was all done and slapped it back...

Morning guys, I picked up my first XS650 a few weeks back. Its had lots of work done to it already (set up as a flat tracker, some really good stuff), but it was never really run in after the guy built it, so I'm having to work out a few little bugs. One of which is a little oil leaking...

Some years ago I had the privilege of meeting Ken Maxwell (Uncle Ken - aka UK) and he personally gave me a copy of Yamaha Wiring Explained (YWE). If you have never seen it, it's great, and I used it to rebuild the charging system on my 1981 XS650H, which has worked great ever since. The...

I bought a used master cylinder on eBay. Cosmetically it looks great but the reservoir was full of rust and sludge. I tried to clean it out but nothing goes through when I squeeze the lever. I tried holding the lever down and blowing air through the hole in the bottom. No go. Is there a way to...

Does anyone have a picture of how the shims go in for my 1981 front brake caliper? As some of you may remember, I recently rebuilt my front caliper. It worked fine for a day. Next day I took the bike to a shop to have the wheels relaced. About 10 blocks from the shop the caliper froze up...

I get this asked a lot and things you need to remember about your bike . YOU have to maintain it. Great way to learn your bike is BUY A BOOK learn how to do some repairs and most of all know when you are over your head and get help. I have repaired so many different kinds of bikes over the...

So I've called around everywhere trying to find some fork oil for my front end that I'm about to lower, and all I could find was 15w bicycle suspension oil. It says it's no foam high V.I. on the packaging. The brand is finish line. You guys think this will do fine? I remember reading somewhere...