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Are these bikes ever really done?
- Thread starter Mailman
- Start date
And the fact that they (customers) can't restore bodies, has kept me fed for decades.
Oh that ratter has but a flesh wound.Here are a few images of Alvis TD cars:
ALVIS RATTER Mine was not as bad as this
View attachment 230175
ALVIS BETTER
View attachment 230176
ALVIS BEST
View attachment 230177
SORRY FOR THE
It appears to be leprosy.
Here we are! Haha
Haven’t dug into it yet, but all the sudden I was cruising at 140! —- and the needle got there going backwards! Haha.
We continue on with one that is still not done.
My goodness!; parts of that bike look near showroom
My goodness!; parts of that bike look near showroom
All credit to mailman! - I’m just the caretaker.
Did he give you a warranty? Lol
As an aircraft mechanic, my favorite was, “I’d let my mother-in-law fly on it!”
The premise is "are you ever finished?" I could ruin this bike by making it more civilized. It is loud, fast and a reasonable rider. Anything in my imagination would "tame it" so I should not mess with it further.
This is one of the reasons I started the "Red Bike" project. I hadn't ridden an essentially stock XS650 in 44 years. But, I wanted an XS650 that covered what an XS650 represented (to me anyway) in the early 70's. This bike will get indicators. I can cut off the stalk, tap the remaining core and mount the indicatpr shells in close and tidy with the retro indicators intact.
That's pretty generous60 minutes or 60 feet…whichever came first!
My God! Was that three years ago? Seems like last week. You forgot to mention how both bikes are show stoppers Bob.So three years ago, this was me, proudly ( and foolishly ) proclaiming that I had finished my year long restoration of my XS2,
View attachment 210983
Since that day, I have managed to put roughly 3600 miles on it, not really all that much. The first year was like being on a honeymoon, it was all smiles all the time, my bike ran perfect and looked pretty darn good ( if I do say so myself). But since then , there has been a trail of tears leading from my garage. First my gas tank liner melted and ruined my gas tank so I sent my gas tank back for a warranty repair, which they botched badly. This led to me having to source a replacement gas tank and have it painted by @Jim ( which came out brilliantly
)
View attachment 210991View attachment 210992View attachment 210993
Then I realized that the melted gas tank liner had also ruined my motor and gummed up my carburetors, which led to me pulling the motor and rebuilding the top end Again.
View attachment 210995View attachment 210999View attachment 210994View attachment 210986
Then once I finally got the gas tank back and the motor rebuilt, I had ignition gremlins that I couldn’t figure out for a long time. During this period, I replaced the coils but that didn’t help,
View attachment 210990
and I finally figured out that it was my Pamco ignition which had failed. That led me to installing a Boyer Ignition, and that solved that issue.
View attachment 210988
I also had a self inflicted problem, I had removed the brushes from the stator, and also the holder for the brushes and when I put everything back together, not realizing the screws were different lengths, I accidentally swapped locations and ran a screw into my perfectly good rotor, thus ruining it. Leading to me buying a rebuilt rotor from good ol Jim. It was a thing of beauty!
View attachment 210989View attachment 210997View attachment 210996
All of this mayhem cost me nearly a year of riding time, it just seemed endless, one problem after another. So now it’s running good again, I’ve been taking mostly short rides under 100 miles on it.
And……..it now has a pretty steady oil leak coming from the right side cam cover, probably needs a new gasket. And my speedometer which recently has started bouncing a little, is now bouncing wildly and I can only presume it is near failure. Sigh……..
My other bike, my ‘77D has just been the picture of reliability and civility. I had to sort through a lot of stuff early on, but since then it just plows all day like an old tractor. And it has three times the mileage and has never had the motor apart, and it still has better compression than I’ve ever been able to get out of my XS2!
So I ask you…..are these bikes ever really done?
View attachment 210985View attachment 211000
Kevin, Mikes sell short signal stalks. I have them on my 75 and I think they look great.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/150934036599
these will set you back $50 and have that early look. I forget where but I found red lenses also, for safety amber in the rear stand out better in traffic.
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Thank you. The exististing indicators are in very nice shape. I have one half finished and the process is straight forward. If I run into snags I will definitely consider either of those.
JRP01
XS650 Enthusiast
NopeSo three years ago, this was me, proudly ( and foolishly ) proclaiming that I had finished my year long restoration of my XS2,
View attachment 210983
Since that day, I have managed to put roughly 3600 miles on it, not really all that much. The first year was like being on a honeymoon, it was all smiles all the time, my bike ran perfect and looked pretty darn good ( if I do say so myself
View attachment 210991View attachment 210992View attachment 210993
Then I realized that the melted gas tank liner had also ruined my motor and gummed up my carburetors, which led to me pulling the motor and rebuilding the top end Again.
View attachment 210995View attachment 210999View attachment 210994View attachment 210986
Then once I finally got the gas tank back and the motor rebuilt, I had ignition gremlins that I couldn’t figure out for a long time. During this period, I replaced the coils but that didn’t help,
View attachment 210990
and I finally figured out that it was my Pamco ignition which had failed. That led me to installing a Boyer Ignition, and that solved that issue.
View attachment 210988
I also had a self inflicted problem, I had removed the brushes from the stator, and also the holder for the brushes and when I put everything back together, not realizing the screws were different lengths, I accidentally swapped locations and ran a screw into my perfectly good rotor, thus ruining it. Leading to me buying a rebuilt rotor from good ol Jim. It was a thing of beauty!
View attachment 210989View attachment 210997View attachment 210996
All of this mayhem cost me nearly a year of riding time, it just seemed endless, one problem after another. So now it’s running good again, I’ve been taking mostly short rides under 100 miles on it.
And……..it now has a pretty steady oil leak coming from the right side cam cover, probably needs a new gasket. And my speedometer which recently has started bouncing a little, is now bouncing wildly and I can only presume it is near failure. Sigh……..
My other bike, my ‘77D has just been the picture of reliability and civility. I had to sort through a lot of stuff early on, but since then it just plows all day like an old tractor. And it has three times the mileage and has never had the motor apart, and it still has better compression than I’ve ever been able to get out of my XS2!
So I ask you…..are these bikes ever really done?
View attachment 210985View attachment 211000
All part of the charm...they aren't boring. 
Long story short, nothing broken.
I tightened the handlebars the other day (put an extra shim to tighten up the bars in the rubber mounts)
Not sure it it was just coincidence but it seemed to vibrate a bit different.
Anywho… basically the needle vibrated loose and spun around.
Now just gotta put em back together.
I tightened the handlebars the other day (put an extra shim to tighten up the bars in the rubber mounts)
Not sure it it was just coincidence but it seemed to vibrate a bit different.
Anywho… basically the needle vibrated loose and spun around.
Now just gotta put em back together.
