Tumblin
XS650 Member
Hello TX and XS'ers,
I was given this 80 special from a new friend that I met walking his dog in my neighborhood. As a professional painter he had admired my house painting strategy and finished product on his strolls. We chatted about everything except motorcycles until I finally got around to telling him about a basket case Triumph I just missed out on to appease my garage Moto fix over the winter. The conversations then got more serious with the typical bench racing when we'l intersect. I shared how I competed and actually won our local TT/Flat Track hi-point one year competing against the twins with my CZ400. How I shook up the competition with my squared up turns and railing the fence LOL.
My new friend Ron invited me over to his house for a beer and after multiples he rolled out his XS from the shed. He then asked me if I was interested in taking on bringing back to life this project. Well both tires were flat, the throttle was seized with corrosion and rust beginning to consume. He hadn't rode it in 10 years but after all the stories I knew it meant a lot to him. I volunteered to see what we could do to get it back on the road for him and then he handed me his title and said, no I want you to have it!
As I said I've always loved the twins...motors that is and actually the early XS models but the Specials are some of my least favorites with their King/Queen seats, rear wheel weight emphasis and those damn rototiller bars, JMHO! Knowing his pride I said I would love to fix it for him, but for me I always wanted to customize one to my liking. He said perfect, its meant for you to enjoy, its just rotting here and motorcycles are too much fun - meant to be admired and rode!
So all this led me to you guys, it is amazing the exposure to friends and communities our 2 wheel passion spins us towards.
The picture unfortunately isn't a great representation of what the jewel looked like the day we pulled her from the shed. Taken after I had scrubbed her clean, changed the bars, filters, fluids, battery, plugs, cleaned and soldered up both carb floats, inflated tires and put a hundred miles on her around my valley. Both cylinders were pushing 200lbs and I was confident with my tear down that thee motor was going to be well down the road.
I was given this 80 special from a new friend that I met walking his dog in my neighborhood. As a professional painter he had admired my house painting strategy and finished product on his strolls. We chatted about everything except motorcycles until I finally got around to telling him about a basket case Triumph I just missed out on to appease my garage Moto fix over the winter. The conversations then got more serious with the typical bench racing when we'l intersect. I shared how I competed and actually won our local TT/Flat Track hi-point one year competing against the twins with my CZ400. How I shook up the competition with my squared up turns and railing the fence LOL.
My new friend Ron invited me over to his house for a beer and after multiples he rolled out his XS from the shed. He then asked me if I was interested in taking on bringing back to life this project. Well both tires were flat, the throttle was seized with corrosion and rust beginning to consume. He hadn't rode it in 10 years but after all the stories I knew it meant a lot to him. I volunteered to see what we could do to get it back on the road for him and then he handed me his title and said, no I want you to have it!
As I said I've always loved the twins...motors that is and actually the early XS models but the Specials are some of my least favorites with their King/Queen seats, rear wheel weight emphasis and those damn rototiller bars, JMHO! Knowing his pride I said I would love to fix it for him, but for me I always wanted to customize one to my liking. He said perfect, its meant for you to enjoy, its just rotting here and motorcycles are too much fun - meant to be admired and rode!
So all this led me to you guys, it is amazing the exposure to friends and communities our 2 wheel passion spins us towards.
The picture unfortunately isn't a great representation of what the jewel looked like the day we pulled her from the shed. Taken after I had scrubbed her clean, changed the bars, filters, fluids, battery, plugs, cleaned and soldered up both carb floats, inflated tires and put a hundred miles on her around my valley. Both cylinders were pushing 200lbs and I was confident with my tear down that thee motor was going to be well down the road.