eidemaddin
XS650 Enthusiast
Great!
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Interesting motorcycles, not XS650
- Thread starter Kevin Werner
- Start date
Charles13
XS650 Addict
V4 2 stroke?
looks like a flat head 4 stroke?
eidemaddin
XS650 Enthusiast
Correct 
Wooler. How does this even work?
A 55 Wooler
Wooler returned in 1945 to 1956 in Harrow; Alperton, Middlesex and Twickenham and In 1948 Wooler’s previous developments ideas went into his final Motorcycle, a 500 cc transverse four capable of 90mph with shaft drive and with an unusual beam type engine with the cylinders set one above the other 2 each side of the engine. The pistons connected to a beam similar to that used in steam engines, the beam was connected to the crankshaft set below the cylinder level. It had direct drive to a four-speed gearbox and shaft final drive.
The engine was housed into a duplex frame, having twin plunger dampers on each side for front and rear suspension. The petrol tank in Wooler style ran round the headstock and had a headlamp fitted in its nose, its exhaust was integrated into the frame tubing and the gasses ran down inside the frame exiting at the rear, a rocker pedal on the left side of the bike was for shifting gears. Advertised sales features were, “Interchangeable, quickly detachable wheels” (if you get a flat on the back you can swap it with the front one), “Front and rear springing” (unusual for the day), “Alloy hubs and massive brakes“ (lighter hubs aid a comfortable ride and for safety bigger brakes), “Shaft drive” (not the normal dirty high maintenance oily chain), “Unit construction” (engine in one assembly not a separate gearbox easier to remove and less maintenance), “Flat four cylinder engine” (improved frontal area for engine cooling and smoother engine due to the firing arangement), “Complete accessibility – two spanners only” (The entire motorcycle only used only 2 sizes of nut and bolt making it a very easy machine to work on outside of a tool filled workshop A winged spanner was chosen as the company’s emblem: a reference to the fact that only two sizes of fastening had been used throughout the machine), “Petrol tank incorporating electrical equipment” (for a neater look and weather protection for the system)
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Charles13
XS650 Addict
Now that’s a valve train!
connecting rods and crankshaft.
apparently the pin directly above crank center is fixed center for a bell crank between piston connecting rods and crank connecting rod.
Charles13
XS650 Addict
I should have noticed that it is a 4 cylinder, I guess we are so accustomed to conventional engineering that we fail to see the obvious. I worked on German machines most of my life and some of the ground up engineering ideas that are truly superior in their application seemed very odd at first site.connecting rods and crankshaft.
apparently the pin directly above crank center is fixed center for a bell crank between piston connecting rods and crank connecting rod.
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eidemaddin
XS650 Enthusiast
Simply great, Wooler stayed true to his concept of the “flying banana” until the end. That was real design history : )
Charles13
XS650 Addict
This is for sale Kawasaki 500
I'm a fan of the GPz.
On Saturday, I bought another bike - not an XS650.
I want to replay my misspent youth when, in the winter of 1980-81, I traded in my 1975 XS650B for a brand new - leftover 1979 Suzuki GS850G (see below). I stupidly sold the Suzuki in about 1994 for a pittance....NEVER sell a bike - lesson learned.
@lakeview found yet another XS650 in a small town near us - and the guy also had a somewhat rougher GS850G for sale cheap...so....I went up there and bought it.
This new bike is not pretty (it sure doesn't look like my red bike depicted above), but these old GS Suzukis are tough, and so I fully anticipate a successful resurrection and will show photos when they are available.
I want to replay my misspent youth when, in the winter of 1980-81, I traded in my 1975 XS650B for a brand new - leftover 1979 Suzuki GS850G (see below). I stupidly sold the Suzuki in about 1994 for a pittance....NEVER sell a bike - lesson learned.
@lakeview found yet another XS650 in a small town near us - and the guy also had a somewhat rougher GS850G for sale cheap...so....I went up there and bought it.
This new bike is not pretty (it sure doesn't look like my red bike depicted above), but these old GS Suzukis are tough, and so I fully anticipate a successful resurrection and will show photos when they are available.
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Lookin' forward to a resto thread Pete....
eidemaddin
XS650 Enthusiast
Yep. In my life I've sold one single bike in a state of mental derangement: an XT500 ... and to top it all off, the most beautiful one in my eyes - the '81 model
A sin of youth, 41 years ago. Yes, I learned the lesson too ; )
I believe if there’s no pictures, it didn’t happen.
OK - but these are the only photos I have at present....and I will start a resurrection thread soon.
The paint is really bad (1970's Suzukis had paint that looked good - but was very thin), the decorative bezel below the headlight has been cut to mount a Windjammer knock-off fairing and the exhausts are not stock - but otherwise, she is complete and undamaged.
The paint is really bad (1970's Suzukis had paint that looked good - but was very thin), the decorative bezel below the headlight has been cut to mount a Windjammer knock-off fairing and the exhausts are not stock - but otherwise, she is complete and undamaged.
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