Let's See The XS's

[Bumblebee]

I've got less than 150 miles on the tires so far.
Copied from the Dunlop website:

• Inspired by American Flat Track racing, the Dunlop K180 is a street legal tire with a dirt track look.
• Also popular for riders building custom bikes with a street-legal flat track look.
• The classic, aggressive look is great for street trackers, scramblers, vintage flat track bikes, and custom bike builds.

I'm hopeful the wear won't be too bad but as grippy as they feel I don't expect they will be touring tires, lol. Fortunately they aren't super expensive.

I believe the rims are 3 1/2 inches wide

 

[RC4MAN]

Just curious because I went with 18" on an earlier iteration of my tracker and had to make header mods with Mile type pipes like that and still almost ground through the lower front bend. Going with 19" front and rear next go round.

 

[Bumblebee]

Just curious because I went with 18" on an earlier iteration of my tracker and had to make header mods with Mile type pipes like that and still almost ground through the lower front bend. Going with 19" front and rear next go round.

I don't really have to be too timid turning right but I've learned to save my aggressions for left turns.

Dunlop has a place on their website for motorcycle tires that's really helpful. It has a chart that shows all the dimensions of their flat track tires so, you can see maximum width, overall height, recommended rim width etc. You could look and see how the 19's compare to 18's in diameter/height, at least for their tires.

 

[Adamc]

I don't really have to be too timid turning right but I've learned to save my aggressions for left turns.

Dunlop has a place on their website for motorcycle tires that's really helpful. It has a chart that shows all the dimensions of their flat track tires so, you can see maximum width, overall height, recommended rim width etc. You could look and see how the 19's compare to 18's in diameter/height, at least for their tires.

Also check Pirelli Scorpion A/T rubber. Works great on The Welsh Flat Tracker.

 

[cheapstock81]

Here’s mine. I can no longer ride it unfortunately.

 

[Bumblebee]

That's really nice! It looks original! Tell us about it!
What year? How many miles? How long have you owned it?

 

[650Skull]

Here’s mine. I can no longer ride it unfortunately.View attachment 208351

if it is still in as good as it is in this pic then it would be a good buy if you sell it. 81SH Silver. Haven't seen a lot of these around, (compared to some Special/Heritage models) seems to be a less common model or maybe the sales were dropping off. You have had it a while, an earliest post is in 2012.

Sorry to hear you cant ride it.

 

[rpgoerlich]

Had been looking for a couple XS650's to ride with the better half for a while. Found 2, an 80SG that hasn't run in 9yrs & a roller 72 basket case.
80SG is up and running after a few weeks going over and ready for inspection to be plated, 72' in progress.

Richard

So the '72 is almost back together, need to replace the front tire and start it up

 

[Raymond]

Way to go, rpgoerlich, great find!

 

[Bumblebee]

Very nice bikes! Well done!
Keep us posted on your progress

 

[rpgoerlich]

Thanks all!
Good to be back, Been fishing!

Richard

 

[Kevin Werner]

 

[Bumblebee]

View attachment 208631View attachment 208632

I'd like to know more about that second Pic! Is that an XS with really unusual pipes?

 

[Kevin Werner]

I am thinking maybe. In the 70s the AMA championship included points for Road Racing, Flat Tracking, TT (whatever the dirt course was with a jump. Harley dominated flat track. KR was coming on to excellence and I think Yamaha built Trackers from the XS. Also, Yamah built a one -off TZ 700(750?) 2 stroke 4 cylinder flat tracker that KR won with at the Indy Mile.

This has good footage from the original race

 

[Bumblebee]

That's correct, they did make flattrack and TT bikes from XS650's.
The TZ750 Kenny rode was replicated and he did a few demo laps just a few years ago. The anticipation was he would do a couple parade layouts while washing at the crowd but in typical KR fashion he pushed pretty hard.

 

[Kevin Werner]

https://www.bikebound.com/2021/05/23/yamaha-xs650-flat-tracker/

 

[Bumblebee]

Here's a link to the replica being ridden in 2009:

 

[Bumblebee]

https://www.bikebound.com/2021/05/23/yamaha-xs650-flat-tracker/View attachment 208634

The head pipe on the pic of him jumping went above the clutch cover, that's what I thought was unusual. Maybe that was an experiment to get more ground clearance

 

[Kevin Werner]

 

[Kevin Werner]