flyerdon
XS650 Enthusiast
As I mentioned about a week or so ago, I just acquired a 1980 Special ll from an older guy who was cleaning out his stable. He said he was not able to ride any more so he had to sell two XS650 Specials and a Suzuki wankle engined rig. I'm not sure if he had anything else or not but the other Special and the Suzuki are still for sale I imagine. Anyway, he said the Special ll was all there and it was in working order but not running so I drove to his place to take a look (75 miles one way). It didn't look too bad but was really oxidized pretty bad and had two flat tires and a dead battery. Although he said in his add that the brakes worked, when I got there, no fluid in the front reservoir so obviously that didn't work. Although the odometer had a bit over 9000 on it he said that wasn't the whole story and there were more miles but because he wasn't the original owner, he wasn't sure exactly how many miles were on it. Anyway, after spending a day taking the carbs off and cleaning them up and cleaning a bunch of corroded electrical connections, and installing a couple new spark plugs, on the second day, she actually fired up and runs very well for the condition I found it in. The battery spilled all over the battery box and frame in that general area so that's going to take a lot of work to correct. My plan is now to do a complete restoration now that I know it runs ok. After taking out all the bolts and supports for the battery box, I still can't get the thing out of the frame. By any chance, does it have to go out the rear, which means pulling the wheel and tire out? I don't have a manual yet so I'm winging it till I get one.
