The Free "B", a 1971 resto redux

[DogBunny]

This is the bike that was posted for free in the Classifieds a month ago. Now mine. It is an XS1B, hence my thread title, the Free B, or Freebie.


Pretty nice score for free. The best condition early years XS I've ever acquired.


This bike was restored, probably in 1998. I will restore it again. Hence, the "resto redux" in my thread title. I tried to figure out who Doug Grant and Kevin Schad are. Doug Grant is possibly the successful California motocross racer, active from 1968 to 1995.
I guess that for the time, this was a pretty good restoration. But there is some jankiness. The paint is terrible: wrong color, not "candy," and the tank badge recesses have been filled in and small emblems have been glued on. Also, The inside of the tank has been Kreemed. I'll save other jankiness for future postings.
On the plus side, the restorers powder coated the frame, and it has held up pretty well, saving me much unappealing tedious work.


There are several "tells" that I look at when assessing an early bike. The front fender is one. It's not perfect, but this one is very nice.


The gauges are another tell. The chrome on these are an 8 or 9 out of 10.
The headlight is wrong, from a 1974 and later.


Unfortunately, the chrome buttons that hold the gauge needles on are corroded, and the tach has quite a bit of crud under the glass. I will try Gary's rediscovered bezel un-screw technique. I've had success unscrewing the 70-71 bezel, but I've also had massive failures that I was too depressed about to post on the forum.
There's a good chance that the odometer mileage of 37,712 is actual.


Rear fender looks nice, but has an issue that I'll save for later. The fender stay loop is very nice. Mufflers are pretty good.
No seat passenger strap, and no rear-of-seat grab loop. The seat cover is torn, and the foam is hard and crunchy. Every time I touch the bike dry orange foam crumbles get on everything. I have removed the seat, and it's going on eBay for cheap.


These are the "not for aircraft use" Mikunis. Will sell basically for free if anyone wants them.
The case covers were polished, and just need a touch-up.
The engine has a thin coating of oil everywhere. Probably everything seeps -- all gaskets and seals. But compression is good. More coming...

 

[JJames]

Love the XS1b. Even in butterscotch. And free. Score!

 

[Mailman]

Another fun project! I’ll be watching with interest!

 

[DogBunny]

Love the XS1b. Even in butterscotch. And free. Score!

In my next post I'll explain how much "free" actually costs.

Another fun project! I’ll be watching with interest!

Yeah, this one I'm going to actually finish. I've gone through it, and all it really needs is carbs to be a running, riding project.

 

[halfmile]

PM sent for the Mikuni`s. Thanks, Phil.

 

[JJames]

Yeah. Nothing is free.
But look at it this way, you could have dropped a couple grand on it and been at the same starting point. Or passed, spent 0, and paid in regret. Have fun.

 

[Jim]

PM sent for the Mikuni`s. Thanks, Phil.

 

[Jan_P]

Will be interesting hear about motor status ....
Some people sell scrap and other give away good things if they like the recipient
It can be surprising at times .I bought a car February first in line of 36 that wanted buy it
Some offering $ 400 over asking price --Did not matter
The only reason was that a Girl I know with perhaps the best person skills I have ever met in life
Health care sector emphatic and had helped the seller. Elderly man no longer able to drive.
She put in a Word for me at the seller Then it was something that happened by other reasons than strictly money .
Business is personal .more than I have realized.
Without her help I would have been at no 37 in line for the deal .

 

[zrx1100]

following

 

[Wagner73]

View attachment 371359
This is the bike that was posted for free in the Classifieds a month ago. Now mine. It is an XS1B, hence my thread title, the Free B, or Freebie.

View attachment 371360
Pretty nice score for free. The best condition early years XS I've ever acquired.

What a nice find, and especially for FREE!!

 

[DogBunny]

Every day, strangers walk up to me and ask "DB, just how much DOES a free XS1B cost???" And, I always say, well first, thanks for stopping me on the street, and then I say "more than you'd think."

The man selling the Free B was a retiring Deputy General Counsel, hereafter referred to as DGC. Coinciding with retiring, he was selling his house, which he wanted empty, so he wanted the bike gone fast, which was more important to him than money, that's why the bike was free.

Upon seeing pics of the bike I knew I wanted it, no matter what it would take. I didn't want DGC to lose interest, or give it away locally, and I knew he would have to cooperate with a shipper, so I immediately gave him $150 to indicate my seriousness, and to give him some small compensation for his time and trouble.

Shipping turned into a bit of a nightmare. I listed the bike on uShip, and I also listed it on Shiply, a similar service. There was a time crunch. As I said, DGC wanted it gone fast, so I knew I couldn't hold out forever for a cheap shipping bid. I ended up booking a shipper from Shiply, a service I have never used before. I'll spare the details, but there were problems from the start with this shipper. Finally, it seems the driver got within an hour of picking up, when he got into an accident. I had one last conversation with the dispatcher after that, and then he went dark. Not just me, but a handful of other shipments were affected.

That shipper, who was fairly active, has not made a shipment since. I honestly wonder if maybe the driver, or the dispatcher, or both, got swept up by ICE after the accident.

So now, the time crunch was even crunchier. I made a new uShip listing, and accepted the first half-way reasonable bid, which including fees came out to $720.50. Kind of a lot for an 11-hour ride, and more than the high end of the uShip cost estimate calculator by at least $150. On the other hand, fuel costs are way up.

All told, I paid $150 + $720.50 = $870.20. The bike came with a title, and I still feel that I got an excellent deal.

The bike was delivered before midnight on May 6. That's why I pretty much missed the first day of the Ozarks rally, which was May 7.

 

[Niels B]

Awesome - looking forward to the resto pic and the final product.

 

[Jan_P]

Every day, strangers walk up to me and ask "DB, just how much DOES a free XS1B cost???" And, I always say, well first, thanks for stopping me on the street, and then I say "more than you'd think."

The man selling the Free B was a retiring Deputy General Counsel, hereafter referred to as DGC. Coinciding with retiring, he was selling his house, which he wanted empty, so he wanted the bike gone fast, which was more important to him than money, that's why the bike was free.

Upon seeing pics of the bike I knew I wanted it, no matter what it would take. I didn't want DGC to lose interest, or give it away locally, and I knew he would have to cooperate with a shipper, so I immediately gave him $150 to indicate my seriousness, and to give him some small compensation for his time and trouble.

Shipping turned into a bit of a nightmare. I listed the bike on uShip, and I also listed it on Shiply, a similar service. There was a time crunch. As I said, DGC wanted it gone fast, so I knew I couldn't hold out forever for a cheap shipping bid. I ended up booking a shipper from Shiply, a service I have never used before. I'll spare the details, but there were problems from the start with this shipper. Finally, it seems the driver got within an hour of picking up, when he got into an accident. I had one last conversation with the dispatcher after that, and then he went dark. Not just me, but a handful of other shipments were affected.

That shipper, who was fairly active, has not made a shipment since. I honestly wonder if maybe the driver, or the dispatcher, or both, got swept up by ICE after the accident.

So now, the time crunch was even crunchier. I made a new uShip listing, and accepted the first half-way reasonable bid, which including fees came out to $720.50. Kind of a lot for an 11-hour ride, and more than the high end of the uShip cost estimate calculator by at least $150. On the other hand, fuel costs are way up.

All told, I paid $150 + $720.50 = $870.20. The bike came with a title, and I still feel that I got an excellent deal.

The bike was delivered before midnight on May 6. That's why I pretty much missed the first day of the Ozarks rally, which was May 7.

Thank you for the story Arrested shippers and a Well Heeled owner .. the type having no time and maybe no wrench set
he can have serviced machine at shops and rebuilt at competent re-builders .
If I get his profession right not many of them here would touch a tool box,
Been Garaged ,, Sounds promising for the motor status .. ( positive thinking ) unless cam chain guide and valve stem seals have dried up
It can be " Turn Key Ish " Nothing to do .. it depends of course

 

[Wagner73]

Every day, strangers walk up to me and ask "DB, just how much DOES a free XS1B cost???" And, I always say, well first, thanks for stopping me on the street, and then I say "more than you'd think."

Shipping turned into a bit of a nightmare. I listed the bike on uShip, and I also listed it on Shiply, a similar service. There was a time crunch. As I said, DGC wanted it gone fast, so I knew I couldn't hold out forever for a cheap shipping bid. I ended up booking a shipper from Shiply, a service I have never used before. I'll spare the details, but there were problems from the start with this shipper. All told, I paid $150 + $720.50 = $870.20. The bike came with a title, and I still feel that I got an excellent deal.

"More than you'd think" could be a semi-frequent theme song that I am quite used to!

I have tried to use Shiply and uShip, but it always seems like it takes forever for the quotes to come down into a real range, and overall, it always feels a little bit sketch to me.

Last three bikes I've shipped I've ended up using Haulbikes (2) and Shiplux (1). Felt they were reasonable but not a blazing deal, between $600 - $800 coming from decent distances to TX...from Wisconsin, Utah and Arizona.

 

[DogBunny]

a Well Heeled owner

DGC was a super nice guy. I looked at the Zillow listing of his house for sale, and it is nice yet fairly modest, not ostentatious at all. He persevered through numerous delays, postponements, and non-communications from both shippers, never losing his friendly and understanding attitude.
DGC is a definite motorcycle guy. He had two more-modern bikes, and I think he is keeping both of them. Nothing wrong with working a white collar job that allows you to pay blue collar people to do their work.
He made me promise to let him ride the bike if he comes to Austin.

Been Garaged ,, Sounds promising for the motor status

Garaged and occasionally ridden, but not for the last few years. I'll post about the motor soon. So far I believe it is fine.

 

[DogBunny]

Last three bikes I've shipped I've ended up using Haulbikes (2) and Shiplux (1). Felt they were reasonable but not a blazing deal, between $600 - $800 coming from decent distances to TX...from Wisconsin, Utah and Arizona.

I'll definitely look at Haulbikes and Shiplux next time.
I've used uShip numerous times, not sketchy at all. Although I had a bad experience with them, Shiply is legit too. The big difference imho, is that uShip tends to be one guy with one truck. This is what you want, direct contact with the driver/owner/logistics guy. Shiply seems to be populated with multi-truck freight companies, and you communicate with a dispatcher rather than the driver.

 

[DogBunny]

More positives:
140 PSI on both cylinders, cold and dry.
Shifts through all gears
Clutch pull is remarkably easy.

Unfortunately, I am waiting on a critical tool before I can continue with the engine. For some reason, it will take 8 days to arrive from Amazon.

While waiting, I went through all of the electrics.
One turn signal had a burned out bulb and loose bullet connector.
The tail/brake light had a burned out bulb and the ground spade lug was broken.
One burned out gauge illumination bulb. The neutral indicator light wire was broken. The flasher indicator light was plugged into the neutral indicator hole.
A high beam indicator lens was added to the 1974 and later headlight shell, but there was no socket or bulb inside the shell.


I wish I had taken pics of how I fixed the turn signal switch, but this will give an idea. There is a tiny copper piece that slides across the contacts shown above. On the Free B the middle contact was badly eroded from arcing and sparking. The copper piece did not slide across it very well or make good contact.
I cleaned up the contact and soldered a nice blob of solder on top of it. Then Dremeled the blob flush. I was able to make this repair with the switch still on the bike. It now works like new, although only time will tell how long the solder holds up as a contact.


While fooling with the electrics, I noticed that the inline fuse holder was getting warm. I found a blown 35 amp fuse wrapped in tin foil. Replaced it with an inline 20 amp mini blade fuse and holder.
All electrics now work.

 

[Its been a long time]

Good catch on the foil wrapped fuse. That could easily have set the whole bike on fire.

 

[DogBunny]

This bike has the best-looking fork stanchions I have ever seen. Now I know why. The forks are by Frank. Stock length.
HOWEVER: this bike has turned out to be a mix of very good and very bad. The forks were totally inoperable. 100% stiction. It was very difficult to compress or rebound the forks. Disassembling, it took a great deal of effort to pull the stanchions out of the lower tubes.


The collars on the bottom of the fork tubes are staked in with pins, two per collar. Stock forks use a solid pin (red arrow). Frank used a roll pin.
The stiction problem in Frank's forks was caused by the roll pins, which were ever-so-slightly protruding. It's possible that the pins moved outward during use, but it is much more likely that the pins were like this from day one -- there is evidence to support this -- and that the assembler did not not know what he was doing or how forks are supposed to work.
NOTE: check out the missing chunk of metal from the collar on the far right stock stanchion. How is that even possible??? Did it leave the factory like that? Japanese standards are higher that that, but maybe this one sneaked by?


The protruding pins gouged the inner bores of the lower fork tubes.


The worst gouging was deep inside the tubes where it can't be easily photographed because of the non-removable damper rods in 1971 lower fork tubes.


When metal is gouged, the material is not removed, it is displaced, creating a raised lip on either side of the gouge.
This is a problem. Because of the non-removable damper rod, dressing the burrs would have been very difficult. Fortunately, dressing the burrs in the fork lowers turned out to not be necessary.

I used a silicon carbide burr bit to recess the protruding Frank pins, and lightly dressed the collars with wet silicon carbide sandpaper, and all was good.


Another problem. The stanchions have circlips on them which are supposed to tightly hug their grooves. One of the Frank's circlips was sprung, causing additional stiction. These clips are pretty darn hard to remove, so I can understand how a heavy-handed mechanic would un-spring them.
I used a vice to close that circlip. Then I remembered that I have an old XS2 stanchion that I use as a super-duty persuader. It still had it's circlip, which is what I used.


While trying to figure out my stiction issues, I disassembled two other XS1B forks for reference. In one of them (not the Frank forks), I found springs that were 1/4" longer than stock, and which were progressively wound on one end. I decided to use those springs.


The fork cap bolts were nicely re-chromed (left). Then, someone used a pipe wrench or something on one of them (middle). Go figure. Also, the washers (foreground) that go under the bolts were missing. The re-chroming added just enough material to make the washers too small. I took washers from one of my reference forks, and enlarged their I.D.s. It didn't take much.

On the other end, a 5/16-18 bolt was being used as the axle pinch bolt on the right fork tube. I chased the threads in the fork lower back to M8-1.25.

Added the stock specification of 223cc of 30W oil to each tube, using fork oil, not motor oil, and now I have the best-looking functioning early forks that I've seen.
Also installed tapered steering bearings.

 

[gggGary]

You are on this big time!
Many good catches. Amazing how much " tractor mechanic" butchery the ole XS can survive.