Uk or import

Not words seen together so often

Full professional engine rebuild

Starts OK but I can't get it to run cleanly, so needs some final tuning. It has been ridden round the block but doesn't pull strongly. Timing or carburation. Full professional engine rebuild..

I would ask myself why a Pro delivers a motorcycle not running properly...

Timing or carburation. --- OR Something completely different..
I reccon no good explanation on that and then not sold.. Can be a lemon
 
Dom said:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/202208048459980?atmobcid=soc3

This has been on Autotrader for a while now, it looks quite tidy (too tidy for what I need?) so not sure why it hasn't sold. Surely not over priced is it?
Click to expand...

I'd say that looks like a good candidate. If it runs, albeit doesn't pull very well, at least it's all there. As for the price - better deal than the one I bought, knowing what I do now I'd prefer to have the wire wheels, etc.

PS - just had a 2nd look at the photos. Ok, a few dings, but original exhaust, looks clean inside the tank . . . hell, even looks like the chain is in good nick.
 
I am still at something is off .. Depending on the story.
But I believe a pro would have the ignition adjusted at least
I am no pro but has been able to set the timing so that the engine pulls if I am not getting it right .I just adjust it
Done it many times...
Cant se it being difficult ..a sense of Professionalism leaving a bike with the ignition not set .Cant se that happen
Carburetors are more difficult . But a pro should be able to do that also.

So this sends signals of someone giving up not wanting to take the engine out again open it.

It looks fine .. One could talk to the seller .. And perhaps ask for a video with throttle blipping watching the smoke
listening.

30000 miles if not the internals are rebuilt I probably can hear ..

I would be afraid ...cylinder wear perhaps valve seat.. And not everyone are willing and have the garage to do the job

Receipts for the parts helps ... but I would be careful here ..And so have others the good deals disappear within a couple of Hours.
 
Some mechanics are absolutely useless when taken off car engines with digital management.
Carburators and contact breakers are things which belong in a museum to them.
When I bought my first 650 Special in 2003 I only paid £350 because it had an "incurable" carb problem.
Couldn't find anything wrong, it was driving me nuts, as it had done with the previous owner.
Then I spotted vice jaw marks on the one carb body.
Whole carb body had distorted - only good for scrap.
 
One thing I will say about buying off eBay, at least in the UK, is beware of dodgy traders using fraudulent methods.
I believe "Shill Bidding" is the official term, and one major UK importer was doing it regularly.
Of course you can never get any concrete proof of this, but the fact that a supposedly "sold" motorcycle just pops back up again, same seller, a couple of weeks later tells its own tale.
Sometimes there will be the old "sold to a non-paying bidder" narrative.
The offending dealer seems to have stopped this practice now, using reserve price auctions instead, so maybe eBay have taken action against them.
As for prices, dealers bikes on NOVA seem to fetch around £1800 to £2000 for a non-runner with an unseized engine and decent compression.
In comparision, a guy a few miles away sold a sort of cafe racer modified Heritage that was registed and on the road for £1600 about 3 months ago.
And he had to work hard to get that
 
Dom said:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/202208048459980?atmobcid=soc3

This has been on Autotrader for a while now, it looks quite tidy (too tidy for what I need?) so not sure why it hasn't sold. Surely not over priced is it?
Click to expand...

Its ok to ask on here but you need to get a ready set of questions and ask the seller. Those questions will require and answer and paper work to back up some of the answers or it then becomes a negotiating point.

The bike looks quite nice, if your able to go and have a look at it it can be a learning experience if you don't buy it.

There are threads in the tech menu under "maintenance and general trouble shooting" you need to read up on so when you go and look at a bike your ready and armed with some basic knowledge and questions. The answers to your questions will indicate the sellers knowledge on what he advertises or if he is inflating the bikes value with lies.

It is up to you to educate your self, looking and asking questions, or if you cant go and see it get detailed responses to questions and if there aren't pics of what you want to look at get him to take some.

The lack of power could be a simple thing like a semi blocked pilot circuit or some electrical circuit braking down, like a lead or coil or even the battery.

Just suggestions and not a diagnosis.

If you go and look take a compression tester and multi meter and check stuff out..........


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​

 
650Skull said:
Its ok to ask on here but you need to get a ready set of questions and ask the seller. Those questions will require and answer and paper work to back up some of the answers or it then becomes a negotiating point.

The bike looks quite nice, if your able to go and have a look at it it can be a learning experience if you don't buy it.

There are threads in the tech menu under "maintenance and general trouble shooting" you need to read up on so when you go and look at a bike your ready and armed with some basic knowledge and questions. The answers to your questions will indicate the sellers knowledge on what he advertises or if he is inflating the bikes value with lies.

It is up to you to educate your self, looking and asking questions, or if you cant go and see it get detailed responses to questions and if there aren't pics of what you want to look at get him to take some.

The lack of power could be a simple thing like a semi blocked pilot circuit or some electrical circuit braking down, like a lead or coil or even the battery.

Just suggestions and not a diagnosis.

If you go and look take a compression tester and multi meter and check stuff out..........


​

​

Click to expand...
Yes I totally agree with you. The more information I can get from you all along with my own research will all be helpful however I'm coming to realise I either up my budget or have a longhaul restoration project. Im beginning to wonder if I might do more of a standard bike with tweaks than an all out cafe racer
 
@Adamc you must not be far from me (Kington) as I searched Herefordshire and you came up as having rides out past me on your way back to Wales.
 
Dom said:
@Adamc you must not be far from me (Kington) as I searched Herefordshire and you came up as having rides out past me on your way back to Wales.
Click to expand...
Hello Dom
I'm based in Cardiff (My business address):
ADAM JAMES INTERIORS
UNIT 4 THE DESIGN QUARTER
COLCHESTER AVANUE
CARDIFF
CF23 9XE
Open: 10.00am-5.00pm
(Closed Wednesday & Sunday)
Call in if you're in the area; kettle is always on for a cuppa.
 
gauges are from a 75.

Spare tank is from an 80 and later Euro US custom.

Front forks are 35mm.

The frame as been de-tabed. Unless he has kept the tabs then the bike can't be put back to original with out a whole lot of work. Seat Hinges, latch, side cover attachments for the top and bottom, Battery box tabs and a few more.

Tank on the bike looks like a 75.

Carbs are BS34's. 80 and later bikes got them

Looks like the US custom bike may heve been bought for parts to be used on the 75, (he claims a 76 and it may be on the registration. Nothing points to a 75.

Look through this model ID
https://www.xs650.com/threads/xs650...workshop-manuals-and-other-information.30569/
 
Dom said:
I bit of a dog then really, thanks for the advice though. The search continues
Click to expand...

Is it a dog ???............I gave you the details on what has been done to it, (not what i thought of it), and why it would be hard to restore back to original. That's not to say what has been done to the bike is negative or if the bike, if got for a reasonable price, money couldn't be recovered by selling off the parts to be spent on some thing else to make the bike your own.

pars and availability of parts in England makes them expensive or hard to get if your looking for a specific model

The taillight lens (on the spare rear guard), Heiden Tunig sells for 16 Euro. Full tailight and bracket sells for 72 Euro new. Those spare carbs look to be off an EX500 and they are worth a hundred pound if in good working order and a lot of people put them on their XS650 as an upgrade. Fuel tank Side-covers battery box, seats x 3, gauges. That gauge bracket is getting harder to find. Being cast they brake easy and only on 2 years/model there aren't that many out there............... I see the possibility of recovering 3-400 pounds, (maybe more), from those parts in the pics

Front forks being 35 mm is an upgrade over the standard 34mm for that year..............

Like i suggested in another post. Do some research and learn about these bikes, and ask the seller some questions...........What condition, or what has been done to the engine if anything. any thing, engage with him, just never know what could be there.

Don't rely on an answer to "what do you think of this bike" relying on one answer you could be letting an opportunity pass.
 
Last edited:
I just ran the reg number on the V5 (SFJ132N) through the UK DVLA vehicle check.
Registered 1975 but first registered in the UK 2015
I don't think you can see the engine/frame numbers but it looks like a US market XS650B.
Worth putting back to original ?
Well I would, but then I'm a metal worker, so restoring the frame would cost me very little.
 

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