Visit from GGGGary

grizld1

Grumpy old man
Top Contributor
Messages
4,392
Reaction score
5,669
Points
513
Location
Carbondale, IL
Gary stopped by Monday to help me clean up the barn,eat lunch al fresco, and pick up some spares and salvage for his trouble. He did a marvelous job. Just to give an idea of how bad things had gotten in the Barn of Disgrace, I hadn't seen the floor for months. He took the XS650 out for a spin to freshen it up, and I hope he'll repeat his very kind comments on the bike. He also took a nice photo of me with the machine that shows a little of the interior of the old barn,and a nice shot of my wife Ann and me. I hope he'll post them. Anyway,things are now clear enough to move my tractor out of the car port into the shelter of the barn--a minor miracle.Thanks, Gary!
 
I have them up in the Barber thread but worth a second run!
kimg2370-jpg.227411


kimg2373-jpg.227412


The ride on Griz' bike was a hoot, light and responsive. I'm guessing the pumpers help out with the engine's peppy feel.
On new to me rural roads I wasn't dragging any knees, had a bit of a dog run in also. But the turn in, stability, and smoothness on rough pavement all exemplary.

The haul, spread out and first sort done.
KIMG2393.JPG
and nearly all put away.
KIMG2416.JPG

Keep your doors locked Griz! I'll be headed to Mayfield KY about Nov 12th or 13th, a second stop could be arranged.....
 
I have them up in the Barber thread but worth a second run!
kimg2370-jpg.227411


kimg2373-jpg.227412


The ride on Griz' bike was a hoot, light and responsive. I'm guessing the pumpers help out with the engine's peppy feel.
On new to me rural roads I wasn't dragging any knees, had a bit of a dog run in also. But the turn in, stability, and smoothness on rough pavement all exemplary.

The haul, spread out and first sort done.
View attachment 227560
and nearly all put away.
View attachment 227561

Keep your doors locked Griz! I'll be headed to Mayfield KY about Nov 12th or 13th, a second stop could be arranged.....
I see a sweet BMW 1200 GS too - my favorite ride when I go far and don't want to second guess anything ! nice clean up by the way!
 
Thanks, y'all. Lock you out, Gary? No way! I look forward to seeing you again, any time. That bike needs another freshen-up outing, if you're in the mood and can spare the time.

It took more than the pumpers to give the motor its giddyup: 77.5 mm. JE pistons, carefully dialed in Shell #1 cam, boring and silicon carbide impregnation by Bill Moeller of Bore Tech (no longer in business, sadly),porting by Jack O'Hara, entry and exit exhaust inserts from Michael Morse of 650 Central, and 50 lbs. of weight reduction and treachery. It's my firm conviction that a motorcycle should not look faster than it is. I put this one together to make a point; it's a whole lot faster than it looks, without sacrificing tractability from idle to redline. If I recover enough function and the bug backs off my wife and I hope to make it to a couple of Society rallies next year, just to sit in the shade, swap lies, help with troubled bikes , and seek a good home for the D.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, y'all. Lock you out, Gary? No way! I look forward to seeing you again, any time. That bike needs another freshen-up outing, if you're in the mood and can spare the time.

It took more than the pumpers to give the motor its giddyup: 77.5 mm. JE pistons, carefully dialed in Shell #1 cam, boring and silicon carbide impregnation by Bill Moeller of Bore Tech (no longer in business, sadly),porting by Jack O'Hara, entry and exit exhaust inserts from Michael Morse of 650 Central, and 50 lbs. of weight reduction and treachery. It's my firm conviction that a motorcycle should not look faster than it is. I put this one together to make a point; it's a whole lot faster than it looks, without sacrificing tractability from idle to redline. If I recover enough function and the bug backs off my wife and I hope to make it to a couple of Society rallies next year, just to sit in the shade, swap lies, help with troubled bikes , and seek a good home for the D.
Is there a thread detailing the 50 diet? I don't have the eyes some others here have but I see a special with lower bars and maybe an alloy (alluminium for across the pond) fender.
 
Is there a thread detailing the 50 diet? I don't have the eyes some others here have but I see a special with lower bars and maybe an alloy (alluminium for across the pond) fender.
It’s a “D” for ‘77 standard. He went so far as to use titanium bolts to shed every ounce. As I recall, the front wheel is 18”. It’s all business.
 
There's a thread on lightening somewhere, but when you get into those sorts of modifications you can only look for where the weight is and what's available, and work incrementally. In the case of my bike the front fender has been replaced by a plastic fender from a Suzuki, with bracing supplied by a Daytona tweak bar. The seat has been replaced by one with a plastic pan--very old stock, no longer available unless you get lucky. The brake rotor cuts a few pounds off the front end, and replacing the steel caliper mount bolts with titanium cut more. The list goes on. Bottom line: no recipe is possible. You have to think it through and find or fabricate. If you try to play "me too" you won't learn anything and may endanger yourself.

Right, Marty, the front wheel is an 18x2.15 rear drilled for the front hub. The front forks have been raised 25 mm. in the trees, Race Tech cartridge emulators, and .80/mm. straight springs from our friends at Traxxion Dynamics (Race Tech now offers them, but then it was custom work or nothing), and the rear has been lifted on 13.5" shocks. The best thing you can do to reduce the aliner, top-heavy steering of the XS650 is to get the rear up and the nose down, but you need to assess stability carefully. If there's even a hint of wobble, you need to find the source and deal with it.
 
Is there a thread detailing the 50 diet? I don't have the eyes some others here have but I see a special with lower bars and maybe an alloy (alluminium for across the pond) fender.
Yambits have/ had a reproduction seat with a plastic seat pan, which is 1-2 kg lighter than stock. Single wall exhaust pipes and aftermarket mufflers save a lot of weight. Smaller and lighter indicators and taillight save a fair bit, lighter fenders as well. 520 chain and an alloy rear sprocket saves a bit as well. The stock front brake is stupid heavy, especially the dual disc setup. On my Euro D model, I dropped 5 kg (!) of unsprung weight by converting to a single 320 mm disc and a Brembo 4 pot, plus an alloy front fender.
Stock gauges and mirrors can be replaced with lighter aftermarket alternatives. Using a LiPoFe battery saves 3 kg or more.
Alloy spacers for front and rear wheels save a little bit also.
I often bring an electronic 0-5 kg kitchen scale to the garage, when working on my bikes. That helps with identifying weight reduction potential.
 
Yep, getting the first 50 lbs. or so off is pretty easy, and I decided to stop there. Good information re. Yambits plastic pan seat, Arctic! A few ounces of unsprung weight can be removed by replacing the steel wheel bearing spacers with duraluminum spacers. IIRC mine were salvaged from a KTM. Almost forgot--lost a few ounces of unsprung weight by replacing the rear axle with a hollow axle from the salvage stash at the local independent shop. Don't know what it's from, but I suspect a Honda dirt bike.

Sorry, JP, guess I'm just a little weird, but I don't name machinery. But you got the category right--it's built as what we used to call a "sleeper."
 
Lol. I don't usually name my bikes either - referring to them as "green bike", "blue bike", etc. - but, some bikes just beg to be named and yours called out:cool:

IIRC the XS had a weight bias favoring the rear, seems like your mods would have transferred the bias a little forward. Did you ever get the opportunity to measure that? Inquiring minds (and potential copycats) want to know....
 
I am enthralled with the "incrementalism". Very cool. How much can I shave off my front disc?
By machining it thinner/ drilling it, or outright replacing it?

The thing is, on modern discs, the "friction surface" is a quite narrow ring (30 mm approx) while on 70s discs, it is much wider, up to 50 mm.

So to use the lightest possible disc, you also need to use a modern-ish 4 piston caliper. Modern 320 mm discs can be as light as 1.3 kg, a Brembo caliper around 0.9 kg. Stock 77 and newer xs discs are at least 2.5 kg each, the calipers surely over. 1 kg. Admittedly, a caliper adapter plate will add a little bit of weight.
 
Emgo and Brembo both offer light floating rotors with contact surfaces compatible with the OE caliper and pads. Emgo from Mike's XS, Brembo from 650 Central. Neither will deliver the stopping power of your setup, but they'll make a drastic improvement over the OE brake. What you do depends on depth of pocket and ability. IMO shaving the OE front disc is a very, very bad idea. If you can't afford to do it right, don't do it!
 
Emgo and Brembo both offer light floating rotors with contact surfaces compatible with the OE caliper and pads. Emgo from Mike's XS, Brembo from 650 Central. Neither will deliver the stopping power of your setup, but they'll make a drastic improvement over the OE brake. What you do depends on depth of pocket and ability. IMO shaving the OE front disc is a very, very bad idea. If you can't afford to do it right, don't do it!
I plan on having a machinist face it and drill it.... but a Brembo rotor might be not much more cost wise. Hmmmm???
 
Back
Top