What have you done to your XS today?

Jan_P said:
Into the shed for the winter
Temp around mid single digit in Celsius
Not started for a month or so
Had plans taking the carburetors off going all stock in the jetting But changed my mind after starting

Seen on the net Harley Owners use 3 prime kicks --- Pri position ---Full choke and First kick start
Not used to that after a standstill
Ran beautiful
So I can always re jet with carbs in there Have a slight stumble at 2- 3 k Nothing major So if it starts and pulls very good what is the problem ?
Have another set cabs I can polish Assemble .going all stock in them instead



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Is your rear fender a stock one? I like all the coverage of the rear wheel.
 
Bob Wegman said:
Is your rear fender a stock one? I like all the coverage of the rear wheel.
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Yes Sir I do believe it is
I have had 2 machines and they look the same
Lots of holes and clamps in the fender that looks factory

There was a law in Sweden that you needed a Mud Flap on the rear wheel back in the day not sure when it no longer was needed.
I Guess mid 70 ies Or-not enforcing it any more

I had a friend in High school that had a Yamaha 125 cc scramble and he was a perfectionist .. Best kept motorcycle in the Country
Perfect .But no Mudflap
He was driving in residential area affluent neighborhood ..Got stopped by the Police ..They actively looking for faults on the motorcycle. Sending the signal keep on driving here and it is gonna get expensive or worse But there was no Faults
But he did not have the Mudflap .Got ticket for that

Officer
" At least we are going to get you for that " ---$ 15 or so "

Another was going to the MOT for a Car inspection I believe it was a Chevy Nova had put a mudflaps of Cardboard there Duct tape perhaps
It was amazing it did not fall off like autumn leaves on route there in dry weather.
Comical at times

Sir The law requires mud flaps and please look there that is a mud flap - He got approval

There can have been rules in other European countries for a bigger rear fender

I believe the model was not sold in the USA

1980 Yamaha XS 650 US. Custom​


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Oldfartaussie said:
Yesterday I realized the rear brake pads were only contacting the disc rotor with the top half of the brake pads, I had the same issue last year and replaced the disc rotor and caliper hanger and the brake seemed to work well.
I removed the caliper and by pumping the brake pedal could see the piston push out then retract when I let the pedal return to it's stop.
I used air pressure to pump out the piston and blew out the entire system and half filled the piston bore with clean brake fluid, installed the piston and tried to push the piston back in using a f clamp. The only way to get the piston to push in was by opening the bleeder which doesn't seem right I thought it would push the fluid back into the master cylinder reservoir?.
I have tried bleeding the whole system but after the first squirt I'm not getting any fluid.
I filled the caliper through the banjo bolt hole and the bleeder hole after installing the piston and even tried a hose on the bleeder to a large plastic syringe and cracked the bleeder and try and suck the fluid through but get nothing.
Can't see any leaks and fitted new copper washers and thread tape on the threads.
Guess I should have left it alone,at least they worked?
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I had a similar issue with a moto morini which used grimecca brakes. I changed the master cylinder seals out of desperation and solved the problem. By the time I found the problem I was so ticked off and tired of constantly trying to keep brake fluid off the paintwork, I cleaned the whole system out and started to use silicon fluid.
 
I received my stainless steel butted spoke sets today. I think that I shall clean up the hubs and rims, polish them and then re-lacquer the rims and include the hubs too. The existing rims are still in good nick and just need tidying up. There is very little run out on the rims. The wheel bearings are good amd so there's the winter project: wheel rebuilding. I shall start with the front wheel and take a few pictures of the original factory lacing first. I remember the last time I rebuilt some wheels and it actually paid dividends to carefully strip down the old wheels by unscrewing the nipples rather than just whizzing them off with a metal cutting disc in the angle grinder. By going the slow way, I learnt a lot about how to rebuild too. I'll keep this post updated with developments. My wifes sort of slowed everything down a bit by diverting me onto less important minutiae. Next job to do is to build up my wheel building jig which will be two pieces of wood with a vee cut into the end of each of them and then cross braced. The XS wheels a symetrical on the hubs and so I dont need to build in an offset.
Ive loosened off one spoke in order to check that the new nipples are the right size. Interestingly, each original nipple has its own spherical washer.
New spokes and nipples are the right size for the job. The front wheel is out of the bike and the tyre and tube are stripped off by th way, if you wondered how I managed to check that the new nipples were correct.
 
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Took sporty 'round the "track", a 7 mile straight and altogether 20 miles, gassed up and got beer. Drank one and put sport away...then took the old XS gal out and repeated...so there are 4 beers left in the reefer and two happy scooters with full tummies... Still thinking about R134a and permeable rubbers...and realized CO2 might be a safer, cheaper, experiment...and I have plenty... About half is actual highway...so traffic and cops are a thought, but the rest is whatever yawant...a ton is there if you want...big danger is hitting a stray cow or a bird. Nice creek with fishies to see, and skiinydippergals in summer...

Above there's mention of re-torqued heads and "tink"... I have never torqued a XS650 head ... and I might want to, in the fullness of Time...

There are different traditions... 50/50 engine oil and graphite is was standard in Enterprise engine (ships), what does Yamaha call for...and what do y'all use? Thanks fellas.
 
5twins said:
I've always used the copper anti-seize. I don't think Yamaha speced anything special (not that I've seen anyway). I think they just say "lubed".
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Thanks old man... I hope to avoid the necessity... I have three frames and engines and buckets of bits and one is a runner, another one a hardtail...but I am not much interested in working on or building scooters anymore, getting nearer to the end of the twig... the runner seems quite sound yet, weeps a little at the gaskets goes like the wind... (the 50/50 graphite lube oil goes back to the flood, but I actually keep a can of it left over from a job in the 1980's - one makes it up one the job, very oldtimey) Thanks fellas copper A/S for the old gal it is
 
I am fairly sure I have now by experiment and research understood the tire pressure question. It is that there exists more than one mechanism of pressure loss in the matter...more or less motorcycle tires, in this inquiry. It seems that there is permeability, in which case larger molecule gas would leak slower than air... And! Solubility. Evidently some gases and the elastomeric material of inner-tubes and tires are mutually soluble, and a differential density results in condensation-evaporation through the "solute" (which it is) of the tubes and or tire. Solubility reigns.

CO2 acts as an organic solvent in the experiment...and it "leaks" (actually evaporates through) faster than air. The fact that it's a larger molecule seems to be a difficult thing to account for experimentally...but my science fair is finished... best gas tire is (probably so far) air. But I wonder about silicone oil films... :)
 
40north said:
I am fairly sure I have now by experiment and research understood the tire pressure question. It is that there exists more than one mechanism of pressure loss in the matter...more or less motorcycle tires, in this inquiry. It seems that there is permeability, in which case larger molecule gas would leak slower than air... And! Solubility. Evidently some gases and the elastomeric material of inner-tubes and tires are mutually soluble, and a differential density results in condensation-evaporation through the "solute" (which it is) of the tubes and or tire. Solubility reigns.

CO2 acts as an organic solvent in the experiment...and it "leaks" (actually evaporates through) faster than air. The fact that it's a larger molecule seems to be a difficult thing to account for experimentally...but my science fair is finished... best gas tire is (probably so far) air. But I wonder about silicone oil films... :)
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Aham a tinkin 'bout 3 drops DOT 5 si through the schrader valve tube ... if I feel like more 'spirimentin'. I remember from a longlongtimeago the Si "oil" doesn't have problems with rubber bits, from a brake lecture in 1980...big sales pitch for DOT 5, with an open bar!... I would not try this with a tubeless tire...maybe Si makie slip on rim...
 
Yesterday, I took my rear wheel to Cycle Gear because a nail had found its way inside the tire. It was "Black Friday Sale", so I was hoping for a price break. Nope. That was not on sale. The new tire label said "No repairs possible". Since it was the same tire I had on already, I bit the bullet and had a new one mounted. They told me "2 days". OK. I saw a bunch of wheel waiting so I figured they weren't blowing smoke. Good news. Less than 24 hrs later, a text and a voicemail said "it's ready for pickup!" This afternoon, I went and got it and reinstalled it. Checked the sparkplugs since it had been a while. They were OK.
BTW It was a Shinko 777 tire. They are usually less pricey and grip like velcro, wet or dry. Tire life is pretty good. That said, I am not hard on my tires.
I would attach pics if I could find them.
 

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