What have you done to your XS today?

Well I changed handle bars again... The originals hurt my wrist, the second made my hands go numb, the third didn't feel right. These feel better, but they are lower and so they might take some getting used to.
There is very little vibration as I keep my carbs tuned very tight. I synchronize / check them at least monthly.
 
Is it just me, or am I right in suspecting that for an awful lot of us the answer to the question 'What have you done to your XS today?' is bugger all, apart from walking round it to get to the (delete as appropriate) washing machine/tumble drier/freezer/workbench/other bike I'm busy with/beer fridge/garage door so I can get another bike out/tools so I can do some other mundane domestic DIY job/get to some other stuff I need to do whatever keeps the peace in the household?

I just hope that it's mostly a bike-related reason!
 
I feel for you, Nighthog. Most garages in Britain are used as utility room, laundry, general storage for things you haven't got round to flinging, kids bicycles, lawn mower and so on. I'm so lucky to have a garage which is 99% devoted to three motorbikes and associated clutter. Got to come clean, the 1% is a freezer - it's a second freezer, required for overspill garden produce which won't fit in the freezer in the house. The Head Gardener has a shed to keep her lawnmower. And - this gets better - since I bought her another, larger shed to use as a garden store, has given up the brick building which she used for that purpose so that I now have a separate building dubbed the workshop where I can keep general tools and do jobs like carpentry or household maintenance stuff.


PICT2163.JPG


In fact, the Head Gardener even painted the garage to look like an old fashioned village garage. And since then, it's on its way to becoming a gentleman's motorcycle haven, with appropriate tin signs on the walls and assorted motorabilia. Don't mean I'm a gentleman of course, just a lucky sod.

Uhm, today, didn't do much to the XS except walk past it. But I was on my way to tinkering with the Royal Enfield.
 
I feel for you, Nighthog. Most garages in Britain are used as utility room, laundry, general storage for things you haven't got round to flinging, kids bicycles, lawn mower and so on. I'm so lucky to have a garage which is 99% devoted to three motorbikes and associated clutter. Got to come clean, the 1% is a freezer - it's a second freezer, required for overspill garden produce which won't fit in the freezer in the house. The Head Gardener has a shed to keep her lawnmower. And - this gets better - since I bought her another, larger shed to use as a garden store, has given up the brick building which she used for that purpose so that I now have a separate building dubbed the workshop where I can keep general tools and do jobs like carpentry or household maintenance stuff.


View attachment 209759


In fact, the Head Gardener even painted the garage to look like an old fashioned village garage. And since then, it's on its way to becoming a gentleman's motorcycle haven, with appropriate tin signs on the walls and assorted motorabilia. Don't mean I'm a gentleman of course, just a lucky sod.

Uhm, today, didn't do much to the XS except walk past it. But I was on my way to tinkering with the Royal Enfield.
Beautiful garage.
 
View attachment 209770

I’m walking by this several times per day, or every time I go in and out of the house. So, I’m in that club too!
I put mine in an outbuilding on my property. I've promised myself I'm not gonna' mess with it until I clear out some customer (income generating) stuff.
 
Pulled out the rear axle and wheel. Removed the disc and sprocket from the hub. Went to well known M&P bike moto factors Cardiff with my Cognito hub etc to obtain new sprocket, chain and disc......
......only they now sell new Ducati, Harley, BMW, Aprilia, KTM and Royal Enfield bikes. “We don’t do spares ‘ear mate.... ‘ave a look on eBay” said the un-knowledgable spotty oik behind the counter, without looking up from his mobile texting session. Service......what service.
 
Pulled out the rear axle and wheel. Removed the disc and sprocket from the hub. Went to well known M&P bike moto factors Cardiff with my Cognito hub etc to obtain new sprocket, chain and disc......
......only they now sell new Ducati, Harley, BMW, Aprilia, KTM and Royal Enfield bikes. “We don’t do spares ‘ear mate.... ‘ave a look on eBay” said the un-knowledgable spotty oik behind the counter, without looking up from his mobile texting session. Service......what service.
People never having stepped feet in the 20th Century are now taking over the bottom rungs of society. We live in their world now, and are dependent on their upbringing, which we did. Payback?
'TT'
 
Pulled out the rear axle and wheel. Removed the disc and sprocket from the hub. Went to well known M&P bike moto factors Cardiff with my Cognito hub etc to obtain new sprocket, chain and disc......
......only they now sell new Ducati, Harley, BMW, Aprilia, KTM and Royal Enfield bikes. “We don’t do spares ‘ear mate.... ‘ave a look on eBay” said the un-knowledgable spotty oik behind the counter, without looking up from his mobile texting session. Service......what service.
I know what you mean. I live in a rural area and I have one old fashioned Auto Parts store, A Mom and Pop operation. They are wonderful. They will find just about anything automotive or agricultural. Sadly no such place exists for motorcycle parts here either.
 
People never having stepped feet in the 20th Century are now taking over the bottom rungs of society. We live in their world now, and are dependent on their upbringing, which we did. Payback?
'TT'
When you go to the parts counter, ask to see their thumbs. If they have callouses on their thumbs from texting or playing games, move along, you're dealing with an imbecile.
 
When you go to the parts counter, ask to see their thumbs. If they have callouses on their thumbs from texting or playing games, move along, you're dealing with an imbecile.
I can hear them now in their own peer discussion; "That old geezer is really weird. He asked me to show him my thumbs."
'TT'
 
Pulled out the rear axle and wheel. Removed the disc and sprocket from the hub. Went to well known M&P bike moto factors Cardiff with my Cognito hub etc to obtain new sprocket, chain and disc......
......only they now sell new Ducati, Harley, BMW, Aprilia, KTM and Royal Enfield bikes. “We don’t do spares ‘ear mate.... ‘ave a look on eBay” said the un-knowledgable spotty oik behind the counter, without looking up from his mobile texting session. Service......what service.

People never having stepped feet in the 20th Century are now taking over the bottom rungs of society. We live in their world now, and are dependent on their upbringing, which we did. Payback?
'TT'
I did a lab equipment installation in Kent years ago. Lovely people, charming terrain, wish I had a bike with me. When I needed bits delivered. Gas Chromatagraph columns, inlets, other bits and pieces, I had them delivered to the plant maintenance guy. He had an easy to find adress near London and shipping was 6 days rather than 16.
 
So today I went on JT Sprockets site and found what I needed. They don’t sell direct to public so I ended up buying the parts on eBay! Oh the irony of it all.
 
So it was sunny and almost 50 here today, She went on her maiden voyage since being completely disassembled over the winter. All I can say is wow! What a wonderful bike! Quite the change from it's garage partners, we accelerated a lot, stopped almost as much cruised and turned effortlessly, Put about 40 miles on I didn't want to get to far from home in case we had to walk LOL! The only glitch is a clutch that slips at 5k and above I think the speedometer is holding it back every time it got to 85 clutch slippage, So I'm going to pull the speedo off and try again tonight it's supposed to be 65 and cloudy today then back to 30 and snow but no bugs yet. That will give me a little time to peruse the clutch threads.
 
New to this forum, lots of cool bikes. Hopefully hardtails aren’t considered the devil here, lol. I run a powder coat business so this is going to be a pretty crazy project. Frame is smoothed and ready for tank mock up and rear fender, still have to figure out how I want to do brakes. So far, so good. I’m going to be ceramic coating the entire engine part by part. Should be a pretty cool chopper to sit in the shop.
0397DB45-A9F9-4F11-A740-F36F80D5FAB9.jpeg
 
Hi, XS Chop, to answer you question, hardtail chops are definitely not considered work of the Devil on this forum - you will find XSs in all guises, standard, chopped, bobbed, rat, flat track, cafe racer etcetera plus other bikes coz we like 'em. Welcome to the forum. Can I suggest you start a build thread for your bike, tell everybody what you are up to with the bike and put plenty photos - what it looks like now and every iteration. Maybe this lot read comics a lot but whatever, pictures always keep them happy. Cheers, Raymond
 
Electical connector parts arrived so I wired in the front brake brake light switch today. The harness had been cut so I had to fish out the Green/Yellow and a Brown to make the circuit. 1 or 2 layers of shrink-wrap all around. I staged zip ties to snug up when the full reassembly happens after I wire and mount a horn.
 
Yamaha Graveyard, you probably need to replace the clutch springs. It's common for them to have gone soft after 40 years, lol. EBC replacements are reasonably priced on Amazon .....

https://www.amazon.com/EBC-Brakes-CSK14-Clutch-Spring/dp/B001IUOCGO
Thank you Sir thats awesome that you included the link they're on the way. I had a feeling that my 2 finger clutch was to good to be true. It was over full on oil sight glass was full I pulled some out last night 8oz and now it's in the middle I was optimistic that would help it did not. Put 75 miles on her tonight and she sprung an oil leak the neutral switch came loose easy fix. We talked about jetting the other day here's the plugs. I'm pretty happy with the way it runs, when the clutch is squared away I will get some WOT reads. Normal mixed riding 60 to 70mph cruising "working within my rev limiter" mains 145 pilots 45 UNI pods and those shiney mufflers. LOL! When I pulled these I discovered the plug wire from the right one had popped loose and was just hanging on the plug. It had a couple hicups on the way back pulling 3rd gear from rolling stops. It's just one more thing:)
 

Attachments

  • plugs.jpg
    plugs.jpg
    116.2 KB · Views: 63
Back
Top