Where or how did you find your XS650 ?

[pa23driver]

craigslist

found one in Cadillac, MI asking $800. the owner had turned it into a dirt bike - shimmed out the front end and put progessives in the rear with some agressive knobbies - did pretty good in the dirt. Since he had cut the rear frame loop off, ground the seat mounting hinges off and couldn't find the fenders or turn signals he let it go for $600.
proceeded to tear her down and spent about $1900 in new parts to get her to where i want her. And this winter will be spent putting it back together. i'll have a pretty nice bike for total investment of $2500

 

[Renegade600]

Mine was sitting in a shed next to the Mustang basketcase I bought from the guy back in the summer of '08...we were talking one night and he said he was going to e-bay the XS....I bought it the next day....couldn't be happier, and I've not even run it yet...

 

[Cafe-Dave]

Craigslist. XS650B the guy had pulled out of a barn. Starts right up, caught the guy as he was taking it for a last fill up and a hosing off. The 1/4" layer of grime kept the stone chips off the various parts. Talked the guy down to $1000. Lots of extra parts.

I got there first, plain and simple. He had 5 other people scheduled to see it that day. I let him know what it's like selling a bike, and he probably didn't want to have many more strange people show up. Nice experience all around.

 

[miller0613]

I finally convinced my wife that I had to have a motorcycle, had never ridden a street bike before. Called up my uncle because he had a few bikes and asked him to take me riding and he said no. Couldn't beleive it but he said I got this bike you can HAVE. Cleaned the carbs, new battery and air cleaners still running. Bought another same bike off craigslist for 400$ and the serial number is less than 300 from the one I got from my uncle.

 

[Cafe-Dave]

Ran into an old friend back in early '08, we used to ride together back in the 70's. He rode a sportster and I rode a '73 TX650, but we were friends anyway! I told him I was retired and not really doing nothingand he told me I needed something to do. He said he had an old bike out in his barn and if I would come get it I could have it.
It was a '71 XS-1B
It had benn in his barn for twenty years and sat outside in another guys yard for ten years before that, it really looked lonely. Showed 11,000 miles, was rough as hell but wasn't frooze up. Got it home and started dismantling it, the left exhaust was full of peanuts all the way up to the head Mice? I bet he was pissed I got his stash!!!
There is no part that has gone untouched, it's much better than new.

Spectacular. Love the black exhaust. Love the black runs. Nice color pop on side cover. Very inspiring.

 

[chopitdropit]

"Glad i snagged a stock standard before some fuck chopped it."

Bahahahahaha!!!

 

[AirsoftNY]

1980 Special, got mine for a year ago $500 even off of Ebay. Picked it up deep in the Bronx, squeezed into the back of a minivan. Only needed a new battery and a good carb cleaning to get running--now proudly representing xs650s in NYC!

 

[XSJoel]

My story is a bit long winded, but I love to tell it.

I recently was fired from my cushy bank job after I stopped caring. Had over $10,000 nestled away in my 401K, so being as I am 29, I cashed it out upon leaving the bank. So here I am with $7000 in the bank, I decide to take some time off. I used to buy and sell cell phones on craigslist and ebay for some side cash as well. I decide that this is the perfect time to do things I wanted. I got a dog, got my motorcycle license and just did what I wanted in general. Found a 1992 Suzuki GS500E for sale on craigslist for $800 in good running condition, just needed a new rear tire which was included in the sale. Brought it to a friend, had him change the oil and we had to wait for some bolts from Suzuki so I was without a bike for a while. While waiting for the parts, I spot a 2003 Kawasaki ZR7S on craigslist listed for $1800 in good shape. I went look at it, got the kid down to $1600 cash. Rode that around for a few weeks until my GS500E was ready. Changed the oil in the ZR7S, and once the GS500E was done, I sold the ZR7S for $2200. So now I am riding the GS500E around, loved it, it was the bike I wanted to get when I was 16 but the parents weren't having that. Money is starting to get a bit tight, got down to where I had about $700 left, no job, my car and the GS500E. I had realized by this point that streetbikes weren't really my thing, I was more of a cruiser guy.

TLDR start here:

I found an ad on craigslist for a 1981 Yamaha XS650 for $500. It ran, but on one cylinder, but other than that was in good condition. I call the guy and email him, he says some guy was coming at 4 to look at it. I decided to let that guy have a chance and if he didn't get it, I would go look at it. Turns out the guy doesn't show, so I head out there. Bike is in good condition, under 9K miles. I try to talk him down and he isn't budging. So with the last little bit of money I have I buy this bike with no job, not knowing how I am going to pay the bills. Turns out it needs a battery, air filters, carb rebuild and a new back tire. Charging system is a bit weak, but that can be worked out later. Got a job at the beginning of last month, and should be able to pick my bike up on the tenth of this month.

Also sold the GS500E for $1300 to pay the bills.

 

[CDNTX650]

"Glad i snagged a stock standard before some fuck chopped it."

Bahahahahaha!!!

not that i don't appreciate a well done chop or bob....but there is to many back yard bobs that end up in the shit pile.

 

[heath1178]

I just drove 2 hrs from my house to Brighton Colorado. I bought mine for 600$ with a clean title. It fired up and ran so I shook my hand on the deal. I know nothing about these bikes except that they sound bad ass.

 

[Ebola Monkey]

I found mine on CraigsList. Bought a low mile bike from the original owner. If he hadn't wrote my name on e the back of the title I would have been done with the bike already.

Truth be told, I'd been looking for an XS650. I already built my wife an XS400. This was an "I'm gonna sell it" purchase. That turned into a "fuck, I can't sell it" purchase

I want an xs650 to play with but this one is too nice. I'm gonna have to title it, then sell it, then buy another xs650. Isn't that shitty???

Might make more sense to just hold on, chop, and make it MY xs650.

 

[Kingwj]

Found mine at the Yamaha dealer in 1977.

You win.

 

[Kingwj]

Mine was on Ebay living in Asbury Park, NJ. Was at $750 when I emailed the guy a $1000 cash offer which he took. Two days later when I picked it up the bid was at $1200 but he was good to his word. The seatcover has been replaced with an NOS skin and the mirrors changed to proper XS650 units.

 

[CDNTX650]

Nice Standard Kingwj

 

[Motrhedd]

found this one in a barn,the inspection sticker was 14 years old

 

[AceofSpades]

My uncle had had "an old Yamaha twin and a really neat old Honda Chopper" sitting in his garage, then back yard, for quite a few years. My brother and I were visiting once and he had agreed to save them for us and sell them for a total of $350. for both bikes WITH GOOD TITLES!! sadly we were both pretty much dead broke. That was in the early spring of 2009. Fast forward to the first weekend of December 09 ( the day of our HUGE family Holiday reunion ) one of our many, many cousins pulled into the lot where we had our dinner and we hear her mini-vans brakes GRINDING metal to metal... My Uncle askes me if I would leave a bit early and go get a set of brake pads and take the van to his daughter's house and slap a set of pads on so our cousin could make the 150 mile drive back home. I took the van, drove the 30 miles to get brake pads ( we were in BFE ) and then 20 miles back to the shop. slapped the pads on and took the van back to the dinner location. The next week, my uUncle loaded the 2 bikes in his son-in-law's truck and drove them down to my house and GAVE them to us.

The Honda is a 72 CB500 with an 8 over coil-over front end, a TRI-BAR sissy bar and a KING-NUT tank that was last plated in 1980. revival is currently under way.

The Yamaha is a 75 XS650 that was stone stock when I got it, so I made it my own. I dropped a new battery in and a gallon of 104 octane race gas... pushed the starter button and .... IT STARTED!! I have less than $300 TOTAL INVESTMENT in the XS as of right now... including a new battery, new brake shoes on rear and a new clutch cable.

 

[TeeCat]

I still have, and love, my '05 quarter-liter Ninja, but I was looking for a bike to get my hands a little dirty with... not something that would drag me into the deep end, for which I have not the skills... but maybe a good platform for a resto-mod, such as a mild cafe roadster.

That said, I happened upon my bike on the website of a used bike dealer and went to look at it. It seemed to be in reasonably good shape cosmetically, and kicked through with no odd noises. It was sitting up on an electric shelf with a bunch of other neglected vintage stuff that the guy was hoarding. He sold it to me reluctantly, with the proviso that I would not cut it up.

She was stone dead when I brought her home in the back of my buddy's pickup in August of '07, and it's been a long road, but I think I'm getting there at last.

TC

 

[Barb]

Hi Guys,

Which one? I got my '79 a couple of years ago down in Seattle, but my main bike is my '77"D", named Jaelith. I found her in, of all places, a Yamaha shop in Everett, Washington, in February of 1978. She had a couple thousand miles on her and was bone-stock. I've got over 60,000 miles on her now, about half of that lugging a sidecar. She has a replacement tank from a '75XS, and I'm on my third seat. Her mufflers rotted through, and she has a pair of "Special" mufflers now--temporarily. She is on her spare engine while I rebuild her original one.

She and I have been all over the west, in the mountains, the desert and everything in between. We went through a barbed-wire fence at 80 mph in 1980, and she got new 'bars and headlight, front fender and tire, and I got 79 stitches in my forehead, and we both learned that alcohol and bikes just do not mix. Ever.

She is the one bike I will never sell. My son will get her when--or if--I pass on, and that's how it should be. I used to pick him up at pre-school on her, and he figured he was the coolest kid in school when we would roll away....

Needless to say, I love the stupid thing, and refuse to believe she is just metal and wire--there is a warm soul lurking in there somewhere, probably down by the rectifier...

 

[xjwmx]

Ha! Wish I'd known you back in '80.

Did you get 60,000 on the motor before you needed engine work? I've been trying to get some handle on how long they last.

 

[Sects]

Was sitting in a warehouse at my old shop... Wrenching for a Mazda dealer. Saw it, offered the boss $50 he said, "$75." Sold! 2200 miles. Sat in the warehouse from 1981 to 2010.

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