Orion61
XS650 Addict
What is it about the Yamaha 650 you love? I don't know of any single bike that gets chopped, clipped, and bobbed as the xs.
Is it the Sound? reliability? cheap price? Or possibly you started out on a Yamaha bike.
** Here is MY Story**
My 2 wheel experience started on a 1973 yammer hammer 100 twin, I was 12 and raised on a Farm in North East Nebraska I drove that thing everywhere, I couldn't believe it! I lived on it, I raced a Kawasaki 100 Enduro, I got him big off of the starting line, the 100 twin had great low end and rapped out to 9000 RPM almost instantly, alas the Single lung Kaw caught up with me with that long stroke and beat me by a car length. In 1975 on a trip to visit my Aunt in N. Carolina my Step Dad bought a Honda 350 4 cyl. from my Uncle. We had the choice of that or a Purple Yamaha TX500, but he couldn't get it started easily while the little Honda and its Electric start went zip, zip and it was running. It was smooth and I remember the first time I rode it thinking it sounded like a Diesel Semi. that smooth DRRRR, BUT it was not as fast as I thought it would be, being 350% bigger It was quite a bit heavier and a lot more comfortable to ride on. I also didn't have to smell that awful 2 cycle exhaust of the 100, the 100 had an automatic oil mixer so that was one thing nice, but looking back, I believe it was set too rich on the auto-mix. It really smoked, a lot more than our 2 cycle chain saws
One day while I was in Shop class at School, a Senior brought in his 1973 TX-650 with extended forks and no Blinkers.
It had a King Queen seat (I had never seen one before), It had shorty glass packs and that Metal flake Candy Saphire Blue paint (whatever they called that Brilliant Blue)!! I thought it was the most beautiful paint job I had ever seen, those gold and black emblems and the chrome accents on the side covers really set it off! I hadn't even heard it run yet! That was in early September 1977
Elvis had just died 21/2 weeks before that August , and my Mother and Sister were still crying over it.
HA I still vividly remember pouring Cement that day on our water well and it was August 16th (a day before my 16th Birthday) funny how you remember those things.
THEN the Magic.... the Senior started it, I heard that sound for the first time, I was sold, there was no other Bike for me and I had to have one!.
I had worked for a neighboring Farmer for 3 bucks an hour plus I got $5.00 allowance big money back then! I got permission to sell the little 100, my Step Brother bought it for $100.00 it had 3000 miles on it.
Plus on the days I didn't work with the Farmer I hauled hay bales so there it was I had $475.00 saved up
from over 2 Summers.
We drove to the nearest Yamaha dealer 45 minutes away in Sioux City, a new bike was out of the question at $1495.00 BUT there was a used 1971 XS, beautiful Gold flake, It had a whopping 8200 miles on it, but the price was close to being in reach at $800.00. My Step Dad was a master at wheeling and dealing on vehicles and he soon had them down to $735.00 but that is where they stood. Now back then the only thing Yamaha dealers liked less than Honda was those Bas****s at Kawasaki! He gently dropped the bomb that we HAD been shopping and told me to come along back to Kawasaki for the bike we priced out earlier, as we started turning he told the salesman, "We only stopped here because the Boy was fond of the 650... 2 steps later we were turned around again by the famous, "Let me talk to the store owner".
Five minutes later he was on the floor, he asked my step daddy what number were you thinking of, Fred replied quickly $600.00, that was too low, but it helped when he said "This will be the Boys 2nd Yamaha, he thinks he likes them. We ended up at $645.00, a tune-up and new Battery IF we bought a new helmet too. Fred financed the rest of the money for me because he said he was proud of the way I worked and saved up on my own. I owned that bike for 10 more years when that same Dealer brought in a MINT Blue
1973 TX, the Bike of my dreams it only had 2000 miles on it and looked brand new. My body is just in tune with the 650 at about 60mph with foam grips.....AH the memories..... But the '75 XS1B I have now is the best running of all the 6 of them I have owned... I still love them as much as that beautiful Fall Day I first saw one. I have owned the 75 for 21 years now.
Cousin Larry
Is it the Sound? reliability? cheap price? Or possibly you started out on a Yamaha bike.
** Here is MY Story**
My 2 wheel experience started on a 1973 yammer hammer 100 twin, I was 12 and raised on a Farm in North East Nebraska I drove that thing everywhere, I couldn't believe it! I lived on it, I raced a Kawasaki 100 Enduro, I got him big off of the starting line, the 100 twin had great low end and rapped out to 9000 RPM almost instantly, alas the Single lung Kaw caught up with me with that long stroke and beat me by a car length. In 1975 on a trip to visit my Aunt in N. Carolina my Step Dad bought a Honda 350 4 cyl. from my Uncle. We had the choice of that or a Purple Yamaha TX500, but he couldn't get it started easily while the little Honda and its Electric start went zip, zip and it was running. It was smooth and I remember the first time I rode it thinking it sounded like a Diesel Semi. that smooth DRRRR, BUT it was not as fast as I thought it would be, being 350% bigger It was quite a bit heavier and a lot more comfortable to ride on. I also didn't have to smell that awful 2 cycle exhaust of the 100, the 100 had an automatic oil mixer so that was one thing nice, but looking back, I believe it was set too rich on the auto-mix. It really smoked, a lot more than our 2 cycle chain saws
One day while I was in Shop class at School, a Senior brought in his 1973 TX-650 with extended forks and no Blinkers.
It had a King Queen seat (I had never seen one before), It had shorty glass packs and that Metal flake Candy Saphire Blue paint (whatever they called that Brilliant Blue)!! I thought it was the most beautiful paint job I had ever seen, those gold and black emblems and the chrome accents on the side covers really set it off! I hadn't even heard it run yet! That was in early September 1977
Elvis had just died 21/2 weeks before that August , and my Mother and Sister were still crying over it.
HA I still vividly remember pouring Cement that day on our water well and it was August 16th (a day before my 16th Birthday) funny how you remember those things.
THEN the Magic.... the Senior started it, I heard that sound for the first time, I was sold, there was no other Bike for me and I had to have one!.
I had worked for a neighboring Farmer for 3 bucks an hour plus I got $5.00 allowance big money back then! I got permission to sell the little 100, my Step Brother bought it for $100.00 it had 3000 miles on it.
Plus on the days I didn't work with the Farmer I hauled hay bales so there it was I had $475.00 saved up
from over 2 Summers.
We drove to the nearest Yamaha dealer 45 minutes away in Sioux City, a new bike was out of the question at $1495.00 BUT there was a used 1971 XS, beautiful Gold flake, It had a whopping 8200 miles on it, but the price was close to being in reach at $800.00. My Step Dad was a master at wheeling and dealing on vehicles and he soon had them down to $735.00 but that is where they stood. Now back then the only thing Yamaha dealers liked less than Honda was those Bas****s at Kawasaki! He gently dropped the bomb that we HAD been shopping and told me to come along back to Kawasaki for the bike we priced out earlier, as we started turning he told the salesman, "We only stopped here because the Boy was fond of the 650... 2 steps later we were turned around again by the famous, "Let me talk to the store owner".
Five minutes later he was on the floor, he asked my step daddy what number were you thinking of, Fred replied quickly $600.00, that was too low, but it helped when he said "This will be the Boys 2nd Yamaha, he thinks he likes them. We ended up at $645.00, a tune-up and new Battery IF we bought a new helmet too. Fred financed the rest of the money for me because he said he was proud of the way I worked and saved up on my own. I owned that bike for 10 more years when that same Dealer brought in a MINT Blue
1973 TX, the Bike of my dreams it only had 2000 miles on it and looked brand new. My body is just in tune with the 650 at about 60mph with foam grips.....AH the memories..... But the '75 XS1B I have now is the best running of all the 6 of them I have owned... I still love them as much as that beautiful Fall Day I first saw one. I have owned the 75 for 21 years now.
Cousin Larry