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Real_Wolf
3rd August 2008, 14:46
Figured I might just post some of the things wrong with it, see what can be thought up as fixes, etc.

Front wheel: Seems to leak a bit faster than it really should, not leaking nearly as much anymore, but should still be checked

Clutch: Very short, wobbles up and down (needs tightening), and is VERY stiff, probably needs some lube in the cables

Left side of crank case seems to have chain lube flicking onto it

Right side of crank case has a pipe coming out of it, that goes nowhere. Looks like it was attached to another one which went at a right angle into the air filter, but atm it just goes into the air (Might account for the strong petrol smell

Rear wheel wobbles while riding, slight, but noticeable
Has trouble starting at times, seems to just flood and not catch. If it does flood, battery runs out of power quite quick from the starter motor. Once its started, bump start or got lucky, it will fire straight off with the electric start.

Ragingrob
3rd August 2008, 17:20
EDIT : Has trouble starting whenever Rob is around (3 times now), leading to enough exercise to last the week in his leathers.

Real_Wolf
3rd August 2008, 17:34
lol, dw rob, not just you, it did it again this morning.

Also got a great one to add: Back wheel wobbles while riding

Squiggles
3rd August 2008, 19:16
take your wheels round to say, cycletreads, and have them plug the leak and balance the wheels, thats that one fixed

Given the petrol smell, and the floods with any use of the throttle /bogs down, i go with what i said the other day, carb could do with a cleanout/reset the float etc

The pipe is probably a breather to the airbox, perhaps a pic?

Real_Wolf
3rd August 2008, 20:35
hehe, yeah, during daylight tomorrow, i'll take some pics with my phone (best camera I have).

looking at what mechanic to take it to atm, as a few of them I don't really have the expertise to fix.

At least my forks are fine... my friends bike has a leaking fork seal.

On other unrelated news, got a good quasimoto cordura/leather jacket, which has actual armour on it unlike my plastic jacket

Squiggles
3rd August 2008, 21:20
looking at what mechanic to take it to atm, as a few of them I don't really have the expertise to fix.

XS is a single cylinder right?

BANZAI
3rd August 2008, 21:36
XS is a single cylinder right?

Isnt it DOHC Twin?

I was searching about it and it is very interesting motorcycle!

I wanna ride it sometime hehe :D

Real_Wolf
3rd August 2008, 22:01
lol, you break it you bought it. It doesn't really have that much power, but its a nice bike. Going over speed bumps is so much better than in a car.

Its a V-Twin

mebe i'll let you ride it.... tho i might wanna ride yours at teh same time. Preferrably in the dry though

shingo
3rd August 2008, 22:15
Its a V-Twin

From what i remember when i had a look at it it's a parallel twin, not a V-Twin.

BANZAI
3rd August 2008, 22:24
lol, you break it you bought it. It doesn't really have that much power, but its a nice bike. Going over speed bumps is so much better than in a car.

Its a V-Twin

mebe i'll let you ride it.... tho i might wanna ride yours at teh same time. Preferrably in the dry though

Yea sure you can ride my Ginnie. Yours is pararell twin. Yamaha put so much effort creating this bike in 80's but it wasn't really well seller...

Altho it is great bike from what I read from current Japanese owner's website.
20Liter tank and less vibration than single cylinder which makes it great touring sports bike!!!!

FJRider
3rd August 2008, 22:32
lol, dw rob, not just you, it did it again this morning.

Also got a great one to add: Back wheel wobbles while riding

Sounds like bearing gone...

motorbyclist
4th August 2008, 00:07
Right side of crank case has a pipe coming out of it, that goes nowhere. Looks like it was attached to another one which went at a right angle into the air filter, but atm it just goes into the air (Might account for the strong petrol smell


gimmie a look at it:D

it's probably just a breather, which you may want to cover up before water/grit gets sucked in and contaminates your oil

chuck a multimeter on the battery and you'll probably find it's dead

sounds like carbies could do with a cleanup too



looking at what mechanic to take it to atm, as a few of them I don't really have the expertise to fix.

bring it to meeeeeee!

mechanic = $70 an hour

smc club fix it day = bring your parts/fluids and be prepared to get your hands dirty




At least my forks are fine... my friends bike has a leaking fork seal.

easy job, either $40 for parts and an hour in the shed or a day (or more) with the mechanic and $300

Real_Wolf
4th August 2008, 08:08
the battery still has juice, and no power leak (What I thought might have been a possible problem). It just doesn't seem to want to catch.

The breather looks like it was attachted to my air filter before, just isn't anymore, so don't know about that, but its well tucked away so not much will be getting in.

As for the wheel, definetely not riding it anymore than I have to until thats fixed, it might be a bearing, or it might be a buckled wheel, or the wheel isn't aligned.

Oh, also, one thing I forgot, is that the horn doesn't work. It used to, until the first day I bought it, when in the rain the lights stopped, and the horn stopped. Lights started again a bit later that night, but horn has never worked since

motorbyclist
5th August 2008, 01:00
the battery still has juice, and no power leak (What I thought might have been a possible problem). It just doesn't seem to want to catch.

The breather looks like it was attachted to my air filter before, just isn't anymore, so don't know about that, but its well tucked away so not much will be getting in.

As for the wheel, definetely not riding it anymore than I have to until thats fixed, it might be a bearing, or it might be a buckled wheel, or the wheel isn't aligned.

Oh, also, one thing I forgot, is that the horn doesn't work. It used to, until the first day I bought it, when in the rain the lights stopped, and the horn stopped. Lights started again a bit later that night, but horn has never worked since

lemme at it!

yeah that breather is usually attached to the airbox

it's both an oil overflow and (primarily) to allow the pistons to move without pressurizing the crankcase, so there is a constant in/out flow of air which may cause you to suck in crap straight to the bottom end of you motor. this is bad (but less of an issue in your twin than in a single as the crank case volume doesn't change much as pistons alternate)

Real_Wolf
5th August 2008, 09:17
Might bring it in today, If i can be bothered maybe having to deal with its starting, and if I think that riding with that wheel is a good idea

motorbyclist
5th August 2008, 17:21
yes breather hose

there's a knack to starting it:bleh:

rear seems ok

need to have a proper look

Real_Wolf
5th August 2008, 18:25
rear seems okay, give it a try riding it and you'll see different.

Started fine after the lab, though might not just be the knack, I still think its because Rob wasn't around

Magua
6th August 2008, 10:58
Was that you splitting behind me from the port to sh1 yesterday? Nice looking bike. _b

Real_Wolf
6th August 2008, 11:00
yah, that was me. Not so used to the bike so I usually try to let other bikes split in front of me if I can

Real_Wolf
7th August 2008, 17:19
hmm, pulled my clutch in just as I was leaving uni, put it in first, about to ride up the little curb bit before leaving the carpark, and hear a nice snapping sound. At first I thought the lever itself had snapped, but no.

However at certain times, the gears just didn't want to change. Took a real mighty kick to put it into the gear I wanted, othertimes it didn't.

Pulling it in, leaning clos to it without a helmet, could hear a light clicking noises, might just be from absolutely no lube.

Also, on another note, since Andrew suggested it, tried pulling my bike key out while engine was on, and sure enough it comes out

motorbyclist
7th August 2008, 18:08
Pulling it in, leaning clos to it without a helmet, could hear a light clicking noises, might just be from absolutely no lube.

!

the cable (as i suggested;)) is fraying, ie it has snapped a few strands and the rest are steadily going, and as they come free they catch on the sheath and make it harder to pull.

unless you reckon you can ride clutchless (which can be done) i'd suggest you get the cable repaired/replaced asap and don't ride it unless you absolutely have to

try a bike shop first off, and f they don't have anything on the shelf or a means to repair it, go to robinson instruments and they'll be able to replace/repair the cable for you. same crowd who red baron gets to fix speedo cables anyway, red baron mechanic put me onto them when i (delberately) came into the workshop at 4pm on a friday:niceone:

funny how much time and money you save buy finding the shop's suppliers:laugh:, got many radiator repairs for only $60, $30 speedo cable repair, dirt cheap bearings too if i get the tools to replace 'em

Real_Wolf
7th August 2008, 20:03
I'm assuming my bike would have a standard clutch cable and nothing exquisite?

Riding clutchless is probably very bad, mostly for the waiting at lights and not stalling aspect.

So bike shop it is then? no fix it day for me then? or reckon it'd be fine to ride to the fixit this weekend?

motorbyclist
7th August 2008, 21:39
you'll be fine for the fixit, but the cable is clearly a time bomb which could cause an accident when it snaps mid-shift and suddenly dumps power mid corner, lose traction and/or wheelie.

can often be hard finding neutral too, and you'll be having some violent starts if you have to stop at lights (revving your bike and slamming from neutral to first without clutch is possibly the worst thing you can do for the gearbox)

clutchless shifts aren't too bad in bike gearboxes due to their sequential setup, reasonably low torque and synchros clutching anyway, but will cause damage over time - mostly to the clutch, but the stuff that matters is the dogs on the synchros, and the chance of bending a selector fork

shifts without clutch can be practically harmless provided it's done smoothly

Real_Wolf
8th August 2008, 00:38
heh, my bike would need to drop the clutch at almost full revs to wheely, not sure if it'd even manage it then, tis very heavy.
Losing traction or on a corner is bad, though don't really use clutch on corners very much (paranoid about my back wheel anyway).

motorbyclist
8th August 2008, 02:09
yeah wheelie like that wouldn't really apply unless you revved it up before releasing clutch - if ya did that mid corner you were going to break the rear loose anyway:p

Real_Wolf
9th August 2008, 19:19
Heh, I think my XS is misregistered.

I think its actually an 83 model, but judge for yourself (For those who remember what my bike looks like).

This isn't concrete proof, but can't find many pictures of the 80's era of the xs250, but yeah

Heres a 1983
http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007%5C01%5C18%5Cbikepics-775335-800.jpg

Heres a 1986
http://w1.bikepics.com/pics/2004%5C08%5C23%5Cbikepics-200320-800.jpg

the 86 has a circular headlight, different seat shape, no handleholds on the back, a flat exhaust, and a lot more space above the crank case, different suspension shape, and a fuel tank without 'leg' spaces

BANZAI
9th August 2008, 21:41
Heh, I think my XS is misregistered.

I think its actually an 83 model, but judge for yourself (For those who remember what my bike looks like).

This isn't concrete proof, but can't find many pictures of the 80's era of the xs250, but yeah

Heres a 1983
http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007%5C01%5C18%5Cbikepics-775335-800.jpg

Heres a 1986
http://w1.bikepics.com/pics/2004%5C08%5C23%5Cbikepics-200320-800.jpg

the 86 has a circular headlight, different seat shape, no handleholds on the back, a flat exhaust, and a lot more space above the crank case, different suspension shape, and a fuel tank without 'leg' spaces

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2m.biglobe.ne.jp%2F%7Eharu-sho%2Fxs250%2F01.htm&lp=ja_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

This is the Japanese page that I found then I put it to web translator (so some of sutff doesnt make sense lol), but yours is diffinitely '82-early 80's model.

And checkout the fuel tank capacity! 20 Litres!!!!!

motorbyclist
10th August 2008, 01:57
run the engine/chasss numbers

Real_Wolf
10th August 2008, 11:42
um, I don't trust that fuel tank, its definetely not 20 litres, since it only lasts about 160km. And after that it needs to be on reserve. At which point filling it up always costs less than $20

Real_Wolf
12th August 2008, 18:39
Well, took my bike to cycle treads today.

Told him about the clutch cable, and how the back wheel seemed out of alignment

He took off the clutch cable, turns out to be 'unique', and so had to go to Atomic just up the road and get it fixed, but that was no problem.

Put it back on, and did some testing, then left, and found it wouldn't disengage at all. Came back (barely got up the ramp), and they fiddled with it a bit more, so it uses all the spring but only connects at the very end.

So now I need to have my actual clutch looked at.

As for the back tyre, turns out its not just the tyre, the whole wheel arm can be moved around, and needs to be pressed. Great

Squiggles
13th August 2008, 07:45
and needs to be pressed. Great

presumably they mean the bushes/bearings need to be removed and new ones pressed in....

Real_Wolf
13th August 2008, 08:42
that sounds like what they said. Difficult to remember actual terminology when you do so many other things that are unrelated

Dare
21st August 2008, 15:06
At least my forks are fine... my friends bike has a leaking fork seal.
Not any more =D Still gotta get new sprockets chain and pads though...

Real_Wolf
21st August 2008, 17:59
Ride an XS250, you get a new noise EVERY ride.

Yes, my bike is starting to make worrying noises

motorbyclist
22nd August 2008, 03:14
checked the oil?

Real_Wolf
22nd August 2008, 08:57
only the oil level, not done an oil change.

Would probably be good to do one

BANZAI
22nd August 2008, 11:08
only the oil level, not done an oil change.

Would probably be good to do one

Want to get Motul mineral oil? I know guy sell oils cheaper than retail.

I need todo oil change as well and if we get it in 5liter container should cover both of us. GN only need 1.3L, howbout yours?

I think your bike should be ok with mineral oil since it's almost as old as when GN first come out from factory in Japan :p