There has to be a lesson in this.

[Jackrat]

Ok we all know XS650s handle like crap,Right!!
Well they ain't that bad but that's the legend so those of us that are lucky enough to own them normaly try to do something about it.
So I up graded the fork springs a while back,then I did the swingarm bushes and put a second disc on.Now the back end don't weave no more,the front end don't dive "to much" and it stops when it's ment to.
One thing I hadn't done allthough I did buy the bits a fair while ago was to change the steering head bearing from the old cup an ball to tapered bearings.They just seemed ok to me so why bother,plus it's a real pain of a job.
I was going fishing today but my flash as a rat with a gold tooth type reel decided to not work right "bugger" must be head bearing day instead.
I get the front end off bike and Dang the bloody things are tapered.Some other buggers already done them.Hmmmm,I can see a bit of wear an I have the new ones so I may as well continue.The races have to come out but I see their flush with the inside of the tube they sit in.I can't get a punch in there an I don't have a cold chisel to crack them with.Off to Miter 10 then home again with $20 worth of cold chisel and a couple of flash drifts.
Place chisel against race where it won't damage the steering head tube,give it GOOD crack with 4lb hammer and snap corner off new chisel,the race laughs at me.Put chisel under/against bottem edge of race an give it a slightly lesser crack,other corner of chisel snaps off an hits me in face,SHIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT,back to miter 10,big bleat, not good enough,crap tools ect ect.Back home with new new chisel of different brand.
Got another idea to,out with the drill an put small hole in race,plus snap drill bit "at lest it didn't hit me"
Place corner of chisel into corner of small hole and hit it BLOODY HARD,race snaps an pings off across shed.Oh crap,I've put a ding in race seat.
Out with file and half an hour later It's not bad again.
Next race.Place chisel against bottem edge,give light tap an it falls on the floor.Wonders never cease.
It all goes togeather like it should so I get every thing back in place after about an hours work.Stand back to admire my handy work an notice all the cables and wires are in the wrong place.Remove forks AGAIN,lift top yoke AGAIN,drop rubber O rings from between top yoke and head light ears and watch as they roll under work bench.Put all cables an wiring where they should be,go get torch an look under work bench,see dead hedgehog,explains that odd smell a while back,find rubber O rings,get it all back togeather Again.
Push bike out of shed,turn key,no ignition light,Try indercators,Flash flash flash,Right give it a kick,Vroom Vroom.Sweet as, will fix light later.
Go for ride around block,Hmmmmm,
Should'a gone fishing.

[Blakamin]

I feel for ya... I had a day where I shoulda gone fishin too!!!
Glad ya bikes on the road again tho... Innit funny, 20 years ago you'd get a tool and it'd last 400 years... now... lucky if they last a job

[MSTRS:Me]

Innit funny, 20 years ago you'd get a tool and it'd last 400 years... now... lucky if they last a job

Too true....my best tools were pinched off my old man 25/30 years ago

[riffer]

Too true....my best tools were pinched off my old man 25/30 years ago

Yup. Me too.

Glad to hear it only took you a couple of goes Jackrat.

It took me six goes and a number of weeks to get my steering head going right.

But then again you've got twenty years experience on me...

[ching_ching]

Fishing and fixing motorbikes... IMHO both endeavours deserving of a couple of things called "Patience & Persistence". When I had the Gixx it wasn't bike parts that were flying off but tools leaving my hand "unexpectedly"

Glad your persistence won through in the end.

ching

[inlinefour]

Ok we all know XS650s handle like crap,Right!!
Well they ain't that bad but that's the legend so those of us that are lucky enough to own them normaly try to do something about it.
So I up graded the fork springs a while back,then I did the swingarm bushes and put a second disc on.Now the back end don't weave no more,the front end don't dive "to much" and it stops when it's ment to.
One thing I hadn't done allthough I did buy the bits a fair while ago was to change the steering head bearing from the old cup an ball to tapered bearings.They just seemed ok to me so why bother,plus it's a real pain of a job.
I was going fishing today but my flash as a rat with a gold tooth type reel decided to not work right "bugger" must be head bearing day instead.
I get the front end off bike and Dang the bloody things are tapered.Some other buggers already done them.Hmmmm,I can see a bit of wear an I have the new ones so I may as well continue.The races have to come out but I see their flush with the inside of the tube they sit in.I can't get a punch in there an I don't have a cold chisel to crack them with.Off to Miter 10 then home again with $20 worth of cold chisel and a couple of flash drifts.
Place chisel against race where it won't damage the steering head tube,give it GOOD crack with 4lb hammer and snap corner off new chisel,the race laughs at me.Put chisel under/against bottem edge of race an give it a slightly lesser crack,other corner of chisel snaps off an hits me in face,SHIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT,back to miter 10,big bleat, not good enough,crap tools ect ect.Back home with new new chisel of different brand.
Got another idea to,out with the drill an put small hole in race,plus snap drill bit "at lest it didn't hit me"
Place corner of chisel into corner of small hole and hit it BLOODY HARD,race snaps an pings off across shed.Oh crap,I've put a ding in race seat.
Out with file and half an hour later It's not bad again.
Next race.Place chisel against bottem edge,give light tap an it falls on the floor.Wonders never cease.
It all goes togeather like it should so I get every thing back in place after about an hours work.Stand back to admire my handy work an notice all the cables and wires are in the wrong place.Remove forks AGAIN,lift top yoke AGAIN,drop rubber O rings from between top yoke and head light ears and watch as they roll under work bench.Put all cables an wiring where they should be,go get torch an look under work bench,see dead hedgehog,explains that odd smell a while back,find rubber O rings,get it all back togeather Again.
Push bike out of shed,turn key,no ignition light,Try indercators,Flash flash flash,Right give it a kick,Vroom Vroom.Sweet as, will fix light later.
Go for ride around block,Hmmmmm,
Should'a gone fishing.

It would not surprise me...

[Skunk]

Should'a gone fishing.

I don't have much luck with that either...

[Motu]

You shoulda ground a couple of small grooves in the neck so you could knock the races out easy next time - of course you never would,but the the guy who did them next would say...''y'know,that guy who had this thing before may of looked pretty stupid,but he was pretty smart really''

Damn,I've done that with the wires too!

[moko]

Ok we all know XS650s handle like crap,Right!!
Well they ain't that bad but that's the legend so those of us that are lucky enough to own them normaly try to do something about it.
.

I had one back in the 70`s and to be honest I reckon the handling thing is a piece of crap put about by people who`ve never ridden them,was no better or worse than anything else of that era and I could stay in front of my mate`s 750 Bonnies no problem,wasn`t me that had everything decking on the corners.The XS2 was pretty evil but Yamaha Europe got Triumph works rider Percy Tait to take a look and the XS got bracing and twin discs up front to sort things out.maybe the Cruiser version isnt so hot but XS was never that bad.Only time mine got really out of line was racing some guy on a CB550 when they first came out(yeah,I know I`m an old fart),had 115 on the speedo on a twisty road(probably a good 10% optimistic as I had a passenger as well)in places and the bastard thing was all over the place,my pillion had done thousands of miles behind me no problem but ended up in tears after that ride,I got a slap as well.More normal riding it was no problem at all,only on the point of lunacy did it try to tie itself into a knot.mine had standard pipes but with all the insides gutted,sounded like Armageddon approaching,sweet.

[Kickaha]

You shoulda ground a couple of small grooves in the neck so you could knock the races out easy next time

Or if you have a welder lying around,weld a flat peice of steel across the race and hammer on that,done it that way a couple of times and it makes it real easy.

I had one back in the 70`s and to be honest I reckon the handling thing is a piece of crap put about by people who`ve never ridden them

My fatmate had one and believed all the bullshit about their bad handling right up unto the point I convinced him to fit a set of Konis on the back and then all the weaving he'd experienced above 120kmh stopped happening and it was stable to an indicated 160kmh

[Jackrat]

Some of you fella's should of been here yesterday morning.
I have a mini grinder/ingraver,
Oh well I've got a couple of good ideas now,Thanks.

About the handling thing,I removed my side stand when I first got the bike because I touched it down so often,resulting in a change of line mid corner,
"Not fun".After upgradeing the front end I put it back on but I still touch it down a fair bit.
My B model never did that so it must be a later model thing.
Sixteen inch rear wheel huh!! :spudwhat:

[Motu]

I had my 1971 XS1 for 15 years and was always stirred up about the handling,I reckon it's just urban legend,90% of those telling me they are bad handlers have never ridden one.I reckon the basic handling is pretty good,better than most of the Jap stuff of the day - I know I would of rather been on the XS1 than my 76 CB750 in a tight spot - they only did the wobble stuff if you pushed them at higher speeds,in gravel they are great,the flex is used to absorb the rough ride.

Percy Tait found there was a harmonics problem and slapped on weight in some areas to stop it - you can see it on the down tubes,the double thickness tube is much longer on later frames.He aslo moved the engine further forward and extended the swing to move the CG forward - maybe this is why I liked the XS1 better....I like more rear weight bias like a dirt bike for gravel.

Mine was stable at 160 kph too - but it wouldn't of taken much to make it very unstable! One of the thrills was how close to the edge you were when riding them - but in reality you were nowhere near the edge!

[avgas]

Innit funny, 20 years ago you'd get a tool and it'd last 400 years... now... lucky if they last a job

I have to agree and disagree here, cos i have the unfortunate task of actually working at M10.
Yes most tools these days are shit - however most tools these days are cheap.
But tools built to last a millenium still do exist, you just have to pay $$$'s for em.....as it was 20 years ago.
The tools havent got cheaper and tackyier, the customer has.

[Motu]

The trouble with the tool industry,and many others - is that the quality brand names are just that....brand names.They are applied to any cheap product made in China or other 3rd world country with cheap labour rates to exploit.There is still good stuff out there,but you gotta look hard...and sometimes that genuine made in the USA tool is total crap and the Chinese version far superior.I don't have faith in brand names anymore,they are just a sales tool,you have to carefully look at what you are buying.

[Jackrat]

I have to agree and disagree here, cos i have the unfortunate task of actually working at M10.
Yes most tools these days are shit - however most tools these days are cheap.
But tools built to last a millenium still do exist, you just have to pay $$$'s for em.....as it was 20 years ago.
The tools havent got cheaper and tackyier, the customer has.

Hmmmm here we go again.
One of my pet subjects you see.
It's not that the customers got cheap,it's they got fooled by the TQM liars from places like the wharehouse and M10.
These places don't deal in quality they deal in profit in every thing they do,from what they pay their employies to what they stock on their shelves.
Today if I want sockets I go to an enginering shop in Pukekohe an buy them indervidualy.That way the only time I need to replace them is if I lose them,not if they round out or crack.All my main tools are OLD or bought from the same type of place.They cost three times as much as the big stores charge but they last.The basis of TQM is to provide the customer a product suited to the job at a cost effective price.That's great but they've taken away the choise of product and only provide cheap.
The same applys with most things today,Cars,Bikes,Sporting equipment ect ect.Examples I have myself,An old Mitchel fishing reel that's out lasted every other modern brand name reel I've ever owned,My Sako rifle,thirty years old but better quality than several far newer Winchester & Remingtons I've tryed,My english longbow,Twenty years old and outlasted six modern recurve and compound bows of American make.
I should of gone to Puke' yesterday but the shops not open on a Saturday.He's a one man band with one employie.Know their stuff but,know how it works as well,use the stuff they sell themselfs,been there as long as I remember,know my name,give me advise that works,never try to sell me anything.
Never ask if I'd like frys with that.
Not into TQM.