SX1B so far

[richard]

I have an XS1B as many of you know. I more or less restored it and rebuilt the top end. When I first bought the bike it ran ok but the shifting and the way it sounded at idle where not what I expected it to be. Since I rebuilt the top end I have had a chance to ride it around a little and I must say it has straightened right out. The shifting is much improved and the idle sounds the way it should. I think the gain in compression with the new top end has made a big difference in how the carburetors act, or maybe there are just working with use. Shifting selection used to be shallow and not very well defined. I wasn’t really sure if it was in gear or not until I let out the clutch, now it clicks into each gear and I can feel the detent click very well. The clutch was grabby and unpredictable. I took it apart and cleaned all the rough surfaces in the basket and now it work well without all that slipping and grabbing it used to do. I think part of that problem was crude in the oil left by the bad timing chain on the worn guides. Now that that has been resolved and the oil changed it seems to have resolved the clutch issues too. I rode the bike today and as I was riding I just though what a difference this thing has made. The bike is a pleasure to ride and I am starting to think I made the right choice in restoring it. Restoring bike isn’t cheap but at this point I think the results might have been worth it.

I have two issues left one is the rear drum brake squeaks because it was rusty when I got the bike. I have a new set of shoe shoes I am going to install once the rust has been worn off by the old shoes. It stops fine, it’s just noisy when it does. I just hope eventually the rust will wear off? The second issue is when I rebuilt the front forks I installed a new set of progressive springs because the old springs were sagging. Whe I cached to the new spring I left out the spacers that where with the old springs. There was not enough room to fit them in. The issue with the new springs is they do not have any preload and although the bike sits level they seem to run low in their travel and pumps. I’m used to a much stiffer front end than the way it is now. At this point I haven’t preloaded it because I wasn’t sure how it would affect the geometry so I wanted to figure that out before I did something to fix it.

If i could do it again I wish I had bead blasted the cylinders before I put them back on.

[yamasarus]

Richard,
Your bike looks great, and you definitely made the right decision! It is also worth more this way. As to the rear brake, I would suggest simply sanding the rust away. It will be fine unless it is pitted or worse, at which point you would have to replace the hub. I really doubt that would be the case. Sand it now before more damage is done.
As to the springs, you can make a spacer that you feel comfortable with out of pipe or even pvc. Make it the length you want and get the ride you want. This is an easy area to play in.

[richard]

Thanks Yamasarus

Yeah that is the one thing the XS1B has going fo it, it will hold it's value over time.

I have blown the dust out of my rear drum twice now and it stopped the squealing for a while. Each time it lasted a little longer but just in case that doesn’t work I have another rear wheel I can use. The brake drum on it is in better shape but the actual wheel needs to be re-chromed because the chrome on it is really thin.

I tried to put a one inch spacer in my fork springs yesterday and couldn’t get it in. They don't bottom out at all. Maybe I’m being too picky on that.

[yamasarus]

If they don't bottom out is the ride okay? If so "don't worry-be happy".

[richard]

Yeah the ride is great! but a little soft for any canyon carving type stuff. I guess that's why you can never have enough bikes :-)

Check out my gauge cluster I just finished it today

Look how close that odometer is to the 100 MPH mark. I looked on the other OEM speedos I have and it is that close on them too. I fugged the center of the face just a hair to get it to clear but it was really close. I'm going to put these on tomorrow. When I get a chance I'm going to see what I can do to gain some space between the odometer and the 100. it's always a trade off with that stuff if you want it to look right.

The tachometer clock was a little off center in the bezel which I didn't expect. I tried to losen the screws and shift it over a little but none of it would budge so I decided to live with it rather than taking the chance of damaging the works. You never expect flaws in the manufacturing process. The funny thing about these gauges is on both of them the screws that hold down the face plates were lose and probably would have come out in time.

I bought these on ebay about a year ago and save them for this project. now I have two sets and this will be the best out of all of them. It's hard to get XS1 gauges at all much less in good shape.

[yamasarus]

Richard,
They look great! One would never guess they weren't original. I have an XS1 I am about to restore and I will be using your faces on those guages. I hope I can make them look as good as yours.

[richard]

Thanks Yamasarus
One thing I learned while working on the gauges was to mark the back of the new faces, then lay them face down and attach the plate too them. Of course everything has to be really clean especially the surface you’re laying them on. For me the hardest part of the whole thing was getting the face on the speedo to line up correctly on the plate. The tach was no problem but the speedo has those two windows, they’re both really close to the lettering so if they are off at all its pretty noticeable. The first one I put on didn’t look right so on my second try I held it up to the sun to see the window position and marked the back with reference marks. Then it was just a matter of spraying the glue on the plate, setting it on the back of the face then trimming it with an exacto knife until it matched. I touched up the needle hole cutout with a black marker because I was worried it would show but the needle covered it after all.

One other thing I have done is that I have two sheets of faces tacked to a board in the back yard for a month now they have been rained on twice and been sitting in the sun at 90+ degrees most of the time. So far they are holding up pretty well.

If you have any problems with those faces let me know. I’ll send you more it you need them.

[XS Rod]

Richard,
Looks great bro ... the bike and the gauges. Definitely tedious work. Question on the faces... how do you think the new faces will hold up to sunlight?

[richard]

I had a couple of pages of gauge faces tacked up to a board in the back yard in direct sun light for about a month. They were rain on twice and the temperature the whole was around 99 degrees most of the time. I couldn’t tell they faded at all. The pages did warp a little from the rain though because they were soaked and the sun dried them. I don’t think they would fad but if you put them under water sooner or later the paper would disintegrate. I’m really picky about things and the only problem I can see is if you touch them very much you can see the scuffs on the faces under the right light. I had trouble getting the needle just right on the speedo and it took three tries so I can see a little flaw next to the needle when the sun hits in just right. Most of the time you can’t see it. It might be powder from the glove I’m not sure but since nobody else could see it I decided to live with it.