Post by sevesteen on Sept 12, 2011 9:11:30 GMT -5
My first motorcycle was a trashed early 70's XS650 Standard that I bought when I was in USAF tech school back in the 80's. I think I paid $25 and a car radio with a broken cassette player for it. The bike had been badly abused--no air filters or air box, just open carbs. The seat was from an unknown Kawasaki, held on with a cloth Air Force uniform belt. I called it a 3 stroke, because it burned so much oil that I had to top off every fill up, and I could smell burning oil as I rode. As it idled, the RPM's would climb unless I occasionally blipped the throttle, and the powerband was very peaky, hardly any power at low RPM, then a sudden increase when it hit a certain RPM that gave me trouble the first few times. I rode it for a few months, laid it down once in a parking lot--sharp very slow turn and it decided to pause for about 2 seconds. When I graduated I didn't think it was worth taking across country (a decision that was made by at least 2 previous owners that I knew of) so I was going to sell it to a friend. While he was riding around the parking lot, apparently the cardboard between the Kawasaki seat and the battery slipped, and the resulting sparks started a fire (I'm assuming a leaky carb), burning the clutch cable before he noticed. ("It's on fire!" "Well, get off it!" "The Clutch won't work!" "Get off, don't worry about the bike!") The fire went out, I put a new clutch cable on, he bought it anyway.
At my next base, I eventually bought a Honda 360 that I rode for a couple months, then I quit riding for 20+ years. I'm now riding an 81 750 Seca, but despite the contidion of my previous XS650, I'm interested in getting another. The problem is that almost all the half decent non-bobbed bikes I've seen are Specials, and I really want a Standard--partially for the look, but partially for the riding position. Would it be feasible to turn a Special into a Standard?
At my next base, I eventually bought a Honda 360 that I rode for a couple months, then I quit riding for 20+ years. I'm now riding an 81 750 Seca, but despite the contidion of my previous XS650, I'm interested in getting another. The problem is that almost all the half decent non-bobbed bikes I've seen are Specials, and I really want a Standard--partially for the look, but partially for the riding position. Would it be feasible to turn a Special into a Standard?