Revisiting My Youth

[arbee69]

Greetings,

I recently retired and have my old friend sitting in the garage waiting for some TLC. It is a 1972 XS-650 I bought brand new at a county fair. The special show price was $1250 + tax. It was my pride and joy when I first got it but the bike has been relegated to a tool rack, broom holder, and dust collector for far too long. The bike has always lived under shelter and the odometer tells the tale of about 11,000 miles.

What I am looking for here is some sage advice on what I should do in putting it back on the road. Think in terms of restoration, safety and riding. The bike is all original except for the pipes and has never been wrecked or dropped. I am not interested in making a show piece out of it, just some ideas on how to spend my winter so it is ready to roll in its fortieth year. And, of course, how to roll back the calendar to those summer evenings so long ago. Thanks.

Randy

[pineywoods]

Hi Randy,

Welcome, You are on the right track. Ain't it great? Enough time and enough money and a great bike to work on. Read the many restoration threads here and on other forums and by spring you will have something to be proud of. Do the oil filter, sump filter, brake fluid, air filters, points, plugs, regulator-rectifier mod, fork oil change, yada,yada.

Have a good time. Sing out if you need help.

roy

[wideload]

Randy,

You will need to have a manual for your bike; it is nice to have one in hand, but you can download a free manual at www.knucklebusterinc.com/tech/XS650.pdf. Go through the maintenance and lubrication chapter.

You will need a good battery to get it to start. If the pistons are not stuck in the bore, you might want to pull the plugs & put a squirt of oil in the cylinders then kick it over a few time while you work on other stuff.

Clean or replace your air filter. Drain old gas. Look inside the tank - if it is not rusted, you are lucky and might consider buying a lottery ticket this very day. Address the rust in the tank and petcock, if any, or it will just cause you grief when you begin riding the bike again. In any case, add fuel filter to your gas lines. It is almost inevitable that your carbs will need attention - again, if you are lucky, they are not all varnished up with decades-old gas. In that case you might want to wait a bit before doing anything to them.

Clean both oil filters. One is in the right crank case cover the second in the oil sump. Add motorcycle (not auto) oil. Add fresh premium gas.

Before putting it on the road, at minimum it will be a good idea to check the brakes, switches/lights. Then cam chain tension, valve clearances & points in that order. Check the drive chain tension. Get new tires and brake lines for safety too.

After you finished the basic maintenance stuff, ride it a few times before you decide what you want to do with the bike. Some problems are minor, and you can prioritize the other work you want to do. If you don't already know, good sources for parts are found at 650central.com/ and www.mikesxs.net/

You already know, these are great bikes. We have three in our household. Once you have taken care of the deferred maintenance stuff, they dont really need much attention.

[arbee69]

Pineywoods and Wideload,

Thanks for the quick replies and particularly for the specific ideas on where to start. I am fortunate to have bought a service manual back when I bought the bike. Having a picture book with words on where things are is something my poor brain needs. I am looking forward to getting grease under my fingernails and recalling past youthful indiscretions as I move on with the restoration.

I will copy your advice down and put them down in a to do list. Then it will be time to get started. I can almost feel the wind blowing through my once brown hair.

Randy

[arbee69]

Wideload,

I just went out in the garage and looked in the gas tank. Just a bad smell of old gas, some old gas sloshing around the bottom of the tank and no rust. I will buy that lottery ticket today and invest any winnings in the project.

Randy

[Tom Graham]

Randy,

There is one thing you should do right away. Remove the spark plugs and squirt motor oil inside the combustion chamber. Kick the engine over with teh plugs out to splash out any excess oil so the engine doesn't hydro lock. This will keep the engine from a dry start. Rarely, but sometimes a dry valve will stick when the engine starts the first time. The piston comes up and kisses the valve. Instant bent valve and broken head. Nice start. {8^(

This sounds crazy but the guy I bought my rusty '77 from sprayed penetrating oil on every nut and bolt and every joint on the bike. All over everything eventually. Those nuts and bolts came apart like the bike was new! The P-oil had time to penetrate and work I guess.

Anyhow, the first is important but rarely mentioned. The second is merely a tip. I've got a thousand tips, just like everybody messing with old bikes.

Tom Graham

Here is another tip. Any one that trys to remove a swingarm knows that an old bike has the pivot bolt stuck solid. Most of the old bikes never have the swingarm greased, old grease gets hard so new grease can't even be forced into the fitting. I use the little red tube of some spray lube (light oil, not WD40) and stick it inside after the grease nipple is removed. Spray as much as you can get inside and spray the nipple too. This softens the old grease and, with luck, migrates to loosen the pivot bolt also. Eventually you will want to replace the plastic bushings with bronze or needle bearings and the Swingarm should come apart without drama if you have squirted enough oil inside.

[speedfourjoe]

Great story, and you've gotten some great advice. I'm really looking forward to the progress.