What's your ride?

Protrucker · Posted: June 4, 2005, 8:13 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Currently:
75' XS650B
77' XS650D
78' XS650SE (2)
82' XS650SJ Heritage Special
82' XS400 Heritage Special
88' Venture Royale
85' Suzuki 250 Quad Sport
four spare XS650 motors
two XS650 parts bikes/frames chopper projects

Previously:
74' DT 250 Enduro
76' HD Sportster
74' DS7 250

kibokojoe · Posted: June 4, 2005, 8:28 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

I have a
1975 Suzuki T-500 Titan Blue
1982 Yamaha XS650SJ Black

Years ago
1969 Yamaha AT1 125 White
1970 Yamaha DT1 175 Ted
1972 Yamaha 360 Motocross Cliff climber Black
1974 Suzuki T-500 Titan Red

kibokojoe · Posted: June 4, 2005, 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

I have a
1975 Suzuki T-500 Titan Blue
1982 Yamaha XS650SJ Black

Years ago
1969 Yamaha AT1 125 White
1970 Yamaha DT1 175 Ted
1972 Yamaha 360 Motocross Cliff climber Black
1974 Suzuki T-500 Titan Red

smack · Posted: June 9, 2005, 12:45 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

I have

1980 XS650 Special
1978 SR500 stock
1978 SR500 modified
1997 600SS Ducati
1966 250 Monza Ducati

2000 XR100
1974 TL125
1975 TL250

it's a start Smile

JRod650 · Posted: June 14, 2005, 9:05 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

I just picked up my first bike, a 1974 XS650A. It was running fine but supposedly had some electrical problems. I put a new battery in it, cleaned out the carbs, replaced a fuse, and she's running like a champ. Now I just need to get the plates for it (happening this weekend) so I can take her out of the neighborhood.

I'm hoping this winter I'll be able to park it and tear the bike completely apart and really clean it up good. I think some sandblasting and a new exhaust will make it sparkle! We'll have to see how long my money holds out Wink

Thanks for all the tips that you all have posted. I'm sure I'll need some help sometime in the not so distant future. Up to this point Duane over at www.650central.com has been a lifesaver and has been able to supply me with things I need (like replacements for rotted out air filters!).

650rider · WebMaster Joined: Feb 09, 2005 Posts: 431

Hamamatsu wrote:

1977D

1977-D's ROCK !

verticaltwin · Posted: June 20, 2005, 9:33 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

1969 500cc Triumph T100C/R
1969 650cc Triumph TR6R (rebuilding)
1962 200cc Triumph Cub T20SS
1963 200cc Triumph Cub Trials (project)
1981 XS650 (stored for friend - his wife can't find out)
Pair of 77 xs650's to play with... ran when parked long ago.

VT

grizld1 · Posted: June 21, 2005, 12:05 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Former rides: BMW (3), H-D (1), Honda (2), Triumph (1), Suzuki (5), Yamaha (2).

Current rides: XS650D with Boyer ignition, K&N pods, rollers in steering head, needles in swingarm, Daytona tweakbar, Race-Tech cartridge emulators, Traxxion Dynamics custom fork springs, 18" custom lace-up front rim, Buchanan stainless spokes, custom alloy-body Works Suspension shocks, floating front rotor, crappy Mac 2-into-1 that's gotta go 'cause the bottom pipe of the header drags pavement at the last bend before the collector, 1981 body work with multiple coats of hand-rubbed black lacquer and a buncha trash removed, Bridgestone BT45 tires. Runs like it oughta, meaning I have to force myself to shift at 7500; but gents, your rods won't hold long if you don't. My wrenches are the only ones that touch it. On the first page of pics from the 2005 LBL Rally on the Yamaha 650 Society Rally site there's a shot of the Yam and me: guy in grey jacket sitting on a black XS650, surrounded by garbage wagons. Also: 2003 Suzuki SV650 with Race-Tech emulators and springs, Ohlins shock, Pirelli Scorpion Syncs, modified ergonomics. Also: 1973 Suzuki GT250 with electrical grief I gotta get off my dead butt and deal with. Also a half-dozen engines, one of which is new and wicked (Shell #1 grind cam, Grinsted 700cc bore-in pistons domed at 10.5:1, Mikuni smoothbores on Shell billet mounts, and a dialed-out crank with journal-spec runout at the outside of the flywheel and NO RUNOUT DETECTABLE at the journal). I screwed up and assembled it on XS1 cases (kick only) during recovery from an incident with a Ford van, then found out I wasn't gonna get as much stompin' power back in the right leg as I thought I was....Gotta tear it all down and put it in push-button cases one of these days.

als79650 · Posted: July 20, 2005, 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

i ride a 79 with low km all stock ,but that will be changing this winter

excesses · Posted: August 2, 2005, 3:30 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

DJ

New member here on Vancouver Island in beautiful B.C. Canada. Been riding 39 years since I stole my brother's 1966 Suzuli 80 at age 13.

Currently:

2001 Yamaha VStar 1100 Classic
1977 650D undergoing restoration
1980 650S Hot Rod project for the ol' lady

Previously

1982 750 Virago (17 years)
1981 650 Special
1980 XT250
1965 Ducati 250
1966 Suzuki 80 - yep I got it from Mom and Dad after he discovered cars and back seats....

thechknhwk · Posted: August 11, 2005, 9:54 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

2003 sv650 Suz, and my 80 650 Special. I rid the sv to work almost every day unless I have some errands and have to pick up something big. the special has been in mothballs all season, no time and no motivation to work on it yet.... I hope to restore/bob it sometime in the future. Crying or Very sad

grizld1 · Posted: August 12, 2005, 8:55 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Glad to see another SV650 rider on board, Chickenhawk.

dutch · Posted: September 14, 2005, 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Hey, you guys with the SV 650's, what's it like compared to the XS650? Engine performance, handling, ride, riding position, maintenance, general feel comparisons? I have been drooling over the SV for a few years and feel like I am ready to make the move. My current rides are:

1972 Yamaha 650XS2-very stock and clean so I don't ride it much-museum piece
1981 Yamaha 650H My frequent rider, reliable
1980 Suzuki 1000GL shaft drive in line 4. Runs but needs M/R, my cheap crotch rocket wannabe

I do like the format of this web site. Too bad some of the old threads from the 650garage boards couldn't fit right into the FAQ section. There was some real classic threads there.

kingwj · Posted: September 14, 2005, 2:19 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Currently 1979 XS650 F totally stock. Sits next to my 1959 MGA in the garage.

Previous:

1974 BMW R90S nice first bike Very Happy

Yamaha XT500C
Yamaha IT250
Yamaha XS850G

Got married and sold everything until I got the 79 3 weeks ago. It's good to be back.

Bill

meangene · Posted: September 14, 2005, 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

.. hi all...I wanted to add what's in my pile to the list

one 1980 XS650 mildly custom
four xs11's mostly '79's
one 73 norton commando 750
one '70 hd 350 sprint
one '66 hd m50 sport
last and most definately least, 5 chinese pocket bikes (the family and I are having a blast with these)
I have had 4 more xs650's in the past - these are part of the 40 something other bikes i have owned; most of these have been found in folks back yards near death and not very pretty

grizld1 · Posted: September 14, 2005, 11:28 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Hey, Dutch, missed your msg. there asking about the SV650. OK--I've been riding for 40 years, and I can tell you it's is a whole different generation of scoot. I have the 2003 unfaired version. It's a tall-sitting SOB (32" saddle height), and that takes some getting used to.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first. I had to fabricate repositioned passenger pegs and lower the rear seat (1/4" gel and 1" memory foam on a modified Yam FZR pan); Suzuki had contrived to perch the passenger up so high it destabilized the bike and even with that managed to mount the pegs so high that my girlfriend was in pain after 15 minutes.
But we are old and treacherous, and have our ways of dealing with such things.... All the grousing about the stock Kayaba shock and wimpy damper rod fork is entirely justified. I expected them to be bad, and they met my expectations the first time I headed into a washboarded corner and laid on some wick. The scoot went hippity-hop, wide of the line, due to garbage damping. Which was fine with me, since I'd already budgeted for an Ohlins shock and Race Tech cartridge emulators and fork springs (both easy installs, but don't believe Ohlins when they tell ya the shock will fit in from the bottom; if you hang the scoot from a strap on the seat rail and lift the subframe, though, it'll drop right in from the top). The seat was painful on long hauls. My Sargent aftermarket seat is much kinder to the glutes.

Add a pair of Pirelli Scorpion Syncs (the OEM Dunflops were a match for the OEM shock--showed a dandy combination of 1/2" chicken strips outside a broad, scrubbed powerslide zone!) and the result is probably the finest handling I've ever experienced. The bike tracks true in rough corners under hammer, flicks quickly in point-and-shoot delayed cornering, and is extremely linear and precise in response to steering inputs and stable down deep in the sweepers.

You wanted to know about engine performance; well, it's a whole different ballgame from the old XS650. The 90-degree V-twin is extremely smooth. The power band is so broad and flat it's unbelievable. The best comparison I can offer would be this. Take a good mid-sixties HD XLCH, remove the noise and vibration, leave the low-end grunt intact, and stretch the redline to 11,000 rpm. Do that with 15 fewer cubic inches in an engine that runs on pump gas at 11:1 compression. No engineer could do that--it's pure sorcery. I don't know what top speed is; but at 110 there's still lots of power on tap and she's rock-solid on the pavement. Response from the fuel injection is immediate.

I ride my XS650D a lot (it's also had the suspension tweaked), so after a season and a half I've only put about 6500 on the Zook. No problems of any kind so far; I've changed oil a few times, installed new plugs (old ones were fine but I like NGK's better than ND's and they need to be tweaked now and then), kept the air filter cleaned and the chain adjusted, and the cables, chain, and whatnot lubed, and have gone around a few times looking for loose fittings without finding any. Valve adjustment is by shim-and-bucket and a fairly ugly task, but the interval for that is still a long way off; this ain't an aircooled unit.

As far as ride position goes, the nekkid SV is about halfway between the typical sportbike and a sport tourer in bar and peg position. The faired version is closer to sportbike configuration. I chose the unfaired SV because its weight bias--45% in the front, 55% in the rear--looked as though it could deliver good rough-surface handling on backroads, and I fitted mine with wider and slightly higher bars than stock.

dutch · Posted: September 16, 2005, 8:52 am Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Griz,
Wow! Your comparison was like reading an article out of Cycle World magazine. Much enjoyed it and appreciated the info. Sounds like you know how to wrench. Not intending to forget my coveted XS650's, but it would be nice to have some new school tech around for those long trips and special occasions. Just gotta get the wife convinced that I need a 4th bike around. Not a chance.

sportydriver · Posted: September 21, 2005, 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Currently riding - 1987 Sportster with a few goodies, don't even pull that big twin up next to me and act cocky

Currently building - 1977 650D, pretty much going stock with standard upgrades and some cafe styling, I plan to post before photos soon

Waiting in line - 1978 650 Special, this one gets lowered, raked, a 750 kit and whatever else I come up with

Waiting in line 2 - basket case, everything is there, too far out in future to know what its in for yet

Former rides - bought a new 1978 Special as soon as it hit the dealership when I was a young Jarhead. Road if for years after getting out of the USMC. Foolishly let it go after graduating from college. DT175 when I was a teen.

xs650mike · Posted: September 24, 2005, 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Current bikes are Yamaha XS650H (750 kit), XS650SJ (down w/ holed piston), XS400SJ and XS1100SF "Hey Harley, wanna race?". Past bikes: Harley WLA Army 45 c.i. flathead (my first bike in '58), Puch SP250 "twingle"(1 '61 & 1 '63), '59 Matchless G12CSR 650 twin, '62 G12CS 650 twin, '68 Triumph T120R Bonneville 650cc twin, '71 Honda CL350, '78 Honda CB750K, '81 Yamaha XJ750RH Seca, '82 XZ550 Vision and '83 XZ550 Vision. There are others which I can't recall at the moment.

qferret · Posted: September 25, 2005, 8:02 pm Post subject: Re: What's your ride?

Current:

(mostly) '75 XS650 (Not street ready yet by any stretch)

Former:

85 Nighthawk that went up in a garage fire right after I finished spraying the secondary color. (Thank God it didn't go up AFTER airbrushing) Helluva way to lose a bike anyway.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650