Just for fun.....

Snake · Posted: January 27, 2009, 3:14 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

god no....sometimes one is too many.....

yeah, been having timing/carb problems for a while...id like to get through summer then have a good play with the engine over winter...

BigGeorge · Full Member Joined: Apr 13, 2008 Posts: 267

Hey Barb, I have a 1981 xs with 5000 miles thats completely stock except for the tires and battery... I also have a 1979 xs with 3000 miles thats completely stock except for the battery. Even the tires are original. Both bikes will be changed to my liking. If they were rare colletable museum bikes I would not even think of modifying them but that aint happening in my lifetime so I'm just going to enjoy them and after I'm gone let the next owner worry about converting them back to stock original. I will however keep all the original stuff so that it can be done easily............BG

xsjohn · Posted: January 27, 2009, 11:31 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Making them run along better always pleased me more that just trying to make a fashion statement..............even that brings on a million different opinions.........

When I first got this peticular XS (80) 10 years ago just one expressway exit was a horrifying experience......that's as far as I wanted to go.....now its all day long without any of that........when everyone was hopping them up or wacking them when I worked for Yamaha I was on a different trip for myself no doubt.....

xsjohn

Barbara · Posted: January 27, 2009, 2:24 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

So Guys,

Being the rational bike riders that we are (?), I'm wondering: is anyone out there actually doing like the old Brit and HD people do, and doing 100-point resto's, complete with air for the tires imported from Japan? You know, a resto where the paint has to be the original kind, and that sort of thing?

I'm not casting aspersions, and in fact would love to see pics---but I can't say I know of anyone doing that sort of restoration. On some Brit sites, people began to get bored with that when it became apparent that one couldn't take home a "Best of Show" trophy if the pipes were a little blue from actually running the bike....

Anyway, I'm just idly wondering. If anyone has a totally original or restored XS, please post a picture. Even through our jealousy or aspersions, there will be a big appreciation for the machinery!

BigGeorge · Full Member Joined: Apr 13, 2008 Posts: 267

The problem with a totally restored 100 points machine is you get to clean and polish it and on weekends drag it from show to show in your trailer but you never get to really enjoy it for exactly what it was designed for....FUN.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Barb, Our club has a just for fun competition, here are a couple of the members who won their class division....... The XS1 is brand new bought about 7 years ago still in the crate......Unrestored stock, wins every time (never rides it). Sour grapes says urestored bikes should be a ridden bike Smile

........the XSC won the restored division

Retiredgentleman · Posted: January 27, 2009, 5:52 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Wow, I'm drooling over the quality and cleanliness of those bikes. Its criminal to not ride these bikes. I would hope the XS1 is ridden, if only a few hundred kms per year.

Interesting to see that the left exhaust valve cover is oval in shape, which of course was pre de-compressor days.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

I don't think the XS1 is ridden at all, has the motor running to keep it working. .Has been offered $25,000 from some crazy Yank, won't sell and Yamaha have been trying to get hold of it to use for demo's..........

xs1961 · Posted: January 27, 2009, 6:12 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Why not sell it then? He must be nuts..More money than sense....no amount of brown-nosed concours nazis stroking my ego at classic bike shows could flatter me into keeping an XS1 worth even a quarter of that offer ! Theyre a crap ride, only good thing on them is the front brake... Twisted Evil

...Sits back in anticipation of a drawn-out thread .... Wink

JeffM · Posted: January 27, 2009, 6:41 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Wow! It would have been a lot of fun to assemble out of the crate... although I can't imagine NOT taking for a ride the moment it was finished.

Stir it up 61!! haha. Front drum looks good I agree, but I wouldn't mind the extra oil capacity of the pre-electric leg, and I am partial to that beautiful long narrow tank... the tank closes the gap at the head and follows the frame really nicely, and the stripes tie into the angles of the exhaust. Painted stripes too, not decals.

I do find the colour matched headlight bucket, fork ears and shock covers a bit too much of a good thing though...

xs1961 · Posted: January 27, 2009, 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

..Jeff , dont forget the matchstick thin forks & rubber frame... Twisted Evil

xsjohn · Posted: January 27, 2009, 6:47 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

That was one of my first jobs in Florida.....putting those together out of the crates....what a tank compared to what we were used too... Laughing

You won't like the BUT.......the reason they are still around is because nobody back then really like them and parked them for (I won't say it).. Cool

xsjohn

JeffM · Posted: January 27, 2009, 7:09 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Rubber frame... so thats it. Damn, I have been spending all my time looking for that hinge!!
(yes I hope to have a brace welded into my frame at some point)

One of the things I don't understand about these old Japanese bikes is the handling... crap shocks (not just on Yamaha) on them for year after year. And correct me if I am wrong, but I think Triumph forks were even skinnier than the 34mm xs1 and they handled well???

xsjohn · Posted: January 27, 2009, 7:13 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Think the Brit bikes were lighter and Brits really did know how to make better shocks with all their pot holes and all....... Laughing

xsjohn

tacoswild · Posted: January 27, 2009, 7:26 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Retiredgentleman,

The valve covers are more of a rounded triangle than an oval, hard to see from this picture.

I guess I'm an oddball because I have fun riding my apparently rubber framed, flex-forked, tank of an XS1B. I don't know what all the fuss is about though, I find it pretty light and easy to manage compared to a lot of the beasts out there. It is just about 40 years old though and as I heard someone say: The past is like another planet, they do things differently there. Is there a world of difference between the handling of my bike and a new R1, sure, but that's true of all of our bikes so whatever ride em and enjoy em for what they are.

jayel · Posted: January 27, 2009, 8:01 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

xsjohn wrote:

Think the Brit bikes were lighter and Brits really did know how to make better shocks with all their pot holes and all....... Laughing

xsjohn

At a Honda test in the mid 1960s, frustrated at his bike handling Mike Hailwood grabbed a set of shocks from the hands of a Honda mechanic, and threw them in the pond at Suzuka.

JeffM · Posted: January 27, 2009, 8:20 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

enjoy them for what they are...
I'm with you on that, these bikes are so much fun because of their 'shortcomings'. I don't want to put up with pogoing off a bump in a corner though

Funny thing, my cage is a '71 VW bus. A co-worker said to me yesterday 'I like those vans but they're so underpowered'. Told him I had never really noticed, it's a given that you can't hurry in a VW van. Got a few laughs when I told them it was 69 horsepower when new.
I actually have a hard time driving a modern vehicle smoothly sometimes, such as when I rent a car... steering is all tight and jerky, brakes are grabby, acceleration is not smooth!!!

xs1961 · Posted: January 27, 2009, 8:31 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

But at least you drive it Jeff, good on yer... That What I meant about the XS1 was that if youre not going to ride it & someone offers you way more than it should be worth why not sell it ? Its a bloody shame to store a bike like that when someone like tacoswild could be out there using it the way it was designed for..

Barbara · Posted: January 27, 2009, 10:37 pm Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Hi Guys,

Agree that it should be ridden, at least lightly. And if someone offered me that kind of money, all my morality and dedication would vaporize faster than the idle circuit on an Amal GP! It'd be gone!!

I think, though, that it would be neat for the factory to have one--count 'em: one--example that is rolled off the assembly line and into a museum. If nothing else, it would offer accurate measurements for restoration buffs 50 years from now, when they are illegal to ride, and all our kids and grandkids can do is to look at them...... Rolling Eyes

Both VERY beautiful bikes, by the way. I prefer my muddy, dependable "D", complete with Triumph shocks, but they really are beautiful!

pumps · Posted: January 28, 2009, 12:50 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Snake what does "ATU stand for.....

xs1961 · Posted: January 28, 2009, 5:36 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Always Trailered, Unridden.... Wink

Snake · Posted: January 29, 2009, 5:37 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

ATU...Automatic Timing Unit....

Snake · Posted: January 29, 2009, 5:41 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Getting back to restoration - i would be keen to find an XS1, if i did then it would definitely be restored to original, i don't think the specials have that same appeal...

xs1961 · Posted: January 29, 2009, 5:52 am Post subject: Re: Just for fun.....

Not a big fan of the special myself either, trouble with the XS1 is finding the parts in good nick, I reckon the best looker was a 77 roadster , I have a stocker hanging around on nails in my shed, doubt it'l ever be restored though...Come to think of it Ive probably poached too many parts off it over the years.. Embarassed

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