XS650 custom

I have been offered a XS650 custom which has been stood for some time.

The bike runs and sounds fine, it has no MOT abd brakes are binding, I
guess due to fact it has not been used for a few years although you
can push it about. There is very little if any rust, the bike was
imported from USA early 1990's.

There is a little oil on head around the exhaust manifold, I think
this is coming from exhaust as it is blowing there on both sides (the
pipes them selves are good).

The battery is also dead.

Does anyone have a guess at value?

What would a brake service cost?

Is there anything I should look out for?

New to biking and will be first bike after DAS.

Thanks

 

OK, it's a bit doggy, but the XS650 is a *cracking* bike with the best
parallel twin engine ever built by any anufacturer *anywhere*.

Fact.

Value? Depends entirely on condition. The custom versions (and virtually
all US imports are this type) are worth less than the straight
roadsters, though.

If in good clean running order, 1000-1400 quid. Bear in mind you can
easily spend two grand in getting one to this sort of nick (check my
home page - there's a pic on it of the last one I restored).

Brake service? 30 quid if you DIY. Could be three to five times that if
you let a dealer do it. It depends on how badly the brakes are corroded.

Look-out points: the US versions used a different length of conroad and
a different piston to achieve the same swept capacity as European
versions. Strange but true. So UK rods and pistons may not be
interchangeable. The Man Who Knows is Tony Hall of Halco Engineering,
near Salisbury (do a web search or check the classic mags).

For the rest - any smoking from the engine means the rings are shot, the
gearbox is crunchy, the electric start *always* breaks, and it has two
oil filters - one's a mesh screen in the sump, and the mesh breaks up.

 

This may be a worrying issue or it may be trivial. Clean properly around the
area. It may just be coming from tappet cover. (is it the square cover with
4xM8 dome-nuts on it, not the triangle ones with 3xM6 dome-nuts?) it is
likely just a gasket or O-ring. The later ones had O-rings which seemed to
be worse than the older thick gaskets.

Who cares. It's only a battery.

For a mechanically sound XS650SE with the engine number beginning
447-???????, about £400-£500. The later ones with the engine number
beginning 3L1-???????, about £100 less.

If it's got the later single disc, single piston floating caliper, you can
get the rebuild kit forabout £16.00 from M&P. www.mandp.co.uk
If it's an earlier one, fit a Lockheed/Girling caliper.

Yes. Top end noise: there should not be much at all. Camchains are cheap and
easy to fit, but the valves pit badly on the top of the valve stem if crap
oil is used. Also the 2nd/3rd gears can suffer engagement-dog breakage. (you
find out when changing the oil by removing *both* of the 27mm oil drain
bolts. As they have magnets embedded in them, the rear-most one catches the
broken gear bits!
The earlier engines (447-????) are much better, as they also have an extra
clutch plate (7 versus 6). You can modify them very heavily too.

If you can get it cheap, do so. They handle like shit in the standard form,
but there is lots you can do with an XS650.
Check out http://www.halco.co.uk/halco.htm
Tony Hall is *God* when it comes to these Yams. Trust him with your
hard-earned cash and you will get a very nice bike indeed.

HTH,
JB

 

You'll be damned lucky to pick up an XS that doesn't need mechanical
work for that sort of dosh. That said, my neighbour's just found one.
He's a builder/chippie and it was just sitting in the garden of some
bloke he was doing work for. He got it for (I think) 250 quid, the lucky
sod.

Its a cosmetically challenged SE model (UK version) but sounds sweet.
Needs new chrome, new paint, new exhausts, new tyres, brakes sorting
out, etc etc but as a project bike, pretty fine. I reckon another
500-600 quid would see it looking really good, and it would actually be
worth a grand.

I always thought the XS650 Custom looked good, but you really want the
straight roadster one, especially the B (which is the only model I've
ever owned, times three) with its double discs and early opposed-piston
calipers.

Another thing about the engines - they run very hot because they don't
carry much oil (the earlier kickstart-only XS1 carried more oil, but the
inclusion of an electric starter system occupied the space for the oil
on later bikes) and you must use 20/50 oil in them, not 10/40.

Electronic ignition is a good mod if only because of the extraordinary
ignition, with the auto-advance on the right hand end of the camshaft
and the points on the left, and a rod running right down the inside of
the hollow cam (!) from one to t'other!

And beware the oil feed pipe on the front of the block (the one that
looks like a pushrod tunnel) as it's incredibly easy to overtighten the
adaptor that screws into the cases and strip the thread in the cases.
DAMHIKIJK,OK?

 

I prefer buying a known 'dog'. Hence the price quoted above. At least you
know the score is then.

I too preferred the older B. Nicer looking bikes.

On all mine (I've owned nine over the past 20 years!), I fitted the Halco
oil cooler take-off kit and a good oil cooler.

Ding. Pirhana ignition. That bloody advance and retard system was very
susceptible to self destruct. The little circlips get worn and fall off and
as a result, the points cam doesn't turn. This resulted in me thinking I had
a snapped camchain once, and I ahd actually removed the whole engine and
started strippingf it all dwon when I found the fault!

Been there. Bought 3 engines with that fault/bodge. Not an easy place to TIG
weld/tap/helicoil either.All things considered, I reckon it was indeed the finest parallel twin
engine ever produced.

JB

 

TDM 850!

 

Overcomplicated and ugly engine. Best kept hidden behind plastics. However
it is indeed very powerful for a parallel twin. The XS650 engine is a nice
looking lump and being a SOHC aircooled lump and is effectively bombproof
(it takes boring and stroking to over 1150cc on standard mains/bigends etc),
also has a cleaner design with less pipes and giblets hanging off it. Also
maintenance is a piece of piss with the XS lump too. Ever done the valve
clearances on a TDM?
Personal choice though I suppose.
JB

 

More a different way of judging, I think. To my mind, an engine is
there for one thing only. What it looks like or how easy it is to
maintain (I mean, what are dealers for, FFS?) are pretty much
irrelevant to my way of thinking.

 

Again each to his own. I actually like looking at and appreciating the
design of a bike in addition to actually riding it. The 'look' of an engine
can add to (or detract from!) the appearance of a particular bike and make
it stand out from the plastic-encased UJM clones (CBX1000 and Jota are two
that immediately spring to mind). Also the maintenance/repair aspect is (for
me at least) an integral part of the whole experience. I actually enjoy
spannering. It is probably the best way for me to unwind after a day behind
a CAD screen. I actually like buying an old dog and getting it running
sweetly again at a sensible cost, runnig it for a few months then selling it
and getting the next 'project'. For what it's worth, I've *never* lost money
on any vehicle I've ever owned. Even if I could afford to pay dealers for
working on my vehicles I still wouldn't, as many (IME) are incompetent at
best, and not at all interested in the bike itself, only getting the job
done in the quickest and cheapest way possible for them to maximise profit.
Bike dealers are *much* better than car dealers from what I've seen though.
Many times I have seen the results of missing or loose bolts, incorrectly
used or no torque wrench used at all on fasteners, incorrect replacement
parts used or incorrectly fitted, threads stripped, studs snapped etc...

JB

 

On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 22:38:40 +0100,

Hmmm. You do know that the length of the conrod doesn't affect the
stroke, don't you? Do you mean that the throw on the crank is
different?

 

But the length of the conroad could do almost anything, depening on
WTF it actually is.

 

Yes, I do. Sorry. Badly phrased. What it is is that the conrods are
actually longer and the pistons shorter, believe it or not.

So you can put US pistons on UK rods, but try UK pistons on US rods and
they hit the valves.

I know, I didn't believe it either. But ask Halco if you like.

 

<AO-feckin'-L>

I have lost money on a few bikes, but only ones I've kept for years &
years. And you are *so* right about incompetent dealers.

 

Fucking awful thing.

The 900 might be better, mind.

 

Look-out points: the US versions used a different length of conroad and
^^^^^^

Visions of Lloyd Grossman

 

Fucking awful thing.[/QUOTE]

Eh? The engine in the original 180deg job was universally acclaimed as
being a modern day marvel. Smoothness and tractability were amazing.

Well it's ten years newer, so it should be.

 

That's not what a long rod is for.

http://www.650motorcycles.com/RodAngle.html