650seca clanking driveshaft/ won't go

1985...I'm ready to buy a motorcycle...I borrow a friend's bike, and practice for about 15 minutes. I go to take the motorcycle driving test. I pass it and get my license. Licensing lady said "You passed...barely..." Drove my new XJ550 off the lot 30 minutes later. Gotta love South Dakota - least regulated state in the USA.

FYI - at that time I asked the sheriff's office how I get a motorcycle learners permit. They didn't have one back then. There were no classes in this area. I asked him how I was supposed to learn to drive a motorcycle. He said, "Good question, I guess you drive carefully and don't get caught." Too funny.

 

Another right that a lot of people seem to know very little about is the "right to remain silent"

 

Is that a right.....where is the world going?

 

something about a hand-basket comes to mind----

 

@OP: +1 for taking MSC and getting your license. Motorcycles don't turn corners; they roll corners.

Gary H.

 

If you have to ask..............then you don't want to know.

 

The biggest thing to get used to when turning a motorcycle at slow speeds is turning your head and looking where you want to go...at least it was for me. Don't look at the front tire or the ground in front of the tire. Here's a good link.



I agree with taking the MSF course. I learned a lot and got a lot more comfortable on the bike.

 

Decent vid. Wish he talked about pushing to roll the turn. A lot of new riders try to muscle their bikes to turn. I can roll a corner with a little nuhg on the bars and I'm by far no expert rider. I've spun my bike in a empty parking lot to see how low and tight a circle I could get. Scrapped the foot peg, she kicked out, got my attention and I haven't tried it since.

Gary H.

 

At slow speeds you don't usually initatate the turn by counter-steering, which is probably why pushing wasn't mentioned in the video.

 

True...he's in 1st feathering the clutch.My post is more in reference to at speed turning. I won't edit so the correction can be seen. Thanks.

Gary H.

 

Ok so I fired my bike up today with the intentions of rolling around the parking lot and adjusting my brakes a bit more, but it will not stay running now, I checked and the is still some gas in it but what it's doing is the revs are slowly dipping even in neutral until it stalls out, I've also noticed that if I try to open the throttle up too quickly it doesn't respond...I have to open it very slowly...and at that it feels a bit choppy.... It wasn't doing this the other day when I took it out.....any thoughts?

 

Switch the petcock lever to reserve. Have you rebuilt the carbs?

Gary H.

 

Yes that was all rebuilt,cleaned,recleaned,re-recleaned lol.
I checked the petcock and it was in-between prime and reserve.....had to have choke on slightly to keep it from stalling but now it's running normally....I did switch it to reserve too....

 

That'll do it. Putting the lever between positions shuts off fuel flow almost entirely.

 

Yeah not sure how that happened...kind of hard to bump it there...but anyways everything seems smooth for now, taking it in for inspection tomorrow...

 

If you leave it on reserve too long, you'll stall out.......then you're gonna go for a long walk----