What did you do to your Yamaha today?

I ain't leaving 'til Tuesday ... 2 days of Perfect weather!

 

Took the XS down for it's first MVI since July 2000..... and it passed... WOOHOO!!! mucho thanks to everyone on the forums for their help along the way.

 

After all the work done and taking the bike for an MVI and having the horn stop working, a few choice words were formed. Went to work and fixed the horn issue and for the first time in years (PO did not have MVI) the bike is not only fully operational, it is now legal. Man do bikes get dirty quick or what?

 

Hey PSteele
Now that we're both legal, we should meet up sometime..
(I need to get my new regulator installed before any long runs yet)
What did you get for a horn?, mine sucks!!!

 

Got my 6 monthly safety inspection, just had to install a new front park light bulb first (I do my own safety inspection beforehand). Passed

 

That's not a horn, it's a pump!

 

Hey Ghost: two horns were pre-installed in the fairing. One still does not work - a project for the snow days - but one is still plenty loud after 25 years! Sent you a PM.

 

LOL Kiwi

Cool will check it .... my Horn passed the inspection, but seems a bit too quiet for me.... gonna check the $4.99 ones at Princess Auto out... heh

 

I did nothing to it today... Except for take it off the back of my Dad's truck, because the clutch cable snapped on my way home from Toronto yesterday. Tomorrow I will have it all back together, and ridin again.

 

I honked-it from Saratoga Springs NY to Boston.
WHAT a Road Bike!!!

Calculations incomplete.
40+ mpg expected.

 

Rode to work in 45 degrees of woderfull cold air! Bring on winter!!!

 

Bought it a new friend... 1976 Yamaha XS500, but they only get to hang out together till next week... giving the 1976 to my Step father for his b-day. He has wanted a project bike.

 

Hi everybody,

So last weekend I polished up all the metal bits, still needs more but way better than it was. Today just finished up new paint, still needs buffed but it looks SWEET! Pics in my album. Now I just have to do something with tha FUGLY seat!

 

Nice paint babaloo!

 

OK, today I installed my replacement regulator...now I have a charge...WOOHOO!!! also a new sidestand and front fork emblem.
Thanks to olebiker attacking his parts bike for me

 

Thanks Maximator! Now I just need to figure out a good graphic.....

 

I bought a brand new factory seat off Ebay. The guy bought out a dealers left over stock. Put it on. Man it is nice. I talked to my son's friend that owns a body shop and he said he would sand down my tank and fix a small dent and repaint it and side covers for $75. Now I have to decide what color I want to do it in. Should look almost new !

 

Finally got a name for her... Black Betty. I am sure some of you know that song. But I asked my 2 and half month old if she liked the name and she smiled and giggled. So, what ever the lil girl wants she gets. So Black Betty she is.

 

W-oah Black Betty
bam-BA-lam

She's rock steady???

 

She's always ready!

Boy she makes me sing.

 

Rettic, had this kicking around on the harddrive...

 

Charged the Battery.
Came back from a short ride and left the light on ...

That means I have to bring the Charge up to "Fighting-weight" before we do any Fall Leaf Peeping.

A charged-up battery is good insurance against electrical gremlins.

 

Well guys, I finally replaced the battery with outstanding results. The post will appear separately with pics. A totally different bike with POWER!

 

Good deal.
Another happy camper.

We need more people getting excited about getting their bikes all Tuned and de-bugged.

 

Changed oil and rode around town. Most likely the last time I'll have the old beast out this year. Hunting season is here and hockey season is just around the bend. Sure makes you appreciate spring when you don't ride for about 7 months!

 

Installed an old Shoei FM2 fairing.....

And did up a documented page to the rebuild
Maxim Project

 

Right on there Ghost, that was a great piece on the revival of your bike!

I'd be interested to see where it ends, if it's like the rest of us..... well there are some dreams that DO come true!

Hope you have many years of great riding on your bike there.

B.T.W. I have a friend who reciently moved to N.S. bet he's missing the good ol Arizona sun.

 

Thanks Hvnbnd, it's a work in progress, but a great learning experience as well...

Why did your friend move up here out of the sun?.... I hate the cold, just deal with it... been nice lately though....

 

His wife has family there and the bought a B&B.

Sorry the riding season is soooo short there

 

Cool, do you know where exactly?, I'll keep it as a place to visit.
Riding season is longer than it used to be... I rode up until the 23rd of December last year, less a few days with snow or too much frost on the road in the morning. Usually messy January to March, thine it gets better

 

Fraps you better hurry up and drive faster....cold weather is coming.

starting to frost here now

I'm Bummed!

 

Nice work ZaGhost.
Looks like a fun machine and I really like that fairing. That just looks like it keeps the wind off you as you ride. The windscreen seems a bit dark ... but, I bet its comfortable!

Save that BEFORE Shot of the Fuse Panel. That's what they look like before they up-and-quit!

 

Thanks Rick, still need to tweak the fairing, getting some wind, so I need to angle it better and aim my headlight properly. Th screen is smoked, but not overly dark and at the right height to see over it without a problem.

The fusebox, went out right after I read the horror stories on here, the one with all the lovely green oxidation made me change that quickly.

 

I rode mine to Sears hardware and bought some 10d nails and a sawblade. Then proceeded to renovate the shop, new workbench, new vice, and cleaned it out pretty good. First ride since I put on the clip-on bars, and I think I love them. Yeh, I'm pretty sure I do.

 

Great job ghost! I'm very thankful that I've owned my bike since very nearly brand new and know everything ever done to it. Don't know if I'd have the patience to work through all the problems inherited with a bike of unknown history.

 

Thanks Ranger G, it was a challenge, probably a bit much for my first bike, besides the scoot, But I did learn a lot along the way. End results were well worth the effort

 

I just got done shortening my rear shocks. I had to figure out a way to compress them to take them apart, so...
I did some measuring and took off to the local hardware store. I purchased one large washer with 1-1/4" hole in it,(for over the bottom of the shock) and a 2-1/4" cast iron pipe end (used to screw onto the end of the pipe with holes in it to mount to a flat surface)for the top of the shock.
I used three 1' threaded rods to use for the compression rods. I had to drill 3 holes in the washer and the pipe fitting for the rods to go thru. It worked perfect!!
I ended up with cutting 1" of the coil off each spring and it rides some much smoother now.
Since I chpped the bike and get rid of alot of excess weight , the bike rode a little too stiff for me. It jerked a little too much when I hit a bump and ofter a long day in the saddle, it gave me a back ache. I should've done this mod a long time ago. It actually took me longer to make the shock compresser than it did to cut the springs and re-install the shocks. I guess it took me the better part of an hour to do it all, and I'm happy with the results. >PD<

 

Just got home from a 400 mile trip with my son. Nice fall weekend to ride. It was a little chilly in the mornings. It was in the 40's this morning.

 

Posting this for my Saturday work:

Rebuilt Master Cylinder
Rebuilt Front Caliper
Properly tensioned drive chain
Oiled Chain with Motul chain lube

Realized that I need new boots for the slide pin on the caliper!!

 

Replaced the rear tire on the bike with one that had a whole lot more tread on it. What with the rain and all, you can never can be too careful!

And I'm working on a new How-To for a headlight modulator done on the cheap. So far, so good.

 

I'd like to have my rear turn signal lights come on when I hit the brakes. Can I do some splicing and get this to happen or do I need one of those boxes they sell on the Internet?

I'm going for more visibility. I need that because there are tailgate drivers galore on the highways that loop Boston. So having a lot of light back there, when I hit the brake pedal, would be a good thing.

I want to do this on-the-cheap, because I'm not too sure if they can stay hooked-up that way and still be street legal.

What's the best way to get around this without a hole deal of fuss. I'll buy a flasher unit to make the turn signals flash if that can be an option.

 

Hey Rick: why not pick up a set of used saddlebags and trunk cheap - lots of extra lights, no legal worries and lots of extra space. More to clean though.

 

Rick-o-matic,
I did the mod your talking about on my Seca. I used a tailight controler used to hook up a trailer to a vehicle that has a separate turn signal curcuit (separate amber turn signals) and a curcuit for just the brake lights.
The adapter makes the brake lights on a trailer work as signal lights by sparating the signals form the brake light curcuit fromt he signal light curcuit.
I just hooked the signal lights up so they work as brake lights when I hit the brakes and work as a turn signal when I need them. All three ights come on when I hit the brakes, but when I use a turn signal, that light blinks like it's suppose to. It's relatively easy to figure out how to hook it up because the wires are labled.
You will have to tap into the brake light hot wire and each turn signal hot wires and a ground wire, so 4 wires.
You can find them at your local automotive supply store (Checker auto, etc.)
Mine is just a small box (2" X 2" X 1/4" thick) so it can be placed just about anywhere under the seat. Mine had a peel-and-stick pad on it so it was easy to mount on the cover of the air box, out of the way.
>PD<

 

BINGO!

 

What did I do today? New back brakes and rear turn signal mods ( I de-stalked them.) I had been wanting to do the turn signal mods for a while. Now they look just like the fronts, without the goofy stalk.

 

Funny story. I discovered that the headlight on my bike was burned out. Want to know how it burned out? I'm just guessing here, but here are my clues...

Yesterday while I was working on my bike, I had my headlight off. I set it on the ground inside my shed so I wouldn't trip over it. At some point, while I was inside writing my latest How-To, Tucker, my dog, picked it up and wandered off with it. The whole headlight!


It wasn't me!

By the time I found it, he had managed to bend all the metal tangs out of shape on the back of the bulb. I straightened them out as best I could and hoped that the headlight was still good. Unfortunately, that's not the case. It popped sometime right after I started the bike up, today. I'm just glad I noticed it before I got too far down the road. I had to swap the headlight with the one in my wife's bike. I'll need to pick her up one before she notices.

If she does, I'm blaming the dog!

 

hehehe.....
But honey, the dog ate my headlight .....
hehehe

 

My teacher never bought into that story!!

Man are we easy! I believe it!

 

High Speed weekend.
Visited friends in New Hampshire.
Did a Plug read after the adventure. To Lean and Clean.

Tweaked OUT the Mixture Screws the width of a Nickel. I'll run 'em like that for awhile and re-check 'em at the end of this week.

Idle: Great
Power: Great
Cruise: Great
Plugs: Clean without deposit
Oil: Clean and No level change noted.

I think it's within the Power window ... I'm Tweaking Out for Cold weather riding. I figure the Oil Cooler is keeping the heat down.

 

Made a bracket to move my rear turn signals that bolts to the license plate mount so I can use my Tourmaster soft saddlebags. Going to Yosemite tomorrow for 3 nights, camping in the valley. Woohoo!!