What did you do with your XS today?

[nickso]

Best thing to do if you plan on keeping one of theses bikes for a long time

Wheels are no use to me as they have drum brakes instead of discs but I'll clean them up and sell them on perhaps.

Gutted I missed out by one week of buying a complete bike for much cheapness.

 

[bcware]

Stickers!

Plain white didn't look right. I will probably paint it at some point, but for now it is too cold!

Also, after about 200 miles on the new progressive springs I am very pleased with daily rideability despite going with the much stiffer 11-1109 springs. They really do a great job soaking up the bumps. It made a HUGE difference over stock. I used to rattle my skull going over big bumps before.

 

[xschris]

I am not a big fan of stickers also. Someone may mistake you for a 16 year old kid hopped up on monster energy drinks Seat looks good tho

 

[levdir]

I come generally from the Japanese car tuner scene, so stickerbombing is a thing I can get into

 

[Recreateme]

BCWare - I need more info on that seat! Did you have to cut the frame to fit that? how is it secured to the frame?

 

[bcware]

I had to weld. I shaped two thick elevated "platforms" and welded them to the frame. The seat is slightly too narrow to fit over the frame at the narrowest point. Other people trimmed the seat slightly to overcome this. I didn't want to cut it up, so I modified the frame instead. I also like a very high seat height because I am pretty tall. I am much more comfortable now! I can barely flat foot the thing now at 6'1" with a 35" inseam. I also have huge rear shocks as well, so it isn't just the seat doing this! Going above the frame also gave me tons of room to move the electrics and "full sized" (5 lb AGM scooter battery) battery under the seat.

I will get some photos and whatnot soon. My other motorcycle is down for the moment for some upgrades.

The seat just makes me think of a peacock when I look at it with all the random colors

 

[jthiessen]

Got those damned bubbles out of my brake line. Now I can stop.

 

[kshansen]

Got those damned bubbles out of my brake line. Now I can stop.

Bubbles, that's a problem with these newfangled wet brakes, don't think they will ever catch on!

 

[Recreateme]

Just got in my coils, spark plug wires and spark plug resister boots.

It looks like all of the connection (to the coil and to the spark plug boot) have a spike type thing... So to connect my spark plug wire i should just line the wire up with the tip of teh spike and just press it on ? I have never done this and the manual isn't this specific it just says "..connect the wire to the coil tower.." lol

 

[xschris]

With the rubber ring and cap on press the wire in the coil then screw the cap on

 

[Recreateme]

Awesome!

I have the same coil in your photos, except with a yellow and a black wire. I am assuming black is the ground wire and I should connect that to the existing orange wire on the bike, and the yellow to the R/W wire on the bike?

 

[iamunique127]

Picked up a 2A battery charger/maintainer on sale at Canadian Tire for 1/2 price. Oh, and some chain lube on sale.

Working on rigging up replacements for my gauge gaskets which have pretty much disintegrated.

 

[xschris]

Awesome!

I have the same coil in your photos, except with a yellow and a black wire. I am assuming black is the ground wire and I should connect that to the existing orange wire on the bike, and the yellow to the R/W wire on the bike?

Not sure about the wires on aftermarket coils but I think BCware has used them on his bike.

 

[levdir]

Oiled up my new UNI filters and got them installed, replaced the stripped-out float bowl drain screws and got my fuel system put back in place. Also dropped my ignition off at a locksmith's so hopefully that's sorted soon.

 

[Recreateme]

Installing the spark plug boots is the same thing ? Just push really hard and twist the wire on there ? haha


EDIT: sigh... I installed everything, and tested them out and still no spark. If i jiggle the wires coming out of the harness i was seeing varying degrees of spark from weak yellow to bright blue... So maybe its time for a new wiring harness? Is that the next step here?

 

[bcware]

Make sure you've got a good connection with your cables. Some press on. Others screw on. If your cables are old or reused you might need to trim a little off.

The coils I bought are the gray type, not black, so the wires are different colors but the set I have are exactly the same shape as the originals and all of the wires come out of the same places. I matched the wires based on location, not color. It looks like these new black ones are a little different from previous models. MikesXS keeps saying polarity does not matter on those black coils. All you can do wrong is hook them up to the wrong side of the bike (i.e., the left fires when the right is supposed to).

If you have points replace the condenser. They can be difficult to determine if they are bad. I've read about testing them from some sources and others say this can't be done properly without a capacitance tester.

Take a look at your points and make sure the spacers are all in tact, etc. There are some spacer discs where the wires connect to them. I've seen people lose them or think that they aren't important. Make sure your contact points are clean (run a business card through them and get the dirt/oil off if there is any.

As always be absolutely sure your battery is good and topped off. No kill switch problems or other safety relay problems. Bike is in neutral without the clutch pulled in for kick starting.

Go through your entire startup routine with a fine tooth comb. Analyze every step to make sure you're not missing anything or making a silly mistake. Make sure you actually have fuel in your float bowls; don't assume, etc.

 

[Recreateme]

I guess my next step is to replace the condenser then yeah.. its a 79, which had points.

I am not entirely sure what a condenser does, but i know when i start moving stuff around i see sparks, so it could be the condenser.

Thanks for the tip, i REALLY don't want to have attempt to rewire this bike lol

EDIT: At this point i am just trying to get spark. I have cleaned everything and given it the look over when winter ended, and it started right up, and it was running for about a week, and then one day it just didn't start anymore. I went through everything then - tanks, petcock, carbs, battery, changed the oil even haha and decided to pull the plugs and test for spark and got nothing.

I am confident that once i can see nice fat blue sparks while doing a plug test it will run without issue, i know it can run, but i have a feeling that something just isn't right with the wiring or maybe even condenser (i will replace, i found one for about 30$) but its the harness that i can't find.

 

[bcware]

Which wires are you moving around that seem to have that effect? Is it the spark plug wire?

Is your bike timed properly? Are you 100% sure? Has it ever run well in the past?

 

[Recreateme]

The condenser wires, and the wires that power and ground the coils and the main harness itself, not the spark plug leads. There is some issue with the power to the coils i think the wires might be bad themselves.

Yes it has run well in the past.

If the timing is off it should still spark just at the wrong time right ?

 

[bcware]

Condensers are about $20 shipped new on ebay. Don't buy a used one.

Yes, with the timing off you'll get a normal spark, just at the wrong time.

If it ran well in the past try to figure out what changed since then. Wires don't generally go bad that fast unless the issue was there all along.

Don't put too much stock in the visual appearance of the spark itself. That isn't greatest way to determine if the spark is strong or not. That is why I am looking at other things like timing, etc. Consider all possibilities. Did you look at the spark when the bike was running well in the past? If you only looked at it now that you have a problem you don't even know what it looked like "normally." See what I mean?