What did you do with your XS today?

Took the bike out for about a 100km ride yesterday. About half way through, I noticed my bike was having problems idling. "That's okay", I thought, "I'll have a look at it when I'm back. Turns out it was idling poorly because one of my pod filters fell off somewhere on the highway. I've given up looking for it now, assuming it's either crushed under car, a new home for a sparrow, or some animal has made off with it.

Yup. I know the feeling. I lost both of my air filters one at a time a week apart. What a pain in the arse...
 
All winter I spent looking for a new gas tank. At the end of last summer mine started leaking again. I recently came across a guy a few hours from me that was selling what he called a "rolling chassis." It was the whole thing. He bought it as a project, with plans to do a cafe bike, he never got around to it. After talking for a bit, he started to think about getting on with the project and sold me the tank. It needs some work, but it's in better shape then mine. Hope to be riding again soon.

I also mentioned this forum to him, so hopefully he will join and get some encouragement for his project.
 
Went to pick up beer. Ended up here... ImageUploadedByTapatalk1431358076.855470.jpg
 
I fabricated a headlight mount out of sheet metal (used brazing and torch for shaping, bending, cutting etc etc). I made my own clip-on handle bars using hacked off pieces of the stock handle bar and some heavy-duty pipe repair clamps from Grainger which were like $8.50/ea. Using these clamps, I couldn't swing the bars out to a desirable angle due to interference between the clamp and the stock headlight mount deal... so I ditched the headlight mount and made my own. Handlebars are nice and solid - the pipe clamps have a rubber sheet that lies between the clamp's 304 stainless steel band (about 3" long) and the fork tube so they're rubber mounted as a bonus. If you live somewhere near a Grainger and are interested, the part no. is 24T947 and I replaced the equipped bolt with a 7" long Grade 8 bolt (had to cut the threads as a bolt that long is only partially threaded but I have tools for it). I loaded the long bolt with washers turned down using a file and drill press to fit nicely in the handlebar and extended nuts with rubber grommets to further absorb vibration. I did all this work at my parent's house in the suburbs last week and I'm currently staying at my apartment in the city so if you want pictures, I won't be able to post them until the weekend.

- J
 
Dude I am trying to figure out how you did this in a manner that is not suicidal. I am not trying to flame you but I looked up those clamps (made in India) and they do not look substantial. Also those clamps are made for 1" pipe and XS400's use 7/8" pipe. I don't understand what you did but please do post pics when you can.
 
The ones I picked up are most definitely American made ... at least that's what the sticker said. As far as the 1" vs. 7/8" deal, I believe you're misinterpreting something... 7/8" is the diameter of the handlebar - this has nothing to do with the 1" specification of the clamp, the clamp is mounted to the suspension fork which is 33mm (1" is 25.4mm obviously) so the clamp being 7.6mm smaller than the fork tube allows me to tighten it rather well.

The significant strength of 304 stainless steel coupled with grade 8 strength hardware lends itself well to the structural integrity of the system ergo I must disagree with you that it's "suicidal". Nonetheless I respect your concern and I certainly appreciate and understand that you are not trying to "flame me". As it stands, it takes a lot of force to notice any flexion in the bars - way more force than I would exert while riding. I've not yet test-rode the bike because I didn't finish putting it together (just have bars on, didn't put components on yet). However, with the bike on the center stand, I've sat upon it and leaned heavily on the bars from the riding position and I've no concerns over the adequacy of their strength.

Note that I'm not a beginner rider, I've been riding almost 10yrs with nearly 110,000 miles over five bikes - two Harleys (1991 Sportster 1200, 2001 Fatboy), two Hondas (1984 Nighthawk 650 and 1985 Nighthawk 700-S), and this Yamaha. That said, I believe my experience grants me some measure of credibility on ascertaining what is and isn't safe.

This development is in effect a research project (sorry, I can get nerdy, I'm working on a Ph.D. in chemistry). The goal is to determine whether or not my physique is compatible with a clip-on handlebar system as opposed to the more conventional approach using the standard fixation ... I'm 6'4" so I'll be leaning a bit. I've also got plans and materials for making my own seat based on sources I've found. The seat (café style) will position me about 2" lower than the stock seat thereby altering the overall geometry of my riding position further. Once such modifications are implemented some evaluation of how much I like ... or should I say how much my back likes clip-ons will follow.

My overall reasoning for rigging my clip-ons as I have is to answer my fundamental question without spending a significant amount of money (remember, I'm a Ph.D. student ... we aren't paid much at all - I made much more as a building and grounds maintenance worker at a warehouse several years ago). If I determine after several hundred or maybe a thousand miles that these homemade clip-ons are still of sound structural integrity and my back is not screaming bloody murder, I'll keep them. On the other hand, if my back approves of the posture and these homemade clip-ons come to give me any shred of concern, I'll ditch 'em and buy manufactured bars ... however, I've not found any manufactured clip-ons that are NOT made in China - on that note - if someone has any suggestions of good quality non-Chinese made clip-ons, I'm all ears. Lastly, if my back hates clip-ons, I'll figure out something else.

- J
 
Hey man I just entered the product code on the Grainger site and told you my gut reaction on what came up if that's not the correct number give me another one. I've been riding for 29 years and building bikes for 19 years and I give you credit for not wanting Chinese made crap but the website listed those clamps from India. I thought I was being pretty polite with my comments and that is how I intended them. If you've seen some of the insanely dangerous hack work I have seen on motorcycles maybe you would get that I was concerned for your safety. Anyway, best of luck on your build, dude.
 
Idk how twitter applies to this discussion. Seems like your getting salty over someone making sure you were doing things safely. Just an observation.

And to keep with the topic of the thread, I filled in all the unnecessary holes in my frame and cut off some tabs that i don't need anymore
 
:D Well said boy wonder, a pics is worth a thousand words,

Announcer voice: Will the pics arrive on the weekend? Will we set the bar high enough for the college student, Will the clips ons work, Stay tuned, Same bat time, same bat channel"
:thumbsup:
(now called a bandwagon jumper)
Only bike I have ever worked on, and only been driving it for the last couple years, 3k per year maybe.):popcorn::woowoo:
 
Moto: I totally understand what you were saying, I hope what I wrote wasn't in any way scathing - I most certainly didn't write it that way and I apologize if you interpreted it thusly - as I said in the post, I respect and appreciate the concern you've expressed.

I am not disagreeing with you on the point that the Grainger site indicates a country of origin of India ... I'm seeing the same thing you are ... however the fine print says country of origin is subject to change and I'm reporting what I read on the label of the part that I put on the bike which fortunately says USA. It's entirely likely that either of the following is the result of the discrepancy: 1) The part is now made in India but USA-made stock is still in Grainger's supply and I was lucky enough to have purchased such clamps ... or ... perhaps less likely 2) The part used to be manufactured in India but later manufacturing was brought back to the states and Grainger didn't update... wishful thinking I know.

I indicated my experience in riding to simply point out that I didn't start riding last week and I'm here toying around with a bike when I have no clue what I'm doing. I do have some clue which comes from a lot of riding experience (for a 30 year old anyhow)yet I certainly understand that there are a lot of people out there with way more experience than I have ... that's the entire point of this forum deal right? I have some measure of metal fab and machinist experience from past jobs, and the bike is a father-son project with my father who retired with 35yrs as a railroad machinist so this project is supported by what I feel to be a decent measure of intuition yet I will point out that this IS my first bike build which is why I'm here. You indicated that you've been riding for 29 years and building bikes for 19 ... did you do the same thing as I, ride for a decade before trying to build a bike?

Please believe me when I say that I have a solid concern for my personal safety ... I lost my only brother to a motorcycle accident one year ago this Saturday (Volcom, since you're local - I'm from Lemont, you may have seen it on the news as my brother was graduating from U of I the very next day) - an elderly lady made a left turn right in front of him down in Champaign/Urbana.

We are all taking some measure of risk when riding even a bone-stock bike as my brother was doing. Building a bike however introduces into the equation the possibility of further risk ... even a tiny bit. Taking up riding - and building - bikes is a means of acknowledging that we're passionate about it ... we understand the risks as well ... but we feel it's worth it. All we can do is try to mitigate those risks. I understand that my handlebar setup may seem shaky since neither of you has seen pictures of it - totally understandable. Perhaps after I post pictures (likely Friday night), your thoughts may change ... maybe they won't but we'll see. Either way I sincerely appreciate your concern for my safety and I never had any intention of conveying anything else.

- J
 
Volcom:

I found twitter to be relevant as I interpreted your remark "Holy wall of text" as an affront to my long-windedness - I like being thorough which is why I said this isn't twitter - a social media outlet which limits posts to ... I don't know, 150 characters or words? I'm not on twitter and I don't believe this forum has any interest in, or need to limit the length of anyone's post

Having no pics and reading the remark, "pics or it didn't happen" is easily interpreted as calling me a liar - which I don't believe anyone would appreciate. I don't believe I've posted anything here which should give anyone cause to hold my honesty as suspect. This is why I directed your attention to the remark I made that I live in Chicago during the week and won't have pictures until the weekend when I get back to my bike. I'm a full-time researcher at Loyola U. Chicago and I'm not interested in commuting all the way to Lemont everyday so this is why I won't have pics until Friday night.

We all know there are plenty of folks out there on the internet who - for reasons unknown - enjoy fabricating B.S. and trying to pose it as "authentic" so to be suspicious of everything you read online is definitely understandable. Pics however, cannot even be seen as the ultimate burden of proof in forums, I can post a bike I find on google images and say it's my own and only the real owner of said bike, someone who knows them, or someone who knows me can really call it bluff. However, you - perhaps more so than anyone else on this forum - are in a convenient position to validate whatever I say as you live 30min from my parents' house where I work on my bike on weekends. I have no problem meeting up and discussing bike building in person, heck I'd be happy to since you definitely have more bike building experience than I.

- J
 
Bruh, I made a comment that is made, to some degree, on every forum ive been on. Twas a joke, no flaming was directed your way, nor were your building capabilities questioned, just ppl trying to better understand your cheaper alternative to clip-ons and not take it at face value.
 
Well then I certainly apologize for taking you literally. I very rarely do forums so that line isn't familiar to me. Like I said earlier, it's easy to misinterpret text.

I also have a bad habit of rarely taking pictures of anything I'm working on until I'm done with it and it looks satisfactory - clearly in this context, I can see how pics on a step-by-step basis can be useful so I'll try to keep that in mind going forward.

- J
 
New front marker lights showed up today in the Post, along with New O-ring Chain and EMGO ignition switch.:thumbsup:

Guys this is the "What did you do to your XS today" Not the"What did you do or not do Discussion thread.." Just saying...
 
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