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The bike I bought, (see avatar) is a 1979 Yamaha XS650 Special. The guy I bought it from said it ran but had a charging issue. I bought a new battery for it, cleaned the tank, replaced all of the fuel lines, cleaned the petcocks, replaced the plugs and gave te bike an overall scrub. It had been sitting for about a year. Any other suggestions for getting the bike road ready? Also where do you guys think that I should start to look for the problem with the electrical? Oh, and as far as the post about dropping your bike, almost twice just pushing it into the garage. 1st, thought I had the kickstand down and let go, 2nd, let's not go there.

congrats!

im not mechanically oriented but hope you get it running soon.

some sort of carb/filter/intake cleaning could be of some use as well. I am currently trying to get a 1980 Honda XL185(Enduro) to fully run. We started out with no starting, no idle, and clutch failing. Through quite a few hours and a lot of transmission disassembly the clutch is now fixed and its driveable Now if only we could fix the idling problem....

Congrats on the bike tho man. Bikes that need work can be fun.

Last thing I'd do is check the tires for dry-crack etc and make sure they are road worthy.

Have fun!

Take a look at the tires in case they may be dry rotted or out of round too. The charging issue the previous owner had may have been due from a weak batery. See how it holds up with your new battery...

+100 on tires.


I mean if theyre year old tires.... and arent dry rotted, youll probably be ok. If theyre 5 year old tires that have also been sitting for a year on top of that...

smokeyman66 wrote:Also where do you guys think that I should start to look for the problem with the electrical?

If it's running fine on a new battery, I'd suggest a Battery Tender to apply charge when the bike is in the garage. It keeps the voltage up and only applies charge when the battery level drops below a certain level. That should also extend battery life.

with the new battery in it check charging voltage at battery with voltmeter.the 650 has brushes for the generator.i had one that had low charging problems and the brushes were wore out.replaced them and cured problem.

Wow, thanks for al the quick replies!! It'll start and run on a new battery, but it charges intermittantly. I think Mr.9000 has it hit on the head. I haven't gotten my manual yet, so I'm not sure where to find the regulator or what the tolerances are. The previous owner replaced the rectifier. Does anybody have a wiring diagram that I could follow to see if there are any bad wires?

Have to agree with everyone so far. I got my XS650 after it had sat idle for several years....all I did was clean the plugs, add fresh gas, and kick it until it started. That was then, though.

I think 9000 is right about the brushes. They're a really easy replacement inside the right-side engine case. A Haynes manual will show you exactly. When I replaced mine it made a huge difference.

VermilionX wrote:im not mechanically oriented

But he is technically oriental!