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berniebee

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About berniebee

  • Birthday 01/01/1957

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  • Current Bike(s)
    1976 XS500C Previously: 1978 Ducati Darmah 900 1982 Suzuki GS1100E 1978 Suzuki GS750 1979 Suzuki GS550 1976 Honda 400F 1974 Yamaha RD350 1973 Honda CB350 1973 Yamaha RD200 1970 Honda Z50

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Ottawa, Canada
  • Interests
    1960's to 1980's bikes mainly.

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  1. Kind of late, but at xs500.proboards.com there is a post about Newtronics now making these for the TX/XS500 twins. Info here: http://xs500.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=electrics&action=display&thread=142
  2. Ah for the good old days, when a spot of oil meant a well purring engine! The oil filter could be leaking (It's loose or the gasket is defective.) or one of the two oil plugs could be leaking. When you say you checked, did you unscrew the plugs a couple of turns? After a quarter turn, the plug should unthread easily, by hand. Go ahead and spin the plug two turns, it wouln't fall out and you will lose only a few drops of oil. if you need a socket to loosen the plug past a quarter turn, some monkey has cross threaded it. (I've seen it!) Also does this model have plug gaskets? They need to be replaced occasionally.
  3. If you are sure that smoke came from the ignitor (CDI), then it is officially a paperweight. It is not repairable. Don't be concerned about frying the unit even more-once it's done, it's well and truly done. If you are not sure the ignitor was smoking (You have a question mark at the end of that sentence.) examine the ignitor for blacked areas and/cracks. No cracks or other visible damage? Test for spark by connectiing one of the sparkplug wires to a grounded sparkplug (ie: with a jumper wire end either on the threaded portion or the ground electrode, other end to engine..) then crank the bike while observing for spark. A shady/indoors location makes spark more easily visible .It's important to ground the plug with a jumper wire, otherwise the ignitor can be damaged by this test. While the was bike running, did you at anytime NOT have a battery connected? That could damage the rectifier or regulator unit. So once you have a fully charged replacement battery** installed (and likely you need a ignitor too, ouch!) start the bike and measure the voltage at the battery terminals. You should see about 14.5 volts. Less than 14.0 -the regulator or rectifier is defective. More than 14.9- the regulator is faulty and will eventually damage your battery.. ** should measure 12.5-13.0 volts disconnected from the bike.
  4. It sounds like you're saying that the bike was discontinued due to a problematic electrical system or alternator- not true. No electrical issues particular to the TX500/XS500 have emerged, even today. They are well past 30 years old now, so of course you may see any problems on an individual bike! You don't mention what part of the alternator is bad, so: The TX500 stator and field coil will fit the XS500. The rotor probably will too, though it was slightly changed on the XS500C.
  5. Yes, 1" pieces of PVC pipe will help a little with braking nose dive. Downside: The extra preload will transmit more of the road ripples and bumps through to your arms. Damping affects nose dive as well. One upgrade that works really well is Race Tech cartridge emulators.
  6. Late answer , perhaps useful to others: The '76 (XS500C) and later used 35mm forks, should be easy swap.
  7. Hi, If you are not carrying a passenger, the XS360 will make a very good budget tourer. It has a pretty smooth engine with 6 gears, and it's straight forward to maintain and repair. It cannot be compared to a K75 class bike in terms of acceleration and speed, but parts and maintenance are certainly less expensive. And I think they look great. (But being an XS500 owner, i'm a little biased.) I agree wth Nayruf, the XS360 should easily attain 50 mpg, unless ridden really aggressively. A basic tuneup (points and condenser, air filter, valve adjustment ) may be all that's required to get gas mileage back to normal. Perhaps even just a dragging brake? But on the other hand, a vintage bike may have worn out carb slides, throttle shaft wear, gummed up jets, low compression or a host of other faults. As to reliability, that depends much more on the previous owner's care and storage than on any inherent faults in this model. Inspect it and the DPO carefully! I'm not sure how easily parts can be obtained for the XS360 in your part of the world, and that may be a consideration as well. Some questons for you: How much will you pay for it? Have you added costs for tires, tuneup parts, perhaps a drive chain +sprockets and any other obviously worn/broken components? How many miles on the odo? Has it been in storage for any extended periods? Outside in the wet or inside dry? Can you post some pics of the bike for us? Do a search for XS360 posts on this site, I'm sure you'll find good advice!
  8. Hi all, My attempt at humour utterly failed. Apologies! Of course no DT125 will reach 205kph, unless it's been pushed off a cliff. Thus the link at the bottom of my post which should have pointed to the "The Free Fall Research page" Three W's.greenharbor.com/fffolder/questions.html I appreciate the knowledgable regulars and I really do enjoy the humour on this site! I've spit up my tea more than once... Bernie
  9. Frankly I am disappointed in these answers. I only recently joined YOC, but I was told there was certain level of expertise here. A quick calculation shows top speed to be about 205 km/hr, depending on how the rider is positioned. Interestingly, no derestriction required. The DT125X should be able to reach this speed in about 12 seconds-not bad! I've found a page which will help answer answer any questions: http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/questions.html
  10. This is the nicest custom XS500 of that I've ever seen. Well deserved article in the magazine...
  11. Hi Rob, NIce job on those XS elevens! I'm restoring a '76 XS500C to original (I bought it this past November) and I'm hoping to have it ready in the spring. I'm in Ottawa too. (Hunt Club area.) Bernie
  12. A "just in case" suggestion: Make sure that the throttle cable is not sticking and that there is a bit of cable play at the throttle grip. Throttle shaft sticking? Quick way to check: Next time it sticks at high RPM, grip the carb throttle shaft and see if you can rotate it towards the idle stop. No movement should be possible if the throttle plate is at idle position.
  13. Thanks for the replies. I mistyped AGC, i meant AGV of course. I"m certainly going to try the helmet on for fit, though I don't know if the dealer would let me ride off on a "test ride" with a helmet! I remember one of my old helmets being a little loose- it would go into a wobble at about 110Kmh unless i positioned my head at a certain tilt forwards. With my '82 GS1100E, it wobbled a lot.. There just seem to be so many brands of helmets these days, I'm at a loss as to where to start!
  14. Recommendations on which helmet to get? I'm looking to spend $200-$300 on a full face style. Since I am on old fart , hold the comic book/superhero/deathwish graphics. A plain ole red or black or grey bucket, thanks very much. With a sprinkling of snow on the ground and it being -9C, the bike season is well and truly done around here. so i'm hoping to score a winter deal on a helmet. When I last biked, the big manufacturers (that I recall) were Bell, Shoei, and Arai.. AGC and Nolan were around too. My local dealer stocks stuff like Zox, HJC, as well the above brands and other brands that I don't recall just now. They are a fairly large dealer. (About 300 bikes in stock.) So any brands that are good quality, but perhaps are new to the marketplace and trying to undercut the competion? Are the Chinese finally making good quality helmets too? Any feedback at all appreciated...
  15. Why does "warn status" appear under my name? (when I post a reply.)
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