drewpy

can't you sit further back on the bike instead?

yep, that will help! My friend brought his bike round the other day for me to put on a new exhaust. he was knackered cause he had just pushed it 1/2 mile as it wouldn't start. yes you guessed it, the kill switch was turned to off

sounds like the cable is dry. you need to buy a cable oiler and use it. Just check the cable is not chafing under the tank etc and this can let water in a rust the cable making it stiffer.

Troglodyte!!

the're called ace bars used on cafe racers. not comfortable at slow speeds. Bt45 are made by Bridgestone, i'm sure they are available in the US! I bought a c Spanner but had to grind it a bit thinner to fit the nut. just tighten to get the loosness out and no more!!

try here http://www.mikuni.com/fs-carburetor.html http://www.bikecarbman.com here for fork springs http://www.bikerevival.co.uk/forks

braces stuck in the car door trick usually works.

loosen top nut (11) and clamps (12) around top stanctions. tighten #8 till no more movement, don't over tighten as you can load a ton weight upon the bearings. check that there is no notchiness now as the bearings will be running in their cups properly. re-tighten the top nut and then the tube clamps. those cables do look tight and I've never seen those daft handle bars on an xs500. get BT45 tyres, as they are the best for this type of bike drewpy

I got my carbs cleaned professionally by JRS in swansea. Did a fantastic job and good communicator. check out his web site by googling JRS carbs. cost me £100 for 2 carbs

check tyre pressures, steering bearings for notchiness, check they are not loose by rocking bottom of forks fore and aft. (nautical, but nice), wheel alignment with the rear wheel, check front wheel runout, check brake caliper is not sticking. let us know how you get on please, for other forum users drewpy

woha! slow down Tamz, wer'e not a call centre and sat nights are for pubs and clubs. Is there any other symptoms like smoky exhaust, loss of power, spark plug is a light shade of brown? If the bike has been standing, its likely the petrol has evaporated in the carb and gummed up the tiny internal passage ways which will need shifting by cleaning. give us more to go on and you will get a better prognosis

if you are feeling flush, use a pingel fuel tap

I knew that was comming (well the mouse behind was!!)

you could be wet sumping, where the non return valve from the oil tank drains into the engine rather than stays put. the oil pump may not be able to scavenge the oil quickly enough. Iwould also check for any oil gauzes as they block up and not help with oil flow. the amount of oil in your engine could prevent it from turning over 3.5k revs.

Fangs for the tip off!!

there is a computer program called yamx which cross references all USA spec yamha's. I have the progrm but don't have the code to use it get it here

I looked into this for my flat tracker and the xs400 can't run without a battery due to the way it needs 12v to magnitise the field coil. I have seen an xs400 cafe racer which looks like it has one and emailed the owner (to no response) on how he/she achieved this. until there is an answer I am going to ditch the starter motor and fit a small battery where the starter was. this will give me that open look i'm after through the frame. you can see the bike here

sounds like your burning oil. need to check valve seals as they may have hardened with age. Also the piston rings could have stuck allowing oil to get past. I assume you have checked the oil levels, i think the SR is dry sumped, oil in frame?

way yaa! I see that you're doing a tracker. have you got the bits and pieces or are you just starting out?

is the bike a "custom" model?

I have two torque wrenches both 1/4" for my socket set. a low 6lbs to 30, and a larger 10lbs to 80lbs. I got mine from ebay but one is a draper in Nm which is a pain to convert for my use.

carbs gummed up, you will need to strip or send off to a specialist for cleaning. I use normal unleaded Petrol Also high reving is due to the mixture weak, check inlets on carb for cracking.

title not flash it, now Flash Git!!

could be an earthing problem, make sure that you check the earth straps and connections for continuity. other than that, the solenoid is kaput. there is a ebay company in Aus who has yam bits as I have bought from them a few times and was really cheap.

sorry to hear that Merv. I'll keep my eye out on the classifieds