johnsnownw

Thanks drewps, I'll give it a go.

When I use the idle screw to bring the revs up to 1200 at idle, it causes an issue. If I rev it up to say 4k, it will stick there or come down really slowly. I've tried all kinds of different variations, but it always will stick when I get the bike to idle at 1200. It is normal when the idle screw is out to let it idle at 1000. Does this mean I should start messing with the pilot and balance screw(s)? Thanks, Aaron

Thanks, any help at all is welcome at this point. I have been able to get the bike started, I decided to take the battery out of the bike to charge it. It went through the cycle I expected, as it took about 5hrs to charge from empty. I don't know why it was having trouble charging properly while in the bike. I still am unsure why the headlamp only comes on after the bike fires up. I'm also unsure why the battery was empty in the first place, something is draining it. Though, it was a brand new battery, perhaps it wasn't charged all the way when they put it in? So confused, Aaron

Also, this is a picture of my fuse box, as you can see it seems to have been modified. The Main fuse looks as if it's blown, but it is not. Not sure if this helps at all. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I went out to start the bike this morning and there was no power at all, not even the control panel came on. So, I hooked up the charger and it went from 25% to 75% charged in 30 min. then after 3 hrs it had still not reached the "charged" light. I decided to unhook the charger and take some mutli-meter readings. I am a newbie at this too. I set the meter to DCV and checked the battery, which gave me a reading of just over 12v. I checked the "earth" and got a similar 12v reading. I then checked the 12v Hitachi ( whatever that thing is just to the rear of the battery on the right side of the bike, and received a negative on the screen of random numbers in the 100ths place. I put the multimeter testers on each of the 2 points where wires were going into the thing. I then tried to start the bike, and it was trying to start strong a first, but then just started barely making any noise when I hit the ignition button. The control panel lights would also go off when I pressed the button. I tried kick starting it, and no luck. It should also be noted that the headlight on the bike doesn't come on until the bike starts, and when I checked the turn signals with the key in the "on" position, they did not blink, just stayed on. I have looked at similar posts concerning electrical issues, but can't really decide on what is wrong with mine. Thanks for your help, Aaron

Thanks, hadn't considered it being the clutch. I'll have to search for that on the forum. I suppose I should wait to do the work until my Haynes manual gets here. Aaron

I live in Minneapolis. Thanks for the suggestion, I have no idea what's in the bike now as, I assume, they put new oil in it at the salvage/used bike seller I purchased it from. The oil looks pretty clean in the circular view glass.

The clutch had been disengaging smoothly for me, but my fiance seemed to have trouble putting it into first when she was stopped. Other gears it goes through like butter. Idle speed in neutral is usually around 1000 rpms, I know it should be about 1200, but I wasn't sure if I should really mess with the idle screw when essentially missing one of the air filters. I should say that most of the time it gets slower and slower, but it does that very quickly. Also, I've noticed that it will idle (in neutral) around 1000 rpms, then drop, then rev up a bit, back to around 1000.

So here's the issue I'm having with the bike. It will idle in neutral quite well, however if you stop while it's in gear it will tend to die. It starts up just fine after it dies, but pretty much dies every time you stop while in gear. The engine also rides quite rough at lower RPM's but is noticeably smoother at higher RPM's. Anyone have any thoughts? I did notice that when I took the air filters out that one looked fine, had all it's "funny fur," while the other had absolutely no funny fur, other than on the edges where it was glued to the metal filter housing. Should I even attempt to fix the problem before the new air filters that I ordered arrive, or is the lack of funny fir on one of the filters not enough to cause an issue such that I'm having? Thanks for your input, Aaron

Thanks for the info. I had no idea about the SR range. The way the bike is acting it seems like I may have to do some carb work, so I'm glad I can get at least some of the parts from MikesXS. Where did you purchase the braided brake lines, or did you fabricate them yourself? Aaron

Hey everyone, A few questions about the bike: 1. Is there a problem with switching to a synthetic oil? 2. Are most of the parts, sans engine specific, for the XS650 compatible with my bike? Asking specifically because of the site MikesXS. 3. What modification to modern parts has had the most impact on your classic XS? Thanks everyone, I'm new to this whole classic/DIY motorcycle business. Regards, Aaron