I've just had brain wave for another webpage, somewhere for you blokes to send in stories that have a XS flavor that other members may be interested to read. It can be a ride you recently attended or someone you met with an interesting story to tell about their XS or even a story about some work you've recently done on your bike that others might need to know. If you have an interesting story you want to tell send it to Terry Gliddon at xs650@xs650.org.au

PS. If I've got any of these stories, gossip, rumours, call them what you like wrong then let me know and I'll correct them.

Classic Sidecar Cross

Matt Moloney and Jake Madden raced last weekend (22/6/08) and recorded  a third in the first race, a win in the second race and a second in the third race. In the last race of the day, the handicap they started last and passed almost everyone to finish second. A very successful day, well done boys.

Matt and Jake will be racing this weekend (29/6/08) at Barrabool near Geelong

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

That's right five wins. Ivan Hoey blitzed the field at Oran Park at the weekend with five wins, in fact he won every race he entered.

Needless to say Ivan is a very happy boy and the big Yammie performed almost flawlessly all day to get his best ever result. He did have some clutch slipping problems for the first two races but after fixing it he never looked back. Well done Ivan!!!

Pic taken at Wakefield Park May 2008

Sidecarcross Warnambool

Matt cleaned the board at Warnambool last weekend with three first places, this now puts him in a good position to take the Victorian title. It didn't come without a hitch as he broke the gear selector shaft which had to be hastily welded together between races. Some stiff opposition also made the wins even sweeter as the old Yammie beat the more favoured late model EML machine also racing this weekend. Well done Matt and Jake!!!

Sidecarcross at Gerangamete

I went down to Gerangamete yesterday to watch Matt racing his sidecarcross XS650 and as usual I was late getting there and they had all stopped for lunch. Matt told me he had a first and second place as a result of his mornings racing and after lunch I watched him in the last two events he was riding in. He got another second place in the first race for the afternoon and the last race for the day was a handicap event. I must say the handicapper must have had in for Matt and as a result he only got second last for the final event. All the races for the day were only three lappers and in the last event the first away had almost completed a lap before Matt got started! Matt was cursing the handicapper for his dismal showing but he couldn't say too much as it was his dad Laurie who was the handicapper.

After a hard days racing at Gerangamete

Notice the new side plate made from a piece of scrap Aluminium.

Matt also did a small demo in the pits after the race which I filmed. It's here if you want to take a look but it is quite a large file and will take a while to download

Wakefield Park 

May 3rd & 4th 2008

PERIOD 5 1300cc RIDERS 
1 26 KEITH HIGGS (NSW)     P&M KAWASAKI     25 25 25 25     100 
2 17 EVAN PITKIN (NSW)     P&M KAWASAKI     20 20 20 20     80 
3 72 IVAN HOEY (NSW)         YAMAHA XS650      18 18 18 18     72

As you can see from the NATSOFT results Ivan got four third places at the weekend race meeting at Wakefield Park. I spoke to Ivan briefly on Saturday night and he told me he was doing lap times a second faster than last year. His fastest lap according to NATSOFT was 1min.13.9sec on lap 2 of race 2. Well done Ivan considering he had no rear brake.

Ivan also campaigned a Yamaha YZF750 at the weekend in New Era 2 and did similar lap times to the XS and finished fourth overall in that class. He will be well knackered after that effort.

Classic Sidecar Cross

Matt Moloney is now two meetings into his 2008 season and so far has not finished lower than second place. The first meeting of the year was at Harrow in western Victoria and Matt collected an overall first place with three firsts and a second over the four races. The next meeting at Naracoorte Matt again posted an impressive list of wins and second places in spite of the appalling conditions where it rained on an already sodden track. Many of the competitors struggled in the conditions and some had engine failures due to the heavy going.

Our own Ivan Hoey and Mick Muldoon competed in the Barry Sheene Memorial race meeting at Eastern Creek and Ivan sent me some pics of the action. Ivan has just finished a rebuild of his race bike including a new look for 2008.

As you can see this includes the addition of a new fairing and white colour scheme for this year.

Here's Ivan hunting down a Ducati

That poor Duke didn't stand a chance against the mighty Yam

Ivan did well with an overall seventh place on the weekend considering he hadn't been on the bike since last year and is still getting used to the new configuration.

Mick has been having some problems with his bike but still managed to finish the weekend with a second place.

Matt's Outfit Update

(19/01/08)

Last weekend while I was in Warrnambool to pick up a motor I had bought, I got a call from Matt Moloney and was invited to visit him and take a look at some recent modifications he had done to his racing outfit. Luckily I had my camera with me and  took some pics so the rest of you blokes could take a look as well.

First significant mod is the pull clutch Matt fabricated using the bits from a 750cc Honda. This mod creates a lot more free space on the other side of the motor for alternate gearing and, unlike the standard setup, cannot be damaged in the event of a chain breakage.

The second significant change is to the carburation, Matt had originally fitted a Weber carb to the outfit which gave some trouble over very rough ground, the cure for this, hopefully, is to fit some nice new 36mm Dellorto pumpers. All the fabrication work for these mods was done by Matt himself and as you can see the workmanship is first class.

By the way, in case you didn't already know, Matt and his new offsider Jake finished fourth in the Australian Sidecar Cross Championships held in Morgan SA just before Christmas. Not bad for his first season on a new and not quite yet sorted bike!!!

Here is a picture to celebrate the event, a collage of pics taken that day and now hangs proudly in the Moloney home.

Matt is now looking forward to the 2008 season which kicks off in March (I think) and I'm sure we all wish him well.

Oran Park Short Circuit  (29/7/07)

Ivan Hoey has spent the last few weeks making some modifications to his rear suspension (see below) in preparation for his races here today with mixed results. He tells me the work done has improved the bike noticeably but had a couple of unusual problems in the first two races here today. 

Modification to the rear suspension allows higher ride height and adjustability

In the first race he stood the Yam up on it's tail from the start and did a monumental wheel stand causing him to lose some  positions and ended up finishing in 8th place.

In the second race starting from position 8 (as a result of race 1 finishing position) and stalled the bike on the starting grid finishing a lap down.

The third race went well and he had a great time enjoying the bikes new found handling characteristics and in spite of starting at the rear of the grid in 24th place he eventually finished in 6th place.

Ivan says the bike is now handling better than ever and he is looking forward to his next race at the Oran Park GP circuit and puts his misadventures today down to a delay when gridding up in the second race causing the engine to fuel up and stall. He thinks this can be cured with a minor jetting change.

Ivan at speed taken by track photographer.

Today's races combined Post Classic and Forgotten Era classes together so the grids were quite full making an interesting mix of bikes to race against including Mick Muldoon's XS650. Mick did better beating Ivan in all three races.

Matt Moloney Update (20/7/07)

Matt rang me the other night to let me know how he was going in sidecar racing since I saw him at Barrabool. He raced last weekend at Lismore and got a first a second and a first in his three races. He is racing this weekend at Lismore again so I'm keen to see if he has been successful in beating his previous record there and done a clean sweep of three first places. I'll let you know when I find out. Great going Matt!!!

UPDATE (19/8/07)

Matt rang me tonight to tell me of his exploits this weekend and I am happy to report three firsts and a second.
Matt had been working all week burning the midnight oil to fix a problem with his motor, he discovered to his horror that the motor had been over bored and his ring gaps were too wide allowing much of his compression to leak out. He also had a problem with one of the sleeves dropping down a few thou causing an even greater leak past the head gasket.

This has now been rectified and the motor is making horsepower like gangbusters according to Matt. I told Matt I will accept nothing less than a clean sweep of first places next time out!!!

Well Done Matt

Barrabool Classic Moto-X

Sunday 24th June, Kevin Palmer and myself went to Barrabool to check out Matt Moloney race his Wasp outfit in the Classic Moto-X. Matt had a reasonable day with three thirds and a second place finish. It was a great day weather wise and we enjoyed watching Matt and Ash tear around the undulating Barrabool course. In the second race Matt flipped the Wasp and bent the rear  of the frame so team XS swung into action and with some ingenious pit work and some borrowed lumps of wood and fence railings managed to straighten the frame enough for Matt to continue racing. In the third race Ash stepped off the back of the sidecar and after a couple of attempts managed to get back on and finish the race, a gutsy effort that would have frightened the crap out of me. Only his mum will ever know if it had the same effect on him. 

Matt has done a great job building this bike and it is a credit to him, Ash in the background looking at the track and wondering how they ever convinced him to ride chair. (I'm only pulling your leg Ash, I wouldn't get on that thing for all the tea in China)

What a great choice for the racing number, 270, very fitting for a rephased motor.

Weber carb is causing some problems at the moment but should be great when it's sorted.

The crew, left to right, Ash (chair), Teresa (mum), Matt (trying to eat lunch and work), Laurie (dad and wheel inspector)

I can't help but think what a great time Matt is going to have racing his XS powered wasp when I see his boundless enthusiasm and the fantastic support from his parents Laurie and Teresa.

I also have a lot more pictures I will be putting in the members bikes section.

There was another XS at Barrabool being ridden by Wayne Muir, I spoke to Wayne and he and his passenger have only just started racing themselves, this being their second time out. For novices they acquitted themselves well with a couple of second places.

Matt Moloney's Debut

I talked to Matt at the weekend and he debuted his  XS powered wasp outfit last week and got two seconds, a third and a first place. (Not bad at all for a first time out - Toota) He is very happy with the performance of his new ride and promises to send me some pics and a short write up of his exploits. He is racing next weekend (24/6/07) at Geelong's  Barabool Hills scramble track. Daryl and I will try to be there to take some pics and lend our support.

For those who don't know Matt he is a new member who joined the club to get some info on the XS motor he planned to use in his new wasp outfit he acquired from another member Walter Presig. 

Matt wanted to know what was available in the way of hot up gear for the XS and of course we helped him out. He built a rephased 840cc motor using Mikes performance rods and Ross pistons with Weber carb and PROBE ignition and is currently considering some new primary drive gears. 

Club Racing Team Logo

I have been trying to get some stickers made to sell as a fund raiser for the club racer project but have been having some problems with the graphics. It seems the raster graphics we us on our computers is not suitable for Printers who require vector graphics for their specialized presses for printing on vinyl. This has caused me no end of grief but I may now have a solution with a redesigned sticker created using a vector graphics program I borrowed from a friend who happens to be a Printer. Here is the new sticker, let me know what you think.

Ivan is not that keen, he says people will think he's a wanker coz it's his picture in the middle. I think it's kinda neat but then I would since it's my design so would you buy one to stick on your tool box? - Toota

These are now available from Ivan for $10 each, any profit goes towards the club's race bike project.

Oran Park

The Queens Birthday weekend saw Ivan racing at Oran Park for round 3 of the Forgotten Era (and Post Classic Racing) NSW championship. I spoke to Ivan and he told me he had a great weekend of racing although not as successful as he would have liked finishing with a mid field performance. The bike ran great again but the long GP track was not suited to high placings as the opposition's bigger machinery was more suited to the higher speeds. First race had some clutch slipping problems to deal with due to an incorrect adjustment but this was fixed before the second race. Ivan also discovered that at Yamaha corner he was actually scraping the frame, this slowed him down a bit in subsequent races! He finished the day with an overall sixth or seventh place (he thinks).

Among Ivan's visitors at the track were Steve and Sally Hobbs and Tony Filmer who took the pics.

One of the race officials made Ivan's day when he told him that his bike was the best twin he had ever heard. Well there aren't too many twins of 840cc capacity with a rephased crank pulling 8000 rpm around these days so he's probably right!!!

Wakefield Park

I'm still waiting for a report on Wakefield Park but I'll fill you in on what I know. Ivan's bike was much improved after some dyno time and the fitting of the PROBE ignition and actually lead one race for a short time. In his words the bike ran fantastic with heaps of mid range horsepower and torque and has never run better. Some of his competitors even commented on how well it went and wanted to know what he had done to it. Needless to say Ivan is chuffed and can't wait to get to Oran Park for the next event on  June 10th so try and be there to give Ivan some encouragement.

Here are the results after round 2

Unlimited Post Classic
Rider Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Total Position
Mick Muldoon 75 75 1
Steve Wood 75 64 139 2
Robert Johnson 66 62 128 3

Unlimited Forgotten Era
Rider Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Total Position
Richard Easton 60 65 125 1
Simon Genev 47 58 105 2
Jason Patterson 22 72 94 3
Ivan Hoey 43 47 90 4
Keith Higgs 72 72 5
David Mason 54 54 6
Zac Campbell 53 53 7
Warwick Simmons 53 53 7
Robert Marriner 47 47 9
Wayne Gow 31 31 10
Chris Munn 28 28 11

Engine Weight

As a follow up to Daryl's engine weighing exploits (see further down the page) our resident racer Ivan Hoey was curious about the weight of his highly anorexic racing XS motor. If you look at the pictures you will see what I mean about anorexic, Ivan has been merciless in his quest for lightness.

As you can see the motor has been drilled inside and out. 

The motor has also been modified in the kick start shaft area, look closely at the pictures on the right, needle roller bearings instead of bushes.

The result of all that hard work:-

A saving of 11.9 kg 

Footnote :- Ivan has also been on a diet and has dropped a few kilo's of his own. Well done Ivan!

Club Racer

As mentioned in the newsletter a couple of issues ago, Ivan Hoey suggested we, as a club, might want to build a racer to represent us in post classic racing. Well that project is now officially a goer.

Here is Ivan and Kevin Boss with the bike that will become the club's racer.

Kevin started the ball rolling by donating the bike.

I will donate a rephase pin and a clutch conversion for the project and hope that some others will feel the need to get involved in any way they can, either parts, time or money will be gratefully received. If you want to be involved contact Ivan or Kevin with details of how you would like to help.

Ivan's email address ltr.management@bigpond.com 

RESULTS

Ivan's trophy and T-shirt

Ivan receiving his third place trophy (on the right side of the podium)

I recently talked to Dave Rayner who told me an interesting story about Ivan Hoey. Apparently Ivan rang Dave wanting to buy a new piston for his racer with the 840cc, 90° rephased XS motor,  the story goes that on its first outing it dropped a valve and Ivan needed a replacement piston for the one that got smashed. It turns out that Ivan was motoring down the main straight at 240kph when it dropped the valve. Now in case you missed that, his bike was doing 240kph that's 150mph on an XS powered bike!

(Since reading the latest newsletter I have discovered that 240kph is a slightly over the top and the actual speed was 222kph. Hey that's still 138mph and bloody fast for an XS powered bike don't you think? Anyway it probably would have gone to 240kph if it hadn't dropped a valve!)

The damage caused, apparently the valve was touching the piston because someone didn't check the clearances correctly.
The pistons which are designed for standard valve sizes had insufficient relief for the bigger valves.

 Ivan went on to tell Dave that Yamaha should recall all XS's and rephase them and send them back to their owners with an apology for not doing it when they were new.

He says the bike revs so freely that he over revved it down the straight causing it to drop the valve and plans to fit a rev limiter are high on his list of things to do when he rebuilds it. Ivan now says that rephasing an 840cc engine is the greatest thing you can do and creates the ultimate XS engine. He can't wait to get it going again. Here's a copy of the dyno sheet for Ivan's bike, 68bhp @ 8000rpm in fourth gear, I assume that because of the altered primary drive gearing that the dyno run was done in fourth gear being closer to fifth on a standard geared bike.

Apparently another of our members, Mick Muldoon, was at the race meeting and saw what Ivan's bike would do and has raced back to his workshop to build a rephased motor for his 1000cc XS racer. That should be an interesting bike when it's finished.

Over Easter I got a visit from Glen Voice, Glen is one of our new members with an interest in street trackers and had seen pictures of my bike on the garage scene page and asked if he could visit me so he could take a look and maybe get a few ideas.

After going out to the shed and spending some time looking and getting some advice on how to proceed with his tracker we got into a general chat about XS's and it turns out that Glen lived in England for some time and is a mate of Gavin Hall. To the uninitiated Gavin is the owner of Whiplash reputed to be the worlds fastest XS.

Gavin is also responsible for a bike called street fighter which is one of the more radical XS's on the planet.

Small world aint it.

Keith Worboys' 1000cc leg breaker.

G'day Terry,
Well it's finally happened, my 1000cc twin is finally running.
After a "return to the manufacturer" for some adjustments (well what actually happened was this:-
firstly after not being able to get a pop or fart or anything out of the machine I removed the engine and asked Kevin (the creator) if he could find a way to make it easier to kick over, the creator then refitted the engine to the frame, tried to run it up on his rolling-road saying this would loosen up the engine enough to allow it to be kicked over (I did have my doubts) and somehow ended up bending a valve so it was engine out, new Mitsubishi magna valve - shortened and refitted, engine back in, re-run on rolling road plugs out, just to circulate the oil. plugs in and away we go, bit of popping and farting but nether the less it ran, next it was actually kicking the bastard but that also worked and boy was I surprised one day when he called me and said "listen to this" music to my ears - I heard him kick it into life !!

The decompressor needed to kick over this 1000cc beast.

Kevin assured me that it would now be "no problem" kicking the thing into life and using his patented starting procedure I couldn't fail.
After getting the mc back home it was a week before I managed to find the time to bolt everything back in as it should have been and fit air filters etc as Kevin had merely 'hung' the engine in the frame to test it, Me and my mate (Tim) decided it was time to try it and as he had the 'old thumper' experience he had first kick, 2 kicks and nothing - hmm seems as hard as before, then on the 3rd kick it fired, about 10 or 15 in a row, "that just ran" I screamed, next kick it started properly and kept running, it was popping and farting quite a lot and didn't like any attempt at turning the choke off, we ran it for a few minutes but it was still popping and farting so we then shut it down and I had a quick look at the points gaps - too big (Tim reckoned "not that bad") I reduced the points gap and then it was my go to kick the bastard - first kick it fired up and sounded a whole heap better for the points adjustment, "fuck me, It lives and breaths" we both shouted above the healthy roar through the turn-outs, this really was the day I'd been waiting for.
We couldn't really try riding it that day as the clutch had locked up due to sitting and I didn't fancy just slapping it into gear as it only has a back brake at present and all that grunt may have even broken something so we left it.
A few days later - Tim has gone back to work, I have freed the clutch plates and although a little worried by my own enthusiasm and lack of caution I email all my mates and joking tell them I'm off to start and ride the 1000 (please come to visit me in hospital - only joking) so I go down to the shed and fuck me it starts first kick though the tick-over is too high for my liking so I shut it down and lower the tick-over, I kick it again - it starts again first kick- holy crap this is unbelievable I slip it into gear and sneak off down the drive and out onto the deserted road, running up through the gears I can feel it REALLY wants to go but I am determined not to let it get away from me now, I finally get it to a point where I can turn the choke off and nearly all the popping has gone but as I
turn it around it stalls as I have obviously lowered the tick-over too far now, I push it home (500metres) as the side stand is too short and I don't fancy falling in a big heap with the bike (making a mental note to find a pocket sized wooden choc) back at the shed I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat and looking for a choc, having found one (just a bit thicker than the previous one but that won't matter - he thought!!) I decide to start it on the new found choc and after prodding it with a couple of half-arsed attempts I give it everything and fucking leap on the kick start, it fires up and the kick start (3" longer than standard) follows through straight down to the concrete floor - PAIN, PAIN, PAIN incredible pain. Needless to say I'm now walking with the aid of crutches after spending the rest of the day down the hospital (ha-ha) my knee is about the size of a fucking football and it will be some considerable time before I will be able to kick anything into life again.

Keith's other chopper, a 650cc destined to become a 750cc with stainless steel slash-cut drag pipes, 36mm Mikuni
slide carbies (with s/s kick turn outs), shiny new black shocks and a whole
heap of shiny parts courtesy of 'k & d chrome' in Kelmscott.

I am just going to pick up a 5hp Honda motor to make myself a rolling road so as I can at least keep it running and just run it up the road while my knee mends and I am about to re-install the electric start solenoid and switch on the 650. But having said that it was still the best day - 7 years I waited for the engine.
PS  I am going back into hospital tomorrow for a 'cat scan' though what good a cat looking at my knee is going to do is anyone's guess.
I will send some videos when I get it all running properly
cheers
Keith Worboys
XS650head@hotmail.com