Notice Board

If you'd like to place an item on the notice board just send it to the webmaster and I'll put it on.

The club is offering a Back Issues CD and two Race Team stickers for $30 including postage and packaging.

The total package price will be donated to the club racer project so if you got your Back Issues CD a while ago send your cheques or money orders to Terry Gliddon to receive the latest CD which includes all Published Newsletters as well as the Special Edition April Fools Editions and some surprise extras if they fit on the disk as well as two XS650 Club Racing Team Stickers and all for just $30.

Genuine Yamaha XS650 valve adjusting tool, made in Japan, not Taiwanese junk, $15.00 post free within Australia. Contact Daryl Hutcheon at Professional Motorcycle Tuning at 0409164274

Club member Rob McKie has finally finished his racer and is going to take it to Broadford next week for its shakedown run to make sure everything is ok. Rob hasn't raced for a few years now and can't wait to put his leathers on again. He was inspired to go racing again after finding out what could be done to the XS650 after discovering our website and joining the club.

Rob's modernized motor will be quite a step up from the stock configuration he ran a decade ago.
Update Monday 16/1/12
Kevin Palmer and I jumped in the car and made our way to Broadford today to check out Rob McKie's racer take to the track for the first time. Rob did a few laps to get used to the bike initially before winding it up a bit, at this point he noticed some oil coming out somewhere so he pulled into the pits to investigate further. It turned out to be a couple of pin holes in the catch can which he soon fixed and went out again. The problem reoccurred and work needs to be done on the breather set up Rob used. Apart from this minor breather problem the bike performed very well and Rob was impressed with the overall package and mostly the power delivery which will improve once the redline is raised after the glitches are sorted and he has a few more laps under his belt.

I have to tell you the bike sounds great and when Kev sends me the film footage he took I will post it here so you can hear it for yourselves.

I've been told that the latest edition of Old Bike Magazine features Geoff Bamford's XS1 on the cover as well as a feature article, so go get yourself a copy for a bloody good read.

Classic and Historic road racing with riders and teams from around the world.

If you haven't received it within the next few days, check with the club secretary David Rayner at secretary@xs650.org.au on your membership status.

Remember your Club Permit Plates require continuous membership or you will lose them.

I got a lot of comments about it, eg. " I had one of those back then" One old guy wanted to buy one and pay cash for it, and would not believe it was a 40 year old bike.

Geoff watching his immaculate XS1 take centre stage at the Darling Harbour Show.

Geoff Bamford can now offer new paint for early XS's in any colour you like, just give him a call for prices.

Daryl Hutcheon, club member and proprietor of Professional Motorcycle Tuning has just sent in a pic of his latest XS650 rebuild.
Daryl recons this is his 10th or 11th rebuild this year, a very busy boy.

The Australian road racing titles were held in Tasmania last weekend and Sam Muldoon won the period 4 unlimited title against the best bikes in Oz. Well done Sam, the XS650 Club of Australia congratulates you and your dad Mick for your efforts.

For those wanting to convert their XS650 to a permanent magnet alternator there is now an easy solution, contact xscharge at http://www.xscharge.com/#! for a complete bolt on conversion or any of the individual parts needed for the conversion.

Hi Terry,
Recently attended the Motorclassica event held here at the exhibition buildings at Carlton. I believe mine was the only XS there. I’m with my cousin and his girlfriend we all rode in. I was flying the flag for the mighty XS, never missed a beat too.
Regards
Craig Bath.

I hope you all enjoyed it Craig, looks like a fun day. Craig is turning out to be the club's where's Wally, he's turning up everywhere, I just added a report from Craig for the Southern Classic in the past rides folder as well. Good job Craig, at least somebody is getting out there on their XS650's - Toota

Hi Terry,

A few of the boys gathered for a run down the the Laverda Club Concourse held for the first time at its new home at the Cleveland Show grounds. Duane, Tony, Rob and friend Wendy on a Harley gathered at Mt Gravatt for a run through the countryside to Cleveland where we were joined by Bob who is a local at the Bay.

Attached pic of the bikes at the showground being Bob's XS1, Tony's XS B, Duane and Rob's modified specials and Wendy's Harley.

There were a lot of very interesting and well presented bikes at the show but alas no XS to win our votes. I caught sight of this Triumph Bonneville with reversed barrels and heads - has anyone done that to an XS ? This might have been an early crude example of 'Ram Air' induction.

Cheers, Tony Gray.

Hi Terry, Just a quick note. I have been in the states riding in the AMA Vintage Dirt-Track series. I rode at the Vintage Days in Ohio and at Du Quoin half- mile and on the magic mile, on a Rickman Yamaha 650.Finished 2nd in Ohio and 1st in Du Quoin in the 750 Hot shoe. Had a great trip kindly looked after by Bill Davis from Texas (supplied the bike and toy hauler plus Dodge). Also did the Kansas fair series where got second overall in the 750 class/ 4 rounds in Kansas.

Some of your members may remember me, I have been to Geoff's place a few years ago.
Have raced a 650 based dirt tracker in Australia, they really come into there own on the big tracks in the US.
My mate Rod Watts also prepares a 650 for classic dirt tracker Dion Muirhead who won the Australian pre-70 class in Brisbane in July this year. Hope to get back to the states next year to ride, Peter Lee

Peter also sent in this pic of No. 533 Aust. pre-70 dirt-track champ Dion Muirhead riding the Rod Watts prepared XS650 tracker.

Ivan Hoey tells me that he got a call from fellow club member Mike Fitzpatrick the other day and it seems Mike has not been enjoying good health recently. So, get well soon Mike, we wish you well and hope you make a full recovery so you can get back to riding your immaculate XS650C.

Club member and fellow club racer enthusiast Glen Voice is pulling up stumps and going to live in England for a while. Glen rang me today to tell me of his news. You may remember Glen was instrumental in flow testing several XS650 heads we were evaluating as part of the development of the club racer, with his help we determined what direction we needed to go with the head for our racer. We wish Glen and his family all the best for the future and hope to see them back here someday. Glen finished his tracker recently and will be taking it with him, he tells me it goes like the clappers and is great fun to ride. More pictures on the garage scene page. - toota

Dave Rayner has just taken possession of the new club shirts in blue or grey pictured below. These are reasonably priced at $35 each.
There are also some Bomber Jackets for $70. If you want to purchase any of these contact Dave Rayner at dave650@bigpond.net.au

I recently bought some replacement diaphragms for my 1980 XS650 Special from JBM Industries and at US$19.50 each I thought they were a bargain compared to prices charged by Yamaha. They were easy to fit and so far are working brilliantly.
If you think you would like to try these diaphragms go to http://jbmindustries.com/Yamaha650.html and take a look.
Don also does replacement inlet manifolds for all XS650 models as well.

Follow the instructions on his website and give your carburettors a heart transplant.
Available for both BS-38 CV's and BS-34 CV's

Vernon Blair is a member of our club currently residing in Germany. He has recently been studying the vagaries of the XS650 clutch among other things and has decided to write a blog contemplating all things XS. It's a bloody good read at the above link.

Daryl Hutcheon at Professional Motorcycle Tuning has commissioned another batch of 270°/90° rephase pins to be made and they should be available in about mid February. The price is expected to be around $350 including postage for Aussie buyers, so if you want one you had better contact Daryl at 03-93304909 or Mobile 0409164274 to secure one for yourself ASAP.

The new club service badges have finally arrived and will be distributed and are being sent out now. A mistake in the numbers by the manufacturer may delay this but you will get yours eventually. As you can see we have a Bronze 5 year badge, a Silver 10 year badge & a Gold 15 year badge. If you have been a member for 15 years you will receive all three.
Note these badges are for continuous membership.

PROBE engineering now has it's own website at http://www.probe-eng.com where all their ignition systems are featured.
The PROBE range now has a user-adjustable synchronous rev limiter available on most models.
These can now be purchased directly from the website.

The new XS650-90L ignition system for a 270° Rephased motor featuring user-adjustable synchronous rev limiter.

Up for sale is a used stock XS650 camshaft that has been re-phased to a 277°/443° firing interval. This camshaft will work with a crankshaft that has the right side of the crank rotated clockwise three splines. The 36-tooth cam sprocket is installed so that it will be in time, as long as the crank sprocket is in the stock location on the center pin.

I do not just cut and weld these cams. In fact, no welding is done. They are precision indexed on a mill, cut right down the middle of the sprocket hub, then pinned and bolted back together. When the cam sprocket is reinstalled, it drives both halves of the cam directly so no force is being transmitted through the pins or bolts.

I developed this re-phase method to eliminate the troubles that come from welding a cast iron camshaft. Not only is a machined and bolted cam more accurate than a cut and weld job, but the entire procedure takes less time and materials. That is how I can offer these at such a low price.

Both these items only appear on Ebay from time to time in limited numbers so keep an eye out if you want one.

All prices include postage where applicable within Australia
Contact Dave Rayner secretary@xs650.org.au

Number plate covers. The perfect finishing touch for your 650. $25 each (inc postage) available from the secretary. Call 0417890835 or email dave650@bigpond.net.au

or deposit into;

Herb Conlon will transport your bike in an enclosed van anywhere around Sydney at very reasonable rates for members.
Contact Herb on 0412908279 or hcmnsw@yahoo.com.au

A new Aluminium tank for the XS is available in Germany, just follow the link for more details, the price is 545 Euro.

Another Aluminium Tank manufacturer Rita Lammers, has contacted me, also in Germany http://tinyurl.com/byd8cb no prices.

A new permanent magnet alternator is now available, made in the Czech Republic but sold by Powerdynamo in Germany.

A couple of drawbacks to this system are no locating keyway, no timing marks and it is a two phase system not three so the output will be less smooth at lower revs.

This guy makes custom carbon fibre bits this is an example you may find it interesting. - George Bornen

From JNP Carbon

Hi George

The laser cut label holders are finally ready. I have attached a jpg image and if you like what you see, just send me your mailing details and I'll have one sent of to you for $40.00 plus C.O.D. postage. - Neil Potter jnpcarbon@bigpond.com

Some information that may be of use.

The Rubber Boot for the XS650 Rear Brake Master Cylinder
(Yamaha Part No. 1J3-25862-50) that is no longer available
can be replaced with a Suzuki Rubber Boot (Part No. 69691-45001).

See attached pictures.

Best Regards
Göran Persson
New Zealand

Fred Dyen in the US has come up with a new spin on oil filter for the XS650. It's basically a replacement for the filter in the right side engine case. Those of you who are familiar with the vertical twin discussion group (http://www.micapeak.com/lists/yam650) will have seen this already and Mike Morse of Vintage Brake is having some made at US$80. Some holes need to be drilled in your side case to fit this so if you are squeamish about doing this you better forget about it. If you'd like to see the mod you can download these .pdf files from here. Yamaha_XS650_Oil_Filter_Adapter2.pdf and here Yamaha_XS650_Oil_Filter_Adapter2_Construction.pdf

Geoff Bamford has these neat clocks and key rings for sale. Only those models shown are available at the moment ie. XS1, XS650B and Special. The clocks measure about 7" across the face and the keyrings are 60mm in diameter. The cost is $50 for the pair (1 clock & 1 keyring) If you'd like some email Geoff at bosshog_52@hotmail.com

Interested in some new mufflers for your XS1 or XS2, checkout the link to Proswede (1/10/04)

Rotor Puller (16/9/04)

G'Day Terry,

Just a short note to put on the notice board that I am able to supply rotor pullers to suit our belovered 650s. The puller is of professional quality and I have used the same puller for many years and had no trouble at all with it, as working on motorcycles is my profession.

They cost $50.00 plus postage, I hope this can help our members as I have seen it mentioned in the newsletter of where people can find them, members can contact me by phone, email, or just drop in here at my shop in Airport West, victoria.

Daryl.

Daryl Hutcheon
Professional Motorcycle Tuning
8A Rodd Road
Airport West
Victoria
Australia 3042
Phone: (03) 9330 4909
Fax: (03) 9330 4903
Mobile: 0409 164 274
promotorcycletuner@bigpond.com

Here is some pictures of the Gear Shaft Chain Protector I had made for the Gear Shift Axle. Made of Bearing Moly Nylon. Less rattle from chain during "crusing speed".
Göran Persson
New Zealand
goran.persson@xtra.co.nz

The new T-shirts, modelled here by Dave Rayner himself (what a physique!), are now available with the rear view of the XS650 motor on the back. The price is $30 including pastage and poking (oops! I mean postage and packing) so if you want one call Dave Rayner for details on Mobile 0417890835.

I have a guy who is making replacement seat covers for the XS-1 and 2 models. These covers are no the normal cheap aftermarket rubbish but a faithful copy of the original right down to the lining and moulding etc. They come complete with new foam and can be fixed either with the original system of clips or (with the extra covering left uncut) attached with adhesive to the seat base. They work out at £100 + P&P but the quality is excellent. If you're interested contact Steve at valerie.cooper@ntlworld.com

Did you know a 600ml coke bottle has the same thread as your 650 dip stick. cut the bottle in half screw it in and you have the perfect oil funnel.
regards Ed Perry.