Murphys Law prevails

Over the last winter, I rebuilt a Yamaha XS 650 engine for a customer. Stock rebuild with a hotter cam. He picked it up in May and has been working on getting the bike together since then.
6 months later and it is still not together so he calls me to finish it up so we go to pick the bike up at his house (he lives about 1 mile away from the shop and is a good customer)so we load it up and no sooner than I get off the back of the truck we hear this "twang, thud". Well the handlebars were not tight and spun allowing the straps to come un done and the bike is thrown against the bed rail and puts a nasty dent in the freshly painted tank.
Our bodyshop painted it so it will be no biggie to repair, just a mistake that could have been avoided, (hindsight- could have removed the tank like I usually do, as it was not bolted down)
Daniel

Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/10/11 05:52

You're right...what can go wrong will go wrong.

Ouch! But, the good side is..what can be wrecked can be repaired...in this case.

Ain't no thing, It has been repaired and painted. The front fender has been added. It has a Boyer ignition, wires routed through the handlebars and more. The incorrectly laced front wheel has been correctly laced and it is almost ready to go.
Heres a picture.
Daniel



Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/11/12 08:46

Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/11/12 08:47

Looking good! Another happy customer...

dgfischer...
where did the cams come from... i have an 81 xs650 and want some performance parts too.

I sent them to Web Cams for a regrind. Megacycle also has the XS cams, but you would have to get your cams reground also.
Email me for the details.
Daniel

Daniel, Do you do replacement stainless spokes and aluminum rims laced to KZ/Z1 hubs? If so, is it real expensive. I love that combo and the spokes on my bikes are painted due to condition... the rims are just OK...

I lace my own rims only. Buchannons is the place to
go to get rims laced. Sudco sells the spokes for the Z-1.
The XS 650 rims were laced by a local British shop.
Daniel

Next year, at Mid-Ohio (if I get there), I am going to look for aluminum rims. There were bunches of them for sale and I may give lacing them myself a try. They also sold Ohlins front fork units with trees real cheap two years ago when I went. I almost bought one but couldn't decide if one of those thick gold front ends would look right on a KZ... now I wish I had picked one up.

Yeah, Aluminum rims in 40 spokes are harder to find and buying them bare may not work (the spoke holes and angles in the rim for a drum brake set up are different than what would be used for a disc brake hub- A larger drum brake hub will have shorter spokes at a greater angle than the smaller disc brake hub with longer spokes at less of an angle, the angle of the spoke holes will match the application) Using a drum brake rim on a disc brake hub will put the spokes at an odd angle and usually puts alot of tension where the nipple meets the rim. The spokes usually dont look quite right when the rim doesnt match the hub and can break easily.
I got the Yamaha ready for the customer pick up on Saturday so I took it out for a ride. About half a mile down the road I started to get a vibration from the rear so I turned around and went back to the shop. Well the Bozo at the british shop who laced the wheels never finished tightening the spokes (However, I beleive the spokes to also be incorrect as the trailing spokes have about .5 inch of threads showing and the leading spokes have maybe 2 threads showing). All the rear spokes have a dull thud to them when tapped with a wrench. The front wheel seems to be good for now.
I'm growing tired of going behind "reputable" shops and fixing their problems. I think I may start lacing rims up myself in the near future.
Daniel

dgfischer wrote:

Sudco sells the spokes for the Z-1.

Unfortunately not anymore... the spokes they had were from Buchanans - and they are now out and will not restock - we waited 2 months while the front wheel spokes were on backorder at Sudco before they finally told me they would not get anymore of them in.