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I am a British bike guy who experienced many years of happy Triumph Bonneville riding years and have a collection of old British bikes. I remember the arguments very well about Japanese vs British bikes. I never owned a Jap bike so i guess the discussions were somewhat theoretical. Recently i bought three older Jap bikes, 78 XS1100, 86 Honda XL600R and an 83 Yamaha Virago 920. My experience with them proves I was right about sticking with the British bikes. There easy to fix, you can still buy every part you need easily, and there still the best looking and sounding bikes ever.
Now my current problem on the XS. First it was the Pick-ups that suddenly decided to open circuit knowing what a pick is and finding a used one was a job more difficult than landing on the moon. Then after getting the carbs all sorted out with jets that are like but not the same as the original, replacing the whole fuse assembly which fell apart, the kill switch which died and buying that $50 dollar in Canada air filter it finally started up. After less than a minute it suddenly decided to go TWANG and jump into a gear and not come out. The neutral light does come on but it is still in gear. The mechanic says he took off a cover not the clutch cover and didnt see anything he was going to take the clutch cover off and have a look. He says if not there then he would need to break the cases. On this forum I saw the 2nd gear ha ha issues. Not sure if this is related or a different problem. Anyway end result is a lot more cursing of Japanese bikes. All three of them have major inherent problems so It is back to the good old reliable, tickle the carbs, first kick, looks and sounds great, buy any part, Bonneyville.
Any help to prevent pulling the plug on the XS would be sincerely appreciated.
thanks Michael
Now my current problem on the XS. First it was the Pick-ups that suddenly decided to open circuit knowing what a pick is and finding a used one was a job more difficult than landing on the moon. Then after getting the carbs all sorted out with jets that are like but not the same as the original, replacing the whole fuse assembly which fell apart, the kill switch which died and buying that $50 dollar in Canada air filter it finally started up. After less than a minute it suddenly decided to go TWANG and jump into a gear and not come out. The neutral light does come on but it is still in gear. The mechanic says he took off a cover not the clutch cover and didnt see anything he was going to take the clutch cover off and have a look. He says if not there then he would need to break the cases. On this forum I saw the 2nd gear ha ha issues. Not sure if this is related or a different problem. Anyway end result is a lot more cursing of Japanese bikes. All three of them have major inherent problems so It is back to the good old reliable, tickle the carbs, first kick, looks and sounds great, buy any part, Bonneyville.
Any help to prevent pulling the plug on the XS would be sincerely appreciated.
thanks Michael
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