Originally posted by donebysunday
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"I have nothing against parallel twins, I just had really bad luck with my 79 XS650 Special. I've commented on it before and the consensus was the "Special" models had a lot more problems than the earlier ones. The Special models have bad wiring that corrodes easily, poor grounding (esp the negative battery cable), poor hand controls (both the starter and horn button fell out of my controls), and worst of all ABYSMALLY BAD CARBURETORS. The 79 still runs points and mechanical advance. Between my friend ownign the bike and me owning the bike, in three years time we had the following problems:
Replaced points and condenser
Replaced coils (didn't help it start)
Replaced advance mechanism.
Replaced advance mechanism rod (the ultimate problem with the springs not returning, it was warped)
Replaced swingarm bushings TWICE. In three years!
Replaced every single part inside the carburetors. Jets, pilots, every rubber piece, even the floats, with OEM parts
Replaced the intake runners
After all that, it still wouldn't run reliably from one day to the next. The CV carbs were junk! One day it'd run rich, the next so lean the pipes glowed. It would cough mid-ride and then start running entirely differently. It never once started on the electric starter. It would spin until the battery died, never catching. But two kicks usually had it started (some days 20 kicks, but usually 2). I had to replace the starter and horn buttons with buttons out of a game controller - after disassembling and cleaning both controls. The bike vibrated so much the points were out of adjustment by the time I got to the end of the block. Put it on the center stand and rev the motor and it would vibrate backwards, uphill, at a walking pace. <-- this is not an exaggeration. I backed out of parking spots like this. I could hold the front wheel between my knees and turn the bars and the whole front end would flex - moving the wheel to a new position. Everything was tight, this was just a "feature" of the bike. I could ride down the road with the handlebars pointed to the left or the right, because the wheel was tweaked to the side. The wiring was horrid. Visible corrosion everywhere. I had a bad connector (wire crumbled to bits and pulled out of the bullet crimp) and cut back wiring so I could solder on a new piece of wire with a new bullet connector... and couldn't. The wire was corroded 2 feet into the harness, I never could find a piece that would take solder. It was all blackened with a powdery substance on it that had to be brushed off.
This was 1997, back when the bike wasn't even 20 years old yet. I have no doubt that with the earlier round slide carbs, a completely new wiring harness, bronze swingarm bushings (not available then - remember, no internet!), a fork brace, and an electronic ignition conversion it could be reliable. The engines are bulletproof for the most part. But that model year had serious problems with the wiring and carburation, which was not a problem with the earlier bikes.
Note this was shed-stored all its life before we got it, and in my dad's garage when I owned it. It's not like it was found neglected and rotting behind a barn somewhere, it was a runner when he bought it. "
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