Mississippi to Wisconsin on an XS650

[jetmechmarty]

I know it isn't XS11, but this place is too quiet. I had planned to attend a gathering of XS650 faithful in the Driftless Region in Wisconsin.

This was the site of the gathering for what is probably one obvious reason. I gave myself five days to get there from North Mississippi. Google maps said it was 11-12 hours via interstate. My route was 27 hours of riding. I created my route with the Beeline Moto App which I can give a favorable review. I started out in the rain early Saturday morning Sept 6 and found myself through Memphis and across the Mississippi River to Arkansas in a couple of hours. I had a ten-day adventure ahead of me. The weather improved as I rode north on roads less traveled.


The Beeline Moto route kept the ride interesting. I did allow unimproved roads.


It was at this point that something went wrong. It began to sound like I was sitting on a box of gravel. I made it as far as Perryville, Missouri. Other than the breakdown it was a great day. I was able to easily find a room in Perryville and arrange a U-Haul home. My U-Haul experience is another whole story.


Hopefully, I'll get another shot at it one day.

More, in case you're interested:
(2) Mid West Yamaha 650 Society Rally, 2025 midwest | Page 5 | Yamaha XS650 Forum
(2) Bad noise on road trip. XS650SH | Yamaha XS650 Forum

[DeanR]

Sorry your trip fizzled out Marty. What happened?

[jetmechmarty]

Sorry your trip fizzled out Marty. What happened?

A friend of mine offered to fix it in exchange for a steak dinner. He'll get two steak dinners. He got one when he picked the bike up. He and his wife overnighted at our house and all of us went to the motorcycle show in Vicksburg. I put that bike in the show. It didn't have to run. He carried it back to Georgia.

It sounds like a bearing went bad. The cam chain guide may have failed as well. Forensics will appear here: https://www.xs650.com/threads/bad-no...xs650sh.68939/

There's an XS650 rally in Arkansas in the spring. The bike should come back to me then. There will be another steak dinner here then. I hope to ride that same bike in Arkansas then. I like that one.

[Radioguylogs]

Amazing how you can trust the bike after 8,000 miles with no problem, then it has a problem at the (almost) worst time.

You seem to have a good attitude about the whole experience nonetheless.

Thank for sharing your adventure with us.

Good luck.

[Socer4m]

Bike looks way too good to break down,,,hope its an easy fix. Never had the 650 but tons of buddies in the day had them and everyone of them wishes they had kept that bike among all the others,,,,must be like the xs1100,,,tons of fun and old school riding. Anyway, Marty, hope the repair goes well,,,,should be good for another 50 k miles....Mike in S.Diego and Pa.

[jetmechmarty]

This bike had 6K miles on it when I got it. It was totaled with only a few miles on it. A friend of mine bought it and bought a new frame and whatever else it needed. He rebuilt it and put the miles on it. Afterwards he broke it down to built a chopper. It sat in his basement as a pile of parts for many years. Until he gave it to me. I

Here’s my story on it.

https://www.xs650.com/threads/reunited-with-xs650sh.63667/

Whatever is wrong with it probably happened from years of disuse.

How can I have a memorable adventure if nothing goes wrong?