My XR650L Fixin'

[Bob]

I bought a used 1995 Honda XR650L bike about 2 weeks ago, got it realy cheap for $800 bucks but it wasn't running... anyway i hauled it home and have been fixing it up.
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I discovered right off that there was no spark to the spark plug, so I started hunting for the cause...
I finally came to the conclusion that it was the ICM (Ignition control module) by the process of elimination. so I ordered a new one on the net, found it fairly cheap at $119. plus shipping which was better than $189.00 plus shipping at the bike shop ! however its taken him a week to send it and it should be here by this Wednesday I hope!
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In the mean time I've fixed the cracked plastic in a few places and gave it a fresh paint job !
....I just put a coat of paint on the tank and boy is it a bright Red/orange... more red than orange
but really flashy! the frame is white... and instead of painting it black like I was going to do I just decided to patch up the white spots that needed paint. lots easier that way!
... as close as I can tell the bike is ready to go now...all it needs is spark ! hehehehe
I am hoping that this bike will be "FUN" to ride and not like the 1100cc which is more like driving a motor-home than a motor-cycle due to its weight! LOL
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 if this bike does what I think it will I will be riding more often !
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Bob....
 

[randy]

them XRs are designed for off road, just the added 12" suspension will make for a comfortable ride, it'll navigate over a parkbench hahahaha
Had an XR 200 years ago, sat outside in the rain most of the time, then one day it just wouldn't start, went for the obvious first, sprayed electrolytic lub into the key switch worked it a bit, didn't work, took the throttle front brake lever assy apart, there was a switch for run and off on there, opened it up, some insect had made a home in there, cleaned it out and polished things up, fired right up. lost a coil on the thing once too. didn't have any problems with the CDI part.

[Bob]

HAHAHA first thing I checked was the run /stop switch on the handle bar Randy ! heheheh My VT1100 has the tenancy to act up every once in a while because of that stupid switch !
i checked and double checked it, finally took it off completely and did a continuity test after cleaning up the contacts...it works fine... now !
I tested the coil and the resistance check says its good, as is the stator,pulse trigger and charging curcuit.... I went through it with a fine tooth comb and the only thing it can be is the CDI unit by the battery....because everything else in the curcuit checks out good !
.... ofcourse you know how that goes... I'll probably replace the darn thing and still have no spark if so then its got to be a broken wire in there somewhere! .... but I don't think even thats the case as I checked voltages on the plug in wires and they all seam to be in good shape.... most of those plug in wires to the CDI box are from the silly safty switches ! I already cut one off on the side stand so the darn thing won't die when I put it in gear and the side stand is down !
the other one on the clutch I am tempted already to disconnect !  I don't need a machine telling me how to operate it ! LOL  but they are all there and in good working order, so I'll leave the rest of them for now ! hehehehehhe
 yah its got at least 12" of ground clearance that's for sure ! 37" seat height and my 30" inseam don't mix at all !  I have to climb up on it !  hehehehhehe
650cc of thumper should be such a Kick to ride I can hardly wait !
  I had a XT 500cc yamaha back in the 1990's and chased my kid on her KX125cc quite a bit!
even with all that power it was hard for this old man to keep up! my kid had 32hp and no weight at all ! HAHAHAHAHHAHA !  I had about 58hp and 350lbs on the bike and 200 for me .... twas allot or rocks and gravel being thrown in the air when I left but my kid just went zip and was gone ! LOL
...I miss those days of Riding... twas great exersize and allot of good fun !
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I just wish Honda would have put a Kick starter on the XR650L.... but sense it was the street legal version they didn't .... that reminds me I gott'a inquire with the DMV to see what its going to cost to get it licensed again. last time it was licensed was 4 yrs ago.... that might be painful !
i dunno if he got a green sticker on it or not...( I think he did) if so it won't be bad at all.
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I've had Honda 350cc singles before... good reliable bikes lots of fun but this one looks like it will put them to shame ! I guess I'll see Tuesday when the part gets here if my diagnostic skills are up to par ! LOL
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Bob....

and YAH I painted right over the Honda stickers on the tank...... shame on me ! LOL

[Bob]

I've been looking at buying a "lowering LINK" for the XR but its really hard to drop over $200 bucks on something so easy to make ! but the problem is I dunno how long they are... probably only 1/4" longer than stock but I dunno...
its supposed to replace the lower link on the rear Mono-shock lengthening it lowers the seat height and softens the ride.... sounds like what this o'l man needs to me ! LOL
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 I'll probably make one soon ! ...I'm sure I can find some 1/2" plate steel around here I can sacrifice to the cause! HAHAHAH!


Bob

[Bob]

Welp...I got that Ignition control modual.... put it in and got big blue spark NOW ! so I guess my diagnosics skills are still with me ....either that or I follow the manual real good! LOL!
... still won't run though.... I pulled the valve/cam cover and discovered why ( I think)
it was one tooth off on the valve timing !
so I'm trying to figure out a way to tighten the bolts on the cam chain Sprocket without turning the engine.... I think my long nose vice grips is the answer for that...clamp on to the sprocket and hold it from turning, while I tighten the bolts down... then install the cam chain tightener and check the timing again... if its where it should be then its button it back up and try it again !
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for a while there I was thinking I had to remove the engine from the frame just to get the valve cover off... but I got it off there without doing all that...
how I'm supposed to get the cover back on with the sprocket bolted in place is another story !
there is NO clearance at all on that thing.... typical Honda engineering! ... Honda is the only manufacturer that I know of who produced a bike that you had to remove the engine just to adjust the valves... (the 400cc super hawk if I remember correctly) but I think they saw the folly in that because they quit making it shortly there after ! clearance on Honda's has alwayse been a sore spot with me, Kawasaki gives you at least 1/2"  but not Honda ! heheheheheh everything has to be just perfect to get a side plate on and off or a head .... the funny thing is they didn't alwayse do that !
they started it in the 1980's  trying to make it harder for the home machanic to work on them I guess...I dunno but man some of them are just plane murder to work on with the engine in the frame
I have seen many mechanics just pull the engines to do something as simple as clutch plate replacement
....that was back before all this smog stuff on them too I guess ! LOL
now there is no room to do anything on them!
 I had to remove the gas tank to pull the spark plug on that silly bike ! LOL !
geeeeez !
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Hopefully I'll get that beast running tomorrow !
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Bob

[Bob]

Wahooo ! it Runs !
boy do it ever Run ! WOW !
grab a handful of throttle and if there's enough traction the front end comes up !...other wise it throws dirt for 20 yards ! HAHAHAHAH
... I fought it and fought it trying to get it to light up but it was stubbern! I kept after it and finally got it to run for a few seconds on quick start.... I noticed gas leaking out of the carb earlier
so I knew if I wanted it to run good I'd have to clean out the carb !
following true to form got it almost buttoned back up and noticed a part I left out of the carb...so I had to take it all back apart again  LOL .....I did the same thing when I had the valve cover off, I put it all back on tightened everything down and  THEN found the 2 Dowels ! so I took it off again and put them in properly! sheez!
...after I put the carb back on and gas tank on it I hit the starter and it fired right up !
it belched smoke for a good 2 minutes straight  I was beginning to worry about weather it had any rings in it or not ! LOL.... I checked the oil and it was about 1/2 a quart low added a 1/2 quart and then decided to take it for a short ride...  I road down to the mail box and back and couldn't believe how soft riding it is !  got back and checked the oil again and its just a bit over full now.
and it stopped smoking quite so bad.  I set for a bit fiddling with things and decided to ride it down to the mail box again.
 I didn't notice any smoke at all when I stopped it this time... it makes allot of noise inside when its running , like cam chain noise, but I know its adjusted properly.
 all 5 speeds work fine and 5th is really steep ! should be able to cruse at 70 easy with that thing if I want to... the speedometer works too which was nice to see ! I did 45mph on our creek bed of a road coming back with no problem at all!... rear break is a bit soft needs to be adjusted up a bit.
the tires are Knobbies, and suck for street but that's minor!
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I welded up the plastic cowling on the right side that was broken, the other day with the soldering iron and some scrap plastic that melted about the same....seams to have worked very well !
I used a hot glue gun on it but it only held for about 3 hrs then popped apart...
plastic welding is new to me but it is something I will definitely get better at ! I have a bunch of plastic fenders around here that need fixed ! HAHAHHAA!
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 All in all I am quite pleased ! it runs great and is a fun monster ...even if I can't touch the ground when seated!  LOL
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Bob......

[crb]

Glad to hear your getting it ironed out.  Should be a fun ride.
I'm trying to put some wheels in place of my front tine rototiller.
Comming along fairly well.  I've been meaning to try this for about
20 years.  I finely found a local shop that carries tubing.

crb

[Bob]

I did that a long time ago so I could hook it up and drag heavy stuff... works fairly good but it lacks traction to haul real heavy things.... I gott'a stand on the rototiller to get enough traction so it will pull some things.... all I did was take the bearings out of some 12" wheels and tires(front tires for a lawn tractor) and slid in a 1" galvanized pipe as a spindle bolted the rim straight through the pipe with a single 3/8" bolt and then added a short piece of pipe on the back side to fit the axle on the Rototiller... drilled a hole for the pin and that did the trick... the stance is about 2.5ft wide and is more than plenty wide for stability... I hooked a wagon to it and can sit on the edge of the wagon and steer it all over like a tractor.... it has a good low gear to haul heavy loads but lacks traction... I need lead weights on the front to give it more guts!
.... I never use that any more though as my Carbide 4 wheel Kart does that job nicely and is faster!
the mod that I use allot for the rototiller is a single tine ditch digger made for one side... to did water line ditches.... it only goes about 8" deep at max so its not the best but sure saves me allot of digging!  I just welded up a 4 blade 2"x1/4"x8" bar stock on a pipe that fit the axle on the rototiller...drilled a hole to pin it... and then added braces to keep the long pieces from bending
...added a cutter on each tine on the tip facing the direction of travel and sharpened them with the grinder.
 I just wish I could fit a 3ft ditch digging wheel to it ! but the problem is it would be wanting to fall over to the left all the time LOL.
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Bob...

[Bob]

Ack ! I gotz a flat on the rear of my bike that even Green Goop won't fix....
must'a ripped the valve core out'a the inner tube !.... done that one before!
hehehehe
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Bob...
 

[crb]

Flat's suck!!!
I'm going to use 10" (what i have).
I don't think It has very low gearing, the tines turn pretty fast,
but we shall see.
It's been a long time since I've started the tiller hope it starts. hahahaha

Was your wagon 2 wheel or 4 wheel?

crb

[Bob]

2 wheel  wagon.... but I left on the 2 back wheels on the tiller so that made the difference...the tiller rode on all 4 wheels and the wagon just attached on top of where the little plow sits...
(on top of the rear wheel attachment spot.)
...so when I had my fat but on the front edge of the wagon I could push forward on the tiller handles and increase the traction ...I usually had to do that to get it moving heheheh
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it will surprise you how useful that makes your tiller !  after you mentioned that the other day I walked by the tiller (wheels still on it) and realized that I used the BACK wheels off a torro riding lawn mower that was given to me....not the front wheels their probably 15" in height and makes for fairly fast moving ...a good brisk walking pace ! smaller wheels wouldn't hurt at all... even better if you could add 2 wheels on each side and have dewelies !  hehehehe
...the main thing is to have them pinned so they come off easy... I have to keep mine lubed with wd-40
so they sill slide on and off without having to wrassel them for 20 minutes! (tight fitting pipes!)
you can use that arrangement to haul something real heavy out of a ditch by having a long rope
tied to the wheels/axle and let it winch its self and its load out of the ditch..... getting your rope back off is a hassle but it will even winch out a small car that way !
its like a portable winch if you have some heavy duty rope!...
I made the mistake of looping the rope high on a tree so it would pull UP and out... it did that well enough but I wound up with my tiller suspended in the air between the front bumper and the tree !
I had to take the belt off to get the silly thing to release and get it back on the ground ! LOL
...the ropes just wanted to slip on the axles till I put long bolts through the pin holes on the axles
however.... and that made unwinding the silly thing a hassle.... but twas much cheaper than a tow truck in the snow !
...now if it had a chain sprocket on that axle.... that would be really useful !
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buy some quick start ! makes starting old B&S engines a snap ! if it won't start on quick start you don't have any spark ! LOL
...
Bob....

[Bob]

As I said a while back... I had a flat on the back of the XR650L so I pulled the rear wheel and pulled the tube out...sure enough I ripped the valve core out of the tube!
I already ordered a new tube but got to looking at the thing and thought maybe I could fix it....
the valve core is metal and is originally designed to just pinch the tube to make the seal...and a bit of glue to be sure... but the hole was ripped a bit bigger than the original so I though why not just put some fender washers on it and clamp it down again and see if that holds air ?
so that's what I did.... sure enough it took making a washer that would fit in the depression on the rim where the valve core sticks through the rim but I did it and it seams to work fine.... I put 30psi in it which is super hard for normal riding usually I put about 15 to 20lbs in the tires on a bike but sense I didn't want this thing to slip again I figured a bit more pressure wouldn't hurt...
I aired it up and let it set for about 2hrs... came back out and it was about the same as when I left it!
so I put the tire back on the bike and double checked the air pressure  everything was fine so I decided to take it for a quick spin... I went down the road about 4~5 miles turned around and came back.... not a bit of problems with it....
  I'll get street tires for it soon so the new tube will be used on it then !
now I gott'a pay the DMV a visit and see what its going to take to licenses the beast !
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Bob....

[crb]

Sounds like you have close to what I'm trying to build.
Got the flanges welded on the axle tubes, Boy do I need welding skills!!!! puke
But they are on there.  Next to drill holes to pin the axles.
I'm planning on removing the rear wheels on the tiller and putting a
swivel joint between the tiller and wagon (if I ever get one).
Still have to get it started.
crb

[Bob]

LOL I hear ya !  My welds never look purdy any more but they definately hold ! I don't care what it looks like as long as the metal on both sides puddle !  with Oxy/accet. welding that is the secret!
with Arc welding you must run your arc to both sides long enough to get it to start to melt...that don't take long with an arc welder usually it happens by default! LOL
the biggest mistake made by amiture welders is that they move too fast when welding...
thick metal is easy to weld its the thin stuff that is a pain in the Ars! I consider anything less than 1/8" thick "thin" if your welding thin metal you need to get smaller welding rod !  the smallest stuff you can get...like 3/32" is really handy for welding up water pipe... you'll use allot of Welding rod but its worth it in the end!
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 I always figured if I wanted my welds to look good I'd add another bead over the top and grind it all down !  LOL !
  I have some of the nastyiest looking welds you've ever seen here on the ranch , but they still hold ....so that's what counts !
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I took the XR650L for a jaunt this morning...I went up where I used to ride as a youngster, and re discovered it again ! LOL... it was a blast !  I pulled over to the side of the road on the top of the ridge so I could "sight-see"    and promptly fell over !   I keep forgetting that darn bike is so high off the ground ! LOL ~!!!!!
... so a bit ago I lowered the front forks about 3/4" and lowered the rear as much as I possibly can
...it made quite a bit of difference ,,,but its still too tall for this short o'l man !
so far I've put over 20 miles on the o'l girl... and it just keeps getting better !
 it handles funny though... I'm not used to it by any means... the rear wheel seams to track strangely
and I'm real leary about that on the street  as I detest road rash !  HAHAHAHHA!
looks like I can cruse all day at 55 to 60mph with no trouble at all... a larger sprocket on the front or smaller sprocket on the back would raise that speed if needed, or just use more throttle ! LOL
no tach on it but I'm guessing at 3000RPM at 60mph... and it will go to 8,000RPM... probably close to 90~100mph tacked out I guess...  but I ain't doing that with those Knobby tires on it ! LOL!
there is a real smooth RPM on that bike at about 2800~3200RPM somewhere in there... and it just purrs along without trying at all !
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I found the spot where we used to have hill-climbs when I was a Kid... the big trees are gone now, as there was a forest fire back there about 10 years back... but I looked at it and Laughed so hard I almost fell off the bike!  Ain't no frigging way I am going to try that hill any time soon ! geez leweeze! that is one steep hill !  I doubt I could crawl up it! .... seriously!
doesn't look very well used any more either ! LOL !
 I've never seen that road in such dis-repair.... there is a sigh posted on it now "end of county maintained road"  boy I guess they must have taken good care of it when I was a Kid because now its just a jeep trail ! .... I guess the forest service maintains it but they havn't touched it in years !
this road goes along the ridge from the lake all the way to Burney...a good 75 to 80 miles
and I used to ride it quite often when I was younger.
....
Bob

[Bob]

hehehe the parts I ordered a week ago finally got here, so I put them on and decided to re adjust the valve tapits on the 650cc
I also put on a clean new oil filter...probably the first new filter the bike has ever had ! LOL
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the bike has been real noisy running.... lots of tapit rattling and/or cam chain rattle.... top end noise anyway.... so I figured re adjusting the valves might quiet it down
... I re assembled the bike and fired it up and after the oil pumped up it did quiet down some.... but not all that much.... I did notice the lack of oil on the top end when I adjusted the valves... Honda's are notorious for the oil being slow getting to the top end so I wasn't too concerned about it at the time..... but after thinking about it that more than likely is the noise problem so I'll have to check and make sure the rocker cover is getting oil supplied to it!
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other than that, she is a good running and easy starting machine now. I've got about 33 miles on it so far but definately need street tires for that thing.... Knobbies on the street SUK ! LOL
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I re covered the seat the other night... try as I might I could not get all the wrinkles out of the fabric... but its purdy close, good enough for me!
... I cut 2" of foam off the seat and contured the seat better than stock. it has helped to allow me to touch the ground when astride the thing much better.... not flat footed but at least the balls of my feet... and that is far better than tippy toe!  LOL

Bob....