more ebay madness...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2492684574

 

One of the easiest cars to roll in a straight line.

 

hehe. I did tip the one I had, but then again, the front suspension fell
off it half-way round a corner. It didn't roll, mind, just tipped on it's
side, slid across the road, and fell back down again.

later examination of the chassis showed that one of two front suspension arm
mounts had fallen out of the chassis, having cracked all the way around
where it was welded in.

 

I first started riding in the early 70's, around this time a lot of the
guys ran Reliants as alternative transport, having watched them crash,
fall apart and on occasion burn I vowed never to go in one.

The one that did impress (1) me was a Bond bug that passed me one
morning on the way to work (2) he was weaving so badly I actually slowed
down to get a gap in between us.

(1) Shock is probably a better word to use
(2) I was on an XS650 at around the 100 mark

 

I know fibreglass boats can suffer from osmosis - but this is the first time
I've seen it on a car.

Pete

 

And the Bug was weaving even more violently?

*Impressed*

(And I've owned three XS650s[1]).

[1] Including one utterly evil one with a bent frame[2] and an Alf Hagon
750cc kit.
[2] Oddly, it handled OK. Go figure.

 

I thought they all had bent frames, although from memory there was some
sort of Percy Tate mod you could do, I ran a 13:1 Hagon conversion 844
(bored and stroked) as a replacement for the 770 Henry Abe conversion I
blew, and yes it was evil in most ways including starting especially after
I shredded the started motor.

 

Ovenpaa says...

I rode this bike when my best mate Gus owned it. Lovely it was.

 

Not quite. Tait revised the frame for the XS650 after the XS1 and XS2
got such an appalling reputation. The first model with the Tait frame
was called the B (at least, here in the UK) and is definitely the one to
have, if only for the black & gold colours and the twin front discs (the
US models and most Continental ones only got a single disc). All my XSs
have been Bs.

It was reasonably stable, but got very out of shape at speed on bumpy
bends. The XS1 and XS2 must have been frightening, if this was the
improved chassis. Oh, and ground clearance was zero.

Oh, the starter motors always failed....

The expert here was Tony Hall of Halco, *the* specialist, but he sadly
died a few weeks back.

 

<splutter>

 

now that's just sad. 's not even the right motor.

 

What, my actual bike?

 

Mine was the XS650B, to be honest I cannot remember if it was twin disk or
not, but ground clearance was shite even with rearsets and even a steering
damper failed to really quieten it down.

Of course such bike traits are notall bad news as they prepare you for
the future. When I ran a RRT Blade I got quite used to the back end
squirm and the front end shake and looked on it as quite normal(1) then I
met a mate who had upgraded his Blade to an R1 because of shite handling,
when I laughed and told him such things were normal he looked aghast and
admitted his had never done that.

(1) The mighty T595 with 45k on the rear shock has similar traits as well
when used for commuting on the North Bedfordshire lanes

 

Ovenpaa says...

Apparently so. I think you sold it to either Gus or your brother around
1982/3ish. It was definitely the Alf Hagon tuned one. One of you two
brothers owned it, and I think Gus bought it straight from you, cos I
think your brother had one as well at some point but he might have sold
that one to someone else.

Either way, it was the Hagon one I rode and as I said, it was bloody
marvellous. I seriously tried to buy it off Gus at the time, but he
wouldn't sell.

 

Andy started with it as a bog standard 650, dropped the 770 conversion
onit, sold it me, I ran it for a while, blew it down Ampthill rd late one
night (click, ****) so I took it to 844 and added the one piece seat and
tank etc. Got married and eventually got rid, to a chap in kempston
opposite the sainsburys garage, was that Gus?

It was a dope engine and at 13:1 needed octane booster to run, and the
two tuned length pipes exiting by your right foot were bloody noisy and a
bit daunting when they used to spit flames on the overrun, it was a good
machine.

Ask Andrew about the drag race we had late one night with some super new
900 BMW thingy in Rushden, (beers all round for the winning team) the last
thing the BM'rs mate said as they launched was "THAT is not standard!" we
got the beer, and Andrew bitched about how the clutch had been slipping.

Certainly a machine that was known and feared at the time.

 

Ovenpaa says...

That was Tony, the ex Bob King's mechanic. Gus probably bought it off
him then.

It was fun to ride, a proper beast, but it vibrated like buggery. When I
rode it there was a huge bunch of keys on the keyring, these shook apart
and spread themselves across the Northampton inner ring road. It took
Gus and I 2 hours to find the keys to his shop.

 

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 22:01:52 +0100, Lozzo wrote:
g.

What do you reckon it produced in BHP?

 

been there, done that, itched for weeks from the fibreglass dust

--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

Ovenpaa says...

God only knows, but I've not ridden many bikes that produced that much
torque in such a way.

 

It's good to torque.