The Great Escape?

The above is the scene when Steve McQueen (actually was Bud Ekins) jumps the fence on a Triumph towards the end of The Great Escape. I have various pictures of this dotting the wall across from me.

This one shows a few of the guys fooling around, I do love the bike.


These are somewhat dated pictures of my room, as I was just getting it together down here. Less of a mess now. But you can get a sense for what I like to do with pictures that interest me. Keeps the mind occupied.



Anyways, that scene from The Great Escape, that is one of the reasons I have less of a numb following of "modern" dirtbikes. Everyone has this feeling that you NEED a new bike to have some fun in the fields. Now while that Triumph used to jump the fence was pretty tuned, it was basically stock, minus some great shocks and springs. But you'll note the low pipes. The low chassis. I have no doubt that with some basic work I could run my XS on some fields, not with the tires I just bought, but you know that with the tire tools I am in the process of getting, that when winter rolls around I can get some duel sport tires.

At any rate, I'll be back later.

Life, Friends, Motorcycles

Well, Forrest just came by for about 30 minutes, it was GOOD to see him again. I hope to go hang out at his house sometime this week, see his old MG that he restored himself, listen to some tunes and just talk about life. He and I now share the "heavily medicated" status and the "bodies fucking out on us in college" status. He's younger, 20. I remember my dad telling me I needed to make "College" friends because when I was in my early 20s most of my friends were either from high school or in high school. So I befriended this guy (Forrest) in my English class, and then a month later found out he was 16 and it was one of those "FUCK!" moments hahahaha but hey, I tried!

Life is alright, I'm listening to a lot of music, and watching a lot of TV online. Smoking my fair share of tobacco - and then some. My room is clean, which is nice, though Matt complained it wasn't clean enough hahaha bastard =p

Various motorcycle parts are do to arrive today, namely the turn signals

Which I am pretty excited about because I downloaded (finally) the full 1982 Yamaha XS400 factory manual so I NOW have a wiring diagram to go by.

The wiring in the headlight and towards the tail is pretty chewed up. Melted connectors and weird splices. Thats what you get from an early 80s small engined Jap bike. But now that I have the proper specs, I'll know where to tie in what. I couldn't have easily re-wired the headlight bucket without the diagram. I won't be going crazy with nice new connectors, they'll be bullet and butt connectors, but they'll be mine - so I'll know what's going on.

See I had wanted to get old school Lucas signals:


But the ones I got which are designed for a Honda will work great, fit the stems so they'll bolt into current mounts, and well they have the LOOK of the classic Lucas signals. So that pleases me.

You know... its the simple things.

Also the new tires are on their way, the new tire mounting tool should be here soon - which will be great. Once I have the new tires on and balanced I can then install the chain. Between that and getting the engine all set to go, I'm pretty much golden. Then I just have to register the bike. I have some minor paint work to do, which I am going to use a can and a brush to do.


The idea is to clean up the places where there is surface rust, or where the bike is awkward looking. Like the swing arm is both awkward and a bit rusty. So if I paint it shiny black then in theory it should vanish into it's own.. It won't stand out like it does now with the black seat and tank.

Royal Enfield Bullet

Well going into this whole thing I know that I'm really happy with the Yamaha XS400 because despite the fact that its not my kinda bike, it really is a sweet little machine.

However, I am pretty sure that at some point the poor thing is going to crap out on me. Then I have a few options, get another beater and fix it up, or have one waiting in the wings.

I plan to have one waiting in the wings, or fairly complete one waiting in the wings.

So over time, when cost effective, I'm going to sort out the Enfield. I can get everything I need for it (except the gearbox) from a company in India, brand new but much cheaper than any of the regular places, and actually straight from the factory. Engine parts I'll probably get from Hitchcocks as I'll want English made engine parts, but the rest I can get from India.

We're going to do it fairly right. I have discovered that for example you can get for the same price as the original wheels, you can buy brand new wheels with vintage half drums - complete with spindles, brakes, bolts, etc. So that's what I'll do.


I can also get new front forks, electrical, fenders, suspension, everything. Cost wise it will eventual work out to costing a couple grand. But, the end game is I'll get the bike that I really wanted, the Enfield I wanted to build originally (and kind of did, and should have kept) for less than it would cost to replace it and change the replacement into what this one could be.

So while I'm riding the XS400, I'll slowly put the Enfield back into place.

This is more or less the End Game for the Enfield:


Thats a 1951 350cc Model G with the big head (which would be dead last), the half drum wheels, a rigid frame (which I can buy but probably won't) but if I did, this is what the bolt on Rigid Frame looks like:


So yeah, the end game is to have the Enfield up and running someday, and when its rideable then I have a bike in the wings, and when it looks like the machine I want - when it IS the machine I want I'll retire the XS, assuming it's still alive at all.

Yamaha Parts

Alright, so I called up MAC and cancelled the 2:1 exhaust system, like I'd planned. From there I turned around, and as planned spent the money on what I should have in the first place. Much more necessary parts. Tires, the ability to change them, and some bits I have noticed I don't have in my little bag of parts. So here is the following explanation plus pictures of what I got:


First off the tires, I looked around for a while and ended up saving these two as what I wanted. I had Michelins on the 73 Triumph and liked them.

MICHELIN COMMANDER CRUISER STREET TIRES 3.00-19 FRONT

MICHELIN COMMANDER CRUISER STREET TIRES 130/90-16 REAR



Then from Harbor Freight I ordered (yes I know there is one local but shipping was $10) the tire changing machine, it was more than we supposed. You see its actually 2 in one, except its sold separate. The base is for changing car tires, thats $40, then the top for $50 is the motorcycle tire changer. This is what it looks like combined:



What I didn't buy, but will next is just as important, its for balancing wheels/tires - and also can be used as a truing stand if you have a dial indicator ($40):




=============Small Parts===========

Here's the end receipt for what I got in the way of small parts, it won't mean much which is why I also swiped the pictures and circled the parts:



The first one is for the rear brake, you see the drum is pedal operated and a rod goes to the break lever on the brake plate. I was missing the bushing that goes through the arm, and the nut that holds and adjusts the pedal. I also as it turns out was missing the spring that makes the brake want to unlock as it were.



Next on the list is the oil drain plug, some screw that goes in it, as well as the washer gasket. The bolt head is stripped and there is currently a large pool of oil on the floor of my garage under the bike. It could be coming from 2 places, this bolt which needs replaced anyways, or the filter bolt which I already have a new one waiting.



This one is pretty self explanatory, I am missing the bulbs for the brake light, so I figured might as well get them with the basket of bits.



This is the Clutch switch, its pretty mangled where it plugs into the clutch lever, so I wanted to get a new one. I'm not stupid and know to pull the clutch in before I start the bike, but you never know what some inspection guy might do... I figured better safe than sorry - so replacing instead of just bypassing the switch.


Last but not least, the screws holding the master cylinder cover on are pretty rusty, I'll probably have to drill them out to fix the front brakes, I wanted to have a new pair of them handy for after that.

XS Update

I ordered some parts for the XS, they should be the last parts I need besides tires. I think the best I can mention are the turn signals, I had wanted to get Lucas replicas, but I was already ordering the chain tool from Z1, so I figured I might as well get the signals from them too. I got ones designed for a Honda CB500. By all rights the design is pretty close to the Lucas signals, and they should be plug and play. I also should be able to use the mounting stocks I already have, which will fit the frame mounts I already have.


Besides the chain tool I also ordered a new tach and speedo cable as the ones on there are pretty much shot, the speedo cable IS shot. I also bought some fuel line of a couple different sizes. I found my dremal tool so I'm going to cut out enough of the air box so that I can mount some pod air filters in there.

Going to cancel the MAC exhaust. That money will be better served as a tire machine and tires.

I also have a line on an OLD Vetter fairing, not sure at the cost yet, but the woman I am talking to has a ton of them, a barn full, and this one has probably never been mounted on any bike. A raw fairing as she called it. She's unsure as to exactly what model it is, but it Is a Phantom, and here are two examples of Phantom fairings from when they were new:

It would provide me with the wind protection I want, as well as weather protection. It is a Vetter fairing that predates the Windjammer, but the design is such that you can have regular handlbars and will be able to move them to full lock in either direction. I figure spray it black, and I'm golden, maybe pin stripe it.

I'm in a hellish amount of pain right now, it struck pretty sudden, its traveling through my right shoulder and up into my jaw and also into my rib cage. If I didn't know better I'd think I was having a heart attack. So this is where I stop, I'll leave you with a song.

Yamaha XS400

So some time ago after getting the Yamaha I stripped it down a bit, in an attempt to begin to get the bike sorted out, there it sat wit no more put in than a gorilla tape seat for some months.



Today however I made some progress. The goal is to get her running as soon as possible. I had hoped to do more with it than I did today, but it was for not having been out of bed much, quite a landmark day. It helped that it was 85 degrees. So I stripped off the headlight which was busted, and finished the rear brake. I am learning more about the machine, and just what makes her tick, and how she ties together. Here she is with no exhaust, no headlight, no gauges.



Re-installing the exhaust took some effort as I discovered that it got bent from what I suspect was a previous accident. So the right hand bracket didn't want to go over the mounting stud. I used a dremal to grind away part of the bracket so that it would slide around the stud, leaving enough to clamp onto.

I also removed the old headlight ears that were bent from hopefully the same accident (they incidentally held the horn so I need to relocate that) and installed some cheap Emgo cafe racer style ones, and with them I installed the Norton headlight, which was previously on the 76 Yamaha XS500.



I have plans for certain parts of the bike that need re-worked. One of which are new side covers, I am going to make them out of cardboard and gorilla tape, the left side cover (which is missing) will have a vent. The right side which covers the battery will be insulated with rubber.

Jack is going to lend me his Lathe at some point as he's moving and needs some place to stash it while he lacks a place to keep it. I plan to make a new front axle for the Norton wheel that will fit the Yamaha forks when he does this so that I can fit it. Once that's done I'll have drum brakes in back and front, and it will save me the cost of rebuilding the master cylinder as well as the caliper. It will also free up room on the flat bars.

I also have to wire in some turnsignals soon.
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This last picture I took after I finished working on the bike.

Donno What to say

I'm here because its 4:41AM and I'm not asleep. It seems like a pretty good reason to be on the blog as opposed to not. It's supposed to 85 degrees today, so I'm planning on not being asleep again today. I'm going to get out and work on the motorcycle if it kills me. I mean really, it doesn't need a hell of a lot to be alive. I have all the parts.. well almost, I have to drive out to Shrewsbury and get the tool. I also need a bit of fuel line. I'm hoping that the carbs are clean enough.



That's the bike about a month ago. Note the gorilla tape seat. That rear wheel now has a solid brake working in it. The tires need changed eventually. The handlebars are now flat, and I have bare end mirrors installed. I'll be changing out the headlight sooner than later. There are a lot of little things that will need to be done before it will pass inspection. All that rust you see will have to go away.

Some stuff has changed since that picture. To give you a general idea, the bike in the bottom right corner, the older one with the box tail light - I sold that ages ago. The blue bike is gone, that was a buddies. The frame you see in the bottom left is my friends Harley Davidson.

Anyways, my hands are cold, and hurt a lot, so I'm going to bail.