Mosshead

sounds cool! the music of 1 cylinder

October 30th, 2005

Well, yes, it did sound cool when I thought the loudness was the increased power in the 2:1 pipes … then I learned that it was only running on one cylinder. Boy did I feel silly riding it home … the ride suddenly felt more like a limp.

The first time I rode it, it was speedy. The second time I took it out for a real ride and it just had no power. At full throttle on a relatively flat speedway, I couldn’t get it over 45mph. Now, I remember my ‘79 Special was a very speedy bike and the ’72s are no exception. The speedometer goes to 140mph. I know this one really wants to be speedy. So, I took it into the shop and the owner (who owns the same year/model) recognized the sound immediately.

I suspect that the guy I bought it from had left the bike outside all summer and fall and we had 2 really wet months during his ownership time. There are the beginnings of rust on it and the tank is really rusty. I think that the first time my brother and I rode it, we probably succeeded in running a bunch of rust into the carbs, plugging one up.

So, there I have it, I’ll be picking up my much speedier bike on Tuesday from him. I wanted a professional evaluation of the bike anyway so that all works out. I hadn’t yet examined the engine number, but it turns out the engine is a ‘74 TX-A 650 on my ‘72 xs650 frame, and the front end is something else and the starter switch is off a ‘74 as well.

anyway, so next up is creaming the tank so I don’t lose a cylinder again and then painting. then all the little things - center stand, fix the loose kickstand, etc.

Entry Filed under: i like bikes