Windy down in this part of the World too Cliff. Two big trees close to us went down. Your T140-sound brings back memories, I had (27yrs ago) a 79 , with a brown seat (ex US). It had 12400 original miles when I bought it, and NEVER leaked oil....ever . It ran like crap until I removed the flat choke-slides, it was a different bike after that . It had mild cams in it, a real joy to ride. Dave Aotearoa nz
When I got my Triumph it only had 13k on it, also every bit of paperwork from when it was first purchased in 1979 and all the little notes that were made when it was off the road when not in use come with it too. Roll on the summer!
The Bonnie sounds and seems to ride lovely, when you get them right they are great bikes, you want to watch you don’t end up with a couple of pin striping brushes rammed up your snotbox 😂
I thought a white/grey plug like that meant it was too lean. Everyone on the forums talks about getting that light brown color on their plugs... a color I've never actually seen in person. On my 64 Triumph TR6 the plugs are either light grey (lean) or they're dark brown/black (rich) depending on how I tune it. The bike runs great, so I tend to leave it rich because I've heard that will do less damage than a lean condition. My 75 Honda CB750 plugs have always been very rich, but the decal popping gets bad if I try to lean it out any more than it is.
Hi Dave, you know since they added ethanol in the fuel in my opinion all that old plug colour stuff can be thrown out the window, like you I've never had a tan colour in my plugs. I read somewhere that ethanol fuel burns cooler and the B6ES plugs I was using after a while tend to fail so started using a hotter B5ES and have had no problems at all and the plug colour looks just like I have in the video with the white centre and black around the edge, have a look here www.tuningmatters.com/how-tos/beginners-guides/check-spark-plug-correct-carburetor-setting/
I’d say it was a tad lean. My 750 Tigers plugs have a slight browness to the center ceramic. I really like those bars you have, mine are the uk spec ones that tuck in. Sometimes I think about getting flatter, straighter bars, did I read somewhere your are Norton Commando Interstate bars?
sounds terrific Cliff it really does . I hope you are not going over to the dark side and we'll continue to see the occasional xs650 video ! I thought that the plug looked pretty lean but they do run better a little on the lean side don't they . Heat is not such a problem for us in the UK but over the pond that engine would probably run too hot . Not sure if its possible or not but a MOT emissions test could probably show how close the engine is running to the optimum stoichiometric ratio . I've got an old colourtune kit somewhere i've never used ,I might try testing my old girl when I fettle her ready for this summer .
Alright John, don't waste your time with the colour tune setup, it made my bike run completely rubbish when I got the colour right, not sure if it was designed to use with leaded petrol but done me no good with unleaded. But then again I was using the peashooters with the balance pipe. I done another plug chop after a long ride and the plug colour was a lot better so its definitely not running lean, I'd say its the best its ever been.
@@OldBiker yes colourtune are not much use for modern vehicles using unleaded ...I should just throw it away really.....it was an impulse buy on ebay lol. As soon as it gets a bit warmer and dryer I'll shove my spare BS38's on and try a leaner tune. I have always believed that a light digestive biscuit colour was the optimum mixture and never really questioned it. I think I probably got that from one of David Vizards books decades ago. I know 2x stroke race bikes have great success with a leaner mixture ....right up to the point the engine blows up lol.....One thing I definitely intend doing is getting an accurate standing start 0-60 time .
I read this somewhere:- Ethanol leaves no deposits so plugs come out white regardless of fuel ratio or spark plug heat range. Oh have a look at the plug colours on this site - www.tuningmatters.com/how-tos/beginners-guides/check-spark-plug-correct-carburetor-setting/
@@OldBikeruseful guide for beginners but a bit basic...presumably for 2x strokes? 2014 so a little dated now. I may have been setting my fuel mixture a little on the rich side on the XS50 but the bike has an instantaneous throttle response and gets down the road like a dragster so I've kept the jetting as it is for the past 8 years. For nearly a year I struggled to get the idle mixture right to stop the revs climbing when hot and i nearly abandoned the bike . In the end I found I needed to go up 4x sizes on the pilots and 3x sizes on the mains and eliminate some air leaks before I could get it running right. I think its time I did a little more experimenting with the mixture ,jets and settings but its very difficult as there are 7 retired home owners next to my garage so i cannot run the engine long enough for tuning or testing which is a right pita Grrrrrrr You might find this an interesting read .Vizard has always been my go-to source for performance and tuning advice ...clever bloke www.musclecardiy.com/performance/automotive-horsepower-secrets-ignition-systems/
I'm waiting for 1st April so I can get the Green XS and the XJ registered as Historic so there will be more XS vids then, oh and when I get round to taking out the Bitsa bike with the Goldstar silencers, that will probably be the next video :)
I'm not very computer-savvy, but what about a site where people could post you up pics of their bikes ? ..could be a go. That Bonnie does sound good !...my Xv sounds a little similar, while my XS really 'Barks'
