Horrible was how I felt fifteen minutes after
buying a Yam XS250. It was an ancient old thing but quite nicely
polished, a well put together cycle. Testing out its limits on
a fave stretch of country road, I found that appearances didn't
amount to much. Hurling the lightweight twin right over, the rubber
going weak at its edges, the 2-1 exhaust dug in. Catching on the
tarmac, it tried to hurl the bike sideways. I put some muscle
into getting it upright and going in the right direction. If the
curve hadn't tightened up I might've survived. The bike shuffled
on to the grass verge, lost all grip and dropped downwards.
I did something nasty to my right wrist and
knee on landing. So rapid the fall from grace that it felt like
I'd actually blacked out. The Yamaha - the little sod - had a
relatively easy time of it. Sliding over the grass until it finally
lost momentum by destroying a rotten bit of wooden fencing. I
hobbled over to the thing, would've given it a proper kicking
if I had two good legs to stand on! Eventually, the bike was upright
and I was able to wobble home at a preposterously mediocre velocity.
Damage was bent pegs, twisted bars, shortened
levers where they'd broken off and a few new dents. A used set
of handlebars and a bit of hammer work sorted it out. Took several
visits to the hospital before I was in a similarly happy state.
My refusal of a tetanus shot causing the doc to prescribe such
a nasty antibiotic combo that it left me dead to the world. In
no fit state to ride a motorcycle.
Took about a month until I finally got around
to speed testing the little Yamaha. Just about do the ton. After
85mph a rather large wobble occurred. If a bump was hit, turned
into a bit of tank-slapper. The bars trying to pummel their way
out of my already weakened grip. Later, giving the bike a good
kicking revealed some play in the swinging arm bearings. Having
had this hassle on previous bikes I decided to leave it well alone
until things went desperate...
Weaving along the M1 at three in the morning
after a mind bending party in the woods, I thought I'd see if
I could better the ton. One hell of a speed wobble resulted. The
poor old XS was wobbling over two lanes of the motorway. I was
panicked out of my mind, not knowing if I should brake or sit
it out. There was a long bend up front, dazzling headlamps from
oncoming cars beginning to frazzle my vision. Ended up, as I braked
viciously, that I didn't know where I was. My so-called mates
would say this was nothing unusual. Only I didn't usually disintegrate
aboard a buckling bronco of a motorcycle at high speed.
The Yamaha finally pulled itself together at
about 50mph. The stress from the incident so heavy that it never
again ran straight and true. There was nothing for it but to take
a hammer to the swinging arm spindle. I well knew the horrors
to come (from the seized in spindle) and when the local breaker
offered to fix it for forty notes, including new bearings and
used spindle (if necessary) I went for it.
The local breaker's been there for decades,
seen it all. About 100kg of fat, a grotty old beard obscures most
of his face and he has a voice that inspires fear. He has a reputation
for cheap prices and work that owes more to brute force than skill.
Just what I needed! Typically, the spindle came out with a few
taps, as straight as when it came out of the factory. Less than
half an hour's work that I could've done myself. Oh well!
At this point the breaker had a nasty surprise
for me. No, he wasn't into sodomizing youths like some dealers
but pointed out that the back wheel's hub had lots of tiny cracks.
Alloy welding would probably work, suggested he, but the used
back wheel he had to hand would be much better and jolly reasonable
at thirty notes. He'd even swap the tyres over. I cursed the Yamaha's
shoddy alloy and the way I liked to speed into the house - up
half a foot high stone step!
Poorer but no wiser I rode home. After all
that expense I expected brilliant handling right the way up to
the top speed. Shocked to find that the back end was all over
the road at 60mph. A bit more kicking revealed that the back wheel's
bearings were on the way out! The breaker found this highly amusing,
warned me that it was dead easy to crack the hub when knocking
the old bearings out. He'd fix it up for me for thirty notes.
I should buy a tee-shirt with sucker written on it!
After spending a hundred quid I finally had
a motorcycle that didn't speed wobble any longer. I'd also fitted
on some original downpipes with a pair of mega's to sort out the
ground clearance problems. At around 360lbs, the XS could be flung
around with relative ease. I did find that the front tyre would
try to wash out when accelerating out of bends. Not that the Yamaha
ever managed mind bending acceleration but it was as fast as most
low end cars and would take on 250 Superdreams and the like.
Some good points. Fuel was exceptional - around
70mpg average - but the airfilter was full of holes and the silencers
almost straight through! Consumption of the Taiwanese tyres, cheap
chain and EBC pads was marginal, about the same as my Honda C50!
Engine maintenance was merely a case of changing the oil every
1500 miles, everything else was so worn no adjustment needed.
Handling was brilliant for charging through town and motor really
liked to be revved out through the gears. The harder the throttle
was used the smoother it became - pistons moving up and down alternatively,
no balancers.
The pity of it was that the chassis appeared
to be falling apart rapidly. About six weeks after fixing the
back end, the steering head bearing went all loose. Tightened
down the stem but that made the handling even more horrendous!
The bearings were pitted, devoid of any grease. A nice set of
taper-rollers bashed in but needed perfect tensioning of the stem
bolt before they worked properly. Once that was done, the front
end attained unknown precision. On a bike of this power and weight,
such steering accuracy allowed me to ride in a thoroughly mad
way.
For all of three weeks when the front wheel's
bearings went down. Sure enough, I cracked up the hub knocking
them out - determined, as I was, not to give the breaker any more
of my money. Some hope, he grinned widely after receiving forty
quid for a replacement front wheel which came with a newish disc,
calipers and pads. The old disc was just beginning to squeal in
a menacingly manner, probably money well spent!
Of course, pissing around with the forks revealed
that their seals were seeping oil. Had to take the forks down,
put in new bushes and seals, added a set of gaiters. Finally,
much poorer and only a little wiser, the chassis was fully sorted
and the bike ready for the road... Someone up there doesn't like
me, the original shocks started weeping oil as well and went very
soggy! Used Koni's (yes, from the grinning breaker who was now
proudly driving a big BMW cage) fixed that.
Oddly, the actual chassis components - petrol
tank, mudguards, etc - were in fine fettle, perhaps replaced along
the line as they certainly didn't seem to reflect the 49000 miles
that were now on the clock. Neither did the engine, which veritably
purred away with good heart, confounding my Superdream mounted
mates with its toughness.
Note to the cynical and worldly wise - the
wiring showed every sign of being redone some time in the near
past, the switches were non-standard and the HT leads and caps
rubber rather than plastic. Many XS owners find the electrics,
especially the ignition circuit, both troubling and perplexing.
Intermittent faults difficult to diagnose, often caused by the
cut-out switches shorting out. If it hasn't already been done,
take them out of the circuit! The Cibie headlamp conversion was
just about up to modern standards, the air-horns a useful addition
- wakes the cagers up, makes them think some artic's about to
mash them! The odd jerk tried to run me off the road when he realised
his mistake, but I was usually long gone. How I yearn for a police
siren!
If life didn't start off all that well will
the XS, the more I've used it, the longer I've owned it, the more
fond of the little twin I've become. I do have some serious tackle
as well - a street fighter FZR600 - that kills the traffic like
nothing else, but that's often too much hassle to ride! Much easier
to leap upon the 250 and bumble around town at a rapid pace -
by the time I've undone the FZR's three locks, given it a few
minutes to warm up and got the necessary body armour on, I'm usually
half way to my destination on the XS! If the weather's dire it's
much easier to ride as I don't have to think about taking a handful
of throttle and costs at least half as much to run. Good one,
Mr Yamaha!
Dave Wilson