1974 XS/TX650 rebuild

**th62** · Apr 10, 2021, 05:45 PM

I've had bikes with dirt bike handlebars and higher road bike bars, never had any twist on me. Not a hope in hell with these drag bars.

**th62** · Apr 22, 2021, 04:59 AM

The new Narva switch arrived a few days ago, still undecided on where to park it??? I made two brackets for it:, one hanging off the rear engine mount, the other a bit further back directly under the side panel. The switch isn't the best looking thing. so I turned up a two piece Delrin cover for it. A ring mount of Delrin with a .6mm lip is mounted between switch and bracket, once hooked up a Delrin cover is pushed over the mounting ring and held in place via a groove I machined inside the cover and the .6mm lip I machined on the the mounting ring. Mounted behind the the rear engine mount the cover is visible, mounted directly under the side panel only the switch face is visible. The cover just acting as a dust cover. Leaning toward the latter mount.

**Rikk** · Apr 22, 2021, 07:52 AM

I like the mount under the side panel, but I would fabricate a matching blank panel for the other side, but I'm anal about symmetry. The engine mount location does look nice and clean though and is almost hidden, which is a nice feature as well. Both look good.

**th62** · Apr 22, 2021, 10:31 PM

Master cylinder and clutch lever came this morning. I was going to put a kit through the stock master cylinder and buy a new clutch lever, until I discovered the kit was $78, then I had to fork out out for a new clutch lever as well. It appears the 74 TX came with a 5/8" master cylinder bore, all other years, the kits are only $35, just my luck. Anyway, I did some googling and found a master cylinder and clutch lever combo on Banggood for $65, so bought them. Pretty well made, levers are adjustable, but do require a largish hand, even on the closest setting. Levers are well made, master cylinder casting is a little rough, but good enough. I did want black bars with polished aluminium fittings, but settled for the opposite, chrome bars, polished aluminium risers and black fittings. They look all right though.

**asterix** · Apr 23, 2021, 08:14 AM

Went the same route for my levers. Bought some at mikesxs.net . I was using old parts from a donor bike ( xj650rjc ) as wire color coding was the same.

**th62** · May 7, 2021, 02:48 AM

Some work on the rear end: The guard was badly dented and had a couple of cracks running out from the tail light fixing holes. I cut the lip from the periphery off, removed some dents as best I could and removed the bracing underneath at the rear end of the guard. The cracks I removed by drilling a bloody great hole, around 48mm, in the mounting area. This left a bit of problem on how to mount the new tail light. The solution was to insert a big grommet in the hole with a 38mm ID hole, next I spun up an aluminium bush to fit inside the grommet with a 50mm lip to compress the grommet. The tail light base was fashioned from 3mm steel with a 10mm nut welded in the middle. Over that I welded a bit of 30mm square tube and welded a flat plate on the other end the same shape as the tail light. Next I mounted the bracket on the mill and drilled some lightning holes. A 10mm fixing bolt was drilled through for cabling access to the light. I was worried about the tail light twisting in the grommet there being just one bolt securing it, but when done up, it proved to be solid as. Off to buy some paint this afternoon, so tomorrow I'll prep everything for paint and lay down some gloss black.

**tonyfoale** · May 7, 2021, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by th62

Some work on the rear end: ........... The cracks I removed by drilling a bloody great hole, around 48mm, in the mounting area. This left a bit of problem on how to mount the new tail light. The solution was to insert a big grommet in the hole with a 38mm ID hole, next I spun up an aluminium bush to fit inside the grommet with a 50mm lip to compress the grommet......

Interesting solution.

**asterix** · May 7, 2021, 07:38 AM

Having owned a couple of Triumph, I know how vibrations can destroy licence plate holders and tail lights. Mounting everything on rubber back there is surely a better solution.

**mbshop** · May 7, 2021, 03:32 PM

Looks like a proper fix. As the rubber gets older it can be easily replaced as needed. Looks great.

**th62** · May 8, 2021, 12:47 AM

A nice new brake anchor made up today. Looks better than the old crusty steel one. Made from a slab of 10mm aluminium, cranked 12 mm and shaved down to 7mm on the leading edge.