Buzzy's Revival: 1982 XS650SJ Heritage Special

Step two is to replace the clutch lever.

Luckily my 10mm was ready and waiting.

Disconnecting the clutch cable was easy enough.

Getting the bolt out was fairly easy too. Nice and tight with no play like I have seen on other posts. I understand that the hole will develop play at some point though.

The new clutch lever fit like it was made for this...

I then adjusted both the clutch handle and brake handle to suit my reach and went on to fire Buzzy up. Started right away.
I did notice that the left front indicator stock base is broken. It is still sturdy though and the blinker works. The back stock is also bent slightly and its blinker works as well.


Now, for the step back; the bike fell against the car as mentioned before. I incorrectly thought the left bar end struck the car door but it turns out it was the right bar and mirror that hit the mid area of the door. The right mirror is loose. I tightened it up easily enough. However, the brake light switch no longer works. The foot pedal does though and the brake hand lever did two weeks ago when the bike passed inspection. I found no obvious broken issue with the right grip assembly but darkness has once more fallen so I will look it over later.
I rode the bike around the neighborhood and it seems as good as it was prior to the tip over.

Umm ....Fail!


This is the shape you want to bend your gear lever to - easiest to give it a couple of hand tweaks in a vice with wood blocks and don't bend close to the weld without having the weld supported by the vice jaws.

It ain't wrong if it works

@Ishrub I cannot argue you are wrong brother. I did not have the tools to make that reality. As it was, I did not want to stress the weld and in the end this is what I get.

@Tripps thanks for the back up brother.

Tripps said:

It ain't wrong if it works

Click to expand...

I’ll do“fixed” over “repaired” anytime.

Buzzy got new side cover grommets to replace the 40 year old rubber that came with it.






I changed the front brakes pads too. Looks like I will need to rebuild the caliper soon.


The old pads have not been one here for too long I think but they are sure grooved. The disk does not seem as grooved as the pads though.


I could not find my "C" clamp so I used channel locks to squeeze the piston back in.


A test ride later and the new pads are better. Now to flush the fluid soon.

Forum folks are the true embodiment of brotherhood. One brother on the XS650 forum sent me this windscreen he took off his bike, I paid shipping.

Now to get the temperature above freezing so I can put it on the bike. Ms. Elie gave it her stamp of approval.

I attempted to put the windscreen on Buzzy tonight, but failed. First question, how do the front blinkers come off? I consulted the manual and it said this:

I thought I needed to gain access the the flasher light stock from inside of the headlight assembly. But that too is thwarting me. I know this should be an easy task.
The first thing I noticed is this screw is missing.

Then I took this screw all the way out. It is close to three feet long it seems.

But even after taking it out, I could not get the headlight ring off, something was holding it back like a spring maybe.
Basically, I am trying to get the angled brace shown below onto the flasher stock.


On a bright note, I have two new LED flood light that run on batteries and man are they bright.

It began to rain so i stopped for the night.

Boog go back to those instructions, it say to do it strait forward keep at it man youre killing it.

The old bike's headlight rims are usually a press fit with a clasp type flex fit like a hubcap. once you have the retaining bolt out it should prise or bump off fairly easily. the other long screw at front is probably the beam adjustment.

And yep those lights are brilliant I have an identical Lightway branded one from the local Aldi supermaket

Aldi - Rechargeable LED Portable Worklight 10W $29.99​

See Deal
Rechargeable LED Portable Worklight 10W for only $29.99.
Compact and robust design.
800 lumen light output with up to 7 hours run time.
4 modes.