This is the machine that will carry me from Foulden, Scotland to Delhi, India. Built in Japan in 1983, this is a Yamaha XS850. By todays standards, she is slow and unweildly, but she has brilliant engine characteristics, giving an unruffled, yet mile-eating performance without fuss or hard work.
Bought from Keith at Motolink, Lincolnshire for £300-00, the bike is really quite original, even still having the standard (and very rare) exhaust system fitted. As you can imagine, there was a fair bit of work to do to get her roadworthy, brake caliper seals+pistons, lighting and indicator problems and a host of other small things - mainly due to sitting for a while at Motolink and the previous owner to that.
When I first got her running, the engine was lumpy and irregular. On inspecting the carbs, it looked like someone had been in them with a hammer and axe. Spares for the XS850 carbs (Hitachi) are hard to come by, so I have fitted the much more common XS750 carbs (Mikuni) which now need to be adjusted to suit the slightly larger engine.
The first body modification I have done is to fit a nose fairing - not beautiful, but quite effective in keeping the worst of the wind from my 40+ person.A 350LC headlamp has replaced the XS850 unit, mainly because the original part is just about impossible to obtain and I need to know that a spare can be shipped out to me in case of accident/parts failure.
I have replaced the standard double seat with a single seat from a Police BMW R series bike. This is mainly so that I can use the extra room behind the seat for a rack which will hold an alluminium top box to match the alluminium side panniers.
Yesterday I sent the drawings and dimensions for the 2 panniers and 1 top box to Delhi for manufacture. I have specified 2mm alluminium and lipped lids for a proper waterproof seal.
As soon as they arrive here I can get on with fabricating the rack to support them. Hinges, locks and handles will be fitted once I have the positioning worked out.
OK, the next Blogg will be route planning.
Later then, Jonny.
