Classic Motorcycle Book Review - Yamaha XS650 Performance Portfolio

5th January 2005

Yamaha XS650 Performance Portfolio

The Yamaha XS 650 Performance Portfolio 1969-1985 is a compilation of US and UK road tests, reviews and rebuilds of the XS650 from first model to the last.

I have found the articles and pictures very useful in rebuilding my XS650C, especially when I was trying to sort out the correct cable routing.

The road tests themselves are entertaining as they take you back to a previous era where handling and braking were still not up to the power of the engines. For instance: 'The rear shocks were something else, as when the going got really tough, they kept trying to hop all over the place.'

Or, as Dave Minton described in 1975; 'I remember reporting about its grand power unit but abysmal cycle part performance, which was so bad that obtaining top speed in a straight line was dangerously close to impossible due to instability.'

Recommended by Karl Bentley

This book covers the XS from the launch at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1969, with the 653cc XS-1 model. Sales were slow in Britain, the traditional home of the Big Twin, but just about everywhere else, and especially in America, the bike developed a huge cult following.

Over a quarter of a million XS650s in forty different variations were produced before production ceased in 1985.

Softback, 136 pages, mainly mono plus a 7 page colour section, and c250 black and white illustrations.

Includes 31 features on the XS650, XS-1, XS-1B, XS-2, XS650B, CS650C, XS650D, TX650, XS650E, XS650SE, XS650F, Heritage Special and XS650 Special.

Features reproduced from Cycle Word, Motorcyclist, Cycle, Cycle Guide, Motorcyclist Illustrated, Modern Cycle, Motorcycle Sport, Popular Cycling, Motor Cycle Mechanics, Motorcycling, Two Wheels, Which Bike? and MotoRetro.

Selection of road tests, a top end rebuild, an engine rebuild, owners' survey, performance and technical data and service notes.

Introduction by Adrian Pavey of the VMCC.

XS650 stuff on eBay.co.uk

Published by Brooklands Books, ISBN 1 855 20574 2. Normal price Ł13.95.
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