XS650 Special becomes a Vermont Backroader

Shazam !!! The wind and snow did a number on you guys...... Hope it melts soon for you.


Boojum

You blokes still snowed in over there or what?
Cheers
Baza

No, We just have very low temps like 9d on sunday.

Autumn is starting early this year I think, temps are still good during the day [30c], but getting cooler at night [12c],
perfect weather - wish it would stay like this all year round
Cheers
Baza

Your weather is going downhill, and ours is getting better (or so we would like to think....!!...) Keep up the good stuff, love your posts!

^You haven't heard the weekend forecast then, I presume.

Just read this, nice build!

It's been fun,but the waiting for a ride-able day is jus' too much, right about now....

Getting that distinct feel of Autumn & it's only the first day of March!!
been wet all week here, just right for next w/e, 'Cold Flame' rally down on the Pinch River in the Snowy River Valley,
Cheers
Baza

Well, Its going to be 57d here on sunday!!!! Western ny thats is !!:eek1:eek1

...Snowing tomorrow, they say.....:eek1


Sheesh.... the wintah that nevah ends.....

Got the color right on the graphic this time.....

Had a one-day window-of-opprtunity where I had a day, my son had a day, and amazingly, there was a 70 degree day predicted in Vermont!

Loaded the ole girl up on the trailer in Rhode Island on Thursday night, and went for a test-ride in Vermont on Friday....



After a little snow at the Snow Bowl, it was down to the Hancock General Store at the bottom of VT125 for a cuppa warmth...



...and on up VT100 thru the Granville notch, where the tributaries to the rivers were flowin' strong....



...and following the Mad River down into Warren, one of hundreds of picture-postcard towns in rural Vermont....



...and up over by Sugarbush, Mad River Glen to Rt17 and Camel's Hump and down thru Bristol back to Middelbury, where the proud kid now has his bike without the ole man stealin' it!!



Great ride, found that I wanted to snug up the headstock bearings and add some air to the front tire, but other than that... she ran like a top (and my fingers are still tingling.... that is some vibrator, that XS650!)

A-yuht - it's Mud Season.

We even get a Ride Report

Nice job!

(Will there be a "Repo Report"?)

Looking good, nice photos, just heading into the cold season, :huh
Can't wait, enjoy winter rallys, and doing rides on crisp autumn/winter days
hope to get a few kms under the tyres this weekend,
Cheers
Baza

Beautiful build.. am lovin it :) Just the sort of bike for NNY backroading, too. That said, I guess our back roads are pretty damn similar to VTs, being only a morning ride away.

Well, summer has come and gone.... Will had a summer job in Montana (!) which involved a lot of fishing and hiking, near as I can tell..... Upon his return to VT, we did the fall "barn find" thing and literally pulled the bike-with-cobwebs out of a friend's barn...



The ole girl fired right up, and I got to ride to the nearest general store where I put some more air in the tires... she sat through the summah just fine.



Last I heard, Will was changing the oil and getting ready to find a winter barn... unless I can sneak up just one more day and hit those Green Mountain roads again...

Got myself a scruffy 1978 SE which I'm gonna do a bit of work too - get rid of all the Custom crap - and I love the simple look of your 650 - nice bit of inspiration

Exceptional job!

Where in Montana was Will. I now live 35 miles west of Great Falls, but lived for a long time in Missoula and St. Ignatius which is about 45 miles north of Missoula.

He was working for a financial outfit that specializes in buying old ranches and making them into attractive fishing havens... out of Bozeman. Poor guy had to go fishing a lot, part of the job! He would have love to have had the XS out there, maybe next year!