I have found it quite hard and very time consuming to get enough details and help with my restoration that is ever on-going of one now two bikes and the upkeep of a second one that is complete and on the road, so I thought it would be useful if I put the resources I have gathered here in one place in case anyone else wanted them.
There have been times when I wished I could just ask someone what colour is the rear brake stay or how is the choke cable routed? You get the idea. If you did send me something to the old ntlworld address, and didn't get a reply I reply to all of them please re-send it to the gmail address above This is a. You're not are you? I will try to help if I can. Just let me know, and if you are correct, I will make myself sit in the Naughty Corner for a while.
My XLK3 bikes are both the UK version; there are differences in each model depending on where it was originally sold by the manufacturer in order to comply with what in the UK are called 'Construction and Use Regulations' and each country will have somewhat different requirements, sometimes called 'Type Approval'.
For instance the USA version has a smaller licence plate holder number plate to us and a squarer tail light rear light and the sidestand has a rubber end to fold it away in case you are stoopid enough to ride off with it down, the rubber end is meant to fold the stand away so you don't pivot on the stand when turning left and fall off and possibly hurt yourself or be run over by a sixteen wheeler or worse still scratch or dent the tank. Oh yes, the headlamp is plastic on the US model and the headlamp a 6V sealed beam for reasons best known to you Yankees so when dip beam they call it dim or low beam dies you have to buy the whole thing, not just a bulb, whilst we in England had a reflector and replaceable bulbs.
Like these This schematic is for the USA model, part 19 is plastic, the UK version is metal and doesn't have part 23 above or part The rim is also different in the UK we have no beam adjuster screw part 5 The horn bracket is also different Notice how part number 8 is all one part. The steering lock is different too, so if you buy a complete USA lock set the steering lock part won't fit your frame in the UK, but the ignition and helmet locks will.
Rear light looks strangely round too. Also, curiously the rear indicator stalks are mounted on the number plate, the 'normal' indicator mounts are still on the frame, but unused. I suppose we all have our different little ways Whilst we are in Germany, here are three photos of a restored bike back on the road, owned by Mark, with the German type indicators.
I received these March so I thought you might like to see them. Well done Mark! Mark contacted me in May to say he'd found another chrome carrier for sale on line. The Schuh company was also a manufacturer of carriers. I am very pleased, and will fit it to the bike as soon as I get time. There are some pictures below:. This is the 40 year old Schuh carrier.
Honda-Schuh were a Honda dealer in Frankfurt Germany who sold Honda bikes and also manufactured accessories, including these lovely rear carriers. Normally the rear frame tube is drilled for the support bars like this:. Since this section was originally put together, Mark has acquired enough parts to build up another bike, and has kindly allowed me to show photos of his bikes here for your delight and entertainment.
The one on the left is K3 and on the right is a K4. Notice how the rear footrests have moved from the swinging arm to separate brackets, so the passenger's legs don't bend everytime you hit a bump or a hole. As you can see the one on the right was missing the exhaust shield That's so close to the original colour, that I can't see a difference, but it's much cheaper and easy to obtain.
Here is another German bike showing the rear indicators note end of the exhaust is missing, this is quite common. The normal winker mounts being unused in the German version make handy rear carrier mounts. Hmmm, curious. I did ask the seller if these were standard in Canada but he says not. Where in the world do they use red ones? Answers by email please!
An overview Firstly I think it is fair to say that these bikes are simple. They are proper bikes, and like old British bikes, they are a bit agricultural in their engineering. Unlike British bikes of the period whose crankcases split vertically and were therefore hard to keep oil from dripping out of them, Japanese engineers split them horizontally and they were therefore oil-tight.
There isn't much that the average owner cannot do himself with a few basic tools and a little knowledge. Parts are well made and solid. Simplicity is the name of the game. Most jobs can be done with the toolkit that came with the bike. See how simple for instance the rear chain adjustment is, just a couple of back to front bolts and locking nuts.
There are not too many moving parts, and there is no need for extensive workshop facilities to keep these bikes running, which is useful especially if you live miles from anywhere, in the never-ending plains of the central United States of America, the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies, the desolate sun scorched outback of Australia or Wales.
So it all began in the early 's This was an Australian Ad. You can tell it is not England because it is not green. Read about a bloke in Australia called Wadey and his XLk3 project here possums it's early days but a great project. Meanwhile although this site is not at all not even a bit dedicated to the K0, a correspondent called Ian restored his one; this is Ian's synopsis of the rebuild so far Had a local guy paint the original bodywork with paint supplied by RS bike paints, colours were spot on.
Decals were supplied a Canadian mob Reproduction Decals they were spot on and also supplied all the warning decals too, quality is good if not better than OEM. I did nothing to the motor, it only has miles from new, usual check timing, valve clearances, resprayed the engine and the clutch cover, but not happy with the colour of the clutch cover and will address that at some point. After the rebuild I was unhappy with the original clocks to me they let the overall look down.
The tacho was acceptable but the speedo was sun bleached so I started a search for NOS items, the tacho was an easy find plenty out there, but the speedo was another thing, it is apparently a rare item, only used for one year on the K0 model, after much searching came across one in the States Parts still to do, not happy with the seat, it is original but would like a NOS item or a better one,and as mentioned the engine cases need the right colour but these can wait, spring is on the way, need to get the bike registered and get out and ride her ".
Back to the Motorsport When it appeared it was the first modern four stroke enduro motorcycle and the first mass-produced 4-valve motorcycle. Honda raced a modified version of the retail bike and they simply blew everything else away. This is a magazine ad from Getting a workshop manual is a very good idea, but there are none exclusively for the K3 as it wasn't around long enough. Here are some you can find but note these are not links, we have to preserve the owners copyright.
These are by Haynes; they are however discontinued so it's eBay time again! This one is from Cycleserv, in Australia. It is basically the original Honda manual, reprinted under licence back in the 70's.
I like this one. Click the cover to see it. This is the US cover but don't click it. No, don't. You will need Adobe Acrobat or equivalent to see it. Here is the rare USA version of the XLK3 Dealer set up manual taking it out of the crate and setting it up for the showroom, and oh boy, they have to do a LOT for Honda click the front page to see it!! Andrew Kinnear kindly sent me this one; names have been removed to protect the innocent K3's can last forever.
They are 'proper'. True, it is not easy to get the front wheel up in the air, should you wish to do so. I do not wish to do so. Now for a stock publicity shot of the US '76 bike from Honda - isn't she lovely? Honda were no doubt justifiably proud. Can't make your mind up as to colour? Answer buy one of each.. Also in , "Convoy" by C. McCall was a hit in the American music charts. Meanwhile those cunning Japanese engineers at Honda had been working on a drastic revision of the old bikes, so in all hell broke out with new XL's which featured better electrics still 6v to start with , dual exhaust pipes, reduced vibration, the engine became part of the frame, they were lighter faster and although they still shared a lot of the old components they had a lot of new ones.
All very good but some of the solidness was gone, but they sold very well indeed. The newcomer was a massive hit for Honda, but the 23" front wheel was hard to get tyres for still is so many owners swopped them for 21". The twin shocks later changed to mono-shock, as the model evolved but the pedigree from the motorsport and the K3 is still apparent. By the world had discovered that you can make a motorbike engine smoother, with less vibration with a counter rotating balance shaft whereby a lump of iron rotates away from the crankshaft as the crank rotates, producing an opposing force, so these later Honda engines were smooth.
Funnily enough, balance shafts were first invented and patented by British engineer Frederick Lanchester in In fairness, it does take some engine power to turn the shaft so maybe they were wanting to maximise engine power available at the wheels?
I am being generous. Another way to minimise vibration is to mount the whole engine on rubber bushes. Norton Commmando owners are aware of this. Large numbers 70's XL's were robbed of their engines for many kinds of racing, especially in the USA, the engine being a high revving single with 4 valves it went into all types of race frames, so there are probably more engines and engine parts out there than actual complete bikes.
The XLK series are well made, solid, simple and reliable. Most owners still report starting first or second kick everytime. Not bad after so many years! If you want your son to learn about bikes and work on one, give him a 70's Honda XL And two or three spanners. The engine is regarded as being hard to break, especially if you change the oil often. It is really really a good idea to clean out the engine oil filter located at the bottom of the right side engine cover with a big hex head every miles Honda's recommendation not just mine.
This was what I found on the filter in my XL project bike when I opened it up!! Remember this is only as big as half a finger, and it's the only oil filter on the bike. Oil change is 1. Engine oil is cheap. After finding this crap, I also fitted a magnetic drain plug! The main weakness is that the overhead cam runs direct in the alloy head ie. Most XL 's are a little noisy, a bit tappety and have some cam chain noise, it isn't normal for the engine to be super silent in my experience.
There are specialists like Dave Rhynehart at Xlinterperformance who make a cam for racing and fit a needle roller bearing in the head. It is a pity Honda san didn't do this from the outset.
For a single it is quite advanced with 4 valves, and is a high revving engine. You wouldn't ask say a Triumph Tiger Cub to rev to all day. I know I had one. Deep joy. For no good reason I thought I would mention Sprocket Stuff and my swinging arm adventure For road only use the standard rear sprocket is 45 teeth 48 for off road but it is an odd size fitting, and so whilst there a lots and lots of different sizes for the later onwards XL's these don't fit the K3 or earlier XL's.
This biggish sprocket also revs the balls off your engine and limits top speed on the road. However you can get a 42 tooth one from PBI Sprockets. Tennessee is famous mostly as the US state where miniature golf was invented. JT sprockets are readily available everywhere but they seem only to do one specifically made for the K3, a 45 tooth part JTR manufactured I believe in Thailand by ladyboys.
There are also quite a few one off sprocket makers out there who mostly seem to make them from aluminium or aloominum in the US. It isn't unknown for owners who don't like the very close ratio gearbox on the XL to swop it for one from an XL with more spacing between gears, and a straight swop too but I haven't tried it. I did read somewhere on a forum thing that the XL swinging arm is a bit longer and is a straight swop and improves handling but again, never done it myself, and I don't know if it is true.
The swinging arm I just fitted see below for link was the same as the I took off so who knows? That's the wonder of the internet. I found that a previous owner of my bike had hit a cow with it and damaged the bike no idea what happened to the cow so some new parts were fitted.
I have been wondering why I can't seem to tighten up the rear offside RH footrest, so I took it off and found instead of the nice M10 fine bolt into a captive nut, a nasty M8 nut and bolt and no captive nut. The arm had been brush painted black, even Conrad the MOT tester said it was a shame someone had painted it. I have got the new one, had it sandblasted, then etch primed it and painted it with black 2K paint.
It looks fab. I like to avoid powder coating because I don't like the way it eventually flakes off, and you can't touch it up. I've ordered the missing footrest mounting bolt. Even later JTR with bushes. Front sprocket wise the off road is generally 14 teeth the later models had 13 tooth and same fitting but why would you want one?
It even says on the magnesium engine cover '14 and 15 Only'. If you try and fit a 16 at the front there is a bit of crankcase casting in the way, and even with this cut away shame on you it is very tight especially with the case saver guard in place. There's not much gap between the sprocket and the case saver guard, and you would have to feed the chain over the sprocket to even get it on.
Probably a bad idea, much easier to change the back one. When I say easy I decided it was time to do the rear sprocket on my bike, by fitting a 42 tooth. So how come there are loads for sale next to the new ones especially in the USA? I feel like writing to the sellers, "Hi, no-one will ever buy this from you because it is completely worn out and a new one is cheap and if they did buy it , they would just ruin their chain.
Why have you wasted your time and your money listing this? But there's loads of them for sale! Explain that! I know I have written 'loads for sale' 3 times. Also, who would buy a used chain? So if you want a K3, they are not really plentiful, whole complete bikes are now a bit rare in the UK and many in the US are worth more for spares so are broken up 'parted out' but that gives a continuous supply of spares.
Whilst the K3 shared some but not all components with the motorsport, they have a unique quality, look and feel that is hard to match. There is of course an XL which looks very much the same as the but has a bigger engine obviously!
Lots of the XL parts are identical to the XL, but not all. In addition to a gearbox, chain and sprockets to suit are all different, the rev counter red lines at rpm on an XL as opposed to for a XL, for example. There was even a K4 in with rear footrests mounted off the swinging arm so the passengers knees do not go up and down over bumps! It had a different petrol tap, screw-in not bolt on. It also looked like a wasp. There's a picture of one below, can you tell the difference?
So I ordered one of them there pattern ones off the interweb and it looked lush but after fitting I have to turn it off when I leave the bike but I have now found a NOS one boxed and ready to fit when I get time, and a petrol tank that isn't full. I would advise against paying good money for the pattern one, they are rubbish. But they look nice.
I did find one USA seller that was advertising this by Honda part number, making no reference to it being an aftermarket copy part. The speedometer had an 85 mph km limit. The gas tank and side covers were 2-tone red and black. The "XLS" side cover logo was red and white.
The swingarm was painted silver. There was a 2-piece instrumentation: speedometer and indicator light pod. The engine was a cc OHC 4- valve single cylinder with 2 head pipes. The gas tank, side covers, fenders, and frame were red. The engine was black while the swing arm was silver. The front wheel was 21" while the back was 17".
It now had a volt electrical system and Pro-Link suspension. The engine was a cc OHC 4-valve single cylinder with 2 exhaust pipes. The transmission was a 6-speed. The "XL" logo on the side of the seat was solid white. The "R" side cover had a graphic design. The headlamp was rectangular with a number plate cowling. The seat and fork boots were black. The "R" side cover decal was white while the number plate panels were black. It also had a 6-speed transmission. The Honda wing tank decal was red, white, and blue.
The "R" tank decal was white and blue. The seat and fork boots were blue. The number plate panels were yellow. The Honda wing tank decal was red, orange, and yellow. The "R" tank decal was red and blue. The engine color was red.
The number plate panels were black. The "R" tank decal was blue and red. Get the manual and work like a professional. Manual Honda XL is a four-stroke cc motorcycle from Honda introduced in and manufactured through most of the s.
Download free Honda user manuals, owners manuals, instructions, warranties and Honda XL is a four-stroke cc motorcycle from Honda introduced in and manufactured through most of the s. We furnish the complete edition of this book in 76 Honda Xl Operating Manual. We furnish the complete edition of this book in Honda XL cam chain adjustment Step by step tutorial.
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