As a vintage motorcycle shop that specializes in XS650’s, you can imagine we fit a LOT of electronic ignitions to these bikes. For years we have fitted Pamco systems, which were reliable and had a very low return rate. Now, with the retirement of Pamco Pete, we have tried using the Mikes XS Charge units… and after trying at least 30 of these, maybe one or two continue to work. These have a lot of issues including; 1/ Being impossible to time (usually too retarded as the rotor is notched in the wrong place), even if you use allens to replace the screws… it’s hard to get them to not be retarded by a few degrees. 2/ Having way too much lateral slop which causes the magnets to be literally halfway out of the pickup. 3/ Will die after bike heats up. This happens a lot, and as I write this… yep, another one has lost spark and I had to push it back, never to spark again. At least 7 out of 10 do this.

So, in my professional opinion… DO NOT BUY!!! They are utter garbage. Stick with points or go for a Boyer (more expensive, but I’ve fitted hundreds to old Triumphs with very few issues. Tytronic make a cheap unit (have only fitted a few of these to non XS650’s, but they seem to work OK. Trispark also make a unit… which I have not tried on an XS, but they work well on Triumphs.
Sadly, the Mikes Chage system is the worst system we have ever fitted… so you have been warned! We hope that Mikes will take notice and fix this ongoing issue, and we are sending the last 3 units we have back as all have failed very quickly. But don’t hold your breath as nothing has changed since they have been on sale.