jackrabbitslim
XS400 New Member
Good morning ladies and gentlemen:
I'm Bryan, a fabricator turned salesman from Canada. About 6 months ago I bought my wife an xs400 Heritage Special (1981ish, near as we can tell). It's bone stock, with 21000 km on it. It was listed for 1500 in somewhat working order. We went with $500 cash and told the woman that owned the bike the truth. We need something to enjoy together and a hobby we can share after our kids head off to college and/or life. Our kids are both still under 10, so we have a while yet, but we'll be riding all summer. I've been involved in racing, drifting and rally for years. It was always car stuff for me. I've built 10 or so roll cages, many exhausts, intakes, catch cans, fuel cells and modified literally hundreds of cars. Mostly older Japanese cars, but I have done some muscle car stuff and real restoration work. I'm a technical kind of guy, a skilled tig welder and fabricator... the thought of pulling or tearing down an engine, retracing wiring problems, replacing just about anything on vehicle is my idea of fun. Not nearly as much fun as driving though. With all that experience I had only worked on motorcycles a handful of times, normally changing exhaust, fixing fuel tanks or making other small brackets... and I've never driven a street bike, just dirt bikes many years ago. My wife on the other hand started riding bikes at 7. Her father is still an avid rider and her brother did moto-x and is now a motorcycle tech and an XS rider. When we told them about her bike they both agreed that "it was about effing time". As for the bike, it's front brakes leaked, it needs new tires, (i firmly believe that about 80% of the vehicles on the road today need new tires... I guess I'm kind of a rubber nazi), new battery and new fuse block, and the rear left indicator light is loose/broken (the bushing is worn out and the previous owner epoxied it togehter), new plugs, exhaust gaskets, carb holders and a few other things. Anyway, short story long... just wanted to introduce myself and say that I'm fairly new to bikes so go easy on me when I ask a n00b question... I promise, if I'm asking the question, it's because I couldn't find the answer in many searches. Pic of the bike to follow.http://instagram.com/p/b7sQULizvd/
I'm Bryan, a fabricator turned salesman from Canada. About 6 months ago I bought my wife an xs400 Heritage Special (1981ish, near as we can tell). It's bone stock, with 21000 km on it. It was listed for 1500 in somewhat working order. We went with $500 cash and told the woman that owned the bike the truth. We need something to enjoy together and a hobby we can share after our kids head off to college and/or life. Our kids are both still under 10, so we have a while yet, but we'll be riding all summer. I've been involved in racing, drifting and rally for years. It was always car stuff for me. I've built 10 or so roll cages, many exhausts, intakes, catch cans, fuel cells and modified literally hundreds of cars. Mostly older Japanese cars, but I have done some muscle car stuff and real restoration work. I'm a technical kind of guy, a skilled tig welder and fabricator... the thought of pulling or tearing down an engine, retracing wiring problems, replacing just about anything on vehicle is my idea of fun. Not nearly as much fun as driving though. With all that experience I had only worked on motorcycles a handful of times, normally changing exhaust, fixing fuel tanks or making other small brackets... and I've never driven a street bike, just dirt bikes many years ago. My wife on the other hand started riding bikes at 7. Her father is still an avid rider and her brother did moto-x and is now a motorcycle tech and an XS rider. When we told them about her bike they both agreed that "it was about effing time". As for the bike, it's front brakes leaked, it needs new tires, (i firmly believe that about 80% of the vehicles on the road today need new tires... I guess I'm kind of a rubber nazi), new battery and new fuse block, and the rear left indicator light is loose/broken (the bushing is worn out and the previous owner epoxied it togehter), new plugs, exhaust gaskets, carb holders and a few other things. Anyway, short story long... just wanted to introduce myself and say that I'm fairly new to bikes so go easy on me when I ask a n00b question... I promise, if I'm asking the question, it's because I couldn't find the answer in many searches. Pic of the bike to follow.http://instagram.com/p/b7sQULizvd/
