New In the PNW!

[BedsideTiger]

Greetings Everyone! Bear with me as I am new to Yamaha's and motorcycles in general. So let's begin shall we? Today I left my house to drive 2 hours to south Seattle to pick up a 1980 Honda CB750, only to get a txt from the guy saying that his wife sold the bike the night before. So my friend and I stopped at a local Cabela's shopped around for a bit and went on craigslist. I didn't want the UHaul trailer I rented to go to waste. Found a 1982 Yamaha XS400 for sale for $500. Called the guy in the store and turns out the bike was just right across the freeway! We headed over there and took a look. He also had a 1980 Yamaha XS1100 for $200. So what the hell I bought both and spent less than I originally planned to spend. Anyway got them home safely and now to start tearing the XS400 apart and cleaning it and making sure the engine runs before I start the full cafe build. I do have a couple questions to start with, for some reason stock looks like the seat is set way too low and the tank too high to have the proper Cafe lines. From pictures the stock tank is almost never used. What tanks do people run on these things? I wouldn't mind bigger tanks, just mean more possible places to hide electronics. Secondly what online stores can I search for performance/maintenance/OEM parts? What other bikes are great for upgrades? I come from a VW background so I'm used to the forum life and the fact that most cases one VW part fits most . Thanks for looking and for any advice you give to a new person. I do have a great custom cafe builder here in town so I guess I should chat him up a bit too. Here is a picture of my new bike

 

[BedsideTiger]

Here is a short video of one of his bikes he took to Bonneville in 2011 - https://vimeo.com/29653457

 

[surley_old_guy]

Seems to me the XS1100 is much more ready to become a cafe racer than the XJ. The later bikes just look more cruiser-ish. I suspect that many of the pictures you're seeing are earlier models with the flatter lines and more forward seating position. My 81 XS400S took on the cafe look very quickly with a flat bar and a flat seat, which I think you'll find true of the XS1100 as well. Plus, it's way faster. Either way, congrats on the two excellent new bikes.

 

[BedsideTiger]

The XS1100 needs much more work to get it running and road worthy than the XS400. Since I'm new to motorcycles in general and the XS400 starts (roughly) it will be a good learning bike to start with.

I'm starting to notice the 82's don't look like easy cafe bikes. I do like the monoshock and hopefully a longer one will raise the back up and flatten the bike out some. I'm not to keen on the tank either, generally what other tanks look good on these bikes? Im thinking older and larger XS model tanks. Also ordered some Vortex clip ons!

Lastly how do you get the freaking air box out!

 

[xschris]

The dohc bikes are not good for a easy cafe job. The sohc ones are much better for it. The thing is the sohc stuff won't fit on the dohc stuff unless you modify it.

 

[BedsideTiger]

I'm starting to notice that but I'm going to try, might turn into more of a brat. We'll see once I get down to the frame and start chopping the subframe and mocking up a new one. Was talking to a local friend and he suggested dropping the front forks down maybe an inch.