New Old Guy Member

[rambeaux]

I've got an '81 that I've built and rebuilt several times and the last was to give it to my son for Christmas. You never saw a smile so wide and bright. He is in the Navy and we will ride together ( I have other bikes and projects) when he visits. But for now I'm never "finished" with a build so I've begun tinkering with it again. I will share the changes with you folks here and welcome your input. The little XS400 is a great foundation for just about anything a person wants to do, as demonstrated on this forum. I love all of the creative interpretations presented and developing here. I look forward to being a contributing part of this community. I'm going to post a couple of photos if I can figure out how.

 

[hmusket]

Welcome, from another old guy. Nice job on the bike. I like the stance and the flow from front to back. Color combos with the paint, body work and frame work well together. It looks like you made your own wiring harness, and did you adapt a front end off another Yamaha?

I think you'll add a lot to the forum,
Harvey

 

[rambeaux]

Thanks for the kind words. It has remnants of the stock wiring harness with only the essential electrical components. The front end is stock, just cleaned up a bit. I painted the old triple trees copper to add some contrast and took scotch bright to the lower legs. Made the little fender from a stainless 49cc scooter fender that I had lying around. I have a few changes in store such as redoing the exhaust to a high pipe scrambler look and fabricating a small fly screen of some sort. Plus a fork brace (it sorely needs one) and good cornering tires. I may further modify the rear sets arrangement for a tad more leg room.

 

[OliverB]

Great looking bike! Where did you get the seat pan?

 

[rambeaux]

The seat pan came with a project XS650 bike that I picked up from a flat tracker. It's pretty simple but works good. I had to cut the back of it off for a better fit to the 400 frame and fab a tail light bracket. Lately, I've been considering a bump stop seat pan and making it longer to act as a better mud guard. Don't know yet.

 

[bcware]

I love the chain guard; an elegant solution. They are required in NH to pass inspection and the stock one looks horrible in my opinion.

 

[rambeaux]

That came off a '70's kawasaki dirt bike rusting by my shed. I cut the bottom off it and added another tab to the swing arm for mounting. It helped to fill the space there and do a bit of work guarding the chain.

 

[drewpy]

that bike looks great looking forward to seeing what your doing next!

 

[CadXS]

Welcome to the forum Rambeaux...

 

[rambeaux]

Thank you all for the welcome. I started on the front fork brace today and picked up some drag bars for the little beast. I think the drag bars will be a little bit more comfortable. I will keep you all posted.

 

[XStLouis]

Do the scrambler-style exhaust and update us, please! I'm incredibly interested in that idea.