Yamahajesus
XS400 New Member
Greetings!
I registered to the forum a while ago when I was hunting for a bike, and jumped on the opportunity and picked up my very own 1982 XS400 Maxim! Unfortunately, I then lost my job and while in undergrad couldn't give the bike the attention it deserved. Well, II graduated, got a good job and now's finally the time to tackle the bike. It has some pretty dorky stickers from the PO's kids, but I'm pretty excited to transform this bike into the cafe racer I've been dreaming about.
Some more pictures are in here -> https://imgur.com/a/8mNoQ
My goal with this bike is to turn it into a cafe racer, with this glorious bike as its template: http://www.motorcircles.com/bikes/espresso-racer/
Right now, since the bike has been sitting for a few years in a garage, I'm focused on:
1. Cleaning EVERYTHING.
2, Getting a new battery and some sparkplugs to see if it still runs (it did when I bought it 2 years ago)
3. De-rusting the fuel tank w/ vinegar
4. Figuring out how everything is attached and how to move everything around.
It looks like this bike is a little more complicated with wiring than I first expected, so trimming it down for the cafe racer look will be interesting. Also, I didn't notice right away, but the suspension is a single column in the middle, which doesn't keep with most of the cafe builds I've seen.
I've been expecting a sharp learning curve since I don't have a ton of vehicle experience, Any insight on what to do or examples to pick apart would be greatly appreciated!
I registered to the forum a while ago when I was hunting for a bike, and jumped on the opportunity and picked up my very own 1982 XS400 Maxim! Unfortunately, I then lost my job and while in undergrad couldn't give the bike the attention it deserved. Well, II graduated, got a good job and now's finally the time to tackle the bike. It has some pretty dorky stickers from the PO's kids, but I'm pretty excited to transform this bike into the cafe racer I've been dreaming about.
Some more pictures are in here -> https://imgur.com/a/8mNoQ
My goal with this bike is to turn it into a cafe racer, with this glorious bike as its template: http://www.motorcircles.com/bikes/espresso-racer/
Right now, since the bike has been sitting for a few years in a garage, I'm focused on:
1. Cleaning EVERYTHING.
2, Getting a new battery and some sparkplugs to see if it still runs (it did when I bought it 2 years ago)
3. De-rusting the fuel tank w/ vinegar
4. Figuring out how everything is attached and how to move everything around.
It looks like this bike is a little more complicated with wiring than I first expected, so trimming it down for the cafe racer look will be interesting. Also, I didn't notice right away, but the suspension is a single column in the middle, which doesn't keep with most of the cafe builds I've seen.
I've been expecting a sharp learning curve since I don't have a ton of vehicle experience, Any insight on what to do or examples to pick apart would be greatly appreciated!
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