The "firsts" build thread!

[RevrdMark]

Looks great! I'm across the river in Vanc. Hit me up for a ride some time BTW are you on PNWRiders.com great local site! My screen name is the same there.

Mark

 

[danisawesome]

Looks great! I'm across the river in Vanc. Hit me up for a ride some time BTW are you on PNWRiders.com great local site! My screen name is the same there.

Mark

I have an account on PNWRiders, but I'm more of a lurker than a poster there. And I'm actually moving up to Olympia in a couple days, but hopefully we can do a PNW XS400 meet or something of the like as there seems to be a few of us here.

 

[danisawesome]

Ran into some snags with the rearsets, again, as absolutely no one carries the screw the mounting screws I need! So, my dad, who works at a machine shop, ordered up a proper die and is going to cut down and rethread the bolts I currently have to make them the correct length and thread pitch. However, the linkage all works and we just need to work a little magic with the brake side and it should be ready to ride again! Just in time for a gorgeous 60 degree weekend in Washington!

 

[lamina1982]

I see lots of cafe conversions, yours looks pretty cool. But how are they to ride??
Thus far ive owned and rode a ninja250 and an 09 vstar1100. Just seems your awfully hunched over a cafe??

 

[lopez286]

bike is looking good, i wanna c what u end up doing for the rear sets

 

[danisawesome]

I see lots of cafe conversions, yours looks pretty cool. But how are they to ride??
Thus far ive owned and rode a ninja250 and an 09 vstar1100. Just seems your awfully hunched over a cafe??

This is the first bike I have ever owned and I only briefly rode a dual sport before this, so I don't really have any comparisons to draw from. However, I don't feel too haunched over as I have pretty long arms and am on the taller side at 6'1".

bike is looking good, i wanna c what u end up doing for the rear sets

Thanks! I'm hoping that tomorrow I will get the rearsets mounted. All of the linkage is there, but the damn mounting bolts have been a pain to get together. Fingers crossed that everything works tomorrow!

 

[lopez286]

what rears are you using or modifying???????????

 

[danisawesome]

what rears are you using or modifying???????????

They're a set of Tarozzi universal rearsets and are being mounted to the passenger peg location. Just got them mounted and functional today and went out for a ride! It was really nice, however I need to figure out some sort of spring and stop plate for the rear brake as it is relying on the inner mechanism to do all the rebound work. Overall they feel great!

And the exhaust is insanely loud. Too loud, really, so we need to make some sort of baffles to cut down the noise a little. It sounds really mean, but it's just a little obnoxious and is borderline embarrassing to ride. Hopefully we can figure out something that will keep the tone, but cut the volume as our experience with baffles is extremely limited at best.

Also had to buy a new kickstand as after installing the raised rear suspension, the stock stand was a little too short. I believe the one I got was from an FJ600 and it fits perfectly!

Of course I forgot my camera, so pictures will have to wait until I can make it back out to work on it (hopefully tomorrow!).

 

[danisawesome]

Alright, here are some crummy pics of the rearsets. Using a GoPro for still shots is kind of a pain.

Shift side:

Brake side:

And they still feel good! I'm getting used to the exhaust, so by the time we get baffles made I will probably be deaf

I am kind of bummed because the pipes sit too close to each other and ended up cutting through the exhaust wrap due to excessive rubbing (ha.). I readjusted the pipes so they aren't so close and will re-wrap the pipes whenever I get around to taking the engine apart.

Next step, cleaning random bits around the bike!

 

[bcware]

You should make a brace to hold those pipes.

 

[danisawesome]

You should make a brace to hold those pipes.

I agree and it is definitely in the works along with some baffles and end-pieces.

Finally got moved into our new place in Olympia! Now I have a garage at my disposal and my bike is here ALL THE TIME! I've already had the carbs off to rejet while chasing a cold start problem. Still having issues, but it's getting better after bumping my pilots up one and syncing. I'm still thinking it is something to do with the valves ticking on the right side, so I may try adjusting them by eyeballing/feeling where TDC is rather than going off of the marks. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't accurate after 31 years of existence.

And here is the obligatory recent photo: