What did you do with your XS today?

The CB750 runner went to the shop Thuesday, so yesterday I picked up where I left the XS400 project.
The goal now is to clean up the handlebars, mostly from some earlier customizations from previous owner but I'm grabbing some more stuff when I'm there. Yesterday I got to the point of cutting cords inside the headlight. A bit scary, but I got rid of most of the non-OEM stuff and everything is labeled so it should go back togheter agian. Need to make a temporary controlpanel to test function while I'm moving along...

 

Pulled the '79 out of storage after 5 years of no action. New battery & fiddling for 20 minutes with the janky oem fuse box (glass tube fuses) and it fired up on the third revolution... on 5 year old gas! I did give the tank the 'ol smell test, and it smelled fresh, to my surprise. But, I was rather chuffed that it just ran without any drama after so long...

Now, to fix the blown out muffler.

 

Nice bike. Looks like you might have to look to the Dakota for drama - if she hasn't already delivered enough.

 

I went for a ride to meet a fried at his place so we could go for a cruise together. I got there just fine but as i pull my clutch lever in to shift int 1st .......snap goes the cable. Well i learned something today if you are going to resurrect a basket case you are best off changing the important cables such as clutch throttle and break cable(if so equipt) Oh well no harm done just have to wait for a clutch cable I should have it next week.

 

Put 'er on the road for real for the 1st time in 20+ years.. front brake needs some more bleeding but its getting there. Meantime its a sweetheart of a bike, easy shifting and quite maneuverable- better than I was expecting. Not a lot of top end, I found I had to keep the rpms up and expect to gain speed at a more reasonable pace than my 1000cc suzuki does lol. Suspension is very comfy, mirrors good.

The big variable is how the tank comes out- POR15 liner curing till the weekend then I'll give that a try before sanding and painting. Its funky riding around without a proper tank just a little minibike tank hanging from the handlebars and a screw plugging the vacuum port lol- but I'm on a bike and anyone laughing is in a cage so I win anyway

 

My bike came without keys. I took it to a locksmith and he picked the lock and made a key.