Hey Everyone,
Let me start by saying that XS400.com has been a great resource for my wife and I. We had been looking for something that would be perfect for her first bike and after reading many threads and sorting through a bunch of builds/photos/etc, she decided that an XS400 with some basic mods would be just right for her.
We picked up this '78 on Wednesday. It's been bored out .50 over and maintained quite well. It does have some non-original parts on it such as, unknown crotch rocket rear signals, honda front fender, XS650 rear fender, and some cheapo looking street bike grips. Aside from that, the frame, engine and everything else for that matter looked to be in fantastic shape for a 36 year old bike! Considering the condition, I think we picked it up for a really fair deal.
Although it had a fresh professional paint job, the metal flake red with flames wasn't exactly my wife's cup of tea. For the sake of respecting the work that went into filling the tank and side covers, plus all the prep and paint, I suggested that we plastidip those parts to make sure she definitely liked the look of white paint on the bike.
My wife is about 5'1", so lowering the bike was also on the roster for things to do this weekend. I found a set of cherry 2004 Rebel shocks on ebay and had them shipped to my door by Saturday for less than $55. I intend to lower the forks with cut springs and dampner spacers, but for now we just slid the legs up through the trees 1 5/8".
Considering we've only had a few days with the bike already, I know we're both really happy with how well it's turning out. I know she'd like to get a shorter seat (perhaps in brown or dark tan).
As far as the dipping goes; we used white plastidip for the tank and covers... I watched many videos and tutorials before jumping into this and i felt like I would get the best results possible with what I had learned. Unfortunately the tank and covers came out a bit texturized, whereas the Rustoleum Flexidip that we used on the wheels came out super smooth. I guess I was holding the can a little bit too far from the pieces while I was working with the white stuff.
Anyway, enough of the story telling... On to the pics!
When we picked it up:
Within a couple of hours of getting it in the garage:
Prep on the wheels:
First coat of dip:
Starting the wheels:
Almost ridable again:
I had to swap the bushings from the stock shocks to the rebel shocks, I also had to slighlty rearrange the rear brake hose routing and remove the chainguard due to the larger outside diameter of the rebel shocks.
Headlight housing has been re-sprayed in 'champagne' and it looks really good. Should have that all back together tonight.
Let me start by saying that XS400.com has been a great resource for my wife and I. We had been looking for something that would be perfect for her first bike and after reading many threads and sorting through a bunch of builds/photos/etc, she decided that an XS400 with some basic mods would be just right for her.
We picked up this '78 on Wednesday. It's been bored out .50 over and maintained quite well. It does have some non-original parts on it such as, unknown crotch rocket rear signals, honda front fender, XS650 rear fender, and some cheapo looking street bike grips. Aside from that, the frame, engine and everything else for that matter looked to be in fantastic shape for a 36 year old bike! Considering the condition, I think we picked it up for a really fair deal.
Although it had a fresh professional paint job, the metal flake red with flames wasn't exactly my wife's cup of tea. For the sake of respecting the work that went into filling the tank and side covers, plus all the prep and paint, I suggested that we plastidip those parts to make sure she definitely liked the look of white paint on the bike.
My wife is about 5'1", so lowering the bike was also on the roster for things to do this weekend. I found a set of cherry 2004 Rebel shocks on ebay and had them shipped to my door by Saturday for less than $55. I intend to lower the forks with cut springs and dampner spacers, but for now we just slid the legs up through the trees 1 5/8".
Considering we've only had a few days with the bike already, I know we're both really happy with how well it's turning out. I know she'd like to get a shorter seat (perhaps in brown or dark tan).
As far as the dipping goes; we used white plastidip for the tank and covers... I watched many videos and tutorials before jumping into this and i felt like I would get the best results possible with what I had learned. Unfortunately the tank and covers came out a bit texturized, whereas the Rustoleum Flexidip that we used on the wheels came out super smooth. I guess I was holding the can a little bit too far from the pieces while I was working with the white stuff.
Anyway, enough of the story telling... On to the pics!
When we picked it up:
Within a couple of hours of getting it in the garage:
Prep on the wheels:
First coat of dip:
Starting the wheels:
Almost ridable again:
I had to swap the bushings from the stock shocks to the rebel shocks, I also had to slighlty rearrange the rear brake hose routing and remove the chainguard due to the larger outside diameter of the rebel shocks.
Headlight housing has been re-sprayed in 'champagne' and it looks really good. Should have that all back together tonight.
Looks like you need to put a fuel filter between the gas tank and carbs tho
Trust me, you need to do it
