New 1978 XS400 Owner!

[bcware]

I run 100/90/18 in the front and 110/90/18 in the rear. I will say that the bike handles extremely well and looks good. I've never ridden on a stock-sized tire to compare, however. I do a lot of knee dragging and haven't been held back in any way by my obese tires

 

[faze]

I run 100/90/18 in the front and 110/90/18 in the rear. I will say that the bike handles extremely well and looks good. I've never ridden on a stock-sized tire to compare, however. I do a lot of knee dragging and haven't been held back in any way by my obese tires

Do all the stock parts clear the tires? No fender rubbing or issues with the chain guard? Do you drag knee on this bike with stock foot pegs? I dragged knee all the time with my FZ6, but even that was a lot more sportbike than this!

 

[willem]

I've got the continental contigo's, they were relatively cheap and have been very good. The sides go quite high (they're a bit pointy so to say, not so wide or flat) so they roll into the corners with no effort, super smooth. If you want to have a more stable bike going in a straight line (if you do a lot of highway riding), a less pointy tire might be better.

 

[bcware]

Do all the stock parts clear the tires? No fender rubbing or issues with the chain guard? Do you drag knee on this bike with stock foot pegs? I dragged knee all the time with my FZ6, but even that was a lot more sportbike than this!

You might need to trim the chain guard slightly, but that's it. You can sort of split it in the back and it's not really noticeable at all. I took mine off before checking, but I'd assume it will be necessary. Different models of tires have slightly different profiles, so your mileage may vary. I'm running Kenda Challengers.

The main reason I over-sized the tires was for looks. The front is no longer in the bicycle tire size range and the rear looks more like it belongs on a motorcycle too. The front fender hugs very tight, but I have no rubbing. As I've said, I've never ridden on stock-sized tires, so I cannot say that there is any handling benefit, but it hasn't seemed to hurt it any.

The pegs are aftermarket, but the position is stock, yes. My riding position has me on my toes all the time on the outer edge of the peg. All this weight on that outside edge means I destroy soft or rubber-coated pegs very quickly. A replacement oem style set lasted about 40 miles I have even snapped a set of cheap "metal" Chinese pegs in half in the middle of a turn! I've recently switched to a universal Emgo peg made of machined aluminum; so far so good!

Knee dragging on this bike is pretty easy. I made some silly video a while ago with me doing it at like 15 or 20 mph in a parking lot. That said, the bike handles extremely well. It will not hold you back in the corners until you're truly an expert; only your own riding ability will.

Excuse the failure wheelies. I am much better now

 

[Tombo]

Bc you got a good video of a wheelie on your xs? Wheelies, it seems are easy when you have the power to back it up (even easy to do one on accident!), but I struggle to get e front wheel up without doing high-rev momentary engine brake (diving the fork), then snapping back into WOT, and even with that, I really have to pull back hard just to get a couple of ten feet worth of wheelie. I can't sustain it like on other more powerful bikes I've ridden.

 

[bcware]

I never got a video before the end of the season. On small bikes you simply need to "clutch up" your wheelies. From a 5 mph roll pull the clutch in, rev it up, and dump the clutch. It'll come up no problem.

The issue I was having was that I was rolling off the throttle automatically when I dumped the clutch. It's really hard to stop yourself from doing this. Self preservation and all

On a powerful bike it is possible to "chase" a small wheelie. If you pop up a small one you can ride it out with lots of throttle.

On small bikes you'd have to hit the balance point to sustain one. This is not really desirable because lots of older bikes aren't able to pump oil through the engine and I am not sure how the carbs would perform. It's probably best to stick with small ones on the xs400!

Here's someone showing how it's done: stunting and jumping an even less powerful bike; a rebel 250!

 

[Tombo]

Ridiculous video. Is that an open fire in his garage!? Also, pretty crazy riding going on there. I'll have to try the clutch drop and see what I get.

You this oil would be an issue? Seems like the sump is more towards the back of the bottom of the case. If the carbs give up, that'll end the wheelie, but I'd probably get away with it

 

[Tombo]

Also the rebel might actually have better torque at the bottom of the rev simply because it is a 360 crank instead of 180. Would have to research to know for sure.

 

[xschris]

That poor bike Makes me almost want to go buy one if it can hold up to all of that. So who will be the first to jump a xs400

 

[Sesty]

 

[bcware]

Ridiculous video. Is that an open fire in his garage!? Also, pretty crazy riding going on there. I'll have to try the clutch drop and see what I get.

You this oil would be an issue? Seems like the sump is more towards the back of the bottom of the case. If the carbs give up, that'll end the wheelie, but I'd probably get away with it

Also the rebel might actually have better torque at the bottom of the rev simply because it is a 360 crank instead of 180. Would have to research to know for sure.

Just be careful! If you're going to rev it up and dump the clutch from a roll start slow. Rev it to 5,000 and dump it. Once you're comfortable with that move to 5,500, etc. Don't just go for broke or you may loop it. The power band on a small twin can sneak up on you. I tried this on my Ninja 250 and nothing happened until about 8,000 rpms when it suddenly wanted to pop up to the 12 o'clock position. It was a surprise for sure!

I don't know if the oil circulation on that particular bike is an issue; all I know is that it is possible. You really only need to worry about this when you're doing extended balanced wheelies.

Even if the rebel has more torque down low it won't matter. You can pretty much do this with anything. You compensate by tugging back on the bars, leaning backward, or rebounding off the springs. It can be done on pretty much anything with two wheels. A friend of mine even does it on his little 50cc dirt bike with no clutch.

That poor bike Makes me almost want to go buy one if it can hold up to all of that. So who will be the first to jump a xs400

I think he spends a lot of time drinking and rebuilding after that kind of abuse

 

[Scorpio1963]

I think the guy does a lot of drinking so he can get the courage up to ride like that lol.Crazy I would never treat my street my bike like that.Watch that bike will be 4sale on craigslist with the guys saying always taken care of and rode gently lmao

 

[xschris]

Beer will do that to you Or if you merry your sister, have kids and buy them a honda rebel

 

[Tombo]

I can wheelie for miles (literally) on my bicycle, as I used to compete in European bike trials, which if all balance, so I think I should be able to handle a wheelie on the XS. thanks for the tips though, BC, I've only been able to "chase" a wheelie on most bigger bikes, and only get the wheel off the ground on the XS for a couple seconds using my engine brake/wot technique.

The rebels are great bikes. Mt girlfriend has one. Maybe not the most charming bike from a styler perspective, but super solid motors with great acceleration. Easier and very similar to work on as these XS models, but with just one carb, the work is generally much simpler. The only thing I don't like is that the bike has a "puke tube"that will get filled up with engine and road debris that will clog it, cause too much case pressure, and then it pushes out a seal on the left side if the block that will DUMP the oil out until you have nothing left. It happened to my girlfriend after about 6k miles of riding. That's when I bought the manual.. Now that that is fixed, very minor valve adjustment (now at 8K) the bike us back to being solid. When its time to upgrade, I might try to find a Kawasaki w650 for her(similar to an xs650 or bonneville but with a top end drive more like a ducati single)

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[faze]

I wasn't planning on using this bike for wheelies or anything too exciting. I have an R1 for track days, stunting, and carving up the twisties. That said, I do tend to push the limits of what a bike can do, so it's good to know the 400 will be up for some shenanigans!

 

[bcware]

Small bikes are fun to ride fast through the corners. If it's been a while since you've been on something this light you'll see I've done quite a bit of weight reduction. I'm hoping for something like 300 lbs wet weight this season. We'll see!

 

[nickso]

Rebel 250 guy has skillz.....he's the kind of guy Darwins Law catches up with for the good of humanity.

 

[Sesty]

i dunno sometimes those are the guys who live forever...

 

[Scorpio1963]

He is a rebel who rides a rebel imagine that

 

[faze]

So, if I have a MAC 2-1 exhaust, or something to that effect, does it makes sense to get some pod air filters, and rejet the bike? I have to tear apart the carbs anyways. Trying to get a plan together.