The XS400J-K experiment ends on a sad note.

Bikes are like women, the younger ones run better and do what they're told.

If you bought anything more than 10 years old and expect it to be very reliable then you're delusional, I'm sorry. If your yammy isn't working properly then the problem is with her mechanic. A 30 year bike requires knowhow and experience, if you lack that then why would you buy it to begin with? You can pick up a 2005 cbr for pretty much the same price as one of these old cruisers.

Again, a machine is simply a machine. When its parts are put in the right place a machine has no choice but to work properly. You can dance around all day whining about design flaws but at the end of the day no one is responsible for your bike but you.

Every other day I chase a few gremlins around my bike, but you know what? That's because I enjoy it, and I knew what I was getting in to with a 34 year old girl like her.
 
Man sometimes I wonder if you Canucks know how smug and self righteous you come off. No bike past the 70s with 25K on the clock, that hasn't been abused should be having tranny issues. True I have no idea what the previous owner did to it, but at 25K, if it wasn't ridden like a dirt bike, the tranny shouldn't be dodgy, and I'll stand by that, the clutch perhaps, the tranny no. I can fix it, but is it worth it for this particular bike is the only question?

My '81 XSEleven was reliable as all hell despite no first gear. It's not unreasonable to expect a bike with low or moderate miles of any era, given some attention to maintenance can't be reliable. Hell the CB700SC I got my eye on has done 60K trouble free miles, never stranding it's owner once. There are old bikes that can do it. Hell one of my favorite past bikes was a '74 CB750F I bought with almost 100K on the clcok. I never worked on that bike save adjustments, tires, and oil changes and sold her running. Yes you expect some troubles with older machines, it's just what troubles and how serious and hard to fix at issue. Tranny troubles are something I never expect to see under 50K on an even half ass maintained bike.
 
Benjamin, you couldn't be more wrong if you brought Satan to a Catholic Church my man. (About all machines being equal, lmao hardily) Anyone who's ever owned or worked on anything w/ a motor knows that.
 
Gosh what more can be said but the point has been proven/can be proven that they are not created equal.The same goes for any 34 year old womenLmao
 
Look, I'm in no way trying to imply the XS400 is a lousy bike, but certainly they have their flaws. The Maxim is a cool design and handles nicely, but I think, there are better designs, even by Yamaha itself, in the same era.
 
I never said that all bikes were created equal. You misunderstood. It's very common because people don't like owning up to the truth about machinery.

Reliable, unreliable, they're just words. Either you fix and maintain your bike, or you don't. There is no point in pining after nighthawks or XSelevens. A machine is just a machine, nothing more, nothing less. It will perform exactly within the parameters set up by the operator.
 
A design flaw is a parameter though. You have control over everything, it's just a collection of clockwork and lights. You can account for everything, saying something is "just a design flaw" and then walking away is a defeating attitude. You will encounter design flaws everywhere, you just need to arm yourself with the knowledge required to align things properly.

This is a hot button topic for me, which is why I'm so combative about it. Everything is being made so cheaply and disposably now. Case and point, home depot is discontinuing selling socket sets. People are no longer expected to work on their cars.

That's what i love about this bike, sure it breaks a lot, but everything is within the realm of posibility. everything comes apart if you know where the screws are, and everything can be fixed. You can't say that about bikes nowadays. I'd take a bike that breaks every once in a while over a bike I had no idea how to fix any day of the week and twice on tuesday.
 
Exactly. Some bikes just have superior and more effective design. Not all bikes are put together the same, designed to run or work the same or perform the same and some are just superior to others, period. To say otherwise is like saying there's no difference between the dependability, design and performance in BMW and Yugo, as long as the mechanic servicing it knows what he's doing and the owner maintains it well.
 
Of course everything can be fixed when it breaks. Which us good because it breaks a lot. Or you can have a Kaw or Honda that will break a lot less and perform a lot better. Yugo to Beemer. No one said newer was better either. I won't go newer than late 80's
 
In all fairness Yamaha made some models every bit as bulletproof as bikes get, ie. the XS650. Save for their starters, some of the Viragos are damn fine bikes too though I've never owned one. Really the XS400J and K and Seca models are a damn simple and great design, high power and efficiency for small displacement, I think if my gearbox was a little more confidence inspiring, I'd be fine keeping it my main ride, but knowing how much I loved my '74 CB750F, and my '82 CB450SC Nighthawk, I think I am really lusting after that '84 CB700SC, Nighthawk, and it looks like the car sale and bike purchase will go through. I am a big guy, just a bit under 300# by now, so a 700cc bike is the kind of power I would be happy with, at 80 horses, I think it could be my ride for some time to come.
 
I'm with benjamin on this. Sure, there are more reliable and better built bikes, and there are definitely some unreliable pieces of garbage (why did no one mention italian bikes yet ??) which come out of the factory looking nice and shiny, but after 10 years there's barely any of them left on the road.

But at the end of the day, it's a piece of metal. Sure, there are things that are made better, designed in a more intelligent way or have more performance or rust less easily on other bikes from other brands, or on other yamahas. For example, I think it's ridiculous that you have to remove the rear shock and fender to take out the air filter housing on my XS. And the carbs on these bikes are just way too sensitive to dirt. But as long as you are careful and good with a wrench, there's nothing you can't fix nor is there a reason that these bikes wouldn't last 100k miles at the least. There will be a point at which it is cheaper to get a younger bike or one with lower mileage than it is to keep maintaining an old XS400 with 80k miles on it, of course.

and if you have to adjust the chain every week or two, either your chain is worn badly or you're just not doing something right. I haven't had to do mine in 6 months and it's still perfect.
 
and by the way, these bikes were never built to be bulletproof bikes that would last for decades. These are cheap commuter bikes, it's in their nature to be simplistic and just a means of getting around, they're not made to tour around the world and rack up millions of miles.
 
I sometimes put 700-1000 miles a week on my bike. Chains stretch, but I know, using my bike in a rural area, as my only transportation, I probably rack up more miles per week than anyone on this board.
 
I sometimes put 700-1000 miles a week on my bike. Chains stretch, but I know, using my bike in a rural area, as my only transportation, I probably rack up more miles per week than anyone on this board.
Click to expand...

Man, you put that much milage on your bike and then say it's unreliable? And according to your sig you found it rotting in the rain for 13+ years....

I don't know about you, but that sounds about as bulletproof as you can get, jesus. I'm shocked the thing even turns over let alone is able to do 1000 miles. That's over two hours of hard riding a day, assuming you're going highway speeds.
 
Oh yeah, Highway 20, 19, 119, and US101 all damn day long, nowhere is the speed limit under 40, and mostly 50-55, some of it great twisty canyon riding, which the monoshock DOHC model eats up like a kid does candy. I live in the Styx, you have to rely on your ride, and yes, currently and throughout the time I've owned it, it has been a VERY reliable bike. Even when the engine lost compression the right cylinder was helping, not running on it's own, but not lost at high RPM completely. So, though it would not idle I rode it the 10-15 miles home, and honestly but for one flat, it never stranded me, and even that was like a mile from home and I rode the shoulder home in 1st with a flat on the front and it didn't even damage the mag. I can't say too much bad about the XS400 or J models, but what I need is a bit bigger bike that I have to wrench on less. I am a very competent backyard mechanic. I've never delved into bottom ends other than clutches because I've never had to. Thing is, I'm not afraid to, I just got to have a reliable ride while I tear the XS down.
 
I guess all I'm saying is it's a great little bike, but it's a little bike and it has given me more to wrench on and more cause for worry than any of my Hondas or Kawasakis ever did. While I have to admit it's a hell of a bike, I have had bikes I liked and trusted more and I want that again. I do mis the XSEleven's raw power and shaft drive, and with the Nighthawk 700, I'd be getting a bike with all that but without that horrid monstrous size that makes one wish for a reverse gear. I have never ridden a Nighthawk over the 450, but if it lives up to the reviews, with that 16" front tire it should far outperform my old '81 XJ750 Maxim (The best cleanest Yamaha I ever owned), and that get's me a bit of a biker chubby just thinking about eating up road on that kind of machine!
 
I hear a different bell ringing now from earlier.Mark
As for the parimeters of design flaw and the machine performing within this perimenter most machines were built to not have this perimeter.They were built to go beyond and built to last.Maybe not last 30 years.
Take for example (sorry all I have is automotive axamples) but I had 77 chevy 350 that last well over 350k.No major rebuilds,or any major work done to the engine.It was built to last that long but for some reason it did.It went beyond any expected perimeter that the engine would have ever been built for and it was 17 years old.I have had others that have lasted almost as long but some that werent even close.
I could use another example from HUMAN ANATOMY THE BRAIN>I dont want to write a biography.Oh wait its not a machine:laugh:
 

Similar threads

G
Air lock in fuel line?
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
gpounce32768
G
M
Can't Take It Off Choke
Replies
2
Views
426
tstidham
tstidham
E
78 XS 400 2E won't start!
Replies
6
Views
545
Ed Dunham
E
N
New member, new bike, and some questions
Replies
19
Views
2K
Nichalus
N
M
Top end ticking/knocking
Replies
13
Views
1K
MrPURPL3
M
Back
Top