Slightly altered 83 XJ750 Maxim

Went with 130 mains and 43 pilots

 

I was just going to ask you! What intake/exhaust set up are you running again?

 

UNI pods, stock collector, no mufflers, 4" buffle inserts into collector.

 

And were did you get the 4" buffle inserts....do tell....pls

 

SoCal Powersports

 

Still need to think of a place to nicely mount license plate. So far my only option is to mount it on a bracket to either axle or factory bottom shock mount on the left side since I still have that pin in the differential.

Also, after mounting and wiring in tail light I am kind of disappointed of how it looks, doesn’t flow with the tail section of the bike.

 

What differential? You only have one drive wheel.

 

I would be surprised if the XJ550H weighed 407#
Cheers, 50gary

 

Agree with 50gary, wet weight of XJ550H should be in the neighborhood of 450 lbs.

 

maxim Seca 550 net wt 407 lbs from manual
424 lbs with half tank fuel

Euro 550 wet wt 450 lbs

 

So XJ550H weights more than my bike. Lol

 

Just a random picture that I thought looked cool.

 

Well, I think it looks kinda cool too!

 

Looks slick. How does she ride?

 

Like a modern day sport bike. More specifically like a 2006 R1 with half the power. Lol

 

i would love to do this, but i dont think i would be able to weld everything on straight. Something would be slightly off.

 

Bled front brakes today to change the fluid and went out for a quick ride. At first brakes felt great so I decided to see how well they’ll do their job in emergency situation and squeezed lever much harder than usual to the point of rear wheel started leaving the ground and rear brake locked up. I can to a stop and noticed my right brake caliper is covered in fluid, initial though was “oh got, I am an idiot and didn’t tighten bleeder screw”, a second later I realize that my fork, engine and as I look up my tank is covered in fluid. At that moment I realized that it wasn’t brake fluid but instead it was gas splashing out of the tank!

So now I am at wow as I am not sure how to solve this problem. Gas tank cap seal appears to be in good condition with no visible cracks, spring that pushes seal down also appears to be in good functional condition.

Any suggestions on what to do? Perhaps spring got too soft over the years?

 

there is a vent in the cap plus 2 orings
Your Gas Cap and You

best suggestion is don't stand the bike up on front wheel use more back brake less front.

you could drop a disc and caliper making the bike lighter


could be the springs holding the seal down

 

Two thoughts, is the bike perched too forward and front heavy with the fork swap and mono shock? Also sounds like you might need new gas cap seals. Maybe try re positioning it to see if you can get a better seal?

 

It’s rear bias. 220 lbs rear, 200 lbs front, but I am not sure how myself and my riding position effects that.

Not sure what stock Maxims weight distribution is.

 

I will be working on my bike this weekend, so i can take measurements of how high my rear frame hoop is off the ground and compare it to yours. From pictures it looks like you might have welded in the seats frame rails at a higher pitch. We have the same setup except i still have two rear shocks and 2013 r6 forks. You might need to get stiffer springs on the front forks to prevent fork dive and minimize weight distribution. When my bike was stock i never had the rear tire pick up during hard braking.

How fast were you going?

 

I wasn’t looking at the speedo, I would guess maybe 35-ish?
I know stock maxim never did it that’s because front brakes sucked for such heavy bike.

Sounds like you got an awesome project yourself! Initially I also wanted to go with R6 front end, but after weighing in pros and cons of R6 VS R1 I decided to go with R1 Front. My monoshock conversion was also dictated by cool factor, looks, performance and price.

What tank did you go with on your bike?

 

It's called a "stoppie" stunt guys do that on purpose, ride the front wheel with the rear high in the air. I think the nature of the increasing the progressive lever pressure is the cause? At least you didn't lock up the front, that's usually a crash. You have 52% rear weight bias probably typical for these bikes, I'm hoping to get 50/50 with out rider but that's only a goal at this point. I may have mentioned the front springs, I have Race Tech .9kgm in my R1 forks but your bike is very light compared to regular XJs. I hardly ever use the rear brake. Maybe the gas leaked out only because of the stoppie.
Cheers, 50gary

 

I don’t think my fork is an issue. My deciding factor for going with R1 suspension and trying to save as much weight as possible because I was trying to avoid changing springs since my bike and R1 weight about the same +/- few pounds. I do realize that gas leaked out because of stoppie, but I still would expect for gas lid to stay sealed.

I ordered new gas door/cap yesterday. Will replace it once it comes in and report back.

 

I don't think its your forks either, I am actually concerned that the adjustments made to the rear changed the center of gravity on the bike, making it easier for the back tire to lift up. Easy way to solve it is to date a fat chick and take her with you on rides.

 

I have a 650 seca tank on mine. It was all "done" then I got tired of the front end. also have been trying to find a solid solution for a swingarm swap for rear disc brakes and 17in rim upgrade.

cognito is the only drum to disc available, but that comes with it's own headaches and crazy $$$.

 

There are two issues when it comes to riding with fat chicks...

1. I am married to a skinny chick
2. My bike is a single seater

 

could have .just been the weight of the gas pushing forward compressed the springs and sloshed out

 

That’s a definite possibility. It seems that vintage technologies weren’t designed for a lot of things.
I never had that issue when my bike was stock with old suspension and crappy brakes.

 

Since my XJ is back on the road, I ended up selling my KLX250SF SuperMoto today.
I really want to take XJ apart to refinish everything, but I also down want any down time not riding the bike. So more than likely refinishing will start closer to December or whenever the rain season starts.

 

Not always a bad way to do it anyway. Gives you plenty of time to ride it and decide if there's any changes, big or small, that you end up wanting to make. A lot easier to do that if it's not painted up just how you want it first. Depending on the desired modification of course. Bike looks good. I would want to enjoy it asap also. That's exactly why I haven't finished my 650 and wont until the 750 is on the road so I still have something to ride hahaha

 

Finally got motivated and shortened my side stand to more appropriate 15* lean angle. On initial shortening I shortened it to the lean angle of 7* and ever since I was scared to leave it parked on side stand because on anything less than perfectly leveled ground it was getting tipped over by the wind.

Also... excuse my temporary solution to plate mounting. Lol

Oh, and you can see the mirror I mounted on the left side clip on.

 

Question here, I found a "swirl" pattern rear 3'' x 16" wheel that has a six bolt pattern disc brake mount. Is that a Virago wheel? The splines are the same size and number but the depth is different than my 82 750 Maxim. Does anyone know what this wheel is from?
Cheers, 50gary

 

I could be wrong here but I don’t believe any viragos came with rear disk brake. I personally will be going with XJ700 rear wheel. It’s same size & offset as our stock wheel but has 5 spikes which imo will better match style of my bike. But wheel won’t be mounted until final stage of the assembly as I want to powdercoat everything at the same time and don’t feel like paying twice for mounting new tire (will have matching to the front tire Michelin Commander 2).

 

xj700 wheels are super cheap and easy to find. i got mine for $50 + shipping. Near perfect condition.

mistermonkeyclaw on ebay is who i got mine from, he is cheap, honest, ships fast and answers questions.

 

Nice!
Do you by any chance have a picture of it on your bike with R6 front?

 

Not at the moment, i can take some pics this weekend. Bike is in New Jersey and i live in Brooklyn.

 

That would be great if you could. It sounds like you got an awesome project going on man!

 

Went for a ride to the lake Berryessa today. Bike performed flawlessly. I think I need to take some preload out of the rear shock, I went up a notch this morning and I think I prefer it the way it was before. Also speedo needs better calibration, shift light (set at 9000 RPM) came on in 5th and max speed was showing 99 mph, so something is not right.

 

I think you need a shorter clutch cable

 

Need shorter clutch and throttle cables. Clutch cable is from R1 since it was just tiny bit shorter than stock maxim one and throttle cable is stock maxim.

 

@chacal will make cables to your specified length.

 

No he won't! But we do have cables that are shorter (or longer) than stock, they are factory cables for other applications, but we no longer offer custom-length cables.

 

Oops. My bad.

 

Finally calibrated my speedo. Feels so nice to know the exact speed I am going. Checked it with GPS at 20,40,65,85 mph and it’s spot on!
Finally it won’t be showing 55-60 mph when cruising on highway. Lol

 

Just realized that I haven’t driven a car in 3 days, I guess Maxim is just that much fun to ride.

 

Thanks for the comment, I'm not knowledgeable about what bike this wheel came on, I would like to know for sure just to make it easier to buy new bearings. It is NOT a straight 5 spoke design, it's the traditional "swirl" pattern with a smaller 6 bolt (8mm) circle for the rotor. The spider for the drive spline is also 6 bolts with rubber cush drive, where as my original is 5 bolts without cush drive. I'll check out the XJ700 wheels.
Cheers, 50gary

 

cars are for when it is snowing

 

I beg to differ.
I am in California so no snow for me and my Vert is also plenty of fun to take for a cruise.

 

Went on the longest ride on XJ so far. Total of 105 miles.
Also tried to see how fast it will go but run out of room before I had to slow down for bend, 120 mph so far. They way the bike felt, I think it should do another 5-10 mph. It pulls very strong until 105 mph, which was verified few times.
And once again I am very impressed with handling of this bike, grippy, predictable, forgiving, stable. Love it!