I've had a change of heart....long-ish read

I bought my '81 XJ650 to have a project bike. I had a brand new Harley as a daily rider and my wife knew I wanted to tinker. She knew someone in somewhat dire financial straits looking to sell this bike for $300. I was going to offer less, but she said, "no" as the guy needed the money. I thought frankly that HE was getting as goood of a deal as me, if not better.

Well, I putzed around with no direction for a while, then decided to make it lower, stripped down bobber-hot-rod style with a solo seat. I did that. Had it down to the frame, swing arm off, motor out. went through a few tanks til I ended up with a stock one. Made a fendero out of a blank for the rear, new ignition, guages, headlight, made side plates, chopped up the seat and made my own out of the pan. It goes on and on. It looked pretty cool.

But this took a while. Like....a few years. It just wasn't critical to get done. But I did get it "done" and managed to get it licensed, inspected and on the road last fall, about 10 months ago. Then it sat for the winter.

Then came the inevitable. It did not run well at all. It wouldn't start cold, it didn't idle, the carbs popped, hissed and threatened all kinds of terrible stuff. I cleaned the carbs, bought more jets, bench synched, repeat process. I'm sure the pod air filters and 4-into-1 were culpable.

The point to all my rambling is this: I didn't really care. I'd take it out and bomb around the neighborhood to get a sense for what problems it was having, park it in the garage, think about it for a while and then make some changes. Repeat. But this past winter we moved into a new place out of town with a little land. The place needed (still does) some work, I wanted to rent a dozer for a weekend to make a motocross track. I was barely riding my Harley last year due to too many other things going on and I knew we wouldn't be out much on it this year. It was paid for and I spent more time moving it around the garage and dusting it than riding it. So I sold it. It was a sad day, for sure.

8O Oh no! Now if I want to ride, it HAS to be the Maxim! Oh, well. I figured I'd just ride it here and there, now and then, to satisfy my urges as much as possible until we get a new bike that we can ride two up on. My son is in college this year, etc. We plan on getting another bike in early spring 2010. Seems like a while, but it is our plan.

So.....my change of heart? I didn't really care about the Maxim. When I first went on a longer ride with one of my riding friends, my wife made me hook our trailer up to the Nitro before I left in case she had to come get me somewhere along the road. She did that the first three long rides I took. I told her, "Honey, if this thing dies along the road I'll take the plate and push it off into the weeds. If it's there when I come back for it, good. If not, I DON'T CARE!"

Well, I've put a little of 1,000 miles on it now (not a lot, but I got a late start this year and I have a lot of stuff going on...and I can't commute on it because I have a company car for my job). It runs great. I've got it tuned pretty good and I've gotten used to the feel of an in-line four cylinder vs. a big v-twin. I used to think I was killing it and it was too slow. Now I can cruise comfortably on it at 62-65 mph and not feel like I'm killing it. I've had some bursts up in the 80mph range, but I want to keep this thing healthy! No leaks, doesn't burn oil, sounds good, owes me nothing and is flat out fun as balls to ride!

So instead of putting it in the barn with some stabil fuel this winter, I plan on making a few improvements. Most importantly, I'm going to fab some forward controls (it's too cramped for my old hips on those long rides even alternating between the mid controls and my highway pegs). I may re-paint it, may not. Maybe play around with some other things, but nothing major. I'll probably do the alternator brushes and clean the carbs some more for good measure.

I am still looking forward to buying another larger displacement cruiser for my wife and I to ride comforably. But, I have come to love this bike. I guess that's my point.

 

:wink: well i'm glad to see you come around and show your true feelings lol i'm glad you found the inline to be a good bike

 

Willierides, sounds suspiciously like marriage...!
Sure you might dump it in the weeds, but you will be back at first opportunity to pick 'er up.

 

I used to think my XJ was anemic because I'd never run it up past about 6k. Hell, the engine's just waking up then! I've don't have much time on a big twin, but it's got to be entirely different.

'Grats on your new-found love. How often it is that they're right there in front of us the whole time.

 

I'd like to know your wife's opinion of this sentiment. :twisted:

 

Errr.... I'll get back to you on that one.

 

I used to love the big v-twin sound and horsepower..... but the same thing happened here, I was between bikes and owed nothing on mine.
Next thing I know I love to ride this thing.
I agree mine is just waking up north of 6K (then HANG ON!)

Nothing sounds as smooth and sweet as an inline 4 tuned just right!!!