Total noob, lady rider

1980 Yamaha XJ Maxim 650cc

Looking for resources for minor customizations, locals to ride and network with, and general wisdom for my new adventure.

A little background on me: I'm 23, an Oregon native, and have not a lot of motorcycle experience. I was however commended on my abilities when I took the Team Oregon endorsement class 3 years ago. After all that time, I finally have been able to buy myself a motorcycle. I knew I wanted a cruiser, shaft driven, between 450 and 650 cc. I found my motorcycle on craigslist a few days ago. It needs a few things, but runs great.

I'm looking for new handlebars (mine make me feel like a t-rex they come so close together), seat cover with some texture, sissy bar, saddlebags, all sorts of stuff. She also needs new brakes and tires superbad.

That being said... here's my bike.

​

And here's me.

​

 

Hi antiorder
Nice clean looking bike. Looks like you got a good machine there.
The folks on this forum are a great help. I've spent hours trolling through postings for inspiration.
Some hot machines on here of all types.
Have a good look around, ask lots of questions, & enjoy your bike.
I envy you 'cos I'm still working on getting my machine back on the road. Soon though......

BTW: it's helpful to use the location feature of your profile - lets others nearby know where you're from so you can start collecting riding buddies,
& including brief details of your bike in your signature seems to be the done thing.

Stay safe out there.

 

Thanks Mike! I'm still working on setting all the extra info up. I also am not taking my newly acquired ride out on any main streets until I get more practice and some new brakes!

 

Uhhh. Did you know you have wires coming out your nose???!!!


Signed,

Old man

 

OHMYGAHD! That must be the alien life form my husband warned me about!

 

These are great bikes and wear items such as tires and brakes are fairly inexpensive. I recently found this site and the people here really know their Yamahas and are ready and willing to help. I searched several older forums and was able to find answers to most of my questions about my 650.

I can only recommend that when you get her up and running, take some time and practice what you learned in a parking lot or quiet street, the benefits from this practice are huge.

 

Hello antiorder...a Manual is a very good thing to have, it will tell you the maintenance stuff that needs doing and how to. Tyres and brakes are a good place to start. Carbs are usually a need to do, tho you say its running great. There,s a ton of information in here if you search the forums.
Heres a coupla useful ones of many..

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8 ... art=0.html

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1 ... ation.html

And ask .......... good luck, ride safe.

 

welcome aboard think you will like it here . dont pay attention to what alout of people say in their comments they mean no harm.like the one clipperskipper said he is just looking out for you. you never know you might be able to outride him. best of luck with your new toy

 

Welcome to the forum Anti. It's pretty safe to say if you want to do something to your bike, you'll find someone here's who's done it, knows how to do it, or can figure out how to do it!! Just remember ...the only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked

Does your hubby share your riding enthusiasm?



(p.s.. move very slowly ...I think that alien's tail is coming out your right ear...!! 8O )

signed,
another old man

 

Anti, you are a good sport! There are a number of XJ owners in the Portland area who are more than willing to help with any issues you are up against.

I have an '81 XJ650 with somewhere around 18K miles on it that I need to nurse back to health. I have another bike that I use as my daily rider but would like to get my little Yammy running again. They are a blast!

I would propose that we get a group together to do a carb clean/rebuild tech session sometime soon. I would be more than willing to host the session at my place as I have a 3 car garage, A/C in the garage and an air lift for ease and comfort (I'm old, remember?) as well as hand tools, Dremel, die grinders, etc. I also have a ColorTune that might be fun to play with. I have the factory manual that I purchased from Len so we have the original XJ good book. I even have a spare rack of carbs to rebuild for my bike.

I need to replace the battery, check valve adjustment, rebuild the carbs and paint mine and it will be good to go.

We can burn some animal flesh or vegetable flesh if that is your preference on the Traeger grill, drink iced tea/sodas and learn some good stuff together.

I am available most weekends with the exception of July 15-18 (BMWMOA International Rally in Redmond, OR) and the first 2 weeks of September.

If any are interested please contact me at arfbot@gmail.com with dates you are available and we will see what becomes available.

Ride your bike, bring just your carbs, etc. and learn from a master. Oh, we will also need a master! Anybody in the Portland area willing?

Let me know,

Loren

 

Pm the use chacal for quotes on brakes.

I wish my ride was that shiny.

 

i picked up an ATV seat cover at wally-world for around $18

it has some texture and hides the tears and duct tape nicely.

be warned if you're height-challenged, it will make you sit slightly higher off the ground.

the only down side is that it does absorb water if you park in the rain - the plus is that it is very easy to remove to a)keep out of rain or b)bring inside to dry it off.

the seat on your maxim isn't quite as flat as the seat on my seca, but i bet the cover will still fit ok, or could be modified to fit.

 

I welcome you to the site.
Baphomet finds the extra hardware quite pleasing.
You will find all the answers to bike questions here so feel free
to ask.

 

Clipperskipper - Thanks for the info. She's up and running, and as noted in a previous message, I'll be taking her around the block(s) for practice many times before out on the main streets or freeway. Also, she needs brakes realbadlike, so we'll be doing that first.


Bushy - Thanks so much for the links. I'll read through! Tires and brakes are the first things getting attention, so I'm glad I'm on the right track!


Cutlass - Haha, aw thanks! I've done the forum thing before, and know people can be pretty mean sometimes. I'm prepared!


Mad_Bohemian - My hubby knows how to ride a bike better than I do, however he does not yet have his endorsement. I'd say I'm a bit more of an enthusiast than he, but he does have a love for two wheeled vehicles! Oh and that? It's a wing, not a tail! ;P


Wamaxim - That poor bike! Mine has "25k" on it. I say that in quotes because it's obvious that the tack and speedometer were replaced (this was confirmed by the seller). He told me it actually has about 35k on it, but I bet it's more like 45k. But hey, she runs! She does need to be checked out by a more experienced mechanic, as I had my friend Joel take a ride before buying her. He said that besides brakes, she worked pretty damn well.

I would LOVE to do a carb clean / rebuild session. However, I would need some assistance in all forms of removing parts off the bike, etc. I do know how to use tools and have worked on cars before so I'm not starting from the very beginning.

Mmm, burning flesh sounds good too. I'll email you, thanks Loren!


Metal_Bob - Thanks bob, I'll get in touch with him. Shiny? She's matte black and some chrome! Haha. I found a parts yamaha on craigslist last night- thinking about taking it's matte black fenders and switching them out, since the front one on mine has a scrape.


Skeeter - I'm looking for a fitted cover I can switch out with the leather one I have- mine is in great shape. I can't make the bike any damn taller than it is as it is JUST short enough for me. Haha.

--

On a different note, anyone know which other models sissy bars will fit my bike? They are super hard to find online...

Also, who do you guys get your insurance through?

 

Oh Wamaxim your tech session idea sounds great, but kinda a long ride for me ;-)
What a shame. I just finished a full carb clean/rebuild & woulda liked a master to emulate.
That said, I used the masses of good info on here to help me get through relatively unscathed & with a bike that runs again.

Anti, I've even found a couple of folks on this forum near me (about 4 hours away) who have offered help & hospitality.
One very helpful guy (truckerbikes) has even offered to ride here to help me with the fine tuning once I'm on the road.
So, they are a bunch of friendly & helpful folk on here. Is just XJ riders, Yamaha riders, or motorbike riders in general???

 

HMM, I may have to pierce my nose. I never get this much response from my posts... :lol:

antiorder,
Keep an eye on ebay. I picked up an extra seat in great condition for $25 delivered and a factory service manual for $30. Just be careful and check prices with chacal(xj4ever) before buying mechanical/electrical parts. A lot of times he's actually cheaper than the used original parts go for in the auctions.

J.C.Whitney also sells vinyl re-up kits for the Secas and Maxims. You can just cover over the old or remove it.

Welcome to my addiction!

 

mmk,

chacal has every part you need, rear brake pads are around 40 smacks, I dont know about front, visually check those, see how bad they are, you may need to bleed the front brakes, I would do it anyways, because god only knows how old it is.

Tires- best value and really good tires- bridgestone battle axe's go to bikebandit.com use code ducati123 for 10% off, and they're $120 shipped to your door, you can get tires for less, like 30 less shipped to your door, but they're not worth it.

handlebars, From what i hear, the European bend of bars from I dont know what company is a sporty, comfy bar, try googling European bend handlebars, they're like 15 smacks, I have drag bars, not so much for comfort though

I take it you must be a photographer, cuz that must be one hulluva camera.

oh ya. sissy bar-pretty much non existent, look through ebay and wait... or if you have a metal fab shop or a husband that can weld, you can have one made, and find a bitch pad on ebay or something and use that as the pad on the bar.

For insurance, I use progressive, easy to do online, cheap, and mine at 19 YO is 250 a year, you're 23 so should be the same cuz i htink the discont is at 25.

-KID

 

Thanks for all the info schooter. Actually, my husband is the photographer.

 

Welcome aboard Antiorder

You might want to check out the handlebars at JC Whitney if you dont find the sissy bars.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/handlebars/p20 ... uId=426395


They have pretty nice prices, also a nice assortment of decently priced saddlebags.

Eddie

 

Actually, the seat support for the tall-back seat makes for a really good sissy bar. If you have the standard low seat, all you have to do is bet a pad, drill three small holes to mount the pad, and you're good to go. These are not easy to find. HOWEVER........

If you want to see what one of those look like, pm me with an email address and I'll take a pic of one for you I have a few available.

Dave Fox

 

Antiorder wrote: snip......... Also, who do you guys get your insurance through? .....end snip

You're gonna love this! I get my insurance through Foremost Insurance and saved a bundle over Oppressive (Progressive my a$$). One prerequisite for the super rate was that I had to join AARP. Holy crap I'm old. I had my Maxim insured with Oppressive and the rate was $97 per year for liability and UI. When I added my Beemer the premium went to over $900 JUST FOR THE BEEMER!!! I switched to Foremost and full coverage including a policy rider for the sidecar, $500 deductible, safely high liability limits and the premium is less than $300 PER YEAR! I think Flo screwed the pooch on this one!

Give Foremost a lookup on line. Allstate ran an ad on the telly last week for mc insurance too.

The maintenance items I listed in my 'need to do' post need to be done to ALL Maxims fairly soon after you get it to make sure you aren't burning valves, etc. I've probably put 2-3K on mine since I got it and still haven't checked. Shame on me!

BTW you might want to check jcwhitney.com for the seat covers. They have fitted covers guaranteed to be correct for a good price. You might be able to get a similar price at a local upholstery shop.

Good luck and have fun with your bike!

Loren

 

I am incredijealous of your bimmer and sidecar set up. That is most awesome.

I suppose I'll look up progressive. I have to find out if my home insurance people do motorcycles too. That's on the list for today.

 

Welcome to the site Antiorder.
Have you looked at your rear brake shoes??

 

Howdy, I saw the forum post about checking them with the example of delamination. I haven't ridden since then, cause I need to check them out. However, my friend Joel who works for Team Oregon (rider training) checked them out and said my brakes need replaced but didn't notice anything heanous.

 

I just got a quote through foremost and it was over EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS for a year! Then I got Statefarm's, and it was almost the exact same. So I talked to Allstate and Progressive. Progressive was DEFINITELY the cheapest. Under 150 for minimum everything. Add 90 for 5k of medical coverage. That is for a year long term!

WTF? 800 vs 150 is a huge difference.

 

You Americans still have it the best when it comes to insurance. I've been quoted >$3k... I'll be paying $1102 (by FAR the cheapest) in August when I'm 25.

 

Sweet jesus. How much is it to insure a car? I'd almost try to pretend it had four wheels if it makes a difference. Ya know, no big... just insurance fraud. haha.

 

Hey- - zip-de-do-dah for a full year of no coverage here !!
I have 3 tagged bikes.
I just need to not wreck. No insurance on the boat either.

 

Not wreck or get pulled over..

 

Welcome from NW Mississippi! I went to the local fabric store and bought 1 square yard of marine grade vinyl for 13 bucks, stretched and stapled, turned out ok.

 

He doesn't have to worry about getting pulled over down there.

Dave

 

Just ride north a bit. WA is another of the nine states that don't require insurance for MC's.

Hi btw
I took a quick glance at your website and noted a few locations a photographer friend of mine in Portland has used. The world just keeps getting smaller.

You definitely found THE place for info on your bike (and picked a good one based on your criteria) Maxim's may be laid back comfy cruisers but they've got bitchen vuvuzela (swarm of bees is the outdated description for straight 4 sound) sport motors. I think it's that juxtaposition that makes the XJ---M riders love'em the way they do.