Hey everyone

Im new to this site, and new to the motorcycle scene. I just bought my dads old 1982 xj750 and wanted to know a bit about customizing it. First, to make it a bobber, do you have to mod the frame? Also, If i put clubman handlebars on it, how will it affect my handling both in positive and negative?

 

There are afew ways to make the xj a bobber, you can go hardtail, or you can find smaller struts to lower the ass end, and bitching the old seat for a solo would get you one step closer. The key to a bobber is stripping anything and everything that is not needed to haul ass down the street, so front fender, "bob" the rear fender which is cutting it shorter, lowering the center of gravity with a nice rear end, croppin off the gauges and such. Im in the process of bobbing my 85 xj700 which has smaller struts, 12" apes forward controls, the seat is actually the seat pan wrapped in denim. Im only a few bucks into it and its looking closer to my dream xj. If you want a good site which is where i buy most of my parts id go with TC Bros. Choppers, they work specificly on xs and cb with parts for xj's and the likes. They have great products for a modest price, so just check em out, write down exactly what you want your bike to have and what you want it to look like and then think about how big you are compared to it. If you are 250+ over 6' you might be alittle cramped with clubmans on the mid set controls. But if your a moderate size then id say go for it, its all a matter of riding preferance, i personally love my mini apes and forward controls, and im only 5'10" 170llbs. But definitly keep us updated on it, sounds like itd be a sweet little scoot.

 

check out my build thread......I've done a good bit of stuff on bobbing my 82xj750. Lots of pics int he thread, ask questions and I'll answere what I can. where ya located??

 

You dont have to hard tail the bike to customize it. If you wanted to simplify the bike, you can cut the frame behind where the rear shocks mount, and come up with a custom fender, rear light and licence plate mount. I find the sexiest bike to be the simplest, but do not consider lack of rear shocks as part of this.

 

So i decided against the bob look as hard tailing it would be a poor choice (i live in michigan which is known for its horrible roads. Instead i went for a more cafe racer look. i put on clubmans, repainted and got rid of the airbox. I also moved all the rear end around and put on a custom taillight. heres some pics of the progress so far.

Heres what im starting with. it has all the fenders and everything. i actually drove it earlier that day.



heres the new rear end, ill probably end up getting smaller turn lights but for now its somethin.

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Red frame (it looks pink in this pic due to my shitty camera) but its definitely Gloss Red enamel.
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heres the tank, same paint as frame.
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I have a lot more to do to this still. i had to build the mounts for the clubmans, im looking for a round headlight and gauges still.
thanks for the input guys!

 

moved my controls back to the muffler mount.


overall look as of 11-24-10

 

So it's been awhile since I've been on here. The beast has come a long way since 2010. Stripped almost everything off it. Rewired the whole thing, still want to do clip ons, longer rear shocks and shorten the front forks a little. All winter projects. Motor is going black this winter and seat cushion is being made. She is a beast though. Faster than any 80s 750 I've come across yet. More pics soon

 

You made a Maxim look cool - nice job.

 

Haha thanks man!

 

Couple of new progress pics, designed and fabricated a set of 36mm clip ons out of some steel pipe and spare Robot parts. Also made a seat for the fiberglass shell out of industrial grade 1" high density foam and vinyl. I glued the foam to a piece of wood and then pulled the vinyl around it and stapled to the wood. Then ran machine screws through the fiberglass into T nuts drilled into the wood. Not too bad for my first time doing any kind of fabric work. Haha more to come soon.