New to riding

I had always wanted a bike, and I have finally come to the conclusion that I am at last mature enough at 28 to own one. Never cared much for crotch rockets, and just wanted a nice cruising bike. I came across an ad on craigslist for this 1982 650 Maxim and it really caught my attention:







$1400. It has been gone through and cleaned and repainted, and has an engine with only 7k miles on it. I drove up and offered him $1300. He promptly refused and I asked him if I payed his asking price if he would deliver it to my place. He agreed so I bought it. I have been playing around with it a bit, and I must say, I had no idea what I was actually buying! This is one incredible bike and I am truly happy with my purchase. So far I have just changed the plugs, adjusted some slack into the clutch cable, and am trying to chase down why the #1 cylinder seems to have a miss to it.

In my wait time while studying the manual to get my permit, I have been riding it up and down my friend's driveway (about 1/8th mile). I have been enjoying it so much I have put about thirty miles on it there!

 

Nice find! Looks like the previous owner (PO) took care of that bike. Even with that there are things that you need to check for yourself.

First before you take it out on the road check the rear brakes for delimitation.

Get a repair manual, you will be doing most of the work yourself (sound like you already have a good start) most shops wont touch these old bikes and if they do they cost!

Once you get your manual go through all the regular maintenance to make sure everything is up to snuff.


That realy is a nice looking bike. By the way if there is one in your area take the Motorcyle Safety Corse its well worth the money.

 

Thank you. I have no problem taking a course. For the time being I am just talking to a lot of people I know that ride or used to and getting a lot of advice and pointers. All of them have recommended that I take the course as well. Not because i don't know what I'm doing, but maybe someone will ask a random question that I had never thought of, and maybe it could save my life one day. Hope for the best, and expect the worst.

I went to an automotive technical school, so I'm no stranger to tearing into things. The build on the MR2 got pretty crazy which is why I was wanting to get something else to drive here and there.

 

In the course they will drill you, and drill you, and drill you on skills that come in very handy in a pinch.

 

Killer find Captain!

 

Besides checking the front and rear brake, I recommend replacing them even if they look ok, I wanted to let you know that if there is a miss and you find it is the carb the you will need to do a clean, sync and colortune. These are things you will want to do yourself because most of the guys in the shops today don't know what they are doing when it comes to these 30 year old bikes. You should also think about replacing the brake lines as well because they are probably the originals and they are not to be trusted at the age they are. Looks good but you will need to do some work to get it in safe riding condition due to the age. Here is a list of things I did to my bike to get it back to like new condition.....
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=31614.html
Note that the pictures are of the bike before it was completed so now it also has an NOS seat cover on it and NOS mufflers. Best of luck to you. Take the course. Even though I rode for around 40 years I took it and did pick up some things that I never thought of plus a lot of states offer the motorcycle endorsement at the completion of the course so you don't have to go to your DMV and take another test.

 

WELCOME and NICE lookin' XJ!!! When you get out on the streets, ride like you've got a bullseye painted on your chest and back...

skillet

 

Very nice indeed! Let me be the first one to say this (I hope I didn't overlook it in a previous comment ) Check the valves! Very easy to do on these engines and very necessary. First check was to be done at 3000 miles and then every 5000 miles thereafter so unless you know for a fact this was done check.

Again, very nice bike! 8)

 

New rider myself here... recovering from a low slide unfortunately. My advice/what I learned from my wreck... If you ever take a turn and feel like you are going faster than you want/getting closer to the shoulder do not panic. Dig in and lean harder. If you panic and grab a brake it will stand you up straight out of your lean/turn and you will end up going where you were trying to avoid. Just my .02

Welcome aboard. Enjoy the xj! and wear your gear!

-Ryan

 

I will certainly check out the rear brakes when I take the wheel off to get a new tire put on (it is down to the wear bars), but I have been able to lock up the rear wheel slightly under hard braking, so I am not too worried about it at the moment. It is a custom color, the previous owner knew someone that owned a body shop, and he did it just for the price of the materials, and did one hell of a job on it. I just wish he would have cleaned up the frame on it when he had it all apart. Other than that, no complaints here for the price!

 

Welcome aboard. Great looking bike!

There is a thread called "Be the bunny" somewhere here... find it and read it. Lots of good stuff. This forum is full of good info so I say just read anything on here. You might see something today that helps six months from now.

Be safe and don't get overconfident but don't be too timid either. Both can equate to a funeral given the right (or wrong) circumstances.

 

Ah balls. Starter just stopped engaging the gear. Took it off and tested it and sure enough, the gear doesn't kick out. Time to learn how to rebuild a starter!

Anyone ever used this kit? The price is excellent, but sometimes you get what you pay for...

http://www.motorcityreman.com/610-227.html

 

Well you'd better worry about that rear brake. The original shoes are known to delaminate and separate, causing the rear wheel to lock up. As you can imagine, this presents a safety problem. Rear shoes are about $30. I changed mine just to be sure.

 

I don't drive it on the road yet. It needs a new rear tire as well, so while I have it apart I will check that too.

 

Really nice Maxim there. Your starter may not be bad, maybe you just ran the battery down. The charging system doesnt kick in till around 2500K, so maybe youve just got a low voltage problem.

 

I don't believe the gear kicks out on starter for these bikes. It may need to be cleaned and new brushes but if it spun when you put power to it, the starter may be fine. The starter clutch is inside the transmission case and they are known to have problems (not saying that is the problem). I would take the starter apart and see what the brushes look like before getting a rebuild kit. My wife’s 750 the starter didn’t spin very well, I pulled it apart cleaned it up and put it back together and has been working fine for two years now. (Although rebuilding the thirty year old starter may give you a peace of mind when out riding 150 miles from home)

 

Hooked a jump pack up to it and yielded the same results. I had though that was the issue at first too.

 

Welcome!
I highly recommend the MSF course. And reading ALL of this thread: http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=11852/

 

So I have been riding this around for about two weeks now. Turns out the starter wasn't bad at all, and I am suffering from the same issue many others have when the bike is hot, and it just sounds like marbles rattling about inside. As for my first major issue with the bike, it took me a month to figure out what the hell was wrong. It would run fine when it was cold, and once it warmed up it would die. I was convinced it was an ignition issue. So I took the tank off, and started looking around, and it turns out... I was low on gas. I felt pretty stupid. Moved it to reserve, and it fired right up.

Just thought I'd share my embarrassment with you all. I had to laugh at how dumb this was, and I even had bought a starter off ebay because I was so convinced.

Lesson learned.

 

Your "starter" issue MAY be as simple as what oil you've got in it.

You need to be using conventional motorcycle oil, such as Castrol 4T. Automotive oil and/or synthetics (even those supposed to be for motorcycles) can often cause starter clutch "problems."

Don't ignore your valve clearances, BTW. I see others have mentioned it as well, and you didn't acknowledge that particular advice. It's as important to the health of the motor as the brakes are to your survival.

 

I agree. When I get the chance I will take it over to my friend's mechanic and have him take a look at it.

 

Some new pics. I love this bike. I found this jacket for $65 at an antique store, fits me perfectly, and the gloves at the state fair for $5. And yes I have a helmet, and DO wear it.

 

That jacket is really neat. Good find! Good pictures too.

 

The brand is Protech Leather Apparel. It is really thick leather, as it should be. I love the classic styling, and my girlfriend has always love the "greaser" style, so this adds to it.

 

That's a sweet bike, same as mine (I have Dunlops tho).

I'm jealous about the sissy bar and rack, I really need to get something like that (preferably with quick adjuster on the sissy bar so I can move it back and forth).

 

Nice bike young man, I hope I look as good on mine, nice pics too.

Kilted, I have a similar rack on mine, it came with the bike 20+ years ago. The sticker on it says "AMCO Motorcycle Accessories" if that helps any.

Back to you CP, Ride safe and always expect the UN-expected. I had a few close calls in my early life and was fortunate to live through it so I could learn from it...

 

haha look at all familiar brad?

I got one just like it, got it off craigslist from some guy in a barn for 23 bucks. Gotta love the classic leather jacket!

 

Fonzie much? Just Kidding. Love that style too, can't beat the classics...

 

I know! That was exactly what I was thinking when I put it on! I love it even more for it. I took the frills off of the zippers though, I can't stand those.

I just had to look up what you meant by a sissy bar (as the title says, I'm new to riding). And this one does have a quick slider too. I was searching for a bike for about three months until I found this one that met all of my criteria.

 

The Female passengers like the back rest, it keeps them from falling off. Some guys disagree, hence the T shirt...

 

Even if I did not want my gf on the back of the bike, I would still want one on there. I think it completes the look of the bike since it HAS a back seat.

 

I agree, it kind of ties it all together. If there is ever another bike in my future it will definitely have one...