Project Maxim Tracker

Here are a few pictures of my project. I am going for a street tracker look. I started off with a bike with only 2700 miles! I bought it from the original owner. It had spent the last 9 years in a game room hiding behind a barber's chair. Pictured below is myself and Wales, this was taken at my wife's family reunion. His wife road this bike, he had a HD that he road. We went out for a short ride that day and it is believed that that was the last day the bike was ever ridden. Wales died a year later of cancer.

 

Here it is setting next to my ST1100.

 

Those that get squeamish around cutting tools may want to stop following now. Here I am chopping the back off.

 

Here is the aftermath of the cutting.

 

Close up of the new tail section. I bought it at an estate auction.

 

Yep, it is getting a Seca 750 gas tank. I built a blast cabinet and will bead blast it to remove the old paint.

 

Here is a comparison picture of the wheels. I am going to do the "rear to front" conversion.

 

ooooooooh you are gonna ruffle some feathers here my friend. but some, like myself are behind you all the way. im sure you have read but i will reitterate, do the brakes especially the back ones. i am super pumped to see one of these as a tracker, thats a first as far as I know, i hope you consider the yellow with black yamaha racing track look, that would be bada** heres some inspiration and keep us posted

http://www.flickr.com/photos/giege/5822 ... 84427@N06/

 

There is another one of those pristine 80-81 650 grey Maxim's that I would kill for. Hate to see it chopped up :x , but the rear section looks good. On the subject of the rear section, are you going to leave the lines as is, or modify a bit? Like for instance, cut out the radius so it follows the line of the rear frame tubes??? Oh, and for stripping the Seca tank, have you thought about aircraft paint stripper? I used it to strip the tank on mine, and it work really well. It was a spray and let it work deal while I worked on other stuff. Came back in 20 minutes, scraped on it with a plastic scraper, did it again. It took 2 coats to get the clear off, then the color and primer coat came of really quick. I started with the bead blasting, but it was going so slow and I was consumed with it, I thought the chemical strip was a more efficient use of time, and came to the same basic results.

 

I figured that. I get the same way when I see people hack up VWs. I have read a little about the rear brakes but mine look fine. Since I have the wheels completely stripped down I will replace the pads and shoes. The yellow and black did cross my mind but I have something a little different in mind for now.

 

Being such a low mileage and pristine bike, I had my reservations about the street tracker style but I do believe in making a bike yours. I also believe in being able to return the bike to its original form. That is why nothing else on the bike will get cut off. How and where I cut the frame, there should be no problem re-attaching the original rear piece. The lines and about half of the rear section will change once I add the tail lights and turn signals. I also plan on adding 1" longer shocks to the rear just to raise it a bit more.

 

Just got the wheels back from the media blaster. I have completely decided one a finish for them yet.

 

IMHO if you're goin' for the tracker look, I'd think about goin' with a Seca rear wheel (same size as your front wheel)...

skillet
btw where ya' at in TN???

 

You are right but I like the looks of the 16" fat tire more than the 19" skinny one. I wish I could put the 200/50-17 wheel off of the Warrior on it! I am just outside of Manchester, home of Bonnaroo.

 

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The only difficulty I think you might have is that street (or dirt) trackers generally have a higher seat height than typical "cruiser" street bikes. The Maxim's seat height was originally something like 30", so by replacing it with the fiberglass tail and some kind of pad (maybe 1" total) your seat height will be much lower than stock and the peg-to-seat clearance (AKA knee bend) will be more pronounced. See this as an example of where an XT500 (dual-sport bike with a high seat-to-peg distance) was modified to be a street tracker. You could go to more of a cafe racer look if you also incorporate rear-set pegs to straighten out the knee bend. Otherwise you will probably need to raise the seat, tank and handlebars. Go here for lots more inspiration.

 

I have thought about that. I am trying to get a set of 13 1/2" Sportster shocks to get the rear up. I am looking at a set of motor cross bars to help with the overall height as well. Those links will come in handy for inspiration, thanks!

 

Here are a few different handlebars. I am going with the 1-1/8" black with a cross bar.

 

IMHO best choice for your bike...

skillet

 

cant wait to see the results

 

Just got the new Progressive shocks. They are for a 2000 Harley XL1200. As you can see in the picture the new ones are about an 1" longer. I wanted some 14.25" long but I don't think they would have worked. I did have to modify three of the bushing to fit the Maxim. I opened them up to .55" and cut the flange off. I will have to make a bushing for the lower, right side mount. Here is a picture comparing the shocks and bushings.