New to me 86 XJ700S

Hello all,

Just thought I'd drop a note and introduce myself as a new XJ owner. As noted, my new ride is an '86 XJ700. I believe it's the XJ700S, not the 85 XJ700N. This is an air cooled version, so not the 5 valve X.

I had been riding my wife's TW200 on the road, and got the bug again, as the Virago listed in my sig was in bad shape, with head leaks, bad starter and other major repairs. So after riding a bit, I started looking for a decent street bike.

This one turned up local ( about 30 miles ) from me, and the guy was dealing in barter / cash, so I traded a handful of stuff straight up. Old sleds, leaky boat, and the virago. None of it I wanted anymore, so I was pretty happy about the deal.

So now I'm back on the road again, with a dandy skoot to boot. I will be performing the maintenance issues I've been reading about on here over the winter, but couldn't resist a quick ride around yesterday since it was pretty nice out.


Here's a quick stop on the scenic overlook on I75 south of Mackinaw City.






Here's a view of the Big Mac bridge, and the Mackinaw point light house - est:1909 ( least that's what the small plaque said )


The bike is running like a top, and after 1 tank fill-up, it's showing 48.3 mpg. I am running pretty mellow, more cruiser than sportbike so that's keeping the mileage up.

Tires are in great shape, and I will check date codes, though I see no signs of age or deterioration.

Bike has 27.5k on it.

 

Looks good. I have the 85 XJ700N I bought about 6 months ago with about 10,500 miles. I've done all the maintenance things and I am currently slowly getting he pilot screws set. I'm happy to see that you are getting 48 mpg since that lets me know what the bike is capable of. I was initially in the 30's and now think it's about 40. Was your 48 mpg all highway or a combination? I'm in town a lot so I would expect that to reduce the mpg.

 

Hey Tabaka, thanks. I'm pretty stoked, since it was a budget neutral deal.

The 48 was mostly highway. Probably half on country roads ~55 - 60 mph and half freeway ~65 mph. I know this thing has a sportbike heart, but I'm not hard on the gas much, so that helps.

Kinda sucks looking at winter coming on. Mackinaw City was around 50 deg. GA has to be nice for all year riding.

 

Nice find there bud!

 

Thanks jmilliken.

 

welcome...nice bike.

gary

 

Nice bike, I think you will love it. I have an 86 700X and am very happy with it. I get 40 mpg but I am running larger than stock jets. It runs cooler and a little smoother that way but you suffer on road trips with shorter range. I'm on the Blue Ridge Parkway right now and I have to be careful since they don't havr gas stations. The leaves are in their prime here. Get that riding in before winter.

 

Are you running the stock paper air filter? I'm getting about 31 mpg but my bike came with the foam UNI filter. Other than that it is stock and clean. I'm trying to figure out why my mpg is so bad. If you are running the stock paper filter then my next step will be to get one. Thanks

 

Tabaka45, not sure if you were me but if so, I have both a stock paper and a K&N filter. I'm not sure what is in it right now. Are your plugs dark? If not maybe it is your driving style. If you are running it hard, 30 may be normal.

 

I ride like you mentioned that you ride. My normal cruising speed is 55-60, and I never ride it hard. Probably half town and highway. My plugs are dark, but not sooty, and my pilot screws are open anywhere from 1 1/4 to 1 3/4. Anything more than that is really sooty, so gas is coming from somewhere.

 

Re: air filter, I'm not sure what I have in there. I haven't looked yet.

I ran another tank over the last week, and got 50mpg. 87 / 1.74 gals. Mostly running 50-60 range.

Thanks Gary and Ron, it's gotta be nice riding through the parkway. We drove ( van ) through there a few years back, and it was gorgeous. I told the wife that's my retire destination. Fighting snow in N Mi. is getting to be a pain after 40.

 

Damn, now I'm really jealous. Let me know when you have a chance to check the filter. ride safe.

 

Ha! 75mpg with 4 carbs, 4 pots, a redline approaching 10K and over 9:1 compression! dream on brother. Your hog only has two cylinders and torque for days-which translates into a long throw piston. Those are all advantages for gas mileage. Your 550 properly tuned will max out with conservative driving around 56mpg, maybe 57mpg. But don't despair you will be able to get to speed quicker, maintain it safer, stop faster, take turns better, and get to feel the wind and buzz instead of the rumble and growl.

I'm averaging 48mpg, but it's 40% hwy, 50% city, 10% stuck in traffic, and I twist z throttle a bit. Straight conservative hwy is 56mpg.

That is a sweet bike pjk_xj700! I love the picture with the bridge. You are so right about the cold. I keep thinking I need to move further south although I'm only 11 hours from the Big Easy now...hmm New Orleans for a road trip....YES!

 

Thanks Merc, I figured some may like the bridge shot. I love to see other's pix of things I'd like to see when riding.

Heck yeah on the Big Easy trip. I'd love to travel south. I have a friend that may still be in TN. He's got a metric dresser, so he rides. Not sure if he's still there tho . . . He fell off of FB so I'm not sure.

I think I would ride all year where you are. Course I'm used to snow, so I may be a bit jaded.

 

sweet bike!! welcome to the site!!

check the valves, brake lines, and brake pads too!!

 

RE: Mileage from a well-tuned 550: I get between 52~56mpg (depending on type of riding) with my Seca 550. Back in the day, the magazines reported 53mpg in their road tests.

 

Thanks mtnbike, yep, those are on my list.

I've been reading through the site here, and see the points made re: old bikes and age-related maintenance.