BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650J Maxim Bobber

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Tell me more about chopping the seat. I have been trying to find a solo seat but haven't really found one inexpensive enough for me. did you literally saw it in half? did you use a particular blade? did the foam do anything weird. did I see that you made custom mounts for it as well? Thanks for the info / inspiration.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Thanks for the info! How did you go about mounting them to the seat? Did you just drill a hole in the pan and let them hang loose and just plug them in the frame or did you fix them to the pan somehow?

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Well, firstly: yes, I did literally just saw the thing in half. I used chalk to roughly draw the line I wanted to cut, knowing I'd be able to clean it up later with a utility knife and sandpaper, then I used a very large reciprocating saw with the longest blade we had in the garage. Beware that this is the kind of plastic that will melt and refuse to itself. There were a few spots that I had to cut twice because of the molten wake it left behind.


The foam I cut with a utility knife, after marking with a sharpie - though truthfully the seams of the original seat cover (aftermarket, I believe) left enough of a dirt/mildew/stain line that I was able to model my cuts after that.


The back half of the seat pan had the hook that held the seat down. There were two metal brackets that held that hook on, and I repurposed them here to help hold the retention pins in place. Otherwise the pins would push up into the foam whenever I tried to put the seat down.




There was a nice little gap that lined up well with the crossbar on the frame and made direct contact, so I lined up my pins there. If I had it to do again, I'd have placed them outside the little bump (which you may or may not be able to see here). Also, I had to add some spacers (nuts and washers) between the brackets and the pin heads to keep them from rising that 1/4 inch or so.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Thank you for the explanation!

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Where did you get the LED lights you used for your tail light? Did they come in yellow? I'd like to find something similar to serve a dual purpose of filling in the frame holes and act as turn signals.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Here's red, amber, and amber with a clear lens.

Keep in mind though that these are LEDs, and you'll need to futz with a load equalizer if you're keeping an otherwise somewhat-stock wiring setup (doable, but ultimately not advisable) or move to a new electronic signaling system as talked about in this thread.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Thanks BaldWonder, BTW do you think that it would be possible to swap out the LED's in those units. I'd like to use a high power Cree or similar, mainly I'm interested in the housings and the refractors. I haven't really seen any standard LED based signals that worked worth a damn, as they are just too dim for daytime.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Well, the lens is pretty small, so I don't know if you'd be getting into a square peg/round hole situation or not, but I will say that the lights are significantly bright to begin with. I got them to replace an earlier set that I bought that were nearly invisible in daylight. Next chance I get, I'll take a picture to demonstrate the brightness. That said, it would probably still take a fair bit of work to get the original LEDs out, as they're glued in place - probably for waterproofing and electrical insulating purposes. It looked like it may have been along the lines of hot-glue and therefore not too hard to remove, but I didn't test it's durability.

Something to note: there is no retroreflective property to these, ie if you have the bike off and sitting in the dark and you shine a flashlight at it, it won't look lit up.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Ah, good point about the lack of reflectors. I might want to paint some stuff with reflective paint. Thanks again.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

3M reflective tape from ebay, good stuff

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Yea I was thinking maby some of that on the down tubes, or you can get reflective microbeads that you mix into your paint like you would metal flake. It kind of gives a cool looking sheen in the daylight as well.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

my gun don't spray beads of anything, it's lucky to spray paint

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Hi Bald, can I ask if you use the bike in the rain at all? Mine is going to be rebuilt after Xmas and I'm considering some of your ideas. But my bike will be used all year round, I'm a bit concerned about the battery being so exposed and how the airpods hold up in rain and if you tend to get rain in the frame from the seat conversion?

Cheers
Ian

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Hey Ian (Newb21), since "finishing" the bike, I've only had it in the rain once. I try to avoid riding in the rain in general, but more for my sake than the bike's. I'm a bit of a fairweather rider, though I think I tolerate colder temps than most in my category. If it's colder than 45'F, or what's on the road makes it a challenge to keep myself on the road, I'll go with the four-wheel option.

As we probably all know, it only takes once to get rust. Currently I don't see any rust where the seat pegs enter the frame. I did all the frame modifications that I could foresee before powdercoating, and I would attribute the [current] lack of rust to that, as most of the interior of that part of the frame got a decent coating. As I was working on the frame, I did notice that the tubes that meet where the swingarm bearing is (you'd have to pop off the little circle chrome cover to see) have openings in the weld to allow water (and sandblast material!) to escape, so I wouldn't worry too much about moisture. In my opinion, that is. I'll admit that I did grow up trained in the fine art of rust farming (see also "junkyard" and "hoarding"), so I may be blinded by tolerance. Or tetanus. Whatever.

As for the air pods, I didn't notice any reduction in performance while riding in said rain. Another admittance: I also am a form-before-function type of person. I care/know enough to make sure things work well enough and are safe (case in point, yes BigFitz, I'm working on the brake lines!), but I know that I focus on aesthetics the most.

With that said, I hope someone more mechanically biased can give you some input about how much the rain will or will not affect the airpods. I would guess that it would
1. be fairly well sheltered by both the engine block and your own legs, and
2. be not much different from riding around on a very humid day or getting gas/petrol with a lot of water in it.

Now, as for the battery, I think I had it high enough that the seat covered it well enough. I am planning on adding a cover for it later on. You can see I've got holes drilled out on either side of the box for attaching something. I want to make a leather cover with a belted closure that I'll tool a design into, similar to the design on the rear fender.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

That's great. Thanks Bald. We get some pretty wet & wild weather here in Costa Del Cardiff lol. But I really want to go with the pods myself for the ooh pretty, shiny shiny looks and easier maintenance (carbs will be so much easier to remove and service with pods) I have some ideas for a type of cover that *shouldn't* restrict the airflow, will have to investigate further.

With the battery I guess I could fab some sort of hinged lid with a rubber seal around the top to keep it water tight.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Just a quick update. Still working on the brakes. Got a rebuild kit from Chacal, and finally popped the cylinder out of the front caliper. I broke down and bought a grease gun from ye ol' Walton Market, and used that to push it out. Then I cleaned it up with degreaser, brake cleaner, a brush, a pick, and magic eraser. That magic eraser is great stuff. Worth every penny.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

OH!

Almost forgot to mention this:
I have the honor of being one of the Associated Builders in the 2014 Greasy Dozen being run by OldBikeBarn.com!




I highly recommend anyone reading this come for the Corn Roast/Campout/Final Reveal in August, down in Southern-ish Ohio.

All the info can be found at www.thegreasydozen.com.

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Wow, that caliper and piston cleaned very well! I'm still soaking mine in degreaser, having been sat for 6+ year I think I'm going to have a little difficulty popping the caliper

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

Where did you get this fender ?

 

Re: BaldWonder's 1982 XJ650 Maxim J - Bobber/Chop

It was from a local Tractor Supply Company store, but I've looked on their site and it's not listed there. It was a 7.5" wide galvanized steel fender. I would be cautious before ordering one online: when I saw them in the store, several of them were flat on one side for mounting to a trailer. The one I got was the last one on the shelf that was curved all around and didn't have any holes pre-drilled in the width I wanted. I don't go to TSC very often, so I don't know if it's a regularly stocked item, but the 30 bucks I paid was the regular price, so I don't think it was a clearance item.