Building a brat-bike

Hello XJ-owners!

My name is René, I live nearby Amsterdam, netherlands. Married, two sons and owner of two motorcycles. A '98 Suzuki GSX-R 750 and my new love the '83 Yamaha XJ 750 Maxim.
My wife bought me the XJ as an early present for my birthday! How sweet! The XJ cost her only €400,- and was in a need of maintenance And a new exhaust.

I decided to build a cool bike which everyone like to look at when I drive by!

Off course I like to share my project with the beloved members on this forum!
I will post as much pictures and Updates as I can...


This is her, in original state.


I dismantled her today, what a wonderful technique!


I started to modify the seat at first!


With a saw and a lot of patience...


Created a new seat out of the old one...

Tomorrow I'm going to take the original seat-locks of the bike and prepare them on the new location. When that's all set, I will post new pictures of the relocated Seat-locks and the Seat will be Re-upholstered aswell!

 

Today I cut the tailsection of, made the frontwheel fender shorter, prepared the rearwheel fender for re-use and took the additional headlights off..

 

i see you have pods, also i see a filter on the breather tube making it a passive breather system there should be some vacuum on that to make it works properly, like it does when connected to an airbox.
i doubt it will cause you any problems as it is currently set up.
I like the shortened rear fender

 

The set up, was like this when I got the Bike... I have Some idle problems, but they didn't change any jets in de carbs I think. Thanks for the info! I like everything working properly, so i will try to make a vacuüm on the small filter.. The short rear fender is original on the Bike in combination with a plastic piece of mudguard! I had to cut off a big part!

 

What's wrong?

 

It is probably about cutting up such a beautiful bike. Even I feel it's a shame, she looked great the way she was but hope you will enjoy your project and turn it into something great.

Love the old suzuki btw. Imo so ugly that they are actually cool looking
Welcome to the forum.

 

I understand some xj'ers feel pain seeing a XJ cut in pieces... But I hope you all believe me when I say I treat her gently and secure! I like to maintain her like it should, but i've noticed She's a spoiled brat and she wants some plastic surgery...

You're right about that! A keeper for shure! But when the XJ is finished I might sell the Suzuki though...

 

Update!

Reupholsterd the seat, bought a new steering bar, and painted the engine! I also bought myself a new welding machine, but the weather is bad the last few days and don't have a dry place where I can work, unfortunatly... New update and new pictures when the weather is getting better!

 

I like that brown leather seat, kind of refined looking.

 

I like to call this a "classy colour" haha thanks for Your message!

 

It had been a long time since I posted my last message! But I did worked on my XJ! I think it is the best to just show what I've got! Please all tell me what you think!
It's not completly ready, but I'm getting there!

 

Bike is rad...Color scheme and seat color are dope! Are you rocking 4 headers out or throwing an exhaust on?

 

Thanks for your message!
I'm rocking the open headers for now... But i'm looking for a not too expensive 4-1 system or I Will build one myself in de wintermonths!

 

Looks awesome!! Love the seat colour and colours. How much did you chop off the rear fender??

 

Bike looks great mate. Trying to do something like this to mine in the future.

 

I used the rear fender as it was original! I only had to cut the plastic mudguard behind the battery!

 

You should! It was or actually still is a great project to work on! Have fun!

 

Was it hard to modify the seat? I have an 81 XJ650, it's my first bike, and I'm going to try and do something similar with my bikes seat cause I want to keep it as a low budget build but still make it look different. I already have a vance and hynes 4 to 1 exhaust on it and I love the sound and have it running well, but now its time to start working on the looks, if you have any tips or anything that would help I'd appreciate it thanks and great looking bike!

 

It wasn't really hard to modify! And inexpensive aswell! I used a bread Knife to cut the foam and a piece of imitation leather to upholster the seat! Total costs: +\- 5 dollar!

The rest, I ordered on eBay and a local bikeshop... Including a new speedometer (10$), mirrors (12$), handlebar (35$), forkseals and oil (25$) 2 cans of spraypaint (5$), taillight with plateholder (12$), new fusebox (3,50$) and a piece of colorwrap for the tank! (27$)

Today I found myself a used 4-1 exhaust on the internet for 135$. I'm going to pick it up in the afternoon!

 

nice!

 

Thanks for the response, maybe i'll give it a shot on my seat for my build thank you for the help and good deal! i love the sound of my 4-1!

 

Great build! Trying to do something similar - how wide are your handlebars?

 

Thanks! From the back of my head, I thought it was 75 cm! Superbike handlebar!