Seat Mod For an XJ 550 Maxim

Hey guys,

I am looking for past doers or advice on maybe a flat seat idea for a 1982 xj 550 maxim. The box bracket on the back is kind of in the way. I understand I might need to cut it. Trying to stay away from cutting anymore than that if possible. Just wondering if anyone had bought an online seat somewhere and it worked well of if anyone had made a flat seat for the bike. The frame lines are pretty straight in the back with no deep cuts so I am hoping if I have to cut the only cut I will have to make is on that box bracket.

Thanks!

 

if you want to try to make one, road signs from the local street dept. make good seat pans. easy enough to work with and their free

 

Type in 1982 XJ550 MAXIM BOBBER. It was a post I put up a while ago. There is pictures of what I did with the stock seat.

 

You can use the deck of a skateboard as well.

 

Street sign is the way to go, and they too make great skateboards!

 

What style are you going for, Tracker?

 

I cut my seat and trimmed and re-stapled it in order to get rid of the second seat and the metal chunk I wanted to cut off the back. It's not done yet, still need to incorporate a u-bolt to secure it, but it was an easy way to try something without too much effort. I figured if I didn't like it I could just get/build a new one. I've seen some good fiberglass DIYs around too.

 

Just a flat seat. I have flat bars on the bike and some bar end mirrors. So from the front the bike just looks like a nice town cafe cruiser but the back looks like a damn chopper haha!

 

Sounds like you want a tracker look. Depending on how much was cut off you might easily weld a frame hoop on the rear. Its real easy to do.

Once the frame hoop is welded on, you can then make a template out of cardboard to figure out mounting points. The hardest part is the figuring out mounting points. Then once thats done weld new mounting points, create fiberglass pan.

The frame hump won't go away. The only way to smooth the seat out is by adjusting the padding eg 2 inch thick in the front and one inch in the back. See diymotorcycleseat.com for foam types.

 

Sounds to me like he wants a standard.

 

How do you like those pods? I want to try some but I'm worried by all the talk on this site that theyre no good for the carbs aha

 

The engine was firing on 2 cylinders when I got it so I just took the carbs to church and am working on shims now so... I haven't really tested the pods yet. I have had it running in the garage decently, but that's not really a good indicator of performance. I will say that I did put air straightening inserts in the pods to block a little extra flow and straighten the air coming in. This will minimze the turbulence caused by the pods and hopefully make for smoother operation. I have the pictures for the DIY, just haven't written it up yet, but it was really easy and cheap. I'd like to try it out before I suggest it to anyone, though! For my build I had to put them on, the air box was removed to make room for a center control box I put in there that houses all the relays and stuff. It shouldn't be more than a few weeks before I have it on the road, I'll give you a couple links if you want to experiment (I used 4:1 and cut them into squares that squish in there).

http://www.saxonpc.com/plastic-cells-for-fanless-intake.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4x-Motorcyc...ash=item2efecb9d67:g:JZQAAOSwDNdVjK2i&vxp=mtr